17 Chapter 17
Damien’s POV 1
The moment Valerie’s venomous words left her lips, I felt like my brain was being consumed by a toxic mixture of jealousy and rage. The scent of fear and tension radiating from my mate hit me like a physical blow, making Alex snarl with protective fury in my mind.
Valerie had always been a repulsive creature. Ever since her wedding to my half-brother Gabriel-a pathetic excuse for a wolf who was nothing more than my father’s bastard son-she’d pursued me relentlessly. Gabriel himself was utterly worthless, a man I barely acknowledged beyond providing him with enough money to stay out of my way and out of trouble.
But Valerie’s appearance today, first insulting my mate in my own office and now this public humiliation, ignited something murderous in my chest. Her words were like poison injected directly into my bloodstream. Sera-my mate-had been with that useless waste of
space Gabriel? The brilliant, beautiful child she’d spoken of with such fierce love… was he Gabriel’s?
I watched security drag Valerie away, her shrieks echoing through the restaurant like the cries of a banshee.
Standing there with every eye in the restaurant fixed on us, I stared into Sera’s face-those magnificent emerald eyes now zing with hurt and fury-and waited for her to deny it. All she had to do was say no, and I would have believed her without question. I would have
torn Valerie apart for even suggesting such filth.
Instead, Sera’s face went through a series of expressions-shock, pain, and finally, a rage so pure it made my wolf whimper with regret.
When she turned her back on me and walked away with her head held high, every instinct I possessed screamed at me to follow her, to
beg her forgiveness.
“You’re an idiot,” Lucas said quietly, appearing at my shoulder as the crowd began to disperse with obvious disappointment at the end of
the show. “Aplete and total idiot.”
“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” I growled, my eyes still fixed on the spot where Sera had disappeared.
“Well, you’re getting it anyway.” Lucas’s voice carried the particr tone he used when he was about to deliver harsh truths I didn’t want
to hear. “That woman just organized a wless dinner party in under twenty-four hours, handled your impossible demands without
breaking, stood up to your sister-inw’s public humiliation with more grace than most alphas could manage, and you repaid her loyalty
by immediately believing the worst.”
Each word hit like a physical blow, and I knew he was right. The moment Valerie had started spewing her poison, I should have shut her
downpletely. Instead, I’d let jealousy and possessiveness cloud my judgment.
The other dinner guests were beginning to disperse. I could already imagine how this story would spread through the werewolf social
“I need to go after her,” I said, finally breaking free of whatever paralysis had gripped me.
“About damn time,” Lucas muttered, but there was relief in his voice.
I pushed through the restaurant’s revolving doors into the cool night air, my eyes scanning the street for any sign of that emerald dress.
The scent trail was faint but discernible-vani and jasmine tinged with the salt of tears and the sharp bite of adrenaline.
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She’d gone left, toward the business district. I followed the trail on foot for several blocks, my wolf growing increasingly agitated as the
scent began to fade. When I reached my car, I was already pulling out my phone to call every contact I had.
That’s when I caught a glimpse of emerald fabric getting into a silver sedan six blocks ahead.
My blood turned to ice. Even from this distance, I could see that it wasn’t a taxi. I gunned the engine, weaving through traffic with reckless abandon as I tried to keep the sedan in sight. My wolf was goingpletely feral, pacing and snarling and demanding blood as
we followed the car through increasingly deserted residential streets.
“Faster,” Alex urged, his mental voice tight with panic. “Something’s wrong. Can’t you smell it?”
The sedan pulled into the driveway of a modest house on a quiet side street. Through my windshield, I watched the driver get out and
move around to the passenger side. Even from a distance, I could see that Sera’s movements were sluggish, uncoordinated. When she
tried to pull away from his grip, the motion was weak and ineffective.
Drugged. The bastard had drugged my mate.
White-hot rage exploded through my system, so pure and intense that my vision actually tinted red around the edges. Alex was howling
for blood, demanding we shift and tear this pathetic excuse for a wolf into pieces small enough to feed to ravens.
I watched the man drag Sera up the front steps, watched her stumble and nearly fall, watched her mouth open in what had to be a
scream for help that was too weak to carry.
The moment he got her inside the house, I was out of my car and shifting before my feet hit the pavement. Bones lengthened and
reformed, muscles expanded, and my human consciousness merged with Alex’s primal fury until we were one creature driven by a
single, burning purpose.
