?Chapter 904:


    But before I could close the distance, a mountain of a man barreled toward me. With one swift movement, he swept my legs from beneath me, sending my world spinning.


    “Ah!” The ground rushed up to meet me with unforgiving force. Pain exploded through my body, stealing my breath and scattering my thoughts.


    “Ailyn!” Alden’s voice cracked as his attention snapped to me. “How dare you hurt her!” he roared, struggling like a caged beast against the hands that restrained him, veins standing stark against his neck.


    But the group held fast, their grips iron and unyielding.


    The man who had knocked me down loomed above me, his lips curling into a smile that froze the blood in my veins. With deliberate slowness, he withdrew a knife from his pocket, its de catching the sunlight in a deadly wink.


    He lunged at me, malice dancing in his eyes as the knife sliced through the air. My eyes widened as I helplessly watched the dagger approach. Then, instinct took over. I twisted my body aside, but the de still grazed my arm, drawing blood and sending sharp, searing pain through me.


    “Ah!” I screamed in agony.


    Seeing his prey still breathing, the man’s eyes darkened with murderous intent as he readied another strike. Jaw clenched against the pain, I scrambled for a weapon, my fingers closing around a jagged stone which I hurled with desperate precision. The stone struck him with a dull thud. He groaned, staggered, and then copsed, blood trickling down his forehead.


    The blond man, still entangled with Alden, whipped around at the sound, his face contorting with unholy rage. “Kill her!” His men circled me, closing in for the kill.


    “Come at me instead! Leave her alone!” Alden’s voice cracked with desperation, a plea andmand wrapped into one.


    He lurched toward me, his injuries forgotten in the face of my peril, determination etched in every pain-filled step. In that heartbeat, one of the circling predators unsheathed a de that gleamed with sinister promise and lunged for my heart.


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    Time crystallized as terror froze my blood.


    “No!” The anguished cry tore from Alden’s soul as he hurled his broken body between me and death’s messenger.


    The knife sank into his flesh with horrifying finality, the sound of it prating my consciousness like the tolling of a funeral bell. I stood transfixed, my mind wiped clean of thought, unable to process the nightmare unfolding before my eyes.


    A trickle of blood traced the corner of Alden’s lips as he slowly crumpled to the sand before me…


    Makenna’s POV:


    The chaos on the beach escted so quickly that it wasn’t long before the city’s patrol soldiers arrived.


    The thugs—so bold and menacing just moments ago—scattered like startled pigeons at the first glimpse of the soldiers.


    But my focus wasn’t on them. My eyes locked onto Alden. The knife was still lodged deep in his abdomen, blood spilling from the wound and staining the sand beneath him. His face had turned deathly pale.


    Panic gripped me as I dropped to my knees beside him, my voice cracking. “Alden! Hold on! Please, stay with me! I’ll find a doctor—just don’t close your eyes!”


    Frantically, I scrambled to my feet, waving desperately at the approaching soldiers. “Help! Someone, please! He needs to get to the hospital—now!”


    But before I could take a step, Alden’s bloodied hand mped onto my wrist.


    I froze, looking down at him. His lips were colorless, trembling slightly, his breath shallow. He struggled to speak, his voice barely a whisper. “Don’t. Help me get out of here. I can’t let them see me like this…”


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