The wolves closed in around Anderson Maya, their bodies forming a tightening ring of muscle and mistrust. The square that had always felt like the heart of her home now felt like a trap. every familiar face twisted by doubt, fear or betrayal.
Her wolf snarled inside her, furious and rising demanding she fight. But Maya held herself still. An alpha who acted without thought was an alpha who lost. And tonight, she could not afford to lose, not yet.
"Step away from Kade," Rylan commanded, his voice thick with authority stolen, not earned.
Maya lifted her head slowly. "He is my protector. You have no right…"
"He was your protector," Rylan cut in. "Until he betrayed the pack."
Maya's eyes narrowed. "You chained him because he defended me?"
Rylan didn't deny it. Instead, he took a step forward, letting his aura expand. It pressed against her like smoke in the dark, suffocating, wrong.
Around them, the wolves shifted uneasily. Alpha auras clashing always unsettled the pack. But Maya held her ground. She would not bend to a traitor.
Rylan looked to the warriors around him. "Take them both."
The square erupted into motion.
Warriors she'd trained, wolves who once bowed in respect rushed toward her. Maya reacted instantly. She grabbed Kade's shoulders and hauled him upright despite the silver burning into his skin.
"Hold on," she whispered.
Kade managed a strained nod.
The first wolf lunged. Maya pivoted, her elbow striking his jaw with a sharp crack. She spun, dodging another attack, her movements graceful but fueled by fury.
"Alpha!" someone shouted, someone still loyal, still on her side.
But she couldn't tell who in the chaos.
Wolves collided, some fighting with hesitation, others with ruthless purpose. Maya ducked beneath a blade, then kicked the attacker's knee sideways. He went down with a howl.
Another wolf grabbed her arm. She twisted, broke his grip, and slammed him onto the ground.
But she was outnumbered. They knew it.
And so did she.
"Maya.." Kade gasped, stumbling as he tried to stay upright.
She gripped his arm tighter. "Don't fall. Don't give them a target."
Kade gave a weak laugh. "I'm already the target."
She couldn't argue.
Two warriors lunged simultaneously. Maya pulled Kade behind her and deflected one blade while blocking a punch from the other. Her wolf surged, begging to shift, begging to fight.
But if she shifted, so would they.
And she would risk tearing innocent wolves apart.
Rylan watched the struggle with a chilling calm, arms crossed behind him. As if this had always been inevitable. As if this was justice.
"Stop!" Maya shouted, her voice cracking with alpha power.
A ripple spread through the square—some wolves froze, some flinched, but others pushed through it with gritted teeth. Rylan was using his aura to suppress hers, to force obedience toward him.
Her jaw clenched.
He was trying to steal her pack right out from under her.
She looked up sharply. "Rylan, call them off before someone dies!"
"Someone will," he said, "if you don't surrender."
Her chest tightened, fury searing through her veins.
"You're doing this because I'm a woman."
"I'm doing this because you're weak," he corrected coldly. "And because the pack deserves better."
"You mean a man."
"If that man is me, then yes."
The honesty in his voice stunned her more than the words.
Another warrior attacked. Maya dodged, but she felt her strength flagging. Protecting Kade slowed her. The pack closing around her suffocated her. And Rylan's aura pressing against hers drained her.
Then the world tilted.
Something hard slammed into the back of her skull.
She staggered. Darkness rushed in at the edges of her vision.
Kade shouted her name, but his voice sounded distant, muffled by rushing blood.
A knee hit her side. A fist caught her jaw. Arms pinned her shoulders.
Maya fell to her knees.
"Maya!" Kade roared, fighting his chains despite the silver ripping into his skin.
A blow to his face silenced him.
"No!" Her voice cracked, desperate, furious but weak.
She hadn't been weak in years.
She didn't know how to be weak.
Hands grabbed her arms, locking manacles of silver around her wrists. The burn was immediate and blinding. Her wolf recoiled painfully, howling inside her.
Rylan stepped toward her, his expression unreadable. "You could have avoided this."
"By bowing?" she hissed.
"By knowing your place."
Maya met his gaze, rage simmering. "My place is as alpha."
"Not anymore."
He gestured to the warriors. "Take her."
Two men hauled her to her feet. She fought against them, but the silver weakened her limbs, turning strength into trembling resistance.
"Where are you taking her?" someone asked from the crowd, an older wolf named Sariah, one of Maya's early supporters.
Rylan didn't bother hiding his intent. "She will face judgment at dawn. The elders will decide her fate."
Maya's lip curled. "You mean they'll choose whatever you tell them to."
Rylan didn't blink. "The pack needs stability. You are chaos."
"And you are a liar."
He leaned closer, voice low enough that only she could hear.
"And you, Maya, are a mistake."
She wanted to lunge at him. To tear his throat out. To show him what mistake truly looked like.
But the silver held her fast.
Two warriors dragged Kade up as well. He was barely conscious, his shirt soaked with blood.
Maya thrashed against her restraints. "Don't hurt him! This is between you and me!"
Rylan's expression didn't change. "He dies if he interferes."
Maya's heart twisted violently. "He did nothing but protect his alpha."
"And that," Rylan said quietly, "was his greatest crime."
The warriors dragged Kade out of the square, through the village, toward the holding cells beneath the council hall. Maya stormed after him, though she stumbled with every step.
Wolves whispered as she passed. Some in sorrow. Some in accusation. Some with something far worse, satisfaction.
She had led them.
She had protected them.
And this was how they repaid her.
By dawn, she would stand before the elders, elders Rylan had no doubt manipulated long before tonight and they would decide whether she lived or died.
Not because she had failed her pack.
But because she had succeeded in ways they couldn't tolerate.
As she was dragged into the underground chamber, the heavy iron door slammed behind her, sealing her away from the world she had given everything to.
The last thing she heard before darkness swallowed her was Rylan's voice echoing down the stone corridor:
"Long live the Crescent Fang Pack under a true alpha."
Maya lifted her head, eyes burning with a fury that could melt steel.
This wasn't the end.
It was the beginning.
They wanted to break her.
They wanted to erase her.
They wanted to make her a lesson.
But Maya Anderson would become something far more dangerous.
An alpha wronged.
And an alpha who would rise again.