The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 274

Judgement-2

Rana felt nothing.

No love. No hate. No regret.

Just a cold, hollow emptiness where her heart used to be.

The trial began.

The Council called witness after witness-pack members who had suffered under the Alpha’s rule, wolves who had been forced into unwanted matings, families who had been torn apart by his greed.

Then it was Rana’s turn.

She walked to the center of the room, her spine straight, her chin lifted.

She told them everything.

The years of silence. The threats. The complicity.

And she told them about Iva-the way the Alpha had tried to sell her daughter like livestock. The way Rhys had stood by and watched.

When she finished, the room was silent.

The Council members exchanged glances.

Then the head Council member spoke.

“Gamma Rhys,” he said, his voice cold. “You have been accused of complicity in the forced mating of your own daughter. What do you have to say for yourself?”/

Rhys’s face went pale.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

And in that silence, Rana saw the truth.

He had no defense.

He had no excuse.

He had simply failed.

The Council delivered their judgment.

The Alpha was stripped of his title, his lands, his authority. He would be exiled to the northern territories,

never to return.

Rhys was stripped of his status, his position in the pack. He would be placed under house arrest for a period of five years.

Rana watched as he was led away.

13

Judgement

She felt nothing.

tva took her hand.

“Are you okay?” she asked quietly.

Rana nodded.

“I’m free,” she said. “Finally.”

She walked out of the Council chambers into the sunlight.

Behind her, the doors closed on the past.

And ahead of her, the future stretched, wide and open.

Claim

The trial was over. The sentences had been delivered. Justice, in some form, had been served.

And yet…

Something was wrong.

She couldn’t shake the feeling. A knot of unease that had settled in her chest, tightening with every step she took. The air felt too still. The silence too heavy.

Iva was beside her, her hand warm in Rana’s. Caleb walked on Iva’s other side, his presence solid and reassuring.

But Rana’s wolf, Ray Ray, was restless. Pacing. Sniffing the air.

“Something is not right,” Ray Ray murmured. “It went all too smooth.”

Rana tried to push the feeling aside. Tried to tell herself that the danger was over, that the Alpha and Rhys were in chains, that the Crown had won.

It didn’t work.

She stopped walking.

Caleb turned to her, his amber eyes sharp, reading her expression.

“Rana? Are you okay?”

Rana hesitated.

“Everything went too smoothly,” she said slowly. “Way too smoothly.”

Iva’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

Rana shook her head, trying to find words for the unease that coiled in her gut.

“The Alpha,” she said. “He’s not the type to just… give up. And Rhys…” She paused. “Rhys is not a man who accepts defeat quietly. He would not go down without a fight.”

23

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