Page 43

This chapter is dedicated to aniyahrndo. I laughed out loud at your comment. Thank you.

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Aegis's Point Of View.

He isn't supposed to be here.Blood soaked through the knife still buried in his chest. But it wasn’t the blood that scared me. It was the look in his eyes.

“I want you. You will give yourself to me,” Elias growled. His voice wasn’t his own. It was deeper and broken. His wolf had taken over.

I backed away slowly shortening my own breath to not agitate him. Locked in a room with an Alpha I could handle, but a wolf. An unhinged wolf. Nahh.

“You’re not well,” I whispered. He crawled toward me, crazed and growling nonsense. His claws scraped the floor as he tried to grab my leg.I raised my foot and kicked him hard in the jaw.He slumped and his body finally stilled just beside my bed. His face turned toward me like he's in a twisted kind of sleep and I jumped back.

The door burst open and Damian stormed in. His eyes swept through the room until it finally settled on me. I watched as he took it all in. The knife. The blood. Elias.

“Are you hurt?” he asked in a clipped voice. I nodded once. “I’m fine.”He took a step closer to me and just when I thought he was going to hold me.

He knelt beside Elias and I saw red. My throat tightened as I tried to process and regulate. “What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer me .He pressed his hand over Elias’s chest and released golden light from his palm.“Stop.” My voice cracked as tears welled in my eyes. “Stop it. He just tried to....he tried to—”

“Shut up,” Damian said sharply.I flinched and my hands curled into fists. Oh hell no.

A knock sounded on the door before I could launch my anger at him.

“ Alpha Aegis?” Beta Solice’s voice was muffled. “Are you in there?”Damian didn’t stop healing. “What is it?”

“I’m looking for the Alpha. He’s been acting strange. I feared he might’ve come here to cause trouble for you.”

My mouth opened. I wanted to speak. I needed to. But a toxic wave of thick and heavy power wrapped itself around my voice.

“I’m fine,” I said. But it wasn’t my voice. It was my mouth speaking but it wasn’t me.I glanced at Damian. His power still buzzed through the air.

"I'm coming in." Solice insists twisting and turning my locked door knob noisily.

“All is well,” Damian called out calmly.“I can come in to be sure,” Solice pushed.“You want to see me naked?” Damian snapped. “Is that it, Solice? Should I take my pants off for you?”A long pause. Then his footsteps slowly retreated.

I turned to Damian slowly. “Did you just—?”He stood up and wiped his hand on a towel by the bed.

“He would've kept pushing.”

“You used your power to shut me up.”

“I saved your life.”

“By healing him?” I exploded. “He tried to rape me, Damian!"

“You don't think I know that?” he barked.

“Well it certainly doesn't look like it.”I pointed at Elias. “Looks like you care more about him than me. A man just tried to force himself on me and you healed. So much for being the King.”

He didn't say any but I saw the nerve ticking in his jaw. And I didn't care.

"Tell me do you do that to women too? Who knows the Almighty King of Wolves would enjoy taking women by force."

His jaw clenched and he exploded. “Don’t you dare compare me to him", he roared at me.

“You’re all the same.”

“I said don’t", he growled this time grabbing my arm and pulling me to him.

“Tell me you’ve never done it. Never taken what wasn’t offered.”

His eyes burned in silent fury as he stared at me. “Smell the air.”

“What?”He stepped closer. “Smell the air around Elias. Tell me what you smell.”

“I’m not a dog.”

“Aegis.” His voice was lowand persuasive now. “Please.”I didn’t want to. But something in his eyes held me still.

I inhaled slowly and got it instantly.“Balrush,” I whispered.

He nodded. “Balrush seeds. A powerful aphrodisiac. It only works when the target hears the name of the one they’re supposed to want.”

“You’re saying...?”

“He’s being poisoned.”My mouth went dry as I try to imagine someone sending him to me. Has anyone figured who I am?

“His wolf is in control because his mind is gone. He's being controlled and someone’s been doing this for weeks, maybe even months.”My chest heaved.

“That’s not any of my business.”Damian’s jaw clenched. “Can’t you see? You were the bait.”

He pulled out a phone with his other hand still holding on to me and pressed play.Solice’s voice filled the room.

“…I'm sending Elias after her . We need her dead. If he mates her, it’s a clear violation. He’s a mated wolf. The Council won’t protect him… it’ll look like he cheated. That’s when we can push for the bond break. Sheila takes the pack and gives it to me , and Aegis disappears…”

I sank onto the bed.I didn’t say a word.I didn’t cry.I didn’t scream.I just sat there.“You were never supposed to survive tonight,” he said quietly.

I looked up at him calm now. “I’m not apologizing.”He smiled. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

“Get out of my room. And take him with you.”He grabbed Elias with one hand like he weighed nothing.I turned away from him, pretending not to watch.But my heart was beating fast again.Because for the first time since I reincarnated i felt like prey.

He reached the door and stopped.“Aegis?”

“What?”

“Do understand that i’d never let that happen to a woman. Not in my presence. Not in my kingdom.”His voice dropped even lower.“And most especially not to a woman that’s going to be mine.”

He left before I could answer.