POV EMMA BELLE
The wind at the edge of Whispering Ridge didn't just howl; it screamed with the voices of a thousand ghosts. The terrain was a nightmare of jagged limestone and hidden crevices, a natural fortress that the Eclipse Pack had used for generations to hide their cowards.
Caleb thought he was safe here. He thought the heights would protect him from the wrath he had unleashed. He was wrong.
"The perimeter is set," Nathaniel whispered, his voice projected directly into my mind through the silver link we shared. He was positioned on a northern peak, his eyes scanning the valley below with the cold precision of a hawk. "Damon is in position at the base. Vincent has neutralized their sentries. It's time, Emma."
I stood on the highest point of the ridge, the moonlight turning my white wolf-fur cloak into a shroud of silver. Beside me, Félix was checking the tension of his bow, his green eyes reflecting the violet glow that was already beginning to seep from my skin.
"Ready to break some rocks, Little Bird?" he asked, flashing that crooked, hoyuelo-filled grin that always managed to settle the storm in my chest.
"I'm ready to break more than rocks, Lixie," I replied, my voice sounding like the grind of shifting tectonic plates.
I looked down at the encampment below. I could see the golden-furred wolves pacing around the fires. I could smell the familiar, bitter scent of the Eclipse Pack—a scent that used to mean home but now only meant betrayal. And in the center, in the largest tent, I could feel the arrogant, flickering spark of Caleb's soul.
My inner wolf didn't just growl; she stood tall, her spirit merging with mine until I felt ten feet tall. I didn't need to shift to feel my claws. I didn't need to roar to be heard.
I reached out my hands, palms toward the earth.
"Damon, give me the fire," I commanded.
Miles away, at the base of the ridge, Damon let out a primal roar. I felt his volcanic energy surge through the ground, a wave of heat that traveled up through the soles of my boots and into my fingertips. Then, I felt Nathaniel's steel-cold logic and Vincent's numbing shadows join the flow.
But it was Félix who made it focused. He stepped behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, his chest pressed against my back. He wasn't giving me power; he was giving me the rhythm. He was the anchor that kept the mountain's fury from consuming me.
"Steady," he whispered against my ear. "Just like we practiced. Let the mountain breathe."
The ground began to vibrate. At first, it was a low hum, a sound so deep it was felt rather than heard. Then, the vibration turned into a shudder. Below us, the Eclipse wolves stopped their pacing. They looked up, their eyes wide with a sudden, primal terror.
I didn't just push the energy. I reached into the structural weaknesses of the ridge—the cracks and the faults that Nathaniel had mapped out for me. I filled them with violet light until the limestone began to groan.
"Emma Belle!" Caleb's voice erupted from the camp below. He had shifted into his golden-brown wolf, his fur bristling with a desperate authority. "Stop this madness! You are a daughter of the Eclipse! You cannot destroy your own blood!"
"You spilled my blood in the mud, Caleb!" I shouted, my voice amplified by the power of the four kings. "You rejected the moon's gift! Today, the mountain rejects you!"
I slammed my hands down.
The ridge didn't just fall; it disintegrated. A massive section of the limestone cliff face sheared away, a million tons of stone and earth cascading down into the valley like a frozen waterfall. The sound was deafening—a roar of destruction that silenced the wind.
The Eclipse camp was swallowed in seconds. The fires were extinguished by the dust, and the wolves were scattered like autumn leaves in a hurricane. I didn't want to kill them all—not the innocents—so I directed the flow of the collapse to pin them, to trap them in the debris without crushing them.
But for Caleb, I had a special fate.
As the dust began to settle, I jumped. I didn't fall; I rode the last of the falling stones, guided by the wind Félix provided. I landed in the center of the ruins, right in front of the golden wolf who was struggling to crawl out from under a pile of rubble.
Caleb shifted back to his human form, his face covered in grey dust and blood. He looked up at me, and for the first time in nineteen years, he saw me. He didn't see the scentless Omega. He didn't see the servant. He saw the White Queen.
"Emma..." he wheezed, his eyes bulging with fear. "I... I made a mistake. The Council lied to me. They said you were a defect. They said you would weaken us."
I walked toward him, each step heavy with the weight of the mountain. Behind me, the Four Kings emerged from the dust like vengeful gods. Damon, covered in the blood of the guards he'd dispatched. Nathaniel, cold and untouchable. Vincent, a shadow that seemed to swallow the light. And Félix, walking right at my side, his hand resting on the hilt of his dagger.
"You didn't make a mistake, Caleb," I said, my voice echoing in the silent valley. "You made a choice. You chose power over the bond. You chose cruelty over love."
I knelt in front of him, my violet eyes burning into his. I reached out and touched the mark on his neck—the Alpha mark he was so proud of. The moment my skin touched his, a jolt of kinetic energy flared. Caleb screamed as his mark began to fade, the gold turning into a dull, lifeless grey.
"I am the White Queen," I whispered. "And I revoke your right to lead. From this day forward, you are nothing. No pack will claim you. No mate will find you. You will wander the North as the defect you called me."
I stood up, turning my back on him. It was the ultimate insult—to not even consider him worth the kill.
"Damon, round up the survivors," I commanded. "Nathaniel, I want the children fed and protected. Vincent, find out where the High Council has fled. They won't stay silent after this."
"And what about him?" Félix asked, gesturing toward Caleb, who was sobbing in the dirt.
I looked at Félix, and the cold fury in my soul softened for a fraction of a second. I reached out and took his hand, our fingers interlacing perfectly. "He's a ghost, Lixie. We don't waste our breath on ghosts."
Félix grinned, pulling me into his side. "Spoken like a true Queen, Little Bird."
We walked through the ruins of the Eclipse Pack, the survivors bowing their heads in terror and awe as we passed. They weren't my pack anymore. I was something much bigger now. I was the bridge between the four most powerful men in the world, and the woman who had just brought a mountain to its knees.
But as we reached the edge of the valley, a cold, sharp feeling pierced my heart. I gasped, clutching my chest.
"Emma?" Félix asked, his grip tightening.
I looked up at the moon. It was turning a deep, bloody red. A lunar eclipse—the very omen my old pack was named after.
"The Council..." I whispered. "They didn't run. They're at the Black Crag. They waited for us to leave."
The realization hit us like a physical blow. We had won the battle, but we had left our home defenseless.
"Félix, take her and go!" Damon roared, already shifting into his massive amber wolf. "The rest of us will follow! Don't let them take the throne!"
Félix didn't wait for a second order. He swept me into his arms, his body tensing with the desperate, wild speed only he possessed. "Hold on, Emma! We're going to fly!"
As we raced back toward the mountains, the wind screaming past us, I closed my eyes and reached for the bond. I felt the Black Crag vibrating with a dark, necrotic energy. The Council wasn't just attacking; they were trying to overwrite the mountain's soul.
But as Félix's heart beat against mine, a steady, defiant rhythm in the chaos, I knew one thing for certain.
They could take the walls. They could take the stone. But they would never take the Queen. Because the Queen didn't live in a castle.
She lived in the heart of the rebel who was currently carrying her through the storm.
"I love you, Lixie," I whispered into the wind, though I didn't know if he could hear me.
Félix's grip tightened, and for a second, the golden thread between us glowed so brightly it lit up the entire forest. "I know, Little Bird. And I'm going to kill every last one of them for making you cry."
The final battle for the North had begun.