Chapter 204: A deal with the devil

Their stares locked onto me like a dozen polished blades pressed against my throat. Guarded and entirely unprepared to see a breeder in their midst, the Alphas instantly lost every trace of their casual, swaggering composure.

I scanned the chamber, a cold tremor running through me as if molten lead were coursing through my veins. Only one chair remained unoccupied—positioned at the very head of the long oak table. There were no other seats left in the room, making the unspoken command unmistakably clear: that seat belonged to me, and I was expected to claim it.

Yet the weight of that realization hit my frayed nerves with a shuddering spike of fear.

Fate was granting me zero margin for error today. It had hurled me directly into the furnace, as if whispering in my ear: "So you want to make a deal with the devil? Then step up and prove what you’re made of. Back up your words with action."

Flinching now meant irreversible disgrace. It would mean sinking in the eyes of these ruthless Alphas and proving to them that I was unworthy to stand beside my mate. That I was weak.

The second I crossed this threshold, my life shifted beyond the point of no return. That was it. The choice was made. This was a far cry from sitting safely at home, sifting through cold intelligence and reading reports on who uncovered what. I had stepped onto this chessboard myself. But whether I was a pawn or a queen would be decided right here, right now.

Clenching my fists until my nails bit into my palms—drawing blood—I snapped my chin up and strode purposefully toward the vacant seat. I pulled the chair out myself and sat down with deliberate weight.

Scanning the men surrounding the table, I caught a range of reactions: a few stared back with dark, skeptical scowls, a couple wore amused, lingering smirks, and a single Alpha remained entirely impassive.

"Welcome, everyone," I began, my voice steady. "My name is Jane Pharean. As the future wife of Alpha Magnus Rainn, I am here to secure your backing for the upcoming hearing."

"Ah, so you’re the sister of Alpha Askold Pharean from the Lower City," one of the men interjected with an undisguised sneer.

Keith Draven. Sayan had shown me his dossier yesterday alongside the rest of them so I could navigate this pack of wolves.

"Your brother’s pack isn’t part of our alliance. You are not yet lawfully bonded, nor do you officially belong to Alpha Magnus’s pack. So what exactly are you doing here, Miss?" the Alpha scoffed, not even bothering to meet my eyes.

"As I just stated, I am here to convince you to stand with us and bring Magnus back to freedom." Ignoring his mocking tone, I kept my voice measured, even as every nerve inside me coiled tight.

"In other words, you want to drag us into your personal vendetta against the state?" chuckled Liam Cornwell, an older, sun-weathered male. "And for what? Your pack is currently in the crosshairs, whereas the rest of us can walk away with minimal damage and remain untouched. We have nothing to lose."

"That is incorrect. I’m certain every single one of you has tried to dig into the background of our new city leader and what his arrival means for us. And I doubt any of you found a damn thing." Shrugging, I crossed my arms over my chest in a guarded, unyielding stance.

As if on cue, every pair of eyes in the room sharpened on me. It was precisely the focus I needed.

"And what did you manage to learn?" Keith asked, his frame tensing.

"Our new leader comes from the North. His name is Raymond Leone. Yesterday evening, that man paid a visit to my home to deliver an ultimatum. He informed me that he intends to take me back to the North as his concubine."

"And why should we care about what happens to you?" shrugged the youngest male in the room. "If you’re gone, the threat vanishes with you."

He looked deceptively harmless, yet according to Sayan, this youth was perhaps the most bloodthirsty brute in the entire chamber. On the night of the coup—when I was abducted—he had snapped the necks of over twenty mercenaries with his bare hands. His angelic appearance was just as lethal an illusion as my husband’s breathtaking beauty. I had always known that the most stunning flowers were the most venomous. Looking into his strikingly clear blue eyes, I saw not a single trace of remorse or human empathy.

Adonis Winter was a genuine monster trapped in the body of a twenty-year-old boy, having taken the reins of a pack his father had brought to ruin entirely too soon.

"I wouldn’t be so sure," I countered. "You are likely aware that I am an Alpha Breeder, and the North is crawling with them. Which raises a disturbing question: why are they systematically collecting every single carrier of that gene? Their level of interest is far too suspicious and utterly disproportionate. Furthermore, breeders hold zero rights in the North. Over there, they exist as nothing more than slaves."

I watched as my words struck home, forcing them into uneasy contemplation. They had only recently managed to push through equal rights legislation; they knew precisely where I was heading with these revelations.

"You realize our numbers are limited, don’t you? Not every pack in the city has aligned with our union," Adonis noted, now observing me with unreserved intrigue.

"We don’t need everyone. It’s enough that the primary driving forces of this city sit right at this table. You control the core assets. They aren’t merely trying to strip us of the union’s leader—"

"Wait! Hold on... Holy shit," Adonis interrupted abruptly, leaning forward. "The mines. A week ago, someone offered me a fortune for my mining operations."

A heavy, suffocating silence descended over the council chamber as realization dawned across their faces. Piece by piece, the bigger picture I was outlining began to align in their minds.