<h4>Chapter 270: Defended</h4>


    <strong>****************</strong>


    <strong>Chapter 270</strong>


    <strong>~Valerie’s POV~</strong>


    "She’s wearing a wig!" Astraea shrieked again, her voiceced with hysteria. "She’s a fraud! A liar!"


    Her nails dug into my scalp as she yanked harder. I stumbled forward, wincing sharply, but before I could react, a strong force ripped her off me.


    Dristan.


    His arm shot forward like lightning, grabbing Astraea by the cor and flinging her backwards. She hit the dirt with a harsh thud, groaning in shock.


    Before she could even catch her breath, Kai and Xade were already nking her, eyes glowing, fury bleeding off them in waves.


    But it didn’t end there.


    Titania surged forward next, her eyes wild and greedy, fingers reaching out. She grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanked it sharply, expecting the wig toe loose.


    It didn’t.


    Instead, nothing came off.


    Realization shed in her eyes a second toote. My foot snapped up in one smooth, angry motion and mmed into her abdomen.


    She gasped, folded over, and dropped to the ground.


    "Are you satisfied now?" I shouted, my voice trembling as hot tears burned the back of my eyes. My fists clenched tightly at my sides. "Is this what you wanted? For me to be humiliated?"


    Silence. No one dared move. All of her supporters swallowed their usations.


    Never had I been d that I did something I did not want to.


    I couodn’t thank Solstice enough for her help.


    I swept my eyes over the crowd, my voice cracking as I continued, "I hope you’re all happy now. I am not who she says I am. I’m not a fraud."


    My heart thundered in my chest. My breathing came in ragged gulps. But I didn’t look away.


    I wouldn’t give them the pleasure.


    Astraea coughed and spat in the dirt, still crouched nearby. "Then prove it," she growled. "Let her shift. Let her wolf out. You’ll see the truth then! You’ll see I’m not lying!"


    At once, doubts crept in again as several voices picked up the chant.


    "It’s the truth."


    "She refused to shift earlier on."


    "Maybe this was the case."


    "What’s she hiding?"


    "They should let her shift. We are all one here."


    "Shift!"


    "Let her wolf out!"


    "Show us!"


    Brielle. Lucy. Titania again, despite clutching her ribs. And others who had always waited for a reason to pounce.


    The crowd swelled louder, their eyes burning with curiosity, with judgment, with doubt.


    "No," I snapped, firmly. "I’m done."


    They didn’t hear me.


    Or maybe they did, but they didn’t care.


    I opened my mouth again, louder this time. "No! I won’t be paraded like some show animal just to appease your suspicions. I won’t give any of you that power over me again!"


    "Then what are you hiding?" someone hissed from the crowd.


    I flinched. Just slightly, but held my ground. "You all have baseless usations. I will not prove anything. Believe what you wish."


    And then, a low, rumbling, primal sound. A growl that cut the air clean in two. "Enough!"


    Everyone fell silent.


    Dristan stepped forward, the space around him crackling with rage. His eyes were no longer blue or red, they turnd a different shade of burned blue—ice and furybined.


    His voice was deep and sharp enough to carve bone.


    "My patience," he said slowly, "has run thin."


    His power rolled off him like thunder. No one dared move.


    "I’ve allowed this circus to go on long enough. But from this moment, if anyone—<strong>anyone</strong>—dares to harass my mate again, or even dares to speak a word meant to hurt her... they will face the full, undiluted wrath of an Alpha Prince."


    Murmurs died instantly.


    Even Astraea trembled where she knelt.


    Kai stepped beside him, his arms folded, voice calm but lethal. "She has the protection of all six alphas. That means—"


    "Touching her," Ash said, moving up on my other side, "is the same as touching us."


    Axel appeared behind him, his usuallyzy smile gone. "And no one," he said coldly, "will question her again."


    The air around us grew tighter, heavier, charged with the shared aura of six alphas—not boys, but beasts.


    The crowd looked down, guilty and cowed.


    Xade stepped forward, addressing the five girls. "As for you five," he said, his voice colder than any wind I’d ever felt, "five weeks’ punishment during the Alpha Forge training. You’ll report to the Guild masters every morning for your punishment. Failure would result in immediate expulsion from school."


    "But—" Lucy started, wide-eyed.


    "Another word," he said quietly, "and you’ll double it."


    "He can’t do that, can he?" someone muttered, but Ace growled so loud, the girl shuddered and peed herself.


    None of them spoke again.


    And just like that, Dristan turned back to me. His expression softened, though his anger still burned just beneath the surface.


    He peeled off his shirt, the ck fabric still warm from his body, and carefully draped it over my shoulders. His fingers lingered as he adjusted it gently, as if worried I might break.


    Then he wrapped an arm around mine and pulled me close, shielding me from the stares.


    Without another word, he led me away and I went with him.


    All through our walk, I didn’t say a single word to Dristan. I just followed beside him, silent, eyes on the cracked forest path beneath my feet.


    The trees thinned out gradually, and soon we emerged from the woods onto the paved road that overlooked the hotel.


    Streemps cast soft pools of light across the asphalt, and the distant hum of cars rolling by echoed through the cold night air. Everything else was quiet. Still.


    It had to be close to midnight.


    We paused at the edge of the road. Dristan stood beside me, staring out at the parking lot, but I could feel the tension radiating off him.


    He hadn’t said anything since he threw his shirt around me and yanked me away from the firelight. But now, his voice came low, quiet, not angry—just thoughtful.


    "I won’t question you."


    I blinked and turned slightly, unsure if I heard him right.


    "I’m not going to ask if it’s true or not. If you’re her... or if you’re not. I told you I trust you."