Chapter 84: THE PRICE OF AN EYE

MALPHAS’S POV

Around us, the world had descended into total chaos. The screams of fleeing pack members echoed off the Weeping Moon Cliffs, drowned out by the thunderous roar of automatic rifle fire and the gut-wrenching sound of bones snapping beneath the force of shifting beasts. My Ironclaw mercenaries were tearing through the perimeter guards, burning the frost-lily arbors and smashing the carved altars to splinters.

None of it mattered. The battle fading around the edges of my vision was nothing more than background noise.

My entire universe had shrunk down to the sharp iron sight of the black pistol pressed flush against the center of Xavier’s forehead. My thumb rested on the hammer, my index finger wrapped tightly around the cold metal curve of the trigger. One light squeeze—a mere fraction of an inch of pressure—and the great Devil Alpha of the North would cease to exist. His brain would be painted across the white stone steps behind him. The war would be over. The crown would fall.

Yet Xavier just stood there.

He didn’t flinch. He didn’t even lower his broad shoulders. He looked straight down the barrel of my gun with those arrogant, glowing golden eyes, wearing the same sickening, insufferable look of superiority he had carried since we were children.

“Don’t you want to see your son’s body first, Jeremy?”

The sound of his voice speaking that dead, forgotten name made something inside my chest snap like a brittle twig. Rage surged through my blood, so hot and suffocating that, for one terrifying second, my vision turned completely red.

A slow, dark, psychotic smile spread across my face. I tilted my head and released a low, dry chuckle that rattled deep in my throat.

“Wrong,” I spat, my voice dripping with venom. “You think I’m bound by your little sentimental games, Xavier? I can pull this trigger right now if I want to. I could end your breath in half a second. But death is far too merciful for a dog like you.”

I took half a step closer, pressing the barrel harder against his skull and leaning in until he could smell the stale wine and ash on my breath.

“I want you to watch this entire pack burn down into ashes,” I whispered, every word carrying a cold, terrifying promise. “I don’t want the Alpha throne anymore. That throne was always meant to be mine by birthright, but you stole it. You burned my life to claim it. Well, keep your precious pile of rocks, Xavier! I don’t want it now. Now… I want to ruin you. I want to shatter everything you stand for, everything you’ve ever touched. I want your mate broken at your feet. I want your Beta and your Gamma butchered in front of your eyes. I want every single soul who ever cheered your name to scream for mercy in the dirt.”

I bared my teeth, my jaw locking so hard that my fangs scraped against my lower lip.

“They say an eye for an eye, Xavier Northwood…” I growled, my voice dropping into a guttural, demonic rasp. “But I want more than a hundred eyes for this eye you took from me! I want a sea of blood for my son!”

Xavier stared at me, his golden eyes narrowing into icy slits. He didn’t argue. He didn’t beg.

Instead, he lifted his head, sneered, and spat a glob of blood straight onto the lapel of my red leather coat.

Before I could process the insult, Xavier’s broad, clawed hand shot upward like a striking viper. His fingers locked around my wrist with terrifying pressure. The sheer physical force behind his grip was immense—an absolute wall of muscle and Alpha dominance that defied every instinct I possessed.

I tried to hold the weapon steady. I strained every muscle in my arm, my wolf roaring inside my mind as I fought to keep the barrel aimed at his skull.

It was useless.

With slow, terrifying strength, Xavier forced my hand downward, dragging the barrel away from his forehead and toward the stone floor. My knuckles cracked beneath his grip, the bones grinding together until tears of frustration stung the corners of my eyes.

Xavier leaned in close, his face inches from mine, his voice smooth, cold, and utterly terrifying.

“Then I wish you all the best, Malphas,” Xavier said softly.

Before I could react, Xavier slammed his free fist into the side of my wrist.

CLACK!

The sudden impact knocked the black pistol from my fingers, sending it spinning across the smooth marble of the altar. In the same fluid motion, Xavier drove his boot straight into my sternum.

BOOM!

The force of the kick felt like being struck by a charging bull. The breath was violently blasted from my lungs, and my body lifted off the ground, launching backward through the air. I crashed several yards away, tumbling through shattered benches and scattering frost-lily petals into the dirt.

I hit the ground hard and rolled onto my side, gasping for air as my ribs screamed in agony.

