Chapter 5
822words
Three days after finding the journal, a piercing horn shattered the fortress's twilight calm.
The attack alarm!
Ella's heart lurched. She rushed to the window, hearing chaos erupt in the courtyard below—roaring warriors and clashing steel.
"Rogue! The Rogues ambushed the patrol!"
"Lord Karen's in the east wing! They're fighting there!"
Karen…
His name had barely crossed her mind when dizziness slammed into her.
Sudden, unbearable agony seized her heart like a vise.
This wasn't the vague bond-pull she'd felt before. This was soul-rending pain—as if someone were carving out her heart with a dull blade.
Her inner wolf released a blood-curdling howl of distress.
MATE!
HE'S HURT!
Primal panic drowned Ella's rational mind. Only one thought remained—find him!
She wrenched open the door and bolted into the corridor.
"Luna! You can't leave!" A guard at the corridor's end moved to block her.
"MOVE!"
Ella shoved him with strength she didn't know she possessed. The Beta guard stumbled back, staring at her in shock.
She didn't pause, racing toward the main keep, following that heart-wrenching pain like a beacon.
When she burst into the great hall, the battle had ended.
The air reeked of blood and burning metal—the unmistakable stench of silver.
Karen Wolcoff knelt in the hall's center.
His black shirt hung in tatters, revealing a wound that carved from shoulder to chest, deep enough to expose bone. Blood poured from it, soaking the carpet beneath him.
But he wasn't healing.
The wound edges had turned a sickening blue-black, the flesh hissing and bubbling as if eaten by acid.
"Silver! A silver blade!" Seraphina knelt beside him, panic stripping away her composure. "The venom's in his blood! Where's the healer?!"
"It's too late!" an elder wolf cried, his voice breaking. "The venom's reached his heart—his healing power is blocked! Moon Goddess save him…"
Karen released a guttural growl of agony. His golden eyes had darkened to blood-red, filled with feral madness.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" He hurled Seraphina away with a savage swipe. Even dying, his Alpha strength remained lethal.
The Silver Venom was consuming his sanity.
"Karen!" Ella screamed, lunging forward.
"Stop, Omega!" Seraphina drew her blade, blocking Ella's path. "Are you trying to finish him off?"
"He's DYING!" Tears streamed down Ella's face, the bond-pain stealing her breath. "Let me through! I can save him!"
"You? A pathetic Omega?" Seraphina sneered. "You can only—"
Her words died in her throat.
Karen's head snapped up, those blood-red eyes cutting through the crowd to lock onto Ella.
He caught her scent.
Through the agony and burning venom, he smelled wild roses and summer rain.
His mate.
His salvation.
"…You…" The word clawed from his throat.
"MOVE!" Ella shoved past Seraphina and flung herself toward Karen.
"Ella…"
The moment she neared him, Karen's last thread of control snapped. His inner wolf—faced with death and the nearness of his mate—erupted.
His uninjured arm shot out like a striking snake, clamping around her wrist and yanking her against his chest.
"Ah!" Ella gasped as she crashed against his burning, blood-slick chest.
"MINE…"
Karen buried his face in her neck like a dying beast, inhaling her scent with desperate, ravenous gulps.
Her scent—the only thing that could fight the venom ravaging his body.
"Karen!" Ella winced at his crushing grip, but the bond-pain was fading. Yet she could feel his life force ebbing away.
"A Primal Omega can heal any curse inflicted by Silver Venom…"
The ancient text flashed through her mind.
Without hesitation, Ella pressed her trembling hand against the hideous, sizzling wound.
"By the Moon Goddess's grace…" The words came unbidden, rising from some ancient memory in her blood.
The instant her fingers touched the wound—
Warm, golden light erupted from her palm.
HISSSSSS!
A sound like hot iron plunged into ice water split the air.
Karen clutched Ella, his body convulsing violently. Black smoke rose from the wound, forced out by the golden light pouring from her hand!
The deadly venom was burning away!
Before the stunned crowd, the wound stopped festering. The blackened flesh sloughed away as new tissue knitted together at impossible speed!
Within moments, the mortal wound had shrunk to nothing but a faint pink scar.
The fever and madness drained from Karen's body.
He released Ella suddenly, his body going slack as he collapsed.
Ella crumpled beside him, gasping for breath, utterly spent.
Karen pushed himself up on one arm, his eyes clear gold once more. He stared at his healed chest, then raised his gaze to Ella.
His eyes held shock, rage at disrupted plans, humiliation—but above all, a new, naked hunger.
He knew.
He understood her true value now.
He was no longer the untouchable Alpha, and she was no longer the worthless Omega.
She was his cure, his weakness, and the possession he would never relinquish.
Before darkness claimed him, Karen Wolcoff used his last strength to rasp a command:
"…MINE."
