4 - MATTEO'S POV

The whole pack hall went totally silent the exact second the word left his mouth.

"Tell your men to drop their weapons before I snap his neck," I repeated my warning to Azriel so everyone in the room could hear me.

Azriel bared his teeth and he stepped forward with his fists clenched tight at his sides.

"You are bluffing because you do not have the guts to kill my captain," Azriel sneered while he pointed a shaking finger at my face.

"Do you really want to test my limits today?" I asked him while I squeezed Julian's throat a little tighter.

Julian gagged and his hands clawed at my thick wrist as he tried to pry my fingers away from his windpipe.

"Put him down right now!" Kailani shrieked from her hiding spot behind the long wooden table.

"Shut your damn mouth, Kailani," Naomi snapped from her safe position right behind my back.

"You cannot just come in here and attack our people, Matteo," Elder Thomas pleaded while he adjusted his glasses with trembling hands.

"Your Alpha ordered an execution on a guest so I am just defending myself," I reminded the old man as I kept my eyes locked on Azriel.

"You are not a guest because you are an unwanted trespasser," Azriel shouted over the terrified whispers of the crowd.

"I am the mate of your former Luna and that gives me the right to stand right here," I told him while I adjusted my stance on the marble floor.

"S-she is a traitor and you are a dead man," Azriel stuttered over his words as his temper got the best of him.

"Stop talking and tell the other three guards to back off," I ordered him again while Julian's face started to turn a pale shade of blue.

"Hit him!" Azriel roared at the remaining three guards instead of calling them off.

"Are you insane?" Naomi yelled at her former husband as the three men tightened their grip on their wooden batons.

"I am the Alpha and I said attack him right fucking now!" Azriel bellowed so loud that the crystal chandelier above us actually rattled.

The second guard let out a war cry and he rushed toward me with his baton raised high in the air.

I did not even bother reaching down to unclip the heavy handgun resting in my thigh holster.

I wanted to send a very clear message to my uncle without using any bullets or blades.

I shifted my weight to my back leg and I used Julian's own body weight against him.

I swung Julian around in a wide arc and I threw him directly into the heavy dining table where Kailani was hiding.

Julian flew through the air and his back slammed hard against the thick oak surface.

The heavy wood shattered loudly upon impact and sharp splinters flew across the marble floor.

Kailani screamed in pure terror as the broken pieces of the table crashed down around her expensive silk dress.

Julian rolled off the broken table and he hit the floor in an unconscious heap.

"Julian!" the second guard yelled as he watched his captain fall to the ground.

The second guard swung his wooden baton directly at my head with everything he had.

I ducked under the swinging weapon and I stepped right inside his guard before he could pull his arm back for another strike.

I curled my right hand into a tight fist and I threw a heavy punch straight into his jaw.

The bone cracked with a sickening snap that echoed off the stone walls of the pack hall.

Bright red blood sprayed from his mouth and hit the pristine marble floor in a messy puddle.

The guard's eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed right onto the hard stone.

The third and fourth guards stopped dead in their tracks when they saw their friends go down so easily.

They looked at the broken table and then they looked at the blood pooling around the second guard's face.

"Do you two really want to try me?" I asked them as I cracked my knuckles and waited for their next move.

"W-we just want to do our jobs," the third guard stammered while he took a slow step backward.

"Your job is to protect the pack but your Alpha is asking you to die for his bruised ego," I pointed out the obvious truth to them.

"Get up and fight him!" Azriel screamed at the two terrified men as he stomped his foot on the floor.

"Fuck this," the fourth guard muttered under his breath before he dropped his wooden baton and ran toward the broken front doors.

The third guard watched his partner run away and he immediately followed him out of the hall.

The crowd of elders gasped and whispered to each other as Azriel's security force fell apart in less than two minutes.

I reached down and I grabbed the unconscious second guard by the collar of his uniform.

I dragged him across the floor and I tossed him right onto the pile of broken wood next to Julian.

I kicked Julian's limp body out of the way and I dragged both men directly to the spot where Azriel was standing.

I threw the unconscious guards right at my uncle's expensive leather shoes.

Azriel jumped back to avoid the blood and he stared at the defeated men with his mouth hanging wide open.

"Look at your best men, uncle," I taunted him while I crossed my arms over my kevlar vest.