Xavier didn’t even bother checking whether I was getting up. He turned his back on me, drew his broadsword from his hip with a sharp metallic shriek, and charged straight into the thick of the battle to reinforce Beta Kaiden, tearing into my mercenaries like an unleashed demon.

I lay in the dirt for a moment, clutching my chest and coughing up a spatter of dark blood. A dark, hysterical scoff escaped my lips.

“Arrogant bastard…” I wheezed, shaking my head as a vicious smirk returned to my face.

I pushed myself off the stone floor, slowly rising to my feet. The pain in my ribs was sharp, but it was nothing compared to the burning hollow inside my chest. My wolf was weakened, scarred by old silver injuries and exhausted from years of hiding in the shadows.

Physical strength alone wasn’t going to tear Xavier apart today.

Good thing I had prepared for that.

I reached inside the inner lining of my red coat, my fingers wrapping around a small, cylindrical glass casing. I pulled it out.

Inside the clear tube was a dark, glowing purple fluid—a synthetic, volatile serum refined from corrupted dark-blood herbs and pure liquid adrenaline. A dark-market alchemical monstrosity designed to forcibly override a wolf’s natural limits, turning the body into an unkillable, pain-immune juggernaut for a few violent minutes.

I uncapped the long steel needle attached to the vial.

Without hesitation, I slammed it deep into the side of my neck, driving it straight into my carotid artery.

I pushed the plunger down, forcing every drop of the thick, burning purple liquid into my bloodstream.

“AHHH!”

The reaction was instantaneous and horrific.

I tore the empty syringe from my neck and tossed it into the dirt. The moment the fluid reached my heart, my veins felt as though they had been filled with boiling oil. My vision exploded into a blinding crimson. The veins along my neck and arms bulged, turning dark and unnatural beneath my pale skin. My muscles expanded, tearing the inner seams of my leather coat, and a terrifying wave of raw power surged through every cell in my body.

My heart hammered against my ribs like a war drum.

Two hundred beats a minute.

Three hundred.

I rolled my head from side to side, my neck bones popping loudly. Then I threw my head back toward the stormy sky and released a dark, booming laugh that seemed to vibrate through the mountain itself.

“YES!” I screamed, laughing maniacally as the agony of my broken ribs vanished beneath an intoxicating rush of energy. “YES!”

I stepped forward, moving with a speed that defied human biology.

I walked straight through the middle of the raging battlefield. A Northwood warrior charged from the left, swinging a battleaxe toward my neck.

I didn’t even bother to dodge.

I caught the steel blade in my bare palm and snapped the thick iron head from the shaft with a simple flick of my wrist. Before the warrior could scream, I grabbed him by the throat and hurled him thirty feet through the air, sending him crashing through a stone pillar.

Another wolf leaped at me in midair.

I backhanded him before he could reach me, sending his body spinning into the trees like a rag doll.

I became an absolute hurricane of destruction, flinging warriors left and right and stepping over fallen bodies as though they were nothing more than pebbles in my path.

Then my glowing, pitch-black eyes locked onto Xavier.

He was in the middle of decapitating an Ironclaw commander when I arrived. He sensed the sudden spike in my aura and began to turn, raising his broadsword to block.

He was too slow.

I closed the distance in a fraction of a second. My black-veined hand clamped around Xavier’s broad throat, the force of my strike shattering his guard. I lifted his massive frame off the stone floor with one hand, spun on my heel, and slammed him violently against the stone face of the ceremonial wall.

CRACK!

The stone fractured outward, showering us in dust and debris. Xavier released a sharp, choked gasp, his broadsword slipping from his fingers and clattering onto the ground.

Before he could recover, before his wolf could even process the sudden leap in my physical power, I pounced on him like a rabid beast.

I pinned him against the fractured wall with my forearm pressed across his throat and drew my left fist back.

BANG!

My fist struck him square across the jaw. His head snapped backward against the rock.

BANG!

Another punch landed hard enough to make blood spray from his lip, splattering across my face.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I rained punch after punch down onto his face, my fist moving in a horrifying rhythmic blur. Bones cracked, skin split, and dark red blood coated my knuckles, but I didn’t stop.

I roared with every strike, pouring fifteen years of hatred, betrayal, and the unbearable grief of my dead son into every blow.

