4: Murderous Instinct

ALPHA EZRA

The goal today was to take my bride and return to the Lycan territory, where I had important pack matters to attend to, but instead, I was met with delays.

That little she-wolf and the pack Alpha dared to make a fool of me like this, disrespecting the Lycan royal authority before an entire pack of werewolves. They would all bear the consequences of their actions. Of that, I was certain.

But first, I had to make sure that my original bride was alive and healthy enough to be taken to my territory.

Without uttering a word to the pack Alpha, I turned and headed for the pack's infirmary. I had secretly studied this pack's layout without the Alpha or even the guards realising there had been an intruder within their territory.

Except for the fraud whom I had saved from killing herself, of course. Last night, she seemed terrified and innocent. I could never have imagined she was a serpent disguised as a saint.

When I reached the infirmary, I found Calista's parents wailing uncontrollably, especially the mother.

“What happened?” I demanded coldly.

“Calista!” the woman screamed, trembling violently. “Her...” She hiccupped. “She... the doctor said...”

“Her uterus has been completely destroyed, and she's currently under the knife while they're removing it before she dies,” the father finally said.

Rage. In its pure, undiluted form, consumed my entire being. Disappointment also coursed through my veins as the hope I had clung to crumbled before my very eyes.

According to the priestess, the White Wolf was the only cure to my curse and the only one who could safely bear a child for me. Every other woman's womb was like a fruitless void to my seed and could never carry my child. Even if another woman miraculously conceived, her chances of surviving childbirth were less than ten percent, so I had always done my best to avoid spilling my seed inside a woman. I never wanted to be the cause of the women I fuck’s demise.

Just when I had finally found the solution to all my problems, that little brat ruined everything. All for what? Simply because she wanted to be my bride. I would make her suffer and regret her entire existence.

My eyes, whose depths burned like a volcanic pit, shot towards the guards in the infirmary as I commanded, “Bring me that little brat to the pack square. I will teach her a lesson she will never forget.”

Death would be too merciful for her. I would render her so broken and worthless that no one would ever want to be near her again. She would live a lonely, disgraceful life, her scars reminding her of her sins until the very end of her miserable existence.

The pack members gathered around the pack square, including the newly crowned pack Alpha and his father. Calista's parents were there as well.

Ayla was dragged to the centre of the pack square and forced to kneel before me.

“Ayla!” I growled as I pulled my dagger from the sheath strapped to my boot and marched towards her. “Confess your sins and tell everyone why you destroyed your sister's uterus.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

I turned my gaze to Alpha Rowan. “You are the pack Alpha. Neither you nor your pack are exempt from punishment. You will suffer for lacking the power to control your subjects.”

“Lycan King!” Rowan quickly bowed his head. “I had no idea she was capable of such an act. If I had, I would've killed her before she even put on that wedding dress!”

“I did not do it!” the brat cried, tears streaming down her face. “I swear on my life, I did not do it.”

“Liar!” her stepmother growled. “If you didn't do it, then explain this.” She stepped forward, holding up her phone and turning the screen for everyone to see the video playing on it.

It was a recording of Calista lying on a hospital bed. Her voice was weak, and her eyes were barely open.

“My sister... Ayla... She stabbed me with a silver knife and twisted it just before I put on the wedding dress. She said she wanted me dead because she was jealous of me. I was the White Wolf and marrying the man of her dreams. She wanted him instead. Please don't be too harsh on her. I know she didn't mean it.”

Calista fainted immediately afterwards.

“Even on the verge of death, my daughter was still kind enough not to want her sister harmed. But Ayla, on the other hand, hurt her heartlessly without a single care in the world,” Rita, their mother, said, her voice breaking as it carried across the crowd. She used the edge of her blouse to wipe the tears from her face. “I don't want anything to happen to my daughter.”

After seeing the video evidence of Calista exposing Ayla's crime, the rage boiling inside me tripled, and pure murderous instinct took hold of me. Every shred of doubt I had harboured vanished.

I fixed my gaze on Ayla and instructed my men with sheer authority.

“Grab her!” I growled.

They marched towards her and seized both of her arms, hauling her to her feet, though her legs wobbled beneath her.

She whimpered softly, and because the mate bond had already formed, I could distinctly feel her emotions. The pain. The dread. The fear.

For some reason, a sour feeling settled in the pit of my stomach, but I ignored it. The flicker of concern I felt was nothing more than the useless mate bond. Once it was dissolved, I would be rid of her forever.

“Alpha,” the Elder who had officiated the marriage called calmly, “perhaps, if I may ask, what do you plan to do to her?”

“Kill her!” I rumbled, my voice reverberating through the pack square. “Let her blood soak this ground as the price for her crimes.”