Chapter 177
Chapter 177
{Lisa’s POV}
The music was still weaving through the air, the notes trying to stitch the hall back into celebration, when a scream cut the air. It was high, jagged, and it stole the breath out of the room.
I turned, startled, only to feel something slam me into the wall. My back hit the stone hard enough to knock the air from my lungs, and the sting along my scalp told me before I even looked. Lena. Again.
‘What the actual fu—’
Her hands were claws against my shoulders, the smile on her face feral. I shoved at her, twisting, forcing myself free of her grip for a moment, but she came back harder. Her strength outweighed mine, and her eyes glimmered with something dark. She wanted blood. My blood… this wasn’t like the outrage from minutes ago. This was something else…
I fought back with everything I had, teeth clenched as I forced her arms away from my face, kicking at her legs, pushing her back an inch before she surged forward again. My breath came in gasps and I screamed. “Ronan!”
My voice carried above the chaos, but when I caught sight of him, my heart froze. He was surrounded. Fighting off far too many wolves at the same time. Even Damon was surrounded where we just stood, struggling against numbers that seemed to multiply.
These weren’t just guests. They were loyalists, still bound to Lucien and Lena. How could there be so many? How could they still command such devotion? Even when Ronan was crowned King?
It wasn’t normal.
Ronan tore into them with brutal force, but the press of bodies kept him away. I cried out again, but he could not reach me. My nails scraped against Lena’s skin, leaving red lines across her arms, but she didn’t flinch. She drove me back, again and again, until the wall caught me, my head rattling from the impact. My breath came ragged. I glanced past her and caught sight of a snake tattoo slithering along the bicep of one of the men fighting Damon. Its ink seemed to move like it was alive, curling and writhing.
My chest tightened with dread. That was it… magic. There was no other explanation. They had twisted this battle with something other than mere loyalty.
I wanted to scream for help again, but I already knew. No one was coming. It was me. Just me. I lifted my arms to block the blows, ducked under claws that meant to tear skin, caught Lena’s wrist and twisted, only to be thrown across the floor. My body hit the tiles, skidding to a stop, breath stolen, the sound of blood pounding in my ears louder than the music that had faltered once more.
Lena stood over me, panting, a cruel smile stretching across her face. She wasn’t satisfied with bruises. She wanted me destroyed. Her form shimmered, muscles rippling, bones cracking as fur spread over skin. Her wolf burst forward, massive, her teeth bared and dripping, her eyes wild.
The hall erupted into panic. Screams rose, chairs crashed, glass shattered as people fled the circle forming around us. She crouched low, ready to spring forward.
Fear rose in me like a wave. I was certain… She was going to kill me. Rip my heart from my chest, tear me apart before Ronan’s eyes. And he couldn’t stop her.
Why always me? I asked and before I could go into a pity spiral something inside me snapped.
It felt like fire, a burn racing through every vein in my body, tearing into every nerve.
Pain… no, agony wracked me, so fierce it ripped a scream from my throat, a scream that made the chandeliers tremble.
I clutched at my stomach, my chest, but the pain was everywhere, consuming. My body convulsed, bent, broke, healed. My skin split, fur burst through, my hands curling into claws. My own cry drowned the chaos, an unearthly sound that was not mine alone. It was mine, and yet it was more.
Lena lunged despite the terror written all over her face, but I met her halfway, my own fury and terror blended into something untamed. I hit her with a force that sent her sprawling across the floor, her body slamming against a table that splintered under the impact. Shock flickered in her eyes, but she didn’t get the chance to recover.
I was on her before she could shift her stance, instincts I didn’t know I had guiding me. My teeth sank into her, tearing, shredding. She fought, claws raking across my side, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop.
Her heart was beating in my mouth before I even understood. Hot blood coated my tongue, and Lena’s body fell limp beneath me. Dead. The silence that followed was absolute...
Even after she was long gone, the rage in me didn’t end. The beast… my beast surged, demanding more. My gaze darted across the hall, to the terrified faces pressed back against the walls. They looked like prey, cowering, vulnerable.
My muscles coiled, ready to spring. I would tear them apart, every last one of them.
“Lisa!” Ronan’s voice cracked through the haze like lightning. His weight slammed me into the ground, pinning me with the force of a man who knew how to subdue beasts. His arms locked around me, his scent cutting through my bloodlust. “It’s me. It’s Ronan. Stop!”
I thrashed, snarled, claws scraping the tiles. But his grip only tightened, and his voice didn’t waver. “Come back. Please. Lisa, come back.” He forced my head down, his body caging mine until I had nowhere left to fight. His words pressed through the madness, steady, relentless.
Slowly, painfully, the fury mellowed out as my body convulsed again, the fur retreating, claws curling back into fingers. Pain twisted through me until finally I was me again, bare skin against the cold floor, trembling under Ronan’s sheltering frame.
I gasped, my chest heaving. The world spun.
“Wha… what's going on?”
▪︎▪︎▪︎
People were staring at me, wide-eyed, whispering in horror and awe. Ronan was staring too, his face a mix of relief and disbelief. His tone was uncertain even when he said, “You… You transformed. Lisa…”
He pointed to Lena’s dead body… “You killed her.”
Tears blurred my vision, spilling down my cheeks. My hands shook as I touched my face, my body, as though I didn’t trust what was mine anymore. My throat tightened. “What? I don't understand… I just blacked out.”
I wanted to deny it, but the taste of iron in my mouth was too overwhelming… “No.”
Damon appeared through the crowd, his jacket already in his hands. He dropped the jacket over my shoulders, shielding me, his eyes softer than I expected.
I clutched it around myself, trying to hide the shame and fear that clung to my skin.
Ronan gathered me up, his arms steady even as I shook. “We’re going home.”
But before he could move us an inch, a ring of men closed in. Council guards. The crowd parted as one of the Elders stepped forward. His face was grave, his voice carrying both apology and weight.
“I am sorry, Alpha King Ronan,” he said, inclining his head, “but she cannot leave this chamber. Not until we've tested her and find out how it's possible for a human to suddenly turn into a wolf.”