After My Mate Betrayed, I Fought Back Chapter 10

After My Mate Betrayed, I Fought Back Chapter 10

The guards led Dylan and Madison toward the awaiting transport vehicles, their silver cuffs gleaming in the moonlight filtering through the pack house windows. I watched them go, savoring the sight of their hunched shoulders and bowed heads. No more strutting. No more superiority. Just the cold reality of consequences finally catching up to them.

Madison’s designer outfit was now rumpled and tear-stained, a far cry from the immaculate appearance she’d cultivated for my humiliation. Dylan walked like a man in a trance, occasionally glancing back at me with disbelief etched across his features. –

“Commander,” Captain Valerius approached, his posture perfectly rigid. “The prisoners will be transported directly to the Royal dungeons to await trial. Do you wish to accompany them?”

I considered this for a moment, feeling Sarah, my inner wolf, stir with satisfaction. *Let them stew in their fear,* she whispered in my mind.

“No,” I decided. “They can contemplate their actions during the journey. I have matters to conclude here.”

Valerius nodded sharply and turned to follow his men. The remaining pack members still stood frozen in place, their earlier mockery replaced by naked fear. Some had their eyes fixed on the floor, unable to meet my gaze. Others stared openly, reassessing everything they thought they knew about me.

I turned to face them fully, allowing my aura to fill the room-not oppressively, but with enough presence that none could mistake my authority.

“For five years,” I began, my voice carrying easily through the silent hall, “I have lived among you as one of your own. I have been judged, dismissed, and underestimated. Today, you have witnessed the consequences of those judgments.”

I let my gaze sweep across the assembly, meeting the eyes of those who had laughed loudest at my humiliation.

“Remember this day,” I continued. “Remember that appearances can deceive. Remember that rank does not determine worth. And most importantly-” I paused, letting the tension build, “- remember that the Crown sees all, even when you believe yourselves unwatched.”

A shiver ran through the crowd. Several wolves lowered their heads further, no doubt recalling slights or comments they had made in my presence.

“You are dismissed,” I said finally. “Return to your homes and reflect on what you have

witnessed here tonight.”

Slowly, hesitantly, they began to file out. Some cast furtive glances my way, others kept their eyes firmly on the floor. None spoke. The grand hall that had earlier echoed with laughter and cruel taunts now rang with nothing but the sound of retreating footsteps.

As the last of them departed, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. Five years of pretense, of hiding my true nature, of enduring disrespect and dismissal-all of it was finally over. I could stand tall, my shoulders straight, my head high. I could be Commander Aria Blackwood once

more.

I walked to the massive windows overlooking the pack grounds. Dawn was approaching, the first hints of light beginning to streak the eastern sky. A new day. A new beginning.

Footsteps approached behind me, measured and confident. I didn’t need to turn to know who it was-his scent, rich and powerful, had already reached me.

“Commander,” Prince Lucas said, coming to stand beside me at the window. “The transport has departed.”

I nodded, watching as the royal convoy made its way down the winding road that led away from the pack house. “Justice will be served.”

“Indeed.” He was silent for a moment, then added, “Your service to the Crown has been exemplary. Few could have maintained such a cover for so long!”

I turned to face him, straightening instinctively in the presence of royalty. No more slouching. No more making myself seem smaller to protect my cover. “Thank you, Your Highness. It is my honor to serve.”

Something flickered in his obsidian eyes-approval, perhaps, or something deeper. “The convoy awaits us,” he said, gesturing toward the door. “It’s time to return to the palace.”

As we walked side by side from the pack house, I felt Sarah stir within me, her satisfaction mirroring my own. Five years of captivity in a life that wasn’t truly mine had ended. I was free- free to be who I truly was, free to serve the Crown openly, free from the constraints of pretense.

But as the royal convoy came into view, I couldn’t help but wonder: what new challenges awaited me at the palace? And what role would Prince Lucas play in my newly reclaimed life?