Chapter 282
Chapter 282:
The terrified technician frantically slammed his hands against the soundboard, then shook his head helplessly. “I can’t! The system is locked out p>
At the head table, Jase Davenport stood frozen. The smug Alpha pride that had radiated from him moments ago evaporated. His scent — usually a sharp mix of ambition and expensive cologne — soured into the putrid, metallic tang of profound panic and betrayal. He stared at the woman he had just bound his soul to, his eyes wide with horrifying realization.
“Jase, it’s a lie!” Kira gasped, clawing at his tuxedo jacket. “It’s a fake! She’s trying to frame me p>
Before Jase could even process her desperate lie, the massive screens flickered.
The shadowy street corner vanished, replaced by grainy, low-light footage. It was a dark, dust-covered room. The walls and the heavy door gleamed with the unmistakable, lethal sheen of solid silver.
A collective gasp rippled through the hundreds of Alphas and Lunas in the ballroom.
Then the audio kicked in — the sound of my own teenage sobs, raw and echoing with absolute despair.
“You will never have your wolf,” a younger, but equally venomous Kira sneered through the speakers. “The silver will burn it out of you. You will always be a weak, pathetic, wolfless Omega p>
The heavy silver door slammed shut on the screen. My agonizing, blood-curdling scream tore through the ballroom — a sound of pure, inescapable torture.
All the blood drained from Jase’s face.
𝗜𝘯𝗍𝘦𝗇ѕ𝗲 𝗋𝘰mа𝗻се 𝗈𝗇
I didn’t wait for Kira to spin another lie.
I stepped out of the shadows. The heavy platinum of The Collar of the Moon Queen rested cold and absolute against my collarbone. The midnight blue silk of my gown trailed behind me as I walked deliberately onto the polished dance floor. Every eye in the room snapped to me.
I reached out and took a microphone from the frozen lead singer of the jazz band.
“That day was my sixteenth birthday,” I said. My voice was glacial, ringing with a calm, unyielding authority that commanded the silent room. “The day I was supposed to have my First Shift p>
Kira completely lost her composure. The last shred of her restraint snapped.
“Liar!” she screamed, pointing at me from the stage, her face a mottled, ugly red. “You’re a Rogue! You’re just a jealous, wolfless bitch trying to ruin my life! Arrest her!” she shrieked, turning to the Davenport Pack security detail lining the walls. “Throw her out p>
Two Davenport Warriors hesitated, then took a step forward onto the dance floor, their faces tight with conflict.
They didn’t make it a second step.
Kain Blackwell stepped out of the shadows. He didn’t utter a single word. He didn’t need to. The atmospheric pressure in the ballroom plummeted to a freezing vacuum. His scent — a suffocating, heavy wave of ancient cedar and pure, unadulterated power — crashed over the room like a tidal wave.