Alphons POV:
The room smelled of death.
Not the clean death of a hunt, but the stale, copper tang of murder.
I stood in the doorway, my chest heaving, the wolf inside me clawing at my ribcage, demanding blood. The door hung off its hinges where I had smashed through it.
On the floor lay my world. Eloise.
She was pale, so pale she looked like marble. Blood pooled around her head, matting her hair.
Above her stood the woman. Jaidyn. She held an IV pole like a weapon, a cruel smirk frozen on her face as she realized I was there.
"King... Alphons?" she squeaked.
She dropped the pole. It clattered loudly on the tiles.
"I... she attacked me! I was defending myself!" Jaidyn stammered, backing away. She tried to make herself look small, fluttering her eyelashes, releasing a scent of distressed omega.
It was fake. Every inch of her smelled of rot and deception.
I didn't speak. I didn't blink.
I released my Aura.
It wasn't a wave; it was a hammer. I pushed my dominance out, filling the room with the crushing weight of a Supreme Alpha.
"Ghhhk!"
Jaidyn hit the floor. Her knees cracked against the tile. She clawed at her throat, gasping for air that I refused to let her have.
I stepped over her. She was nothing. Dirt beneath my boot.
I knelt beside Eloise.
"Mate," I rumbled, my voice trembling.
I touched her cheek. Her skin was ice cold. The bond between us was faint, a flickering candle in a hurricane.
"Alphons?"
Holden appeared in the doorway, phone in hand. He stopped dead. His eyes went wide as he took in the scene—his "beloved" Jaidyn gasping on the floor, and me, the King of Lycans, cradling the woman he had thrown away.
"Brother," Holden said, his voice shaking. "You... you can't be here. This is a private medical matter."
I slowly turned my head to look at him.
"Medical matter?" I asked. My voice was low, a growl that vibrated the glass cabinets. "You call draining my Luna dry a medical matter?"
"She stabbed Jaidyn!" Holden shouted, pointing at the woman on the floor. "Eloise is dangerous! She's a rogue at heart! Look at Jaidyn's arm!"
I looked at Jaidyn. She was still pinned by my Aura, weeping silently.
I stood up. I walked over to her.
"Let's see," I said.
I reached down and grabbed Jaidyn’s arm.
"No! It hurts!" she screamed.
I didn't care. I ripped the bandage off in one motion.
Holden gasped.
The skin was smooth. Pale. Unblemished.
There was no wound. Not even a scar.
"What?" Holden whispered. "But... she was bleeding. I saw the blood."
"She is a wolf, you fool," I spat, throwing Jaidyn’s arm back down. "We heal. If she was truly sick, truly weak as she claims, that wound would still be open. She healed in minutes. She has been playing you like a fiddle."
Holden stared at the arm, his brain trying to process the betrayal.
"But... the doctor said..."
"The doctor is dead if he is still in this building," I promised.
I turned back to Eloise. She stirred. Her eyelids fluttered open.
"Alphons?" she whispered.
The sound of my name on her lips broke the beast's rage and replaced it with a desperate need to protect.
I was at her side instantly. I stripped off my shredded jacket and wrapped it around her. It was soaked in my scent—pine, rain, and power.
"I am here," I said softly. "I have you."
She looked past me. She saw Holden standing there, looking lost and confused.
"Holden," she rasped.
Holden took a step forward. "Eloise, I... I didn't know she healed. I thought..."
"Stop," she said. Her voice was weak, but her eyes were steel.
She took a breath, wincing as her ribs expanded.
"I, Eloise Bowers," she whispered, every word a struggle, "reject you, Holden Callahan, as my family. I reject you as my Alpha. I sever the ties of blood and pack."
The air in the room snapped.
It wasn't a mate rejection, but a pack rejection. It was a spiritual severing.
Holden flinched as if slapped. "Eloise, you can't..."
Her head lolled back against my shoulder. Her eyes rolled up. She went limp in my arms.
"Eloise!" I roared.
I scooped her up. She weighed nothing. The silver collar around her neck burned my hand, but I didn't let go. I ripped the metal band apart with my bare fingers, throwing the pieces at Holden’s feet.
"Pray to the Goddess she lives," I told him, my eyes flashing gold. "Because if she dies, I will erase the Callahan name from history."
I walked out into the night, leaving my brother standing in the ruins of his own stupidity.
