Chapter 284
Chapter 284:
A collective gasp rippled through the hundreds of Alphas and Lunas in the room. Kira froze, the blood draining from her face as the absolute finality of the Lycan King’s judgment sealed her doom. She had condemned her entire bloodline.
But I couldn’t look at Kira anymore. My eyes were locked on Adelina.
She stood behind Kain, draped in midnight blue silk, the heavy platinum of the Moon Queen’s collar resting against her collarbone. She looked untouchable. Regal. The dull, throbbing pain from the morning’s car crash flared in my temple, a warm trickle of blood slipping past my bandage — but it was nothing compared to the agony ripping my soul apart.
I stumbled down the short steps of the stage, my legs feeling like lead, and stopped a few feet away from them on the polished dance floor. My Alpha pride lay in complete ruins.
“You chose him,” I whispered, the words scraping raw against my throat.
Adelina stepped out from behind Kain’s protective shadow. She looked at me, but there was no anger in her eyes — no lingering affection, either. There was only a cold, distant pity that hurt worse than any physical blow.
“I chose the one whose Inner Wolf saw me, even when I couldn’t,” Adelina said, her voice ringing with a calm, devastating clarity. “I chose the one who didn’t need a video to know the truth p>
Her words pierced my chest like a jagged silver dagger. The truth was absolute and undeniable. I had been blind, arrogant, and easily manipulated, while Kain had seen her worth from the very beginning.
The last pillar of my sanity gave way. My knees buckled beneath me. I collapsed onto the polished floor, surrounded by scattered white rose petals and the absolute ruins of my kingdom.
𝖳h𝗲 𝘣𝖾s𝗍 𝗋eа𝖽iո𝘨 e𝘹𝗉𝘦𝗿𝗂𝗲ո𝘤e 𝗼𝗻
Adelina POV
Jase remained on his knees amidst the scattered white rose petals, the polished marble floor reflecting the absolute ruins of his Alpha pride. The cut on his temple from his morning accident had reopened, a thin line of crimson trailing down his pale face.
He looked up at me, his eyes wide with a frantic, hollow desperation. He crawled forward, his trembling fingers reaching out to grab the hem of my midnight blue silk gown.
“Adelina, please,” Jase choked out, his voice cracking. “I didn’t know. I swear to the Goddess, I didn’t know she locked you in that silver-lined vault p>
I looked down at the man who had once been the center of my universe. I felt absolutely nothing. No anger, no lingering affection. Just a cold, heavy pity.
“Your ignorance is your greatest failure as an Alpha, Jase,” I said, my voice a glacial calm that echoed in the silent ballroom. “You let a monster run your Pack because you were too arrogant to look past her flawless smile p>
“I’ll fix it!” he scrambled, his grip tightening on my dress. “I’ll annul the marriage right now. I’ll reject her in front of everyone. Just come back to me, Adelina. I can still be your Alpha p>