A small smile tugs at her lips.“I happen to know she is at Council Hall, being forced...”
“Forced?”my voice lowers dangerously.
“To marry a man she doesn’t love.”
“What?”My mind is spinning as rage courses through my veins.
“A business deal her mother brokered,” Bella says casually.But she knows exactly what she is doing.
The truth crashes into me, brutal and undeniable.My chest heaves, rage and hunger roaring in equal measure.I can’t stand another second in this suffocating suite.My body moves before my mind catches up.I storm past her, my decision made.
She’s mine.Myomega.And if anyone thinks they’ll bind her to another man, they’ll bleed for it.
****
The driver barely hastime to open the car door before I’m inside.The leather groans under my weight as I slam the door shut, my voice a whip.“Council Hall.Now.”
He doesn’t argue.He’s not stupid.The engine roars to life, and we tear through the city like a predator in pursuit.My pulse pounds in my ears, faster than the racing tires against asphalt.The city blurs past in streaks of light and shadow, but all I see is her face.Wide eyes shining with fear.Flushed cheeks.That trembling lower lip.My Evangeline.
I should hate her for walking away.For leaving me to this madness.But I can’t.Because I saw it—the way she looked back at me even when she thought I didn’t notice.The way her scent clung to me like a plea.She didn’t want to leave.She doesn’t want another Alpha.And God help me, the thought of her standing beside some other man, dressed in silk and trembling for someone else, makes me want to rip the world in half.
The driver shifts nervously in his seat, eyes flicking to the mirror.He can smell it, the rage boiling off me, the possessive madness that coils tighter with every passing second.I don’t speak.I don’t trust my voice not to break the glass between us.
We screech to a stop outside the council chamber, and I’m half feral.The ancient stone hall rises against the night, torches burning in iron sconces, shadows clawing up the walls like grasping hands.The damn place doesn’t even belong in our world anymore.It is still caught up in the old times and the old ways that we have moved past.Locked in traditions that only matter to the oldest of Elite families.
My boots strike the marble steps in heavy thuds, each one vibrating with the storm building inside me.
The doors boom open beneath my hands.
Gasps ripple through the chamber.Dozens of heads turn, every Alpha, every elder, every viper in their silk robes swiveling toward the predator filling the doorway.My name cuts through the whispers like a blade.
Zion.
I step inside, my presence swallowing the room whole.Broad shoulders, scarred face, and a reputation carved in blood.Every Alpha here knows me.Knows what I’ve done.Knows the ruin I’ve left behind.And they should be afraid.Because I’ve come for blood.
And then I see her.
She stands at the end of the aisle, draped in white satin that clings too tightly to her trembling frame.A mockery of purity.Her hair has been braided, jewels woven through the strands, her lips painted soft pink.She looks like a doll, fragile and breakable.Beautiful.Too beautiful.For him.For anyone but me.
But it’s her eyes that gut me.Wide, terrified, and shimmering with unshed tears.Her chest rises too fast, her fingers twist in the folds of her dress.She looks like she’s been caged.And I know I put her here by letting her go.
Rage detonates in my chest.My vision narrows until the only thing I see is the man beside her.The rival Alpha.
He grips her wrist too tightly, his smirk sharp as a blade.My omega, tethered to another man like a prize he thinks he’s already won.The scent of his arrogance fouls the chamber, making my teeth grind until I taste blood.
“Step away from her,” I growl, my voice thunder cracking against the vaulted ceiling.The words echo off stone, rattling even the elders on their high seats.
The bastard sneers, puffing up taller, as if his name and his family mean anything in my shadow.“She’s mine.Bought, paid for, promised.You have no claim here.The ceremony is complete.”
The growl that tears out of me shakes the air.“She’s already been claimed.By me.And if you or anyone else in this chamber tries to take her from me...”My hand drops to the blade at my belt, my lips curling into something savage.“...I’ll gut you where you stand.I’ll stain this floor with your blood and burn your house to ash.”
The chamber stills.Every Alpha watches.Every elder shifts, their silence uneasy.And in the center, my Evangeline stares at me, fear and hope tangled in her gaze.
The rival Alpha bares his teeth, yanking her closer like a shield.“You think you can threaten me in the council’s hall?This ground is sacred.You won’t leave alive if you...”
I move before the words finish.
One second he’s smirking.The next my hand is around his throat, lifting him off the ground as though he weighs nothing.His feet kick, his hands claw, and his face turns purple as he chokes on his own arrogance.Gasps erupt around us.Elders rise, Alphas shift uneasily, but no one dares step forward.
