Chapter 25

~Alerion~

I was in the wrong place at the right time.

That was the only explanation.

I wasn’t following her. I wasn’t looking for her. I was just... there. Walking. Thinking. Telling myself I didn’t care where she was or who she was with.

And then I heard it.

A struggle for life. A sharp gasp.

My body reacted before my brain did. My wolf grew reckless, muscles tensing, instincts screaming one thing.

Protect her.

The moment I saw her, my stomach twisted. She was fighting, but she was losing.

For the first time in my life, I felt something I never wanted to feel. Panic.

A sick, helpless kind of fear that turned my blood to ice.

I hated it.

I fucking hated it.

And I was going to make them pay for it.

The fight was over before it even began. I moved through them like a blade through flesh. Quick. Brutal. Relentless. By the time the last one fell, my breathing was steady, my heart still hammering but I wasn’t afraid anymore.

I was angry.

Valeria was staring at me, wide-eyed,