Chapter 61
Chapter 61:
The screen flickered to the hallway view. The lighting was dim, the angle skewed. Adella burst through the double doors, and the facade instantly crumbled. She grabbed her throat, stumbling against the wall. Even on the grainy footage, I could see the dark, spiderweb veins spreading across her neck — the hallmark of silver poisoning.
Azalea ran into the frame, her face contorted in a scream I couldn’t hear. Then came Braydon.
The sight of him made my vision swim with red. He stood there, useless. Pathetic. He reached out a hand, then pulled it back — terrified of the consequences, terrified of his mother, terrified of everything except the death of the woman he claimed to love.
Coward, Ragnar snarled. Kill him. Rip his throat out.
“Come on, Adella,” I urged, leaning toward the screen as if I could reach through the pixels and hold her up. “Use the kit p>
𝘋i𝘀c𝗈𝘷𝗲𝘳 𝘩id𝖽e𝗇 g𝖾𝗆𝘴 𝘰𝗻
I watched her hand fumble in her clutch, searching for the serum injector I had forced her to carry — the one she had called a symbol of my paranoia. See? I wanted to scream. This is why I protect you. This is why I claim you.
Her fingers were shaking too badly. The silver was attacking her nervous system. The injector slipped from her grasp and rolled across the carpet, stopping just out of reach.
She collapsed.
Her body hit the floor with a finality that stopped my heart. Her eyes fluttered shut, and in the deafening silence of the command center, I felt a tug on my soul — faint and weak, like a candle flickering in a hurricane.
Dallas…
The whisper ghosted through my mind, carrying the scent of rain and fading lilies.
Then the connection went silent.
For three seconds, I didn’t breathe. The world narrowed to that unmoving figure on the screen. The extraction team burst into the hallway on the monitor, weapons drawn, shoving Hyde security aside — but I was already moving.
I stood, buttoning my jacket with hands that were steady only because the alternative was tearing the building down.
“Alpha?” Vance asked, his voice trembling slightly. “What are your orders p>
I walked to the door, my shadow stretching long and dark across the floor. I didn’t look back at the screens. I didn’t need to see any more.
“Burn them,” I said, my voice devoid of all humanity. “Burn the entire Hyde Pack to the ground p>
Dallas POV
I hit the double doors of the ballroom with enough force to crack the hinges, exploding into the hallway like a warhead.
The air out here was worse. Inside the command center, the horror had been digital, pixelated. Here, it was visceral. The metallic tang of silver hung heavy in the corridor, tasting like ozone and battery acid, choking out the delicate scent of rain and lilies that belonged to my Mate.
She is fading, Ragnar roared in my head, his panic a jagged blade against my consciousness. Run!
I didn’t need his urging. I was already moving faster than human eyes could track — a blur of lethal intent.