Lucas's pov
The first light slid across the stone walls of my chamber, gilding the blood still crusted on my hands, my claws, my chest. My body ached from the fight, but the pain was nothing compared to the hollow, festering wound left by her choice.
She chose him.
Even now, the words hammered through my skull. She stood there in her wolf form, trembling, broken, bloodied, and she still stepped toward Xavier. Not me. Not the brother who had bled for her in ways he didn't even understand. Not the Alpha whose wolf had howled for her the moment she shifted.
She chose him.
I drove my fist into the wall. Stone cracked under the blow, dust spilling across the floor. My wolf prowled inside me, snarling, snapping, throwing himself against the cage of my control. He wanted her. He wanted to tear Xavier apart and drag her back by her throat. He wanted to shred the bond she clung to and force her to see what should have been hers.
And I—
I wanted the same.
The door creaked. A guard stepped in, eyes lowered. "Alpha, the council requests your presence at—"
"Out." My voice cracked like a whip.
He froze. "But—"
"OUT!"
The word ripped from me like a roar. The man scrambled backward, nearly tripping over himself as he fled. Coward. Pathetic. My chest heaved as silence filled the chamber again, heavy and suffocating. I paced, claws dragging lines into the floorboards. I couldn't sit still. I couldn't think straight. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her pressed against Xavier's chest, her head bowed in surrender, sparks dancing between them that should have been mine.
A low growl built in my throat.
By midmorning, the pack could barely meet my gaze. My fury rolled through the halls like a storm, sharp enough to cut skin. When a warrior hesitated too long to bow, I ripped him off his feet and slammed him into the ground. When two omegas whispered in the corridor, I snarled so fiercely they dropped to their knees and sobbed for forgiveness.
It wasn't enough. None of it was enough.
My wolf was restless, pacing beneath my skin. Every scent irritated me. Every sound scraped against my ears. They called me Alpha, yet all I felt was empty, cheated, robbed.
At noon, the Beta finally dared to approach.
"Alpha," he began, voice low, cautious. "The pack is unsettled. They… they do not understand what happened last night."
I turned on him so fast his words strangled in his throat. "What happened," I snarled, "is that she betrayed me. She betrayed us all."
He swallowed. "But Alpha, she chose Xavier. The others say—"
Shut your trap you busy body and go do something about the shadow slaves"
The Beta bowed his head. "What do you command, Alpha?"
What did I command? To hunt her down and drag her back? To kill my brother and strip her of the choice she made? My wolf begged for it, clawed for it. But I couldn't—not yet. Not while Xavier still breathed. Not while she still believed he could be anything other than a monster who bought her, broke her, betrayed her.
" Ask the elders " I spat out and dismissed him.
No, I needed more than rage. I needed patience.
Except patience was poison in my veins.
I threw myself into the training yard, tearing through warriors until their blood spattered the dirt. I broke one man's arm, split another's lip, drove them to the ground again and again, each blow a poor substitute for the one I craved to land on Xavier. But still it wasn't enough.
By dusk, the pack avoided me entirely, scattering like shadows when I passed. I could smell their fear, thick and cloying, and it only fed the storm inside me. Fear was good. Fear meant power. And if I couldn't have Eliza's choice, I would damn well remind the world that I still had control.
But in the quiet moments, when the sun dipped low and the shadows lengthened, the truth pressed in.
I saw her eyes when she stepped toward him. The flicker of something soft, something almost hopeful. And I hated it. Hated her for it. Hated myself for caring.
Because beneath the rage, beneath the hunger, one truth burned hotter than all the rest:
She should have been mine.
The night came heavy and dark. I prowled my chamber, unable to rest. My wolf clawed at the edges of my mind, restless, furious, aching. Every instinct screamed for her. For the golden wolf that had stood between us, trembling but unbroken.
I pressed my forehead to the cold stone wall, eyes burning.
"I'll take you back," I whispered into the silence. "One way or another, Eliza… I'll take you back. And when I do, not even Xavier will stand between us."
"Master! Master" The voice of the beta broke through my train of thought. He slumped to the floor, his chest heaving, I didn't have the patiencr for his exxagerated display
"What! " I bellowed.
"Master, the shadow slaves have raided the huts of the Blackstone pack and taken them captive, Xavier and Eliza were among " .