MATED TO THE SECRET ALPHA-Chapter 228: Chaos In The Hall

"Luna, it seems to me that you’re here to quarrel," Alpha Dren drawled, feigning boredom.

Alpha Ronan sneered, "What do you expect from a woman?"

Reana’s head tilted. "And what should I expect from half-men?" Her voice was soft, lethal. "You throw stones like children then cry when someone throws back a mountain."

Alpha Dennis let out a short bark of laughter but nothing about it was amusing. "You’ve always had a mouth on you, Reana. No wonder your mates couldn’t survive it."

The table fell silent. A line had been crossed.

Reana didn’t flinch but the coldness in her eyes could freeze a river. "And you’ve always had a limp between your legs, Dennis. No wonder your mate ran off with a stable boy."

Chairs scraped. Gasps exploded. Alpha Julius choked on his wine, actually amused. Beta Theon muttered, "Oh no."

Dennis rose to his feet. "You bitch!"

"Still can’t come up with a better insult?" she shot back, "All those big muscles and not a single working brain cell between the lot of you."

Ronan stood as well. "Enough!"

But Reana’s fury had cracked open. "Shut your mouth!" she barked from her seat. "I sat silent while you vultures fed on my grief. I searched for my mate while you whispered like eunuchs behind my back. I mourned while you counted my empty seat as your victory. But now I’m here—now you’ll deal with me."

Alpha Dren slammed his fist down. "You forget yourself, Luna!"

Reana’s laugh was cold as steel. "I should be the one telling that to you, Alpha Dren. I wasn’t the one who couldn’t satisfy my mate and had her sharing her body with my beta."

The room went deathly still.

It was the truth. A truth that could only be whispered behind curtains because it drove Alpha Dren insane. The man was a lecherous monster – he wasn’t like that, until his mate and Luna cheated on him.

Alpha Dren loved his Luna, Astra. She was like his breath, until he found out she was cheating on him with his beta. When he asked her why, she told him to his face that Dren couldn’t satisfy her. She called him weak and unmanly. She also claimed to have been faking her orgasms and moans.

It broke Dren.

Even though women begged under him, he felt they were mocking him. Every moan sounded like Astra’s lies. Every arch of a back reminded him of how Astra faked it. No matter how many bodies he took to bed, Dren couldn’t reclaim the man he used to be.

So he became cruel. He hurt women. Not with fists –he was smarter than that– but with twisted games, words, denial, domination. He needed to prove he was still powerful, still wanted.

But deep down, he hated every single one of them. He hated Astra, hated women, especially Reana, because she made him feel less of a man even without taking her to bed.

And then, with Reana’s voice echoing his deepest shame, Dren snapped. Not just as an Alpha, but as a man stripped bare.

"I’ll kill you!" he roared and bolted from his seat, but before he could cross over, Alpha Alexander stood and held him. Dren strained against Alexander’s grip, screaming. "I’ll rip out your cursed tongue, you whore!"

Reana chuckled darkly behind her hoodie, voice dripping with thick mockery. "Try making your women come first before you can think of ripping my tongue."

Dren snarled, spittle flying, eyes mad. "You’ll regret this!"

Ronan tried again, roaring over the chaos, "Enough! This is a sacred council—"

Reana barked a laugh. "Sacred? This?" Her voice cut through the clamor like a blade. "A room full of cowards, cheaters, and eunuchs who can’t even face the monsters outside because they’re too busy gnawing on each other’s egos?"

Rhys rose. "This has gone too far—"

Reana turned to him like a cobra. "You have the balls to speak? Do you really want to test me? Do you want me to speak of the bastard child your Luna bore that doesn’t share your blood?"

His eyes widened. A few Alphas turned to stare at him with wide, dawning realization. Even Alpha Dren, who was about to fight Reana, was stunned.

So, he wasn’t the only one with scandalous shadows hiding in his pack’s history.

The room’s tension snapped like a wire stretched too tight.

Alpha Rhys’s face twisted in fury. "You lie!" he spat, stepping forward, fists clenched.

Reana smiled venomously. "Did I? Or are you just scared that your perfect image will crack open and all the filth spills out?"

Ronan slammed his palm on the table, trying to regain order. "This is madness!"

But madness had already taken hold.

Rhys lunged at Reana with a roar, fists swinging wildly, but Markkus tackled him before he could go near her, dragging him down with a growl.

Alpha Dennis pushed past the chaos, raising his voice above the yelling. "Enough! If you want a fight, you’ll have one!"

Though he didn’t move, even though he wanted to tear her into pieces.

Suddenly, Dren broke free, or rather, Alpha Alexander let him go, and he charged at Reana, slamming his shoulder into her chest.

She staggered back, but with a snarl, spun and slammed her fist into his jaw, cracking bones beneath the blow.

The room erupted into a brutal brawl.

Alpha Dren staggered back, taste of blood flooding his mouth, eyes blazing with rage. His massive hand shot out, grabbing Reana’s arm and yanking her forward like a ragdoll. The room seemed to shrink around them, the noise fading into a dull roar as the two locked eyes—predators circling for the kill.

Without hesitation, Dren slammed her against the cold stone wall. The impact echoed, dust and plaster crumbling where her back met the unforgiving surface. Reana hissed, but a flash of fire lit her gaze. She jabbed an elbow hard into Dren’s ribs—crack!—and twisted free, gasping for breath but refusing to back down.