~Heidi’s Point Of View~

The move from the courtyard to the mansion after Lira’s skull is cracked open is a blur of shouting and silk. Luna Rayne is a force of nature; her screams for the head healer echo off the vaulted ceilings. Servants scramble to carry Lira’s limp, bleeding form inside.

Heidi stumbles after them, still wrapped in Amias’s cloak, her bare feet numb against the cold marble. She is hollowed out. She comes here to avenge Grayson, to scream the truth about Tobias to the heavens, but now she is just... lost.

CRACK.

The sound of Amias’s fist connecting with Morgan’s jaw makes everyone jump.

Amias roars, his chest heaving, "How could you? She is your brother’s wife! She is embracing you, and you break her like she is nothing!"

Morgan doesn’t even fall. He just turns his head back, wiping a smear of blood from his lip with a terrifyingly calm expression. Darien, Isolde, Daphne, and the Lunas—Rayne and Ines—close in on him like a pack of wolves cornering a rogue.

Ines hisses, her eyes darting toward the hallway where Lira has been taken, "What does she mean about sacrifices? What have you been doing with her behind our backs?"

Rayne sobs, her grief for Grayson mixing with horror at the son before her whom she no longer recognizes, "Why do you push her, Morgan?"

Heidi watches him with a terrified silence. Her wolf is quiet, curled into a ball of sheer terror. Usually, Morgan’s aura is a warm, familiar hum in the back of her mind. Now? It is a vacuum. There is no wolf, no mate-bond, no connection. She looks at him and feels like she is looking at a stranger wearing a dead man’s skin.

The head healer arrives. She is a stern woman who takes one look at the chaos and orders everyone out of the infirmary wing. Once the doors click shut, the thin veneer of civility finally shatters.

Amias snaps.

He screams at the walls, his hands pulling at his hair, "My brother is dead! My mother is on her deathbed, and now my wife is bleeding out because of him!" He points a shaking finger at Morgan.

Tobias steps forward. He sees the opening he needs. "Guards!" the former Alpha commands. "Take him. I suspect him in Grayson’s death from the moment they arrive, but this? He assaults the Luna before our very eyes. He is a danger to the pack."

Morgan lets out a short, sharp laugh. It isn’t the laugh of the mate Heidi knows. It is a dry, hollow sound.

Morgan whispers, his eyes flashing with a dark, oily light, "No one is going to touch me."

Amias roars at the guards, who are hesitating, their instincts screaming at them to stay away from the middle twin, "SEIZE HIM!"

Heidi is crying now. She cannot help it. How does everything collapse so fast? The tears are hot and stinging as they mix with the dried blood on her cheeks. Rayne is at her side, both women clutching each other as the guards finally move in.

But they never reach him.

Morgan raises his hands, and instead of a shift or a growl, a blast of pure, violet-black energy erupts from his palms. It hits the guards like a physical shockwave, throwing them across the hall. The air smells of ozone and burnt hair.

Darien gasps, his eyes bulging, "Magic? Wolves don’t have magic, Morgan! What are you?"

Heidi cries out, taking a step toward him, "Morgan, please! What is happening to you?"

Before he can answer, the toll of the power becomes visible. Thick, dark blood begins to leak from Morgan’s nose, then his ears. He sways, his face contorting in a mask of agony.

Heidi’s wolf screams inside of her, "What the hell?!"

Rayne and Heidi both rush forward, driven by an instinct to help the man they care about—if he is still in there at all. Rayne wails, reaching for his arm, "Morgan, you’re hurting!"

SLAP.

Heidi recoils as Morgan’s hand swings out, striking them away with a mindless, frantic strength. He doesn’t look at them. He doesn’t even seem to see them. He turns and bolts down the corridor, disappearing into the shadows of the estate before anyone can react.

Heidi’s mouth falls open. Her fists clench into balls.

When Tobias speaks, Heidi hears the desperation of a man trying to hide his own wrongdoing behind his son’s. He will sacrifice Morgan if it means taking all the attention away from himself.

Tobias barks, "Something is definitely wrong with him. Guards, two of you follow him. He’s a monster."

"NO."

Amias’s voice is like a hammer on an anvil. He steps into the center of the hall, his Alpha aura finally flaring to its full, terrifying height. He blocks the guards’ path.

Amias says, his gaze fixing on Tobias, "You aren’t sending anyone after him. In fact, guards... apprehend my father."

The silence that follows is deafening.

Amias continues, "Heidi tells the truth. He contributes to Grayson’s death. He sends the rogues. He tries to cull his own blood."

Ines shouts at Amias, "Who do you think you are?! You cannot do this to your father!"

Amias bellows, the sound vibrating through the very floorboards, "I am the Alpha! And I will not let a murderer sit in this house, father or not. He killed my brother."

Tobias sneers, stepping closer to his son. "I put you in that seat, boy. I built this pack. You are nothing without my guidance."

"We’ll see," Amias spits.

Rayne and Ines begin to argue until Darien steps forward. His voice is low, but it carries the weight of a death sentence. "He’s a murderer, mother. He’s the reason Grayson is in a shroud. Take him away."

Tobias looks at his sons, seeing the wall of silver and red fur they have become. He lets out a dry, mocking chuckle and holds out his wrists to the guards.

Tobias whispers, leaning into Amias’s ear as they lead him away, "But remember this, son. When you realize you can’t handle this pack alone—when the hunters come and the rogues rise—you will come to me. You’ll be on your knees, begging for the father you just betrayed."

Amias commands, "Get him out of my sight."

Heidi watches as the King is led away in chains, but there is no victory in it. Grayson is dead, Morgan is a bleeding shadow who sends Lira on the verge of death, and the Duskwind pack is finally, truly broken.