Chapter 249
NOTE: These proceedings are part of the story’s worldbuilding and are not meant to reflect how a real court of law works. Please read them as fantasy.
The Council Hall was fully packed.
Elders and Alphas from every Eastern werewolf pack filled the tiered seats, chattering amongst themselves, surrounded by their Lunas, their Betas, their Gammas. The whole of the East, it seemed, had turned out to watch a woman make a fool of herself.
Kira and her people sat in their own corner of the great hall, watching and waiting for the trial to begin. Jessica sat on Kira’s right. Kai sat on her left, holding her hand. Connor sat beside Kai, and Gavin beside Jessica, both gammas alert, their eyes never stopping as they scanned the room.
At the far end sat Rolf and his party. Rolf himself, his Beta Jake, Jake’s son Scott, and Chloe, arms folded and face sour. Lydia, Kira noted, was nowhere to be seen. She filed that quietly away, wondering why.
Rolf’s whole group kept glancing her way, watching, waiting. And Kira, despite the frantic drumming of her heart, wore a perfectly calm little smile as she watched them right back.
Deep down, Kira’s confidence owed everything to her conversations with Derek in that study the night before. After they had gone through a couple of things together, Derek had been rubbing her feet when they’d had the conversation.
“When you face an enemy or a rival who you feel—or know—is more powerful than you are,” he’d told her, never give them the leverage of seeing how rattled you are. Stay calm. Make them believe you know something they don’t, even when you know nothing p>
Kira had blinked down at him, her toes curling slightly as he hit a particularly good pressure point. “What if it doesn’t rattle them at all p>
Derek had huffed. “It works ninety-nine times out of a hundred, trust me. This is the strategy most brutal Alphas and cut-throat businessmen use. It’s a psychological mind game. Once they believe you’re too confident, they stop thinking about the actual matter at hand and start obsessing over what’s going on inside your head instead, and about what you know already p>
Kira had sighed, leaning back against the cushions. “Wow. It actually makes perfect sense p>
He’d looked at her with a smug expression. “You’re lucky I happen to be a brutal businessman and a ruthless king. And you’re welcome p>
Kira had put a hand over her mouth and said, “Whoa. Are you showing off right now p>
In the present, Kira’s smile widened as the memory faded. Because across the room, she could see it working already. Rolf’s entire party watched her like hawks, tense and uneasy, leaning in to whisper furiously to one another every time she smiled, as though bracing for some stunt she might pull at any moment.
Soon, the officiating elders climbed the high seats in front of the hall. The leading elder cleared his throat and the entire hall fell silent as all eyes moved to the front. The elder introduced the case at hand.
“Let the parties involved introduce themselves to the Council p>
Rolf rose first and cleared his throat. “I am Rolf Thornclaw, Alpha of the Moonfang Pack, Alpha of all Alphas of the Eastern lands by blood and decree p>
A few supportive cheers rippled through his loyalists.
When he sat down, Kira gracefully stood up and smoothed down her clothes. “I am Serene Ironfang,” she said clearly. “The original heir of Moonfang. Formerly known as Ironfang, before it was renamed p>
The presiding Elder adjusted his spectacles, looking down at the document in front of him with a disapproving frown. “Young woman, I see from your written petition that you are single-handedly laying claim to the Alpha seat of a major Eastern werewolf pack without any male backup p>
He looked up at her. “You do understand, girl, that women do not lay claim to packs. Not unless it is alongside their husbands p>
A patronising chuckle rippled through the male Alphas.
Kira only smiled. “There’s a first time for everything, Elder. And I’m perfectly willing to try, if the Council intends to give me a fair trial. If not She looked at Rolf. “Then I’m equally willing to challenge the impostor, Rolf Thornclaw, to a duel. To the death p>
Pandemonium instantly broke out across the hall. Alphas turned to one another, muttering. Kira could hear the words drifting up.
“Such an arrogant girl p>
“What insolence p>
“Who does she think she is p>
“Preposterous p>
Kira didn’t let a single drop of their outrage affect her. She simply sat back down, her fingers interlaced, looking as though she had just politely declined a second serving of dessert rather than threatened a pack war.
The Elder banged his gavel repeatedly until the roaring subsided. He turned to the other side. “Alpha Rolf, do you possess the necessary documents or pack records to prove your legal ownership of the territory p>
“Of course, Elder,” Rolf said. He snapped his fingers, and his Beta, Jake, quickly rummaged through a leather briefcase, pulling out a thick stack of documents.
