"In halls of power, words are daggers. In gardens, even wolves bare their scars."
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Elias's POV
The cold obsidian doors loomed before him, sealing away the council and their decisions. Elias pressed his palm flat against their surface, the mark on his forehead burning faintly with Luna's pulse.
[The Omega Ascension System whispered again:
"Masks hide daggers. One hand builds, another bleeds. Beware the smile."]
His chest tightened. Someone inside had already chosen betrayal. The whispers didn't name who—but the warning was enough.
Someone is plotting my death.
The thought felt unreal, distant, as if spoken about another man, another Omega. But the urgency of the System left no room for doubt. He swallowed hard, breath trembling, forcing himself to steady.
No one could know he had overheard. Not Ronan, not Lucien. Especially not the council. The System was his shield, his secret. And secrets, he realized, were more valuable than swords.
Lucien's POV
The council's conclusion was drawn out like a slow blade. Voices clashed, accusations mounted, but finally, Father Gabriel spoke with the weight of the Moon Goddess's faith.
"The Lycan Dominion shall remain neutral. To commit now would be folly. Let us prepare, but not provoke."
The verdict settled heavy in the room.
Lucien's eyes flickered, sharp and calculating. He had listened closely—not only to what was said, but to what was unsaid. Eira Valen's words had been too smooth, her smile too ready. He caught inconsistencies—contradictions buried between her speeches—but nothing concrete. Not yet.
He leaned back, feigning calm, but his mind cataloged every detail. She plays a dangerous game. I will find the strings she pulls—and cut them.
His gaze swept briefly toward Ronan. The Alpha sat rigid, jaw clenched, fury radiating from him like heat. Lucien almost pitied the boy. Almost.
But pity had no place here. Only survival.
Ronan's POV
Ronan could taste the bile of compromise on his tongue. Neutrality. Cowardice, dressed in diplomacy.
He shoved away from the table as the council dismissed, his chair screeching against obsidian. "You doom us all hiding behind neutrality."
Adrian Vale called after him, but Ronan didn't stop. He stormed out, fists clenched, fury barely contained. The corridors blurred past until he shoved open a balcony door, breathing hard against the cold night air.
"Ronan."
The voice was soft. Elias's voice.
Ronan turned sharply, fire still in his chest—but it guttered when he saw him. Elias stood in the moonlight, pale but steady, the mark on his forehead faintly glowing. He looked fragile and unbreakable all at once.
"You shouldn't be here," Ronan said gruffly.
"Neither should you," Elias countered gently. Then, softer: "But you are."
Something in Ronan cracked. For once, words failed him. He ran a hand through his hair, rough and unsteady. "I'm… I'm not good at this. Not with words. Not with…" He gestured vaguely, helpless. "With you."
Elias tilted his head. "Then show me, instead."
And Ronan did the only thing he could think of. He asked. Clumsy, blunt, like tearing off armor."Come with me. Tomorrow. The gardens. Just us."
It wasn't a command. It wasn't instinct. It was… almost shy.
For a heartbeat, Elias only looked at him. Then he smiled. "I'd like that."
Ronan's chest loosened. Just a little.
Date Scene — Ronan's POV
The royal gardens glowed under lantern light, shadows pooling between rose-arched pathways and marble fountains. For once, Ronan wasn't dressed in armor or court regalia. Just plain linen, sleeves rolled, leaving him exposed in a way battles never did.
Elias walked beside him, curiosity bright in his gaze.
"You bring all your Omegas here?" Elias teased softly.
Ronan's jaw tightened. "No. Just you."
They stopped by a fountain. Water shimmered silver under the moonlight. Ronan stared into its depths, words burning his throat.
"I don't want to be just another Alpha to you." His voice was low, raw. "I don't want you to think I see you as a bond, a prize, or… or a tool, like they do."
Elias blinked, startled. For the first time, he saw not Ronan the heir, not Ronan the warrior—but Ronan the man. A man afraid of being forgotten.
Elias reached out, his fingers brushing Ronan's hand. "Then don't be."
Ronan's breath caught. For once, it was that simple.
Eira's POV
While the gardens whispered with promise, Eira Valen's chambers whispered with death.
She sat before her mirror, a dagger gleaming under candlelight. Its blade was curved, kissed with poison, its hilt carved with the insignia of rogue hunters.
A perfect scapegoat.
Across from her knelt a cloaked figure, silent, waiting.
Eira's smile was sweet, her voice silken. "You know the target. An Omega, marked, dangerous. Make it quiet. Make it clean."
She pressed the dagger into the assassin's hand, her reflection in the mirror sharp with hunger.
"History will never remember his name."
But her heart thrummed with anticipation, because she knew the truth. It would. And when it did, it would be her name they whispered in victory.
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[The Omega Ascension System pulsed in Elias's mind as he left the gardens later that night, the warmth of Ronan's hand still ghosting his own.
"Threads twist tighter. Knives move in shadow. Beware the one who smiles."]
Elias froze.
Somewhere, someone was already moving to kill him.
The System offered no face, no proof—only the warning.
And in the silence of the night, Elias realized: the war wasn't waiting beyond their borders.
It had already begun.
Elias's POV – Outside the Council
The cold obsidian walls loomed above me, silent guardians of secrets I wasn't allowed to hear. I paced along the corridor outside the chamber, the polished stone floor reflecting a distorted ghost of my anxious face.
[The System's glow pulsed faintly in my vision, like a heartbeat I couldn't silence. Words unfurled across the shimmering screen only I could see:
"Paths diverge in shadows. Danger approaches unseen."]
