The Lycan King’s Mark (Nevara) by Tiffanie L. Campbell novel Chapter 146

Chapter 146 – The Quiet After

Nevara

The lanterns were still burning.

That was the strangest part.

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Golden light swayed gently above the square, suspended from ribbons and archways that had been meant to frame a wedding. Music stands sat abandoned where the musicians had once played. Half–finished glasses of wine remained scattered across the tables. Flower petals still marked the aisle where I had

been walking only an hour before.

Everything looked exactly as it had during the ceremony.

Except the joy was gone.

The crowd had thinned now, though not completely. Guards moved steadily through the square, their

armor catching the lanternlight as they searched every corner, every vendor tent, every shadow that might

hide a frightened child.

My nephew.

The word twisted painfully in my chest.

Noah had been laughing earlier. I could still hear it–bright and carefree as he chased Jonas between the

tables while the guests gathered for the ceremony.

And now he was gone.

I stood at the edge of the square with my arms folded tightly against the chill creeping through the

evening air.

Not chaos.

The thought had been circling my mind for the last several minutes.

Not chaos.

The shot had been a distraction. The panic had been planned. The crowd had been the perfect cover.

Someone had wanted confusion.

Someone had wanted time.

Footsteps approached behind me.

I didn’t need to turn to know who it was.

Thoren stopped beside me, his presence as steady and familiar as the pull of the bond between us. The

scent of pine and smoke clung to him, grounding in a way I desperately needed.

< Chapter 146 – The Quict After

“Any news?” I asked quietly.

He shook his head.

“Not yet.”

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His gaze moved over the square, following the pattern of guards moving through the thinning crowd.

“Kael has patrols searching the surrounding streets,” he continued. “The outer gates have been closed. No one leaves the city without inspection.”

My jaw tightened.

That meant whoever had taken Noah had already been inside the city.

Inside the celebration.

Inside the wedding.

“Have they found the men who fired the shot?” I asked.

“One of them,” Thoren said. “He’s unconscious. The others disappeared into the crowd.”

Of course they had.

The distraction had only needed to last a few seconds.

Just long enough to take a child.

My gaze drifted back to the lanterns swaying overhead.

The ribbons fluttered gently in the evening breeze, brushing against the wooden arch where Thoren and I

had been meant to exchange vows.

A wedding interrupted.

A kingdom watching.

And a child stolen from the middle of it.

I exhaled slowly.

“They wanted this,” I said.

Thoren’s eyes shifted toward me.

“The panic,” I continued quietly. “The confusion.”

My gaze swept across the square again.

“They wanted everyone looking the wrong direction.”

Thoren studied me for a moment before nodding slightly.

“Yes.”

<Chapter 146 The Quiet After

A new set of footsteps approached quickly from the far side of the square.

Michelle.

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Her dark hair had come loose from its usual neat arrangement, and her expression was sharper than I had

ever seen it.

She stopped a few steps away from us.

“You need to hear this,” she said.

Something in her tone made the tension in my chest tighten further.

“What is it?” I asked.

Michelle glanced toward the remaining guests scattered around the square before lowering her voice

slightly.

“People are talking.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“They’ve been talking since the shot was fired.”

“Not like this,” she said.

Thoren crossed his arms.

“What kind of talk?”

Michelle hesitated.

“Some of the wolves believe the Lycans staged the attack.”

My head snapped toward her.

“What?”

“They think the kidnapping is meant to force the merger,” she said. “That it’s some kind of manipulation.”

Thoren’s expression darkened.

“And the Lycans?” he asked.

Michelle gave a short humorless laugh.

“They’re saying the wolves are trying to sabotage the alliance.”

Of course they were.

Fear always needed someone to blame.

I glanced back across the square.

Clusters of guests stood in small groups now, their conversations quiet and tense as they watched the

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< Chapter 146- The Quiet After

guards moving through the plaza.

The line between celebration and suspicion had already begun to form.

“If that rumor spreads any further,” Michelle continued, “we’ll have a riot before sunrise.”

The words settled heavily in the air.

Thousands of wolves.

Hundreds of Lycans.

All gathered in the same place.

All waiting for an explanation.

And none of them had one.

A small movement near the steps caught my attention.

Jonas.

Nathan guided him gently toward us, the boy’s small shoulders hunched as if he were trying to make

himself smaller.

Jonas’s eyes were red from crying.

He stopped when he saw me.

“I’m sorry,” he said immediately.

The words came out in a rush.

“I tried to stop them. I really did.”

My chest tightened painfully.

I knelt in front of him, placing my hands lightly on his shoulders.

“You were brave,” I said softly.

Jonas shook his head, tears gathering in his eyes again.

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