Chapter 450
My vision tunneled into darkness. The pain was absolute, but as Duncan’s hands grabbed my shoulders, I seized his collar and pulled him close with the last ounce of my fading strength.
“Let her hate me,” I choked out, blood bubbling past my lips. “Just — keep her alive.”
Adella
The guest suite at Hyde Manor was a gilded cage, but the floor was cold enough to numb the ache in my chest. It had been two days since Dallas paraded his mistress in front of the cameras. Two days since my soul fractured. I hadn’t eaten a single bite. The hunger was a welcome distraction — a hollow, gnawing pain I could actually control.
“Adella, please,” Braydon’s voice drifted through the heavy oak door, dripping with feigned patience. “You need to keep your strength up. I had the chef make your favorite.”
Even through the wood, his Alpha scent — heavy musk and sharp cedar — slithered into the room. It didn’t comfort me. It suffocated me. It felt like a victor circling his spoils.
“Go away, Braydon,” I rasped, my throat raw. I pulled my knees to my chest, buried my face in my arms, and let the silent tears soak my sleeves.
Dallas POV
The sterile stench of bleach and iodine in the High-Security Trauma Wing couldn’t mask the metallic tang of my own failing blood. I jolted awake, a ragged gasp tearing through my throat.
Mate… Ragnar thrashed against the confines of my mind, his howls vibrating with pure, unadulterated agony.
“Alpha King, you must lie still!” Dr. Alistair Vance rushed to my bedside, his hands hovering over my heavily bandaged torso. “The internal bleeding —”
I ignored the blinding pain and grabbed the lapels of his white coat. My vision swam, but I forced my Lycan aura outward. The temperature in the room plummeted. My eyes bled to pitch black.
“Get me Harrison,” I growled, my voice a demonic rumble.
Vance turned deathly pale, his knees buckling under the sheer weight of my presence. He fumbled for his comms and handed the device over with trembling fingers. I opened the mind-link immediately. Harrison. Did she sign?
No, Alpha. Harrison’s voice trembled in my head. She tore them up. She refuses to let you go.
A bitter, bloody laugh bubbled in my chest. My brave, stubborn Luna — practically begging the Silver Claws to put a target on her back. I had to destroy her completely.
Execute the Traitor’s Clause, I commanded, lacing the words with an Alpha’s authority. Deliver the forged evidence of Alaric and Elara Everett’s collusion with Rogues to Braydon Hyde. Tell him that if she doesn’t sign by midnight, her parents’ legacy is ash and Azalea’s trust is frozen forever.
Alpha, please —
Do it! I roared, severing the link and collapsing back onto the pillows, gasping for air.
Adella POV
The click of the lock made me flinch. Braydon stepped into the room, bypassing the untouched food tray without a word. He simply knelt beside me on the floor and slid a black folder into my lap.
My trembling fingers opened it.