Chapter 22. Betrayer in Blue

The Council Chamber’s stone door had sealed Aria into silence, but the echoes of Kade’s strangled cry of anguish still haunted the North Wing, seeping into the very stones themselves. Even now, hours later, the corridors seemed to shudder with the aftershocks—a resonance of pain that prickled the skin of every wolf who dared to pass through. The world had not ended, not outwardly, but Jules could sense the tremors of it beneath the surface: a Pack’s heart breaking, a bond fracturing, the fragile order of things poised to unravel.

Headmaster Thorne had confined Kade to the High Alpha’s private suite—a chamber adorned in ancient silver, the walls etched with runes meant to suppress power and emotion alike. It was less a cage and more a gilded waiting room, designed to showcase both his status and his helplessness while the fate of his Pack—and his mate—was decided. Guards lingered just outside, their faces set in stone, pretending not to hear Kade’s muffled shouts or the scrapin