All Chapters of Claimed by the Ruthless Alpha Prince: Chapter 261 - Chapter 270

THE NEXT MONTH passes in a fury of blood and retribution.Theodore’s execution is the first order of business. I stand beside Kael as they drag the former Council leader into the main hall, and I feel nothing but cold satisfaction as Kael delivers the killing blow himself. Swift. Brutal. Final.Then Kael seizes control of the Umbra Council, and I watch the King transform into a harder, more ruthless version of himself. Anyone who opposes him gets stripped of power and status. Those with vile intentions—the ones who plotted against Elara, who would have supported Theodore’s war—are executed.“You’re going too far,” Seth warns him one evening.Kael is holding his baby—tiny, perfect, sleeping peacefully in his arms—and his eyes are ice.“I have a daughter to protect. No one will ever threaten her.”I approve. Every single decision he makes, I approve. Because I understand now what it means to have someone so precious that you’d burn the world down to keep her safe.With Kael’s iron grip

The decision is final. Muriel Vale stays here with us,” said my Alpha and best friend, Gavin Steele, his eyes dark with stern resolve.The tension was so thick between my packmates, it made the air hard to breathe. We had been bickering constantly for the past few days. The presence of a unicorn shifter in a pack of wolves was a disaster waiting to happen, and our pack was already struggling to survive without the jaws of death hovering over us.Ever since the clash between our pack, Grandbay, and our neighboring pack, Dalesbloom, I could tell my packmates had begun questioning Gavin’s leadership. Alpha David Hexen hungered for our territory and intended to slay the unicorn, Muriel, going so far as to secure an alliance with the Inkscale dragon shifters to do so. We were outnumbered and everyone was on edge, but Gavin had committed to protecting her. That meant standing our ground even in the face of imminent danger.I stood across the room from him, my chin raised in proud solidarity

The first thing I did was quickly assess Niko for weaknesses. He would probably focus on using his arms more than his legs. The long tuft of hair behind his head would provide me something to grip, but I had the same weakness with my red hair pulled into a ponytail. I would have to shoot low and avoid his hands. My lungs radiated with pain and I cleared my throat before breathing in long and slow.Niko struck first, hurtling directly at my midsection. I slid sideways and dodged him, giving a hard kick to his hip, only for my attack to backfire as the impact led my foot to the ground. My back was to Niko, who used the force of my kick to redirect his weight to his opposite foot and thrust his shoulder into my right side. His size and weight caused me to stumble sideways, twisting my body so I faced him again, but he all too quickly grabbed my arms and pulled them in toward my chest and down. My shoulders followed, and I knew he would try to gain control of my neck from there. I twiste

Inside, a labyrinth of churning and grinding machinery processed shipments of hardwood logs that the mill received each morning. Most of the machinery was automated and outfitted with laser-guided planing tools that mitigated the risk of injury to my employees, but there were still bodies on the floor to supervise, manually count and inspect, and operate machinery as necessary. The scent of sawdust was so strong it often tickled my nose into a sneeze but having spent my entire life around the lumber mill, the smell had become a comfort to me. Sweet, dry, dusty, tangy. The scent always varied slightly based on where the logs came from and what type of wood they were, but they all had that same earthy smell of nature that reminded me of my roots as a wild animal. A wolf.Recently, one of our debarker machines had failed and we couldn’t determine what the cause was. It seemed the millwrights we brought in had gotten it operational again. I watched the machine hungrily take logs and strip

This time, I didn’t let him make the first move. A clenched fist carried all my anger toward Niko, aiming for his cheek, but he ducked out of the way and chopped into my throat. The impact made me choke. Reflexively, I smacked the bill of his cap up off his head, then grabbed a handful of hair and wrenched his head down, but he reacted by thrusting his shoulder into my stomach. It hurt so badly that I wanted to cry out. No sound escaped me—I tried not to, or else I knew my strangled noises would only encourage him. After stumbling back, I swung my foot into his ribs. He caught my ankle and twisted it the opposite direction, leaving my only options to drop to the ground, or pull myself closer. I opted for the latter, bending my knee and hopping close enough to wrap my arms around his neck. Niko let go of my ankle, freeing my legs to wrap around his abdomen. I barely had enough time to choke him with my arms before he ensnared my hair, yanking my head back. My feet went back to the grou