*Protect. Mate.*
The shift from human to wolf form took less than ten seconds, but it felt like an eternity when every instinct was screaming that Sera
was in mortal danger. Alex’s massive silver form hit the ground running, powerful legs eating up the distance between the street and the
house in great bounding leaps.
Through the front window, I caught a glimpse of movement-Sera slumped on a couch, the bastard’s hands on her dress, camera
equipment set up in the corner. The sight sent such a surge of murderous rage through me that I actually saw stars.
I threw back my head and howled—a sound that carried every ounce of fury and territorial im I possessed.
The front door was solid wood, but it might as well have been paper. I hit it at full speed with my shoulder, and it exploded inward in a
shower of splinters and twisted metal. The frame cracked, the hinges tore free from the wall, and the entire door went flying across the
living room to crash into the far wall.
The pathetic excuse for a wolf-Michael, spun around with terror written across his face. Up close, I could see exactly what he’d been
doing. Sera’s dress had been partially torn, her hair disheveled, her beautiful emerald eyes zed with whatever drug he’d used to
incapacitate her.
She was alive. She was breathing. That was all that mattered in that moment.
Michael stumbled backward, his hands raised in a gesture of surrender that would have beenughable if I’d been capable of humor.
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nearly four feet at the shoulder, my silver coat rippling with muscle and my eyes burning with supernatural fire. My lips pulled back to
reveal fangs designed for tearing flesh from bone.
“Please,” he whimpered, pressing himself against the wall as if he could somehow disappear into it. “I didn’t know she was your mate! I
swear I didn’t know!”
I shifted back to human form with fluid grace, my expensive suit somehow remaining intact despite the violent transformation. The
change left me standing naked from the waist up, my chest heaving with barely controlled rage, my hands already curling into fists.
“You didn’t know?” My voice came out as barely more than a growl, each word dripping with the promise of violence. “So you make a
habit of drugging and assaulting women, do you?”
“No! No, I…” Michael was babbling now, terror making his wordse out in a rush. “It was just… she was so beautiful, and after what
happened at the restaurant… I thought maybe she needed somefort…”
He didn’t get to finish the sentence. My fist connected with his jaw with enough force to lift him off his feet and send him crashing into a
bookshelf. Books rained down around him as he slumped to the floor, blood streaming from his nose and mouth.
“Comfort?” I asked conversationally, flexing my knuckles as I advanced on his prone form. “Is that what you call drugging someone and
setting up camera equipment?”
His eyes went wide as he realized I’d noticed the recording setup. “I… that’s not… I wasn’t going to…”
I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled him to his feet, mming him against the wall hard enough to crack the ster.
“You’re fired,” I said simply, my voice carrying enough alpha authority to make him flinch. “Clear out your desk by Monday, assuming you
can still walk by then.”
I drew back my fist again, fully intending to break his nose this time, when a soft sound from the couch made me freeze.
“Help me…” Sera’s voice was barely above a whisper, thick with the effects of whatever drug he’d given her. “Please…”
In an instant, every ounce of my attention shifted from the worthless piece of garbage in my hands to my mate. I released Michael,
letting him slump to the floor gasping and forgotten, and crossed to the couch in three quick strides.
Sera was conscious but clearly struggling against the effects of the drug. Her beautiful emerald dress was torn, her hair hade loose
from its elegant updo, and her eyes were zed but aware. When she saw me approaching, she tried to sit up, her movements unsteady
and weak.
“It’s alright,” I said softly, my voice automatically gentling as I knelt beside the couch. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”
Without another word, I slipped my arms beneath her and lifted her against my chest, cradling her like something infinitely precious.
“Hospital,” I said, already calcting the fastest route to Silver Moon Harbor General. “We need to get you checked out.”
I carried her out to my car, settling her gently in the backseat and buckling the seatbelt around her with careful hands. As I slid behind the wheel, I caught her reflection in the rearview mirror-eyes still slightly unfocused but fixed on me with an intensity that made my
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chest tight.
I’d barely put the car in drive when her hand shot out and grabbed my tie, her fingers tangling in the expensive silk with desperate
strength. The gesture pulled me half over the center console, bringing my face close to hers. 2
“Help me,” she whispered, her breath warm against my skin. “Please…”