Chapter 5 - Blood on the Marble
Selene lunged with blinding speed, a silver blur slicing through the darkness. Helga rolled instinctively off the bed, crashing hard onto the polished wood floor just as the dagger shredded the heavy down comforter, sending an explosion of white feathers swirling through the air.
""Pathetic,"" Selene laughed, turning gracefully to corner Helga against the wall. The blonde woman’s fingers curled into razor-sharp claws, her teeth lengthening into a vicious, predatory snarl. ""You don't even have the scent of a wolf on you. You smell like cheap wine and human weakness. Did you really think an Alpha King could ever love someone who bleeds so easily?""
Helga scrambled backward, her hands brushing against a heavy marble bookend on a low side table. Panic flared into desperate, white-hot fury. She had spent years letting Lincoln treat her like an afterthought, letting Jessica walk all over her kindness. She was not going to die cowering in a corner for someone else’s twisted politics.
As Selene stepped in for the kill, Helga swung the heavy marble bookend with all her strength.
The stone struck Selene squarely across the temple with a sickening crack. The blonde woman stumbled, letting out a furious screech as blood welled along her hairline. But instead of incapacitating her, the blow only enraged her further. Selene bared her fangs, her eyes flashing an unholy crimson. ""I'm going to rip your throat out!""
Before the dagger could descend, the adjoining door blew inward off its hinges with the force of an explosion.
A monstrous, thunderous roar ripped through the room, vibrating the walls so violently that the remaining glass panels in the balcony shattered. A massive shadow moved faster than the human eye could track.
Alaric didn't just intervene—he decimated the space between them. In the blink of an eye, his hand was clamped around Selene’s throat, lifting the fully grown werewolf off the floor as if she weighed nothing. His gray eyes were gone, replaced by terrifying pools of incandescent gold, and his face was twisted in the primal mask of an apex predator defending its territory.
""You dare,"" Alaric snarled, his voice a guttural, terrifying beast's roar that rattled the foundation of the house. ""You dare draw a blade in my home against my mate?""
Selene clawed frantically at his iron grip, her face turning purple as she kicked her legs uselessly in the air. ""Alaric... please... she’s human... a liability..."" she choked out, gasping for air.
""She is my Queen,"" Alaric declared, his grip tightening until her neck bones audibly strained.
""Alaric, wait!"" Helga cried out from the floor, rising to her knees amid the scattered feathers and broken glass. ""Don't kill her! Not like this!""
Alaric froze. Slowly, his golden eyes shifted down toward Helga. The sheer ferocity in his gaze softened just a fraction, the beast within him responding instantly to the sound of her voice.
With a brutal flick of his wrist, Alaric hurled Selene across the room. She crashed into the heavy mahogany wardrobe, splintering the wood before slumping onto the floor, coughing violently and clutching her bruised throat.
Instantly, the bedroom doors burst open, and Hudson rushed in, flanked by four armed pack enforcers with drawn weapons. Hudson took in the scene—the shattered balcony, the blood on the floor, and Lady Selene gasping for air—and cursed under his breath.
""Take her to the lower cells,"" Alaric commanded coldly, his breathing heavy, his chest bare and glistening with sweat. ""Inform Alpha Gregory of Portland that his daughter broke the sacred laws of sanctuary. The alliance is dead. If he wants her back alive, he will present himself before the High Council by sundown tomorrow.""
""Understood, Alpha,"" Hudson said grimly, signaling the guards to drag the weeping, defeated Selene out of the room.
When the room emptied, Alaric immediately dropped to one knee beside Helga. His large hands gently cupped her face, his thumbs wiping away the dust and sweat from her forehead. His touch was trembling with a terrifying, raw emotion. ""Are you hurt? Did she cut you?""
May you like
""I'm fine,"" Helga whispered, her breath catching as she looked into his fierce, golden eyes. She reached up, touching his bare chest, feeling the wild, galloping rhythm of his heart beneath the warm skin. ""You saved me.""
""I will always save you,"" Alaric vowed, his voice thick with unyielding devotion. ""From this night on, anyone who threatens you answers to me.""
