Chapter 144 THE RESULT OF HEARTBREAK

Chapter 144 THE RESULT OF HEARTBREAK
CHAPTER 144

THE RESULT OF HEARTBREAK

CHARLOTTE

Lumina took full control the moment we left the office.

The grief hit her so hard it felt like something inside her chest had split open. Heartbreak poured through every part of her and turned straight into rage. I tried to pull her back.

I shouted at her inside our shared mind. I tried to anchor her the way I had practiced in training. She was already too far gone. The pain had taken over completely and she refused to listen to anything I said.

She tore through the corridors of the pack house on four legs. Her claws scraped and gouged deep lines into the wooden floors. Every step left scratches.

She slammed her full weight into a long table near the entrance hall. The wood cracked and split. Chairs flew across the floor and smashed against the walls. A glass cabinet shattered in a loud burst. Sharp pieces scattered everywhere. The noise of destruction filled the entire floor.

Pack members appeared from different doorways. Some shouted my name. Some tried to block her path with their arms raised. Lumina saw them only as things standing in her way.

She snarled so loud the sound vibrated in my own throat. She lunged at the first man who reached for her. Her body hit him hard and drove him down onto the floor. She raked her claws across his shoulder and down his side.

His skin tore open sharply. Blood sprayed warm across her muzzle and the floor. He screamed in pain and tried to push her off. She bit down on his forearm until she felt bone crack between her teeth. He fell back cursing, holding the ruined arm.

Another man came from the side and grabbed at her fur. She twisted with a violent snap of her body and sank her teeth deep into his thigh. He howled and collapsed. More of them came. Lumina did not stop.

The bloodlust mixed with the grief until nothing else existed in her mind. She attacked anyone who came close. People scrambled to get out of her way. Doors slammed shut. Voices rose in panic and fear.

I kept trying to pull her back. Stop, lumina. Please stop. These are our people. We can't hurt our people. They didn't do anything to us. They're not Dorian.

She ignored me completely. The pain inside her was too loud I could feel it.

Two younger wolves shifted at the end of the hall and tried to stop her together. They were fast but not strong enough.

Lumina slammed into the first one with her full weight and drove him to the ground. Her jaws closed around his throat and tore sideways. Hot blood filled her mouth and ran down her chest. She did not pause. She ripped into his chest with claws and teeth, cracking ribs, until she pulled the heart free. She swallowed it in two hard, wet bites.

The second wolf tried to turn and run after seeing what she did to the first one. But it's too late. Lumina caught him before he reached the corner. Her body landed on his back and drove him down. The same violence followed. Bones cracked under her teeth. Flesh tore. She ripped his heart out while his body still twitched and ate it in the middle of the hallway.

Screams and wails filled the pack house. People cried out in pure horror. Some tried to pull the bodies away. Others backed against the walls, too afraid to move. The smell of blood was thick and metallic in the air. It coated Lumina’s tongue and muzzle.

A heavy presence slammed into the bond without warning.

Lumina’s head snapped up. A huge black wolf stood at the end of the corridor. His eyes locked on hers. The mate bond crashed through her like a physical blow. She knew immediately it was Dorian.

Instead of calming her, the bond made her angrier. She saw it as another attempt to control her, to force her to surrender while the grief still tore her apart from the inside.

She attacked him without hesitation.

They met in the middle of the hall with a hard, bone-jarring collision. Claws ripped across fur and skin. Lumina bit deep into his shoulder and felt her teeth sink into muscle. His blood filled her mouth, hotter than the others.

But he was stronger. He drove her backward with raw power and slammed her against the wall hard enough that the impact rattled every bone in her body. Plaster cracked behind her.

She twisted under him and tore a long, deep gash along his side. Blood poured from the wound. He snarled, the sound deep and furious, and used his greater weight to slam her down onto the floor.

His heavier body pinned her completely. His jaws hovered near her throat but did not close. Through the bond his voice pushed into her mind, cold and absolute.

Shift back. Now.

Lumina refused. She thrashed under him with everything she had left. Her claws scraped across the floor and his legs. She tried to twist her head enough to bite his face. He pressed harder, using his full weight to hold her still. His voice came again, louder and sharper inside her head.

Shift. Submit.

I felt her fight for several more long seconds. Every muscle in her body strained against his. The command in the bond kept pushing, heavy and relentless. It finally broke through the rage.

Her body began to change against her will. Bones shifted and cracked. Fur receded in painful waves. The wolf form collapsed until I was human again, naked and bleeding on the cold floor beneath him.

Dorian shifted at the same time. He was also naked. Blood ran freely down his shoulder and side from the wounds she had given him. He looked around the ruined corridor. Broken furniture lay everywhere. Blood coated the walls and floor. Two bodies lay still in the middle of the hall. Pack members stood crying and staring in shock.

His face hardened into something cold. He grabbed my wrist hard enough that pain shot up my arm and pulled me up.

I stumbled after him as he dragged me down the remaining hallway and into his office.

He opened the heavy metal door of the cell built into the side of the room, shoved me inside, and locked it with a hard metallic sound.