Chapter 24 Chapter twenty-four
For a long moment, no one spoke. The air seemed to tighten, heavy with unsaid words and held breaths.
Then Sylvia broke the silence. His voice was low, but it carried the edge of restrained fury. “What did you do to her, Claus?”
Claus didn’t move, his hands clasped behind his back. His shoulders were tense, the muscles in his neck standing out.
Sylvia stepped forward, the floorboards creaking beneath his weight. “Don’t play dumb with me. I heard screaming, yelling, but it was there. Arguments. Between you and Ellie.” His tone sharpened. “Why the hell are you putting her life at risk?”
Claus turned his head slightly, his icy gaze locking with Sylvia’s. “You’re mistaken,” he said, his voice clipped. “Whatever you heard was none of your business.”
Sylvia’s temper flared. “None of my business? She almost lost the child, her life all because of you!”
Claus’s voice snapped like a whip. “Don’t involve yourself in our personal affairs. This is between me and my wife. Not you. Not anyone else.”
Sylvia’s control shattered. “Your wife?” he hissed, stepping closer. His wolf flared beneath his skin, his eyes glowing faintly gold. “You call her your wife, but you accuse her in front of the council and you also doubt her integrity. You’re a living stress, Claus! Everything about you, your insecurity, your temper, your arrogance , it’s poison to her!”
Claus’s jaw flexed. “Careful, Sylvia.”
“No,” Sylvia growled, taking another step. “I won’t be careful. Not after what you’ve done. She almost died today because of you!”
Claus turned then, fully, and the air thickened with the clash of dominance, alpha against alpha. His eyes burned with the frost of his wolf’s power, silver streaking through the blue. “Watch your tone,” he said quietly. “You forget your place.”
Sylvia laughed bitterly. “My place?”
The energy between them rippled, a visible shimmer of power. Outside, the forest stirred uneasily, birds bursting from the trees in nervous flocks.
“Remind me,” Sylvia said, voice shaking with emotion, “who was it that got her kidnapped? Who provoke her, that she ran in forest and end up in the hands of witches, You were so desperate to prove you were right, you didn’t stop to think what it would cost her!”
Claus’s hands clenched. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know enough,” Sylvia shot back. “I was the one recuse her, Claus. Tied up, bloodied, terrified. I was the one who entered the portal whereas nobody could including you that was busy barking orders to,” His voice cracked, raw with anger and pain. “So don’t you dare tell me I don’t know.”
Claus’s wolf snarled beneath his skin, a rumble that vibrated through the room. “Why do you care so much?” he demanded suddenly, the words sharp and cutting. “You’ve been circling her like some lost pup since the day she joined the pack. Maybe instead of coming between two bonded mates, you should focus on finding your Mate. GET YOUR OWN MATE!.”
Sylvia froze. The insult hit like a slap. His wolf bristled, ready to strike. For a heartbeat, it seemed he might.
But then his gaze shifted to Ellie — pale, fragile, sleeping, one hand resting protectively over her stomach. The anger drained from him, leaving only grief and exhaustion.
“You’re impossible,” Sylvia whispered, turning away. “You don’t even see it, do you? You think this is about me wanting her? It’s not. It’s about the fact that she deserves better. She deserves peace. And if you can’t give it to her, you’ll lose her — not because someone took her, but because she can’t survive you.”
Claus’s chest rose and fell rapidly. His fists trembled, but his expression didn’t change. “Get out,” he said quietly.
Sylvia didn’t move.
“Get. Out.”
The growl that followed was deep, primal, carrying the full weight of Claus’s authority as Alpha. Sylvia’s wolf instinctively flinched, but the man stood his ground.
Finally, he stepped back. “You can throw me out,” Sylvia said, voice shaking, “but you can’t silence the truth.”