Rolf marched forward, proudly handing the bundle over to the Elder. “Moonfang is a pack I built with my own hands. Handed to me by my father before me, and confirmed by the territory records p>
The Elder flipped through the pages, nodding slowly. “And do you have reliable witnesses to support these claims p>
“I do,” Rolf said triumphantly.
He turned back to the gallery, gesturing to a group of Alphas sitting in the front rows. One by one, several Eastern Alphas rose to give their testimonies. Kira watched them with a look of disbelief as they practically lied through their teeth, each of them solemnly declaring that for as long as they’d known Moonfang, Rolf had been its true and rightful Alpha.
Inside Kira, Lux suddenly began to whine with a joyful ferocity.
“Serene Ironfang, step forward,” the Elder called. “Where are your documents and pack charters to counter Alpha Rolf’s claim p>
Just as she rose, she caught the familiar citrus scent of Derek, threading through the crowded hall. Her heart leapt and Lux purred inside her. Kira scanned the seats, and there he was, sliding quietly into a place at the very back of the hall.
Derek wore a dark, impeccably tailored suit, looking every inch the Lycan King. He smiled at her.
Her face broke into a relieved smile before she could stop it. He came.
Derek gave her a subtle thumbs-up.
And just like that, her confidence came flooding back at full strength. She returned the smallest of nods and turned to the panel of elders.
“Respected Elders, I do not have any pack documents with me today p>
A ripple of scornful murmurs waved through the hall. Rolf let out a mocking laugh. “No documents? Then you have no case, little girl! Stop wasting the Council’s precious time p>
Kira ignored the outburst, keeping her gaze levelled at the podium. “However, before you make your final ruling, I would like to ask Rolf just one simple question p>
Rolf scoffed, crossing his arms. “I’m not answering any questions from her p>
The presiding Elder raised a hand, cutting Rolf off. “A question is permitted, Alpha Rolf. It is a standard part of the territory hearing process. You will answer p>
Kira turned to Rolf. “Were you ever married to a woman named Claire Ironfang p>
Rolf hesitated. But denying it seemed pointless, dangerous even, so he answered. “Yes. I was. What of it? What has that got to do with anything p>
Inside, though, his mind was racing. How had she even learned that name? What did she know?
She looked far, far too smug for his liking, and Rolf, cunning old fox that he was, decided the safest play was to keep going along with it until he understood the trap.
Kira nodded, then signalled to Jessica, who came forward with a document and handed it to the elders. “That,” Kira said, “is their marriage certificate p>
The officiating elder passed it to the Media Team, who displayed it on the great screen for the whole hall to see.
“Did I ever live as your daughter, in Moonfang?” Kira asked next.
“Of course you did,” Rolf said. “You are my daughter by my first, beloved wife, Claire.” He threw up his hands, appealing to the elders. “Why are these questions even permitted? It’s plain to see. She’s jealous and bitter that I never named her my heir, and chose her younger sister Chloe instead. That is the whole of it p>
He wished Lydia was here right now. She would have given him more calculated answers.
Kira remained unfazed.
She submitted another document, and then another. “My birth certificate,” she said. “Listing me as Kira Thornclaw, the first daughter of Rolf. And my university records. All under that name p>
Then she turned back to him.
“Tell me, Rolf,” she said. “Where is your first wife, Claire p>
Rolf stared at her as though she’d lost her damn mind. “Are you insane, girl? Everyone in this hall knows the answer to that. My beloved Claire died giving birth to your miserable self. It’s common knowledge p>
Kira smiled.
“Unless,” she said softly, “she didn’t p>
Rolf’s face began to crumple into a confused frown, and before he could utter a single word, the back doors of the hall opened.
Every single head in the room whipped around toward the entrance.
Stalking through the doorway was Alpha Braxton. But it wasn’t Braxton who caused the entire Council Hall to gasp in total shock.
Walking gracefully right beside him, dressed in an elegant dress, was a woman with vibrant, unforgettable eyes and a face that had haunted Rolf’s nightmares for two decades.
Claire Ironfang. Alive and breathing.
Rolf saw the wife he had strangled twenty years ago, the woman he had buried in lies and pack legend, standing in the flesh at the back of the Council Hall.
And his legs gave out from under him. He lost his balance, stumbling backwards with a choked gasp.
Jake lunged and caught him before he hit the floor.
Across the hall, Eastern Alphas who had just lied under oath stumbled to their feet, their faces draining white, their eyes wide with something close to terror as they beheld a woman they had all buried two decades ago, walking toward them, breathing, real, and returned.