Chapter 19 The Alpha's Sudden Intervention
Aurelia
I thrust my hands downward, and the air thickened, growing heavy and pressing them back like an invisible wall.
They staggered, snarling, their claws extending. I focused on the female shifter and locked onto her mind like a hook.
Her hand jerked toward her pocket against her will. She fought it, her hand trembling, veins bulging in her neck as she tried to bring her arm down.
But my compulsion was stronger tonight, it was fueled by fear, fury, and desperation. I needed to destroy the vial because if I failed, my fate in the OnyxFang pack would be miserable.
Her fingers closed around the vial, and she pulled it free.
They all froze, breathing hard, fear rolling off them in thick waves. I could taste it on my tongue, and it turned my stomach, because using my magic made me feel and smell and taste things I didn't want to.
I hardened my concentration until my temples throbbed. The vial lifted from her palm, hovering, trembling in the air between us.
Her eyes moved from side to side as she tried to fight my magic.
I let out a loud scream as I clenched my fist and the vial squeezed in on itself without cracking. Then I made it vanish.
I didn't destroy it, it was just simply… gone, pulled into the same dark fold of magic I kept buried deep inside me.
The moment the vial vanished from her hand, everything turned into a blur.
Five wolves exploded into their true forms, fur ripping through skin, bones cracking and reforming in brutal seconds.
Massive, snarling beasts circled beneath the tree, their eyes glowing amber and gold in the moonlight.
Their lips peeled back over gleaming fangs, saliva dripping in thick ropes onto the shale.
The female shifter was now the largest, a sleek silver-gray she-wolf.
She threw her head back and let out a guttural howl that vibrated through my bones.
The sound was pure command. I knew she was telling them to hunt, kill and tear.
I didn’t wait to see if they would obey because I knew they would.
I launched myself from the branch, higher than I’d climbed, higher than I should have risked.
The ground rushed up too fast. I twisted mid-air, trying to land on my feet, but my ankle buckled the instant it hit the hard-packed earth.
Pain lanced up my leg like lightning, and I swallowed the scream that tried to rip out of my throat, biting down so hard that I tasted blood.
My vision swam for a heartbeat, but I forced myself upright, shifting my weight to my good leg.
The wolves were already moving. The female shifter lunged first, her muscles coiling and releasing like a spring, her jaws wide, aiming straight for my throat.
I threw up my hands on instinct. The magic poured out of me again. It was wilder this time and uncontrolled, fueled by raw panic and the sharp agony in my ankle.
An invisible wall slammed into her mid-leap.
She crashed against it with a yelp, tumbling sideways, rolling once before scrambling back to her paws.
The others hesitated, only for a second, but that second was enough.
I turned and ran. It was more like I was trying to.
Every step sent fresh fire up my leg.
My ankle swelled with every heartbeat, and it was growing hot with every passing second, threatening to give out completely.
I limped, staggered, half-dragged myself through the underbrushes, branches whipping my face, tearing at my arms and my dress.
Behind me, I could hear their paws pounding the earth, their claws scraping stone, their breaths huffing in excited bursts.
They were gaining on me. I pushed harder, ignoring the tears that blurred my vision, ignoring the way my ankle screamed with every uneven step.
A massive black wolf broke through the trees on my left, flanking me. He snapped at my heel.
I felt the brush of hot breath and the graze of fangs against my calf.
I twisted away, throwing another desperate pulse of magic behind me.
It wasn’t strong, just enough to make him stumble, but it bought me another few yards.
The female shifter was right behind me. I could hear her howls of fury and the pound of her paws on the hard earth.
My ankle finally gave out completely and I crashed to my knees, my palms slamming into dirt and pine needles.
Pain exploded up my leg again, stealing my breath.
When I lifted my head, five wolves circled me, ready to pounce.
The female shifter stepped forward, her silver fur bristling. Her lips curled in a snarl that promised a slow, painful end.
I lifted my chin, trembling but refusing to look away.
If this was how it ended, if Zhayad found my body torn apart by his own people, then at least I’d die knowing I’d stopped the vial.
At least I’d kept his pack safe from my father’s poison.
For one frozen heartbeat, the forest held its breath.
Then Zhayad’s howl resounded through the night. It was raw and primal, a sound that promised death to anyone that dared touch what was his.
The five wolves surrounding me flinched as one.
Their ears flattened, tails tucked, and they scattered like leaves in a hurricane, the silver wolf's form leading the desperate retreat into the trees.
But it was too late, because a white blur exploded from the darkness.
Whenever you saw a white wolf that looked this massive, lethal, and unstoppable, you just knew it was Alpha Zhayad's wolf.
He crashed into the fleeing wolves with the force of an avalanche.
Snarls turned to yelps, then to wet, choking silence.
I pressed my hands over my ears, rocking on the cold ground, trying to block out the sounds of ripping flesh and breaking bone.
When the last of the whimpers died, the forest fell quiet again. Only my ragged breathing and the pounding of my own heart remained.
Then I felt him. The mate bond ignited like wildfire in my veins, it was so hot, overwhelming, and consuming.
Every emotion that wasn’t mine flooded in: his rage, his terror, his possessive fury, his desperate need to protect.
It hit me in waves so intense I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t tell where his feelings ended and mine began.
Heavy paws padded closer, then switched to footsteps that were nearly silent. He'd shifted.
“Open your eyes, Aurelia.”
His voice was like gravel and smoke, rough from the shift and the slaughter.
I obeyed, slowly. And nearly stopped breathing.
Zhayad stood over me, stark naked, every inch of his sculpted body painted in fresh blood.
Crimson streaked across his broad chest, down his carved abs, along the powerful lines of his thighs.
His green eyes burned with that otherworldly glow, his fangs still partially extended, his black hair wild and damp with sweat and gore.
He looked like a god who had just bathed in the blood of his enemies. And he was looking at me like I was the only thing left worth saving in the world.
“You’re not a shifter,” he started.
“Why, thank you, I didn't know that.” I retorted, trying to move away.
He let out a low growl that sounded more like a deep rumble.
“You won’t heal quickly like us.” He dropped to one knee beside me, his gaze raking over my torn dress, the blood on my feet, my swollen, purple ankle that throbbed painfully.
“I need to fuck you so your ankle can heal.”
My mouth went dry.
“Eh, now?” I whispered, my voice shaking. “You just… you just killed five wolves from your own pack and—”
“Open your legs, Aurelia.”