novelraw Chapter 124: Their Refusal
Chapter 124: Their Refusal
Liam’s POV
The "Marry them!" chant didn’t stop. In fact, it grew until the glass in the study windows began to rattle in their frames. I looked out through the curtains and felt my heart sink.
They weren’t leaving.
As the cold night stretched on, the hundreds of pack members didn’t go back to their warm beds. Instead, they sat down. Right there, on the cold stone and grass of the square, they formed a massive, silent circle around the pack house. It was a siege—not by an enemy, but by our own family.
"They’re staying," Leo whispered, standing by the door. "I tried to link the guards to clear the square, but they won’t pick up. They’re standing out there with them, Liam. Our own warriors are refusing our orders."
"Someone recruited them," I growled, looking closer at the crowd. I noticed Father Lennox’s personal guards moving through the masses, handing out heavy blankets and water. They weren’t trying to calm the people; they were making sure the people were comfortable enough to stay as long as it took to break us. Our own fathers had turned our pack against us.
Leon didn’t say a word. He was staring at a photo of our mother on the mantelpiece. He looked like a man who was watching his own funeral.
The chanting eventually died down, replaced by a sound that was a thousand times worse: the sound of children crying in the cold night air. The pack was suffering, and in their minds—and the minds of our fathers—it was all our fault. They didn’t care about the drug. To them, our bodies and our souls were just pack property.
A heavy knock sounded on the study door. It wasn’t the aggressive bang of our fathers; it was a soft, hesitant thud.
I opened it to find Martha, our old nanny, standing there. She had raised us since we were pups, wiping our scraped knees and tucking us in when our mother couldn’t. Beside her stood her young granddaughter, whose eyes were wide with fright.
"Alpha," Martha whispered, her voice trembling. "The people... they won’t move. They are terrified."
"Martha, you know us," I said, my voice pleading. "You know we wouldn’t do this. We were drugged. Those girls lied."
Martha looked down, a single tear falling. "It doesn’t matter who is right anymore, Liam. I know the Full Moon Pack is the strongest. I know we have more warriors than the Silver Lake Pack could ever dream of. We would win the war."
She looked up, her gaze piercing through my soul. "But at what cost? Even if we win, warriors will die. My son is on the front lines. Other mothers’ sons are there, too. Are you willing to trade their lives just so you don’t have to marry those girls? How many graves are you willing to dig to keep your freedom?"
The little girl gripped Martha’s skirt, her bottom lip trembling. "Please, Alpha Liam. I don’t want the bad wolves to come. I’m scared."
I looked at the girl, then at Martha. The woman who had loved us like her own was now the one holding the knife to our hearts. She wasn’t even angry; she was just desperate to save her son.
I closed the door and leaned my forehead against the wood. I felt sick. My wolf howled in the back of my mind—a sound filled with pure grief. We were being cornered.
"We can’t win," I said, turning back to my brothers. The weight of the crown felt like it was crushing my skull. "If we fight, we will win... but we will lose our men—and the love of our people. There is no other way out."
Leon stood up, his face as pale as death, but he didn’t speak. He simply walked over to the leather couch and sank into it, burying his face in his hands. We followed him, sitting in a heavy, suffocating silence.
Outside, the temperature had dropped, and the wind began to howl, carrying with it a sound that sliced through my heart—the cries of newborns. They were sharp, thin wails that spoke of cold skin and the sting of insects biting them in the dark. Every time a baby screamed, I felt my wolf clawing at my chest, desperate to protect the pack’s young.
"They’re suffering out there," I whispered, my voice thick with a mix of rage and guilt.
"They’re making them suffer," Leo corrected, his teeth bared. "Our fathers are letting them stay out there in the cold just to break us. They’re using babies to get to us."
The sound became unbearable. The high-pitched sobbing of the infants was joined by the low, rhythmic humming of the elders. I couldn’t take it anymore. I surged to my feet and stormed toward the balcony, throwing the glass doors open with a bang.
"Go home!" I roared, my Alpha aura flaring so brightly it lit up the square. "The children are freezing! Look at them! Go back to your houses and get them warm! We will deal with the situation, but go home!"
The crowd didn’t flinch. Hundreds of eyes looked up at me, their gaze filled with determination.
"Not until you agree!" a man shouted from the center.
"We stay until our children are safe from war!" a mother cried out, clutching her wailing infant tighter. "Marry them, Alpha! Give us our lives back!"
I gripped the stone railing so hard it crumbled under my fingers. "The Silver Lake Pack cannot defeat us! You know this!"
"But our sons will die!" they screamed back in unison.
I stood there, defeated by the very people I was born to lead. I turned back into the room and shut the doors, leaning against the glass. The silence inside felt even louder than the noise outside. We looked at each other—three Alphas, the most powerful wolves in the North—and we looked absolutely crushed.
"We have to do it," Leon finally said. His voice was dead and full of defeat.
None of us argued. We were in a tight corner, pinned down by a trap that had been perfectly built. Even if we called for a doctor, even if we ran blood tests to prove we weren’t drunk but were actually charmed—it wouldn’t matter. The pack didn’t care about the truth. They didn’t care about our innocence. They wanted the alliance.
Leo stood up, his eyes turning a dark, murderous gold. He adjusted his shirt, his frown deepening.
"Fine," Leo spat. "We marry them. But we do it on our terms. If they want to be our Lunas and mates so badly, we will give them that... but with conditions."
He walked over to the wall and pressed the intercom, his voice cold and commanding. "Bring those bitches here. Now," he instructed the guards.