Chapter 168
168
Third–Person POV
+2 Pearls
Sunlight filtered through the mottled leaves outside Mooncrest First Pack Hospital , casting shifting shadows across the sterile corndor Inude, the air was thick with disinfectant, but it couldn’t mask the stench of rot hospital always associated with the
Ebonclaw Pack
A sleek black car pulled up to the emergency bay. The door swung open, and Duke stepped out, expression grim. He moved with purpose, trading his tailored suit for a doctor’s white coat and slipping a surgical mask over his face , revealing only his sharp, calculating eyes.
No one questioned his presence. He belonged in every room he entered, whether by command or by force .
He made his way down the corridor and pushed open the door to Alpha Alaric’s recovery suite.
The so–called patriarch of the Ebonclaw Pack was lounging against the pillows like some bloated monarch, fingers lazily swiping across his phone screen. He barely looked up as Duke entered, mistaking him for yet another physician on the morning rounds.
Alaric smirked at his phone, clearly enjoying a flirtatious exchange. The recipient? Dean Elira Blackthorn, no doubt. The way his lecherous smile curled at the edges was enough to make any decent wolf retch.
Duke’s hands clenched into fists.
All he saw was the monster who had destroyed Riley’s life and twisted the fates of two generations for power.
He stepped forward–silent, swift.
Before Alaric could react, Duke yanked out a foul–smelling sock from his coat pocket and rammed it into the Alpha’s mouth with brutal force.
Alaric’s eyes went wide, confusion turning to horror.
His fingers shot up to pull the sock free, but Duke’s hand clamped down like an iron vice. With a sudden jerk, he seized both wrists and crack ! crack!
The sound of dislocating joints echoed in the sterile air. The Alpha let out a muffled scream of agony, writhing as white–hot pain surged through his arms.
Duke didn’t stop.
He punched Alaric square across the face , over and over, his knuckles colliding with bone and cartilage until the Alpha’s features were barely recognizable. Blood sprayed across the crisp hospital sheets. The freshly–healed bones in Alaric’s leg- shattered once again under Duke’s boