Chapter 53: CHAPTER 53

Dmitri’s POV

I turned, my eyes scanning the battlefield, searching for more prey. My men were everywhere—guards and soldiers, their faces pale with terror, their weapons raised not against the enemy, but against me.

They were afraid of me. I could smell it. I could see it in their eyes, in the way they held their weapons, in the way they backed away from me.

I didn't care.

I saw movement—a guard shifting, trying to get out of my path. My beast fixated on him, on the fear radiating from him, on the delicious heartbeat that I could hear pounding in his chest.

I lunged.

The guard screamed, throwing himself out of the way just in time. My claws raked across the rock where he'd been standing, sending sparks flying. I spun, my massive body moving with a speed that defied reason, and I saw him scrambling away, his eyes wide with terror.

I was about to pursue when a voice cut through the madness.

"Your Majesty! STOP!"

Kastiel. My Beta. He stood between me and the terrified guard, his sword raised, his face pale but determined. His eyes were fixed on mine, and I could see the fear in them—but also something else. Something that looked almost like desperation.

"Dmitri," he said, using my name as a weapon, trying to reach the man beneath the beast. "Dmitri, you have to stop. You're going to kill your own men. You're going to—"

I snarled, the sound vibrating through my chest, and I took a step toward him. Kastiel didn't move. He stood his ground, his sword steady, his eyes never leaving mine.

"Please," he said, and his voice was breaking. "Please, Dmitri. She wouldn't want this. She wouldn't want you to become this. You have to fight it. You have to—"

Something flickered in my mind. A voice. A face. Green eyes, soft and gentle, filled with a kindness I didn't deserve.

Tessa.

The name cut through the red haze like a blade, and for a moment, I felt the beast's hold loosen. The hunger receded, just slightly, and I saw the battlefield through human eyes for the first time since the shift began.

Bodies everywhere. Blood flowing like rivers in the rain. My men, terrified, wounded, watching me like I was the monster they had always feared I would become.

And Kastiel, standing in front of me, his sword raised, his face filled with a grief that mirrored my own.

"She's gone," I growled, and the words came out broken, barely human. "They took her from me. They took her and I couldn't save her and now she's—"

I couldn't finish. The grief was too much, too overwhelming, and the beast surged forward again, demanding more blood, more death, more destruction.

But before I could lose myself again, I heard it.

A sound. Small, broken, but unmistakably human.

"Dmitri..."

The voice was barely audible over the rain and thunder. But I heard it. My Lycan hearing, sharp even in my madness, caught it like a lifeline.

I froze. The beast inside me went silent.