Cass’s POV

"Late?" I breathed.

Ezra held up an invitation—the exact replica of the ones our guests had received. "I was invited, just like everyone else."

"Don't bullshit me!" I lunged, my vision blurring with bloodlust. "You know this is your game, you fker!"

Colt caught me, his arms locking around my waist. "Cass, stop! This is exactly what he wants. If you break the Seal of Neutrality now, you’ll unite every pack here against us."

Victor rushed to my side, his face grim. "He’s baiting you. Take a breath. Bide your time."

I forced my jaw to unlock, forcing the snarl back into my throat. Ezra watched me with a smirk that made my skin crawl. "It seems there’s a problem?" he taunted.

I leveled my gaze at him. "No problem at all. Sit. Eat. Drink your fill."

As the feast progressed, the air grew thick with unspoken threats. Ezra leaned back, his voice cutting through the chatter like a serrated blade. "Oh, Bryn, Miles... it saddens me you weren't there for Mother’s death. She screamed your names, begging for comfort in her final moments. Alas, I was the only one there to hold her."

Bryn went deathly pale, trembling in her seat. Colt’s hand tightened on the table, his knuckles turning white. "Leave them alone, Ezra."

"Always the knight in shining armor, brother," Ezra scoffed. "Little brats can't handle a little truth?"

"You're a bully," Colt countered, his voice cold and steady. "And you’ve made your own bed."

I turned to the Alphas at our table, my mind racing. "I didn't invite you here," I said, my voice cutting through the banquet. "I’m sure you can guess who did."

The room went silent. Ezra and Oliver exchanged a look of feigned shock. "We received the same invitation as everyone else," Ezra lied, his smirk unwavering.

"Save it," I snapped. I looked at Honora, then back at Ezra. The tension was a coiled spring, and my patience had long since evaporated. "I’m tired of playing by the rules while you play with people’s lives."

"Agitated, Alpha?" Ezra mocked. "Should I be worried?"

"You killed Lauren," I hissed. "You slaughtered her like a pig, didn't you?"

Ezra’s mask slipped, a dark, manic pride flickering in his eyes. "She begged. She played the pregnancy card, but I cut her down regardless—"

His boast ended in a wet, choked gargle.

Thwip.

A blade buried itself in Ezra's throat. James stood behind him, his face a mask of hollow grief, and shoved the knife deeper. He didn't stop. He hacked, stabbing again and again until Ezra’s body slumped into the plate, his eyes staring blankly at the sky.

"James!" I screamed, rushing forward, but the guards were already on him.

"Let him go!" I commanded.

"He killed an Alpha at a neutral summit!" one of the visitors roared. "He must die!"

"He is under my protection," I snarled, drawing my own blade. "Try to touch him, and see who falls next."

James looked at me, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "It’s done, Cass. I avenged her. I kept you safe."

Before I could reach him, he turned the blade on himself and sliced.

"NO!" I lunged, catching him as he fell, our foreheads pressing together as the light faded from his eyes. Silence fell over the garden, heavy and suffocating.

"It is settled!" Victor shouted, trying to salvage the peace. "Justice is served!"

Suddenly, Oliver burst into applause, his laughter ringing out like a death knell. "Better than any show I could have scripted. Perfection."

"Show?" I stood, shaking with rage. "You used him. You manipulated James!"

"Warrick—" I turned, confused, but my father stepped forward, his eyes dark with grim understanding.

"James was the one behind the earlier murders," Warrick revealed, his voice shaking. "I had a plan, and Oliver subverted it. He fueled James’s grief, fed him the lies about Ezra, and turned a broken man into a weapon."

Oliver stood, a phone—or what I

thought

was a phone—in his hand. "A weapon to take this pack for me. With the Alpha family in chaos and my own mercenaries infiltrated among your ranks, who’s left to stop me?"

"All of us," an Alpha growled.

Oliver’s smile remained fixed. "If only."

He pressed a button on the device. The world vanished in a roar of white noise and fire, and I was thrown into the abyss.