I froze. Danger. For me? For Ronan? For all of us?
I pressed my back against the wall, straining to catch fragments of voices through the thick doors. The muffled arguments blurred together—deep Alpha growls, sharp retorts, and the cool, clipped tones of Lucien's voice threading between them like a chess master moving pieces.
But every so often, one word pierced through the obsidian barrier. Omega. Spoken like a curse. As if I were less than dust beneath their boots.
My hands curled into fists. My chest tightened. I wasn't in the chamber, yet somehow I felt the weight of their judgment pressing harder than any door could.
Lucien's POV – Council Chamber
"…neutrality is survival."
My words slid into the air like a blade slipped between armor. I watched the ripple it caused across the long obsidian table. Adrian Vale's eyes narrowed, Silas Crowe scoffed, and Damian Creed leaned back, his mouth twitching with irritation.
I kept my tone smooth, calm, unyielding. If Arcanum Sanctum and the Dark Lands wanted to tear each other apart, let them. The Lycan Dominion would stand stronger by refusing to bleed for either side.
But beneath my careful arguments, one thought lingered, unspoken: Elias. His name was a fire I dared not put to air. Mentioning him here would be a death sentence. He was still fragile, still unprotected. The less these Alphas thought of him, the safer he remained.
My gaze flicked toward Eira Valen. Her lips curved, a polite smile that never reached her eyes. She was too still, too quiet. And in her quiet, I sensed movement—daggers sheathed in silk, calculations layered beneath honeyed words.
Something about her didn't align. Her reasoning, her tone—it all matched too perfectly. Like a script she'd rehearsed in advance. I filed the thought away.
Checkmate was never won in the first move.
Ronan's POV – Council Chamber
"Neutrality?" I snarled before I could stop myself. My voice cracked across the table like thunder.
Every Alpha head turned. Even Father Gabriel's solemn face shifted with disappointment, as if I'd spoken out of line.
But how could I stay silent? They spoke of Omegas as if they were commodities, tools to barter, leverage to seize. My Omega. Elias.
Eira's laugh was the final spark. Light, mocking, sharpened with poison. "Really, Vale? You think one untested Omega is worth disrupting centuries of order? He isn't even worthy of—"
The growl ripped out of me before the sentence could finish. My claws dug into the obsidian table, cracking its polished surface. The other Alphas stiffened, the air thickening with instinctive dominance.
Lucien's hand brushed mine under the table—steady, grounding. His eyes told me: not here. Not now.
I forced myself to breathe, to pull back before I shattered more than stone. But the truth simmered in my chest. Neutrality was nothing but cowardice. And if they wouldn't stand for Elias, then I would. Alone if I must.
Elias's POV – Corridor
[The System flared again, whispering like wind between bones.
"Betrayal roots where envy grows. The dagger gleams behind the smile."]
My breath hitched. Betrayal. A dagger.
My gaze shot to the doors, to the laughter echoing faintly from within. A woman's laugh, sharp and sweet all at once. Whoever she was, she was planning something—against me.
My stomach twisted. For the first time, I wished the System would tell me more than fragments. Instead, I was left trembling in the silence, waiting for the council to break and the predators inside to spill into the hall.
Ronan's POV – After the Council
I stormed from the chamber the moment the vote was sealed. Neutrality. Cowards, the lot of them.
The cold corridors offered no comfort, only the echo of my boots striking stone. My head pounded with rage, but beneath the anger coiled a quieter, sharper fear: that Elias had heard, had felt the way they dismissed him.
And there he was. Leaning against the wall, his eyes wide, too wide, as though he carried the echoes of voices he wasn't meant to hear.
"Ronan," he whispered, searching my face as if to measure whether the council had broken me.
I swallowed. For once, words didn't come easily. I was supposed to be the strong one, the unshakable Alpha. But I wasn't. Not when it came to him.
"Come with me," I said at last, softer than I intended. "Just… away from this."
The Gardens – Date Scene
The royal gardens stretched in twilight bloom, silver light from the moon catching on dew-streaked leaves. For once, the air didn't stink of politics or war—it smelled of earth, green and alive.
I walked beside Elias in silence until we reached a secluded clearing where roses climbed stone arches.
"I need you to know something," I said, turning to face him. The words clawed inside my chest, but I forced them out. "I'm not good at this. Talking. Feeling. Any of it. But I need you to hear me."
His eyes were so open, so patient, it cut deeper than any blade.
"I'm terrified," I admitted. "Terrified of being just another Alpha to you. Of being nothing but… instinct. I don't want you to obey me. I want you to choose me."
The confession burned like fire. My pride, my armor—it cracked in that moment, and I let it.
Elias's hand trembled when he reached for mine, but when his fingers curled around mine, steady and warm, the world quieted.
"You're not just another anything, Ronan," he whispered. "You're the first Alpha who's ever made me feel like I get to choose at all."
And for the first time in years, I let myself smile without restraint.
Eira's POV – Elsewhere
The council dispersed with their hollow vows of neutrality. I didn't linger. Shadows served me better than grand chambers.
In the privacy of my chambers, I pulled the letter from my sleeve—a simple fold of parchment sealed with wax. The ink inside detailed a name, a location, and a price.
The assassin would never know the true target was the Omega. Elias Han. To the world, it would look like rogue hunters, faceless enemies in the dark.
My lips curved as I dripped wax over the folded letter, pressing my signet ring into the seal.
One dagger in the night, and the balance would shift.
The council thought neutrality meant safety. They had no idea what war looked like when it bled from the inside.