Chapter 138

Chapter 138
Warning: The following chapter may contain content that some readers may find sensitive. I recommend reading with discretion. It may contain: aggressive language, use of firearms, insinuations of abuse, psychological abuse, death, etc.

Adrian Valehart

I felt the button sink beneath my thumb the instant I pressed it.
I didn’t even need to look to know it had worked—
I had tested that thing dozens of times before.
The signal had been sent.
It was now or never.
I scanned the situation:
That collar on Sofia’s neck was pure silver.
Letícia stood just behind her, barely able to remain upright, her eyes dull, her body bruised in several places.
This… this was pure cowardice.
They were playing dirty.
My body reacted on its own.
I shot to my feet, blood rushing to my head, pounding in my ears.
Luke clapped his hands.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The sound echoed across the suddenly silent hall.
Everyone stopped talking.
“What a wonderful situation…” he laughed, loud and pleased.
Janine—his mother—stepped forward, her eyes gleaming with a disturbing sort of pride.
“She looks beautiful, doesn’t she? I’m sure Serena would have looked exactly like her.”
“Of course,” Luke added, smiling as if discussing jewelry—except it wasn’t jewelry—
“But she can look even better, don’t you think? With the rest of the set.”
Some of the same relatives who had acted like completely different people minutes ago appeared carrying silver shackles—
thick, heavy ones.
Instruments designed to break wolves from the inside.
“Adrian…” Sofia said my name.
I stepped forward instantly—pure instinct.
“No fucking way you’re putting that on her,” I growled.
My body moved before I even thought.
I went to her with blood-red vision, heart ready to burst.
I barely felt the floor beneath my feet.
I saw nothing but red.
I had only one thought:
No one touches her.
“When Edgar gets here…” I began, voice tight. “You’re all fucked.”
Luke raised an eyebrow, amused.
“I can’t believe it, Adrian… you invited outsiders to our family gathering without consulting us?”
My hands itched to hit him—to punch a hole straight through his chest and rip out that rotten heart of his, if he even had one.
“Let her go,” I said, dangerous, inching closer. “Or everyone here dies. I’m not joking.”
Luke just laughed again.
He flicked his hand lazily.
The men stepped forward and shackled Sofia.
She tried to move, tried to react—
but a blade was pressed to Letícia’s throat.
A small line of blood surfaced, thin and insulting.
They were threatening to kill her cousin.
Letícia barely reacted.
She looked out of it—drugged, maybe.
But tears still streamed down her face—
tears of someone who believed everything was her fault.
Fuck! Where are you?
Edgar… Cael… Cedric…
At this rate, I’ll have to attack.
I’ll have to fight every single one of them by myself!
Sofia tilted her head slightly, trying to reach her cousin with her voice—seeing how destroyed she was inside.
“It’s okay, Letícia…” she whispered. “We’re getting out of here. We’re going to be fine… Help is coming soon…”
Luke turned toward her, slow and deliberate.
“Help, huh?” he asked, mockingly.
Sofia stared back.
Even weakened, even with silver draining everything she had, she held his gaze.
I could still see her wolf there.
That ferocity.
That rage.
That hunger for revenge.
And with each second that passed, my heart hammered harder.
Why aren’t they here yet?
What the hell is happening?
Then the door opened.
And hell walked in.
When I looked over—
I saw Edgar.

But unlike what I had imagined, he wasn’t accompanied.
He wasn’t with Cael or Cedric or any of the others.
On the contrary—
He was alone, his clothes stained with blood.
But it wasn’t his. He wasn’t injured.

The scent gave it away.
It was someone else’s blood.

He walked past me without saying a single word.

Without even looking at me.

He went straight to Luke…
And stopped beside him.

Like an obedient dog.

Something snapped inside my head—
a burning explosion behind my eyes.

“What?” I muttered.

The door then closed behind him.
There was no one else.

No sign of the others, no reinforcements, nothing.

“Where is everyone?” I growled. “Edgar… what does this mean?”

He slowly turned his face toward me.
Cold eyes.
Empty. Distant.

“It means exactly what it looks like, Adrian.”

Son of a bitch.

“You were with us!” I shouted. “We trusted you!”

I stepped forward, but Luke’s men moved fast—
closing in around me. Weapons raised.

Luke began talking like he was giving a lecture.

“Why the surprise?” he asked. “Your family isn’t what it used to be. All the power you once had rotted away with your father.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“You pulled away,” Luke continued. “You denied the Valehart legacy. You preferred to play human in your little company… while the real world moved forward. While the clans grew, they formed new alliances and new contracts.”

Edgar didn’t say a word.
He just stood there. A statue.

“You still think you have allies?” Luke laughed. “All you have is a name your father handed you… a name your cousin is tired of living under.”

My gaze snapped back to Edgar.

“You sold your own family,” I spat.

“I offered him something better,” Luke answered for him. “The golden card. A place in the Valehart Clan… the place that should have always been his.”

“You don’t have the authority to do that!” I roared.

Luke smiled.

“The Supreme Alpha can do anything.”

He began walking toward me.

Each step a deliberate insult.

Sofia was struggling, furious, trying to break free—
I could hear her fighting, using every bit of strength she had against those silver cuffs.

“Let me go! Luke! Don’t touch him! Don’t you dare lay a finger on Adrian—”

Even now—
even chained, even the victim of all this—
she still wanted to protect me.

“What a beautiful scene,” Luke said. “Keep this up and I might actually get jealous.”

He stopped in front of me, staring straight into my eyes, while Sofia cursed Edgar in the background, screaming at him.

“When I finish off all the competitors,” he said quietly, “the first thing I’ll do is proclaim Sofia as my wife.”

No…
He didn’t say that.

He did not say that shit to my face.

“Bastard…” I growled, my voice already distorted. “You son of a bitch.”

I lunged without thinking—
All I wanted, all I needed, was to hit him—just once, just once would be enough—

And then something exploded.

Pain ripped through me, fire spreading alongside the deafening crack that tore through the air.

They’d hit me.

And it wasn’t a normal bullet—
it was silver.