Chapter 158: 158

ALTHEA

I don’t remember how we left the king’s chamber.

Only that my legs moved because stopping felt impossible.

The stone corridors blurred as we walked, Alpha Collin’s presence beside me like a storm barely contained. His aura hadn’t faded—not even a little. It clung to the air, thick and suffocating, pressing against my skin until every breath felt stolen.

We didn’t speak.

Not until the doors slammed shut behind us.

The sound echoed like a gunshot.

I flinched.

“That was a mistake,” he said.

His voice was low. Controlled. Far more dangerous than shouting.

I turned slowly. “What was?”

“Standing beside me,” he snapped. “Being there. Existing in that chamber while Dark Moon lied through their teeth.”

My chest tightened. “I didn’t lie.”

“You didn’t stop them either.”

I stared at him. “You wanted me to do what? Confess to crimes I didn’t commit?”

“You wanted protection,” he said harshly. “You wanted my name to shield you.”

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?” His eyes burned red again. “Everything traces back to you. Your pack. Your blood.”

Something inside me screamed.

“I didn’t ask them to attack you,” I said, voice shaking. “I didn’t ask my parents to betray their Alpha. I didn’t ask to be born into Dark Moon!”

“But you were,” he roared.

The sound slammed into me.

“You walked into my life carrying history soaked in blood,” he continued. “And now Blood Moon bleeds.”

“That’s not fair,” I whispered.

“Fair?” He laughed sharply. “Fair died with my wolves.”

The pain in my chest became unbearable.

“You think I wanted this?” I cried. “You think I wanted to relive everything I escaped? To be dragged back into a past that almost killed me?”

“You should have warned me,” he accused.

“Warned you of what?” I shouted back. “I didn’t know!”

His aura surged violently.

“Lies,” he snarled.

I shook my head, tears spilling freely now. “I fought against them. I bled for packs that never deserved it. And now you’re blaming me for surviving?”

“You were marked by me,” he said coldly. “And still Dark Moon dares to challenge Blood Moon.”

“That’s not because of me!”

“It’s because you exist,” he said.

The words shattered me.

“I trusted you,” I whispered. “I trusted you not to see me as a weapon or a weakness.”

“You should never have trusted me,” he said.

I took a step back.

Then another.

My back hit the wall again.

“No,” I said quietly. “You don’t get to rewrite who I am just because you’re angry.”

His eyes flicked to my arm.

Then—

Pain.

Blinding. Sudden. Absolute.

His hand closed around my forearm.

I screamed.

“Alpha Collin—stop—!”

He didn’t hear me.

Didn’t see me.

Didn’t feel how tightly he was gripping until a sharp, sickening crack echoed through the hall.

The sound was wrong.

So wrong.

Agony tore through me, white and consuming. My legs gave out as my scream ripped from my throat, raw and broken.

Something inside my arm wasn’t where it should be.

I collapsed.

He froze.

For a heartbeat, the world stopped.

Then his grip loosened.

My arm burned—no, throbbed—pain radiating up to my shoulder and down to my fingers. I couldn’t move it. I couldn’t breathe. I could only sob as the shock hit me all at once.

Collin stared at my arm.

At the unnatural angle.

At the blood draining from my face.

“Althea…” His voice cracked.

I couldn’t look at him.

I curled inward, cradling my arm against my chest, gasping, shaking, broken.

“I—” He stepped back like he’d been burned. “I didn’t—”

Everything faded after that.

Voices shouted. Footsteps thundered. Someone lifted me carefully, urgently.

When I came to, the ceiling was white.

The smell of antiseptic filled my lungs.

Hospital.

Pain throbbed dully now, muted but heavy.

Kaylie’s face hovered over me, tense and furious. “You’re awake. Don’t move.”

“What—” My voice came out hoarse.

“Your forearm bone snapped,” she said tightly. “Clean break. We had to operate immediately to realign it.”

Tears slid silently down my temples.

“Who did this?” Kaylie demanded, though we both knew.

I turned my face away.

She said nothing else.

I felt the weight of it all then—not just the pain, not just the betrayal, but the finality.

Alpha Collin had crossed a line he could never undo.

And even if my arm healed—

Something inside me never would.