C2

Lanka Monroe POV

"Lean on me, Lanka, just breathe through the silver burn," Julian Park says, pressing his palms against my shaking shoulders as he pulls me off the freezing stone table. "I should have scented the air sooner. I should have torn down those gates before they violated your pack rights."

"Having your alpha aura near me right now is the only thing keeping my wolf from tearing itself apart from the panic," I whisper, gripping Julian's jacket while my nails dig into the fabric, my legs completely weak.

"Look at this pathetic display, Maren," Maren Cole sneers, her eyes tracking Julian's hands on my waist with pure disgust. "The pup in his womb could never belong to the Wolfe lineage if he runs to a stray alpha the second my son turns his back. Tell me, Lanka, whose seed is really growing inside you?"

"You want the truth so badly, Maren?" I snap, my teeth baring as I force my voice to cut through the heavy scent of silver in the room. "The child I am carrying has absolutely nothing to do with Andrew Wolfe. You can stop dreaming about using my pup's bloodline to cure your precious Hawthorne allies!"

"What did you just say to her? Say those exact words to my face, Omega," a deep, predatory roar shakes the concrete walls of the medical wing.

Andrew Wolfe stands at the threshold, his chest heaving under his shredded shirt, his massive alpha pressure slamming into the room like a physical blow that makes the pack doctors drop to their knees.

"Andrew," I breathe out, my heart dropping into a cold abyss as I lock eyes with him, seeing the lethal fury radiating from his true mate bond.

"Do you actually believe her lies too, Andrew? Do you doubt that my wolf carries your exact scent marks?" I challenge him, lifting my chin despite the raw terror threatening to choke me. "Fine! I will say it again for the entire pack to hear. Andrew, this child does not belong to you. Are you satisfied now?!"

"Silence!" Andrew roars, the veins along his throat bulging as his claws extend, his gaze piercing through my chest like a silver blade.

"You heard him, Andrew! The lying male omega admitted it himself!" Maren yells, her fingers twitching toward her whip. "He is a shameless trait—"

"I said enough, Maren!" Andrew snaps his jaws close to her face, his raw dominance forcing her back against the blood-stained slab until her mouth shuts completely.

"Julian, please, take me away from this den," I whisper, wrapping my arms tighter around Julian's neck, purposely avoiding Andrew's terrifying stare. "Get me out of here before I suffocate."

"He is not taking you anywhere, Lanka," Andrew growls, stepping directly into our path, his massive chest blocking the exit while his eyes burn with murderous jealousy.

"The pack shamans already drained my fluid and violated my body with silver," I spit out, sweat dripping down my neck as I glare back at him with absolute mockery. "You got your samples. Can I leave now, or are you going to execute me right here on this stone table before the elders confirm the bloodline?"

"Andrew, you cannot let this treacherous omega walk out with another alpha!" Maren demands from behind us.

"Step aside, Alpha Wolfe," Julian warns, his own aura flaring to protect me as he shifts his stance.

Andrew's fists tremble so hard his knuckles crack, but he slowly steps to the side, his gaze tracking every inch of my body as Julian guides me past his massive frame.

"Andrew! How can you just let them—" Maren starts to scream.

Andrew turns like a flash of lightning, snatching the heavy glass extraction syringe right out of the head shaman's hand. With one brutal squeeze of his bare fist, the thick glass and silver needles shatter into a hundred pieces, piercing deep into his own palm. The stolen fluid mixes with his thick, dark alpha blood, dripping onto the concrete floor in a sickening pool.

"Everything is gone!" Maren shrieks, lunging forward to grab his bleeding wrist. "Andrew! Are you insane?! He confessed it wasn't yours!"

"Get out!" Andrew screams, hurling the broken metal remnants directly past Maren's cheek, slicing the air until she falls to the floor covering her face in terror.

"Every single medicine wolf and guard in this room is stripped of their pack rank and banished to the rogue lands by sunrise," Andrew commands, his voice dropping to a deathly whisper as the pack director enters the room shaking.

"Alpha, please!" a young doctor cries out, falling to his knees and grabbing Andrew's boots. "We only followed Maren's direct orders! We have families to feed in the outer pack!"

"Lanka begged you to stop too, didn't he?" Andrew whispers, stepping down on the doctor's hand until the bones pop. "When you brought silver near my pregnant mate, did you think about mercy?"

Andrew leaves the room without looking back, his heavy boots echoing down the dark hall. "Take my mother to the isolated eastern tower and lock the iron gates."

"Can you walk, Lanka?" Julian asks gently as we step into the freezing night air outside Silverline Medical Center.

"Just take me to your car, Julian," I whisper, shivering violently as he wraps his heavy coat around my bare shoulders. "I just want to go home."