Chapter 81

Alpha Darien’s POV

“No!” I gasped, my chest heaving as I tried to push away again. But he was relentless. Each bite, each claw, stripped me of what I was. My flesh ripped and blood sprayed everywhere. My body was breaking piece by piece beneath him, and I couldn’t stop it.

For the first time in my life, fear slithered in. A cold, ugly fear that twisted my insides. Not because of death—I had never feared death. But because this… this was humiliation. To be slaughtered by the very dog I had raised in front of the people I had made to fear me–my pack.

I tried again, one last time, to reach inward, to call my wolf. “Shift, damn you!” I screamed in my head. “SHIFT!”

But there was only silence.

And then his fangs hovered above my throat. My pulse hammered so loud it was deafening. My vision darkened at the edges, my breaths shallow and wet.

If he bit down… it would be the end.

Then, to my surprise, Thorne stepped off me. His wolf form shimmered and cracked, his body twisting back i