“Die! Die! Die!” I screamed, driving my fist into his cheekbone again.

Xavier’s eyes rolled back slightly. His head lolled beneath the brutal barrage, his body slumping against the stone wall.

I raised my fist high, gathering every ounce of the serum’s violent energy into my arm for one final, skull-crushing blow.

BANG!

A sudden, sharp crack rang out from the edge of the altar steps.

A searing pain exploded through my right shoulder blade. The impact staggered me forward, and my grip on Xavier’s throat loosened. His limp body slid down the fractured wall, collapsing onto his knees in the dirt.

My mind stumbled.

The serum raging through my veins was so intense, so thoroughly numbing, that I almost couldn’t feel the wound. But the momentum of my attack had been broken.

I slowly straightened, turning my head to look over my bleeding shoulder.

“What…” I growled, my voice thick and distorted.

A girl was walking slowly up the stone steps of the altar, holding a sleek black semi-automatic handgun pointed straight at my heart.

She was dressed in simple, oversized grey civilian clothes—an oversized hoodie, dark jeans, and boots that looked completely out of place on a battlefield. But the way she moved was dead calm. Her dark hair was pulled back, her stunning face set in an expression of absolute murder.

Avrielle.

Xavier’s newly awakened mate.

A dark, mocking scoff escaped my lips. I released Xavier completely, stepping away from his fallen form and turning my entire body toward her. I wiped the blood from my lip with the back of my hand, looking her up and down with a predatory sneer.

“Okay…” I drawled, my dark eyes glinting with amusement. “Sexy dressing out there, little girl. Too bad you’re getting killed in it.”

Avrielle didn’t flinch.

A faint, cold, almost beautiful smile touched her dusky rose lips. Her dark eyes locked onto mine with an absolute lack of fear that caught me off guard.

“Too bad it’s got fantasy,” she replied smoothly.

Before the strange words could make sense, her left hand whipped out from the pocket of her grey hoodie.

She tossed something straight at my face.

It wasn’t a bullet.

It was a fine cloud of shimmering, crystalline dust.

The silver powder hit my face, entering my eyes, nose, and open mouth.

BURN.

A violent, agonizing sizzle tore through my nasal passages and throat. The fine silver dissolved into my skin instantly, reacting with the volatile purple serum in my bloodstream.

My vision shattered into jagged lines of blinding white light.

Deep within my soul, my wolf released a pained, suffocating howl, violently retreating to the furthest, darkest corner of my mind as the silver poisoned its spirit.

I stumbled backward, my hands flying to my face as a harsh, strangled groan tore from my chest. My black-veined skin flushed bright red, the untouchable physical high of the injection suddenly colliding with the poison of pure silver.

I dragged my hands down my face, spitting blood and silver dust onto the stone floor. My breathing became heavy, ragged, and raw.

“Feisty enough…” I grunted through gritted teeth, forcing my eyes open to glare at her through the haze of pain.

Beside her, a bloodied figure pushed himself from the ground.

Xavier staggered to his feet, wiping the thick stream of red from his mouth with his forearm. His chest heaved violently, his face bruised and bleeding, but his golden eyes burned with terrifying, protective fury.

He stepped directly beside Avrielle, his broad shoulder touching hers, his teeth bared in a snarl.

My wolf was crippled by the silver, but the purple serum still burned through my blood.

The madness took complete control.

“I’LL TEAR YOU BOTH APART!” I roared.

I lunged toward Avrielle with my claws outstretched, intending to rip her throat out right in front of him.

Xavier moved instantly.

He didn’t wait for me to reach her. He threw himself forward, stepping into my path as his massive arms wrapped around my waist in a brutal tackle.

BOOM!

The force of his charge dragged me away from Avrielle, taking us both over the edge of the raised altar platform. We tumbled down the stone steps, crashing into the dirt and gravel of the clearing below.

We hit the ground hard, rolling through the dirt like two wild beasts.

I snarled and drove my elbow into his bruised ribs, forcing Xavier off me. I rolled across the packed earth, my clawed hand sweeping frantically through the debris until my fingers wrapped around the cold steel of a discarded gun lying near a fallen warrior’s hand.

Without a second thought I dunked and rolled onto my back, raised the weapon, aimed it straight at the two figures standing above me on the altar steps...and pulled the trigger.