Chapter 106

Ravyn, you are not going to stop me
“This is becoming too much,” Gray finally said as the shock that had frozen him in place began to loosen its grip on his body, although his voice still carried the tremor of a man who knew he had walked straight into a nightmare he could not escape.

Riven nodded weakly beside him, his face pale and slick with sweat as the pain from his injuries continued to pulse through his body in brutal waves that made it difficult to think clearly.

“Yes, Voren, this is too much,” he agreed, his breathing uneven as he tried to steady himself. “Our only mistake was trying to take Seraphine’s life in this club. We should have handled it somewhere else where it would have been cleaner and easier to control.”

The moment those words left Riven’s mouth, a heavy silence fell over the room, and something in Voren’s expression darkened in a way that made the tension instantly thicker.

Why had that single sentence affected Voren so strongly?

The answer did not take long to surface in Riven’s mind.

It had to be about the money.

Seraphine held enormous investments from countless powerful figures, including several men within the Alpha circle itself, and Voren was no exception to that reality.

If Seraphine died before those investments matured, then the money tied up with her could easily disappear into chaos, and Voren would lose the returns he had been counting on.

From a purely financial perspective, Seraphine’s death at the wrong time could create a storm of consequences that none of them wanted to deal with.

Voren let out a dry, humorless laugh as he looked down at them with eyes that carried nothing but cold contempt.

“Did you two forget about the countless people who have their money tied up with her,” he asked with biting sarcasm, his voice sharp enough to slice through the room like a blade, “or did you simply decide to open your mouths without using your brains for even a single second?”

Riven immediately shrank under the weight of that stare, the confidence he had tried to hold onto crumbling in an instant.

“I need to get to the hospital, Voren,” Riven said desperately, his voice turning into a strained plea as another surge of pain ran through his injured body. “The pain is getting unbearable.”

Voren did not respond to that request with even the smallest trace of sympathy.

Instead, he calmly reached down and picked up the sword lying beside him, the polished blade catching the light as he lifted it into his hand.

“When you are ready, let me know,” Voren said in a tone that sounded almost casual despite the horrifying implications behind his words. “Until then, no one is leaving this place.”

Gray moved closer to Riven as Voren stood watching them, and the two men leaned toward each other as they spoke in low, urgent whispers that they hoped would not travel far enough for Voren to hear.

“We should give him an arm,” Gray murmured, his jaw tight as he forced himself to say the words out loud. “We can have prosthetics fitted later, and at least we will still be alive.”

Riven closed his eyes for a moment as he considered the suggestion, the weight of the decision pressing down on him harder than anything he had ever faced before.

The thought of living the rest of his life missing a limb filled him with dread, but the alternative standing before him was far worse.

He had no intention of spending the rest of his days confined to a wheelchair or leaning on crutches while the world looked at him with pity.

After several long seconds, Riven finally nodded.

Silently, however, he made a promise to himself that burned like fire deep in his chest.

Seraphine would pay for everything that had happened here tonight.

Every ounce of humiliation, every drop of blood, every piece of pain would eventually find its way back to her.

“Alright,” Gray said after seeing Riven’s reluctant agreement, and although his voice tried to sound steady, the fear underneath it was impossible to hide. “We will both give our left arm.”

Voren released a slow breath that sounded almost like a sigh as he stepped forward.

“You first,” he said calmly while raising the sword slightly. “Stretch out your arm.”

Gray felt his heart slam violently against his ribs as the reality of the situation finally crashed into him with full force.

What would he tell his pack when they saw him like this?

What would his family say when they realized the price he had paid for involving himself in a conflict that had never truly been his responsibility?

A wave of regret washed over him as he realized that getting involved in Ravyn’s matter had been the worst mistake he could have made.

With trembling hands and a face drained of color, Gray slowly extended his arm.

The grove fell so quiet that the faint sound of his ragged breathing seemed too loud in his ears.

Voren lifted the sword high into the air, the blade gleaming coldly as it caught the overhead lights, and for a brief moment it looked as though nothing in the world could stop what was about to happen.

Then, just as the weapon began its downward path, a voice cut through the silence.

“Voren, don’t.”

Ravyn’s voice rang out sharply across the grove.

Voren froze instantly, his arm still raised in the air with the sword poised above Gray’s exposed limb.

The relief that washed across the faces of both Alphas the moment the blade stopped was so obvious but it only made Voren’s irritation grow stronger.

Their visible desperation to escape punishment annoyed him far more than he cared to admit.

“Ravyn, you are not going to stop me,” Voren hissed, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he turned toward him.

Ravyn hurried forward without hesitation, crossing the distance between them in quick steps before dropping down onto his knees directly in front of him.

“For the sake of our friendship, Voren,” he said earnestly, his voice thick with emotion as he lowered his head in submission, “everything they did tonight was because of me and for me.”