The war room felt smaller after Marcus finished speaking, the air thick with the ghosts of twenty-five years of bloodshed. The revelation—that the Great War had been sparked by a desperate teenage lie, then fed by ambition and prophecy until it consumed everything—left no one untouched. Understanding flickered in their eyes for Olivia’s terror at fifteen, for Marcus and Torren’s panicked attempt to protect her. But understanding could not erase the truth: thousands dead, packs shattered, an entire generation raised on hatred—all because two young men feared a mate bond more than war.
Lilith sat frozen, her mind reeling. Thousands dead in battles fought over a deception, packs decimated, an endless cycle of hatred born from fear. And even today, keeping the secret to “save face” had prolon
