195- When the Beast Loses Control
POV Aldren Valmorin:
“Excuse me.” I entered the silent space and stopped beside the door while the matriarch closed it.
“Would you like something to drink or eat, Alpha Aldren? It’s a pleasure to have you here. I made a corn cake—”
“No need, thank you,” I interrupted, touching her shoulder.
Matias greeted me respectfully and guided me to the sofas. I sat in a single armchair with arms and back of the same height, and the two of them settled nervously at a distance, one at each end of another three-seat sofa backed against the wall.
“To what do we owe the honor of your visit, Alpha Aldren?” asked the sun-kissed patriarch with an athletic build. He was one of those responsible for our crops.
“Everyone knows I hate divorces, so I’ll be direct. Why the hell do you want to separate?” I shot back the information I had received.
“I don’t know anything about that!” Matias bellowed and glared accusingly at his partner. “Lídia?!”
With her chin trembling, on the verge of tears, the young woman turned to me.
“Alpha Aldren, I told him I would separate. I went to the guard to ask how to proceed and—”
“Lídia!” he continued to roar, clenching his fists.
“Be quiet,” I ordered him. “Go on, Lídia.”
“I’m just… tired of living in misery, Alpha Aldren. Look at my dress.” She gestured to her clothes and launched into speech. “I’ve had it for twenty years! Matias won’t let me buy new ones, but every time he goes to the city he buys a bigger television. The artisan Felicitá invited me to be her assistant because she noticed my passion for sewing, but Matias won’t let me work to buy my own clothes either!”
I closed my eyes and pressed my thumb to the center of my forehead for a few seconds, incredulous that this was the problem.
“Lídia, aside from that, do you have any other complaint about your partner?”
She looked away for a moment, as if thinking.
“No, Alpha Aldren. I love him. I’m just tired of a life where I can’t work or buy new dresses.” She sounded honest.
I cast a dangerous look at Matias, who didn’t even blink.
“From today on, you will give your female a monthly allowance to do whatever she wishes. If Lídia still wants to work during the time the pup is at school, you will also allow it.”
The ass swallowed hard and immediately nodded in agreement.
...
“I will follow your advice, Alpha Aldren.”
“It is not advice, it is an order,” I clarified. “And don’t even think about shouting at her. The matter is closed and the conflict resolved.” I turned to Lídia again. “If that was the only problem, there will be no separation at all.”
“Yes, Alpha Aldren, thank you very much…” She seemed genuinely grateful.
They were mated and had formed a family; they would need to swallow their pride and work things out. My urge was to slap Matias, just to see if his thoughts would realign.
What kind of man denies new clothes to his mate?
I left the house, holding back the urge to laugh at the irony. One day, I tore off heads in the name of Valmorin’s law; the next, I saved a couple from separation.
I might have been amused, if it weren’t for all the paranoia in my head.
I slipped into the forest, avoiding the central area so as not to be intercepted. Prepared to run, Iulian approached me.
“Sir, Orion has returned and is waiting for you in the laboratory.”
“At least some good news.” The words left my mouth at the same time the cursed device vibrated once more in my pocket. Cell phones were a necessary evil.
It was Nerin, calling from the main house line.
I answered, and when I was informed of what had happened, terror engulfed me like a sudden tsunami.
…
I rushed into the bedroom, and what I saw stripped away my human control.
Hell.
Elowen, dressed in blue pajamas, lay sprawled on the floor. Her body convulsed in rapid, irregular spasms.
As if fighting an invisible enemy, her face twisted in raw agony. The pale, sweaty skin of her face reflected the light coming through the open curtains.
Nerin screamed in despair, saying she had only given her food and, when she returned to collect the plate, found her in that state.
I roared for her to bring me my first-aid kit and invaded the cage, kneeling beside the female’s small body.
The pallor, the vomiting, the difficulty breathing—everything pointed to poisoning.
Who would do this?
Elowen looked at me, her blue eyes growing dull as she fought for her life, and a muted rage swelled inside me as my beast clawed at my insides, trying to take control.
I lifted her into my arms, feeling the weight of her life in my hands.
All my accusations against her ceased to matter at that moment. The only thing that mattered was getting her out of that suffering alive.
I piled up pillows and seated her at a ninety-degree angle, receiving my first-aid case from Nerin. Inducing vomiting would only spread the suspected toxin further through her digestive system.
“Aldren… it hurts…” she babbled, trembling and barely able to keep her eyes open.
“Stay calm. I will medicate you, and when you wake up, you will be free of this pain.”
I pulled from the case one of my rare injectable solutions—rare due to its long and complex production—called MTMF Antitoxin, designed to neutralize a wide range of substances known to negatively affect metamorphs.
In addition to promoting natural detoxification, it would help repair any damage that might have been caused.
I administered the injection into her bloodstream and monitored her heartbeat, holding her thin wrist. The vomiting impulses ceased, but her body still suffered from spasms. Outwardly, I kept my expression calm and controlled, but inside, a wave of unease overtook me.
“What are you feeling?”
“Something… burning… inside…” Her voice sounded weak and breathless.
“Are you having trouble breathing?”
“No… more…” As she answered, she began coughing compulsively.