Chapter 587 You left his face intact

Corvine had never known excitement like this. Athaliah’s possessiveness when she claimed him as her fiancé sent something electric and unfamiliar coursing through his veins.

Falling for her had been one thing, but having her feel the same way? That was uncharted territory entirely. A warmth he couldn’t quite name settled deep in his chest, spreading through his ribs like honey through warm tea.

The fact that this time, this woman, the one who made his heart stutter and his hands tremble, felt exactly what he felt was something he couldn’t quite pinpoint, something that made him feel both invincible and terrifyingly vulnerable all at once.

Throughout the technical segment with Seraphine on the software implementation, his focus kept fracturing, his attention drifting inexorably to the small LED screen tucked in the corner of the technical room.

The display showed glimpses of the event happening beyond the walls, and his gaze kept finding Athaliah’s form among the crowd, tracking her movements like a compass pointing north.

The sound and light engineers had already cleared space for them, having been briefed beforehand about their technical contributions and specialized input.

They worked efficiently around the pair, adjusting levels and fine-tuning frequencies while Corvine’s mind remained elsewhere.

The moment they wrapped up the technical portion, Corvine turned to Seraphine, his body already angled toward the door. “I’ll walk you to your husband first. Then I’m finding my woman.”

Seraphine’s smile couldn’t have been brighter, genuine joy radiating from her features. “Go ahead. Voren isn’t far from here,” she urged, already waving him off, but Corvine had already caught a glimpse of Voren approaching through the crowd with the children trailing behind him.

He nodded toward the familiar sight before heading in the opposite direction, his stride purposeful and quick.

The moment he rounded the corner toward the backstage area, four men materialized in his path, blocking his way with rigid postures and hard expressions.

His instincts screamed danger before his conscious mind could fully process the scene. “Liah,” he called out, his voice cutting through the air after hearing an uncomfortable sound emanating from one of the changing rooms.

Before he could push past the wall of bodies and search for her, the four men lunged forward, attempting to restrain him.

Corvine didn’t care that they were human, only that he didn’t kill them. That was the line he wouldn’t cross, no matter how much his blood boiled beneath his skin.

Unconscious without bruises would suffice, and that’s exactly what he delivered. His movements were fluid and economical, each strike precise, each blow calculated to disable without permanent damage.

The bodies crumpled around him like discarded dolls, and he stepped over them without a backward glance.

When the sounds from the changing room grew more disturbing, he reached the door and pushed through.

His heart dropped through the floor and kept falling when he saw Killian’s back turned toward him, broad shoulders obscuring the view.

But the familiar cascade of hair spilling over Killian’s shoulder and the stilettos dangling from the woman’s feet told him everything he needed to know.

Then he saw the side of her bra, the edge of her panty. She was half naked, humiliated.

Corvine’s gaze ripped away instantly, refusing to add to her shame by staring, but his hand found Killian’s hair with crushing force. His fingers twisted and yanked, strands ripping from follicles with audible pops. “Fuck you, Killian,” his voice came out like gravel scraping concrete. “I’ll kill you for this.”

Corvine kept his eyes averted, not willing to make her uncomfortable by looking at her exposed skin, but Killian’s next words drove a knife straight through his restraint. “I fucked her,” Killian said, his voice dripping with contempt and arrogance despite his compromised position. “And I enjoyed every second of it.”

Curtains surrounded them on three sides, blocking any chance of Corvine slamming Killian’s face against the unforgiving wall like he desperately wanted.

Killian tried to wiggle out of Corvine’s grip, twisting and squirming like a worm on a hook, but Corvine remembered a move Voren had taught him during their brutal training sessions before confronting Santiago. The technique had seemed excessive at the time, almost cruel. Now it felt like providence.

He’d never used it in actual combat before, but now it came in handy with devastating efficiency. His foot connected with the back of Killian’s knee while his hand remained twisted in the Alpha’s hair, forcing the man to his knees with a sharp crack of cartilage.

“Corvine, let me go,” Killian gritted out through clenched teeth, genuine helplessness bleeding into his voice for the first time. The position left him completely compromised.

Now Killian understood why Voren hadn’t batted an eyelash when Jaron mentioned Corvine would have to fight other Alphas for Athaliah’s hand in marriage.

Voren knew exactly what he’d poured into Corvine during those times of training, the techniques, the mindset, the ruthless efficiency. The man had created something dangerous, and now Killian was feeling the full weight of that creation.

“For what you did,” Corvine’s voice came out glacial, each word frozen, “I’ll kill you.”

He smashed Killian’s face against the floor, the impact reverberating through the small space. A groan escaped the Alpha, muffled by the carpet, but when Killian tried to free a hand to brace himself, Corvine grabbed it and bent it backward without mercy.

The crack of bones echoed sickeningly, and all Killian could hear was the sound of his own skeleton betraying him. Not a shift kind of crack, but his bones shattering under the pressure.

The pain would take months to recover from in the human world, weeks even with his wolf’s accelerated healing.

Killian’s face contorted in agony, but he refused to make another sound, his pride warring with his survival instinct. He must think Corvine believed he’d forced himself on Athaliah, that this was righteous fury.

Truth was, Killian would have finished it if Corvine hadn’t interrupted, would have taken everything she had to give and enjoyed every moment of her terror.

“Alright,” Killian groaned through the pain, his voice breaking. “I didn’t fuck her. I didn’t get that far.”

Corvine’s grip didn’t loosen a single fraction. “But you wanted to.” The cold certainty in his voice made Killian’s blood run cold. “You intended to.”

He grabbed Killian’s other hand and snapped those bones too, the sound of shattering making even Athaliah wince.

This time Killian couldn’t contain the groan that tore from his throat, raw and broken, as pain shot through his entire nervous system like wildfire.

For the first time in his miserable existence, Killian found himself grateful for Voren’s presence, for any authority figure who might intervene. But Voren didn’t move to stop Corvine as the man released the destroyed arm. It flopped to the floor lifelessly, disconnected from all function, and Killian could only feel the screaming agony of his shattered bones.

He knew this would take months to heal if he stayed in the human world, days even with his wolf’s accelerated recovery. But then Corvine broke his leg, and Killian screamed again as more footsteps rushed into the space.

“Fuck you, Corvine!” His eyes watered from the agony, tears he couldn’t control streaming down his face, but Corvine had already moved to his second leg, preparing to deliver the same devastating blow.

“Mr. Ashkael, please,” Killian gasped through the suffocating pain, his voice cracking and desperate. “Please help me.”

Voren’s eyes swept across the room, taking in Seraphine’s pale face, Elodie’s wide eyes, before landing on Athaliah. She was curled into a trembling ball in the corner, arms wrapped around herself pitifully.

Her entire frame shook with silent sobs, and the redness blooming across her cheek told Voren everything he needed to know. Killian had hit her.

Voren’s silence spoke volumes, and Corvine took it as permission to finish the job. The second leg shattered in his hands, and he released the broken man at last. Killian lay crumpled on the floor, arms and legs bent at unnatural angles, unable to move a single muscle without agony shooting through him.

But Voren’s frown deepened as he studied the scene. “You left his face intact.” The casual observation carried more weight than any shout could. It was as if he was talking about the weather, but Killian could already foresee what was coming.