Chapter 198 CHAPTER 198

Chapter 198 CHAPTER 198
Adrian's POV
I ran.

The forest blurred past me, black and green and bleeding into one endless smear of motion. My paws hit the ground in a rhythm I didn't feel, driven by something deeper than instinct—something that was tearing me apart from the inside.

My eye.

The wound was a burning hell. Every stride sent a fresh wave of agony through my skull, through my optic nerve, through the very center of my being. I could feel the blood running down my face, hot and thick, staining my fur. Each heartbeat pushed more of it out, a relentless tide that I couldn't stop.

I could feel the emptiness where my eye should be. The hollow socket. The absence. And it was driving me mad.

I had lost.

The thought was unbearable. The thought was impossible. I had been so close. I had been on top of him, my jaws around his throat, ready to end it, ready to see the light fade from his eyes. I had been victorious. I had tasted victory, felt it settle in my chest like a promise fulfilled.

And then that girl. That bitch, the keeper's daughter. She had thrown that vial from the window, and Rafael had caught it, and it had changed everything.

The serum had healed him. It had given him the strength to turn the tide. It had taken my victory and ripped it away, leaving me with nothing but this burning, hollow emptiness where my eye used to be.

I screamed.

The sound tore from my throat, raw and animal, echoing through the trees. It wasn't a howl. It was a shriek of pure, undiluted rage—the sound of a creature that had been denied what it was owed. I ran faster, slamming through branches, tearing through undergrowth, caring nothing for the cuts and scratches that opened across my body.

I would make them pay. I would make all of them pay. I would tear them apart, piece by piece, and I would watch the light die in their eyes.

I reached the gate of my compound and collapsed.

The shift ripped through me, forced, violent. My bones cracked and reformed, my fur receded, my body snapped back into human form. I stumbled, my bare feet catching on the gravel, my body crashing against the iron gate.

"HELP ME!" I screamed, my voice cracking. "YOU WORTHLESS, PITIFUL EXCUSES FOR SERVANTS—GET OUT HERE AND HELP ME!"

The door of the mansion burst open. Keepers poured out, their faces pale, their eyes wide with fear. Behind them, a few of my rogues emerged, their heads lowered, their postures submissive.

"Master Adrian!" One of the keepers rushed toward me. "Your—your eye—"

"Get me inside!" I grabbed her by the throat, pulling her close. I could feel her pulse fluttering under my fingers, could smell the fear radiating from her. "Get me inside now, or I will tear your head from your shoulders!"

She nodded frantically, choking. I threw her aside and staggered toward the door, my hand pressed against my ruined eye.

The blood was still flowing. I could feel it soaking through my fingers, dripping onto the stone floor as I stumbled inside. It left a trail behind me, dark and wet, a testament to my failure.

"A healer!" I roared. "Bring me a healer! NOW!"

The mansion erupted into chaos. Keepers running, rogues shouting, doors slamming. Someone grabbed my arm, guiding me toward a chair. I shoved them away, collapsing into it on my own.

I sat there, panting, my chest heaving, my hand pressed against my eye. The pain was unbearable. It throbbed with every beat of my heart, a constant, screaming reminder of what I had lost.

I had lost an eye. To Rafael. To the brother who had always been better than me, always been favored, always been the one who won.

I had spent years building my power, carefully positioning myself, planting seeds of destruction. I had found the weakness in his armor—the cursed wolf, the dying heir. I had threaded the poison into his blood, inch by inch, and watched him weaken. I had prepared for this victory, savored it in advance.

And then I had let it slip away.

Not anymore, I thought. This isn't over. This is just the beginning.

A healer appeared—a woman, older, her face drawn, her eyes fixed on my wound with a clinical focus. She carried a bag of supplies, her movements quick and practiced. She was good at her job. But good wasn't enough. Good couldn't give me back what I had lost.

"Let me see," she said.

I lowered my hand.

She looked at the wound, her expression shifting to something I didn't like. Her brow furrowed. Her lips pressed together. I could see the hesitation in her eyes, the unspoken words she was trying to organize.

"That's... extensive," she said carefully.

"Fix it," I said. "Now."

She began to work. Her hands moved swiftly, cleaning the wound, applying salves, chanting soft incantations under her breath. I felt a cool, soothing sensation spreading through my face, easing the burning. The bleeding began to slow.

But I couldn't stop reliving it.

The fight. The moment I had pinned him down,  my claws had been inches from his throat. The moment everything had gone wrong. I had felt his blood on my tongue, heard his labored breathing, seen the despair in his eyes.

And then the vial. The light. The sudden, impossible surge of strength that had turned the tide.

And then I remembered.

The serum had been thrown from the window. I had seen the girl's face—Emma, the Steele brat. But I had been so focused on Rafael that I had missed the other figure standing beside her. Now the image came back to me, sharp and clear, a detail I had overlooked in the heat of battle.

It was Mathias.

Mathias had been with her. Mathias had helped her. Mathias had given Rafael the serum that had turned the tide.

The realization hit me like a blow.

Mathias.

The traitor. The hybrid I had been using for years. The dog who had been feeding me information, feeding Rafael the curse, playing both sides. I had kept him close, controlled him with the threat of his mother's life, watched him squirm and obey.

And now he had betrayed me.

"Why?" I hissed under my breath. "Why would he—I have his mother. I have her hostage. He knows what will happen to her if he betrays me. He knows I will kill her."

The healer paused, her hands hovering over my eye. "Master Adrian—"

"Not you," I snapped. "I'm not talking to you."

She shrank back. "My apologies."

The pain in my eye was beginning to dull, the bleeding slowing. The healer was good. But I could feel the emptiness still there—the hollow socket where my eye had been. The blindness that would never be healed.

Mathias, I thought, the name burning in my mind. After everything I did for him. The power I gave him. The protection I provided. He was supposed to be grateful. He was supposed to be loyal. And now he's thrown it all away.

I should have known. I should have seen it coming. He had always been weak, always had a soft spot for Rafael. I had threatened his mother, yes, but I should have done more. I should have broken him completely, made sure there was nothing left of the boy who had once loved his friend.

"It's stopping," she said quietly. "But I have to tell you—"

I grabbed her wrist. I could feel her pulse jump under my fingers. "Tell me what?"

"The eye. It cannot be regenerated. The damage is too severe." Her voice was trembling, each word a careful measurement. "I can stop the pain. I can close the wound. But I cannot restore what was lost."

I stared at her. The words hung in the air, absolute and final. I was going to be blind in one eye. Because of Rafael. Because of the brother who had always won.

And Mathias. Mathias had helped him.

The rage exploded.

I grabbed the healer by her hair and slammed her against the wall. She cried out, her hands flying to her head. The sound of her skull hitting the plaster was satisfying, a small release of the pressure building inside me.

"YOU CAN'T RESTORE IT?" I screamed, hitting her again. "YOU USELESS, WORTHLESS—"

I hit her again. And again. And again.

"You're supposed to be a healer! You're supposed to fix me! And you're telling me you can't?!"

Her face was red with welts. Blood trickled from her nose, from the corner of her mouth. She was crying, her hands raised to protect her head.

I threw her to the ground. She lay there, whimpering, curling into a ball.

"Get out," I snarled. "Get the fuck out of my sight!"

She scrambled to her feet and fled, her footsteps echoing through the mansion.

I stood there alone, my chest heaving, my hands shaking. The blood from my eye had slowed, but the emptiness remained. I could feel it every time I tried to see—a void where the world should have been.

My eye is gone. Rafael is still alive. Mathias has betrayed me.

I had to make them pay. All of them.

Starting with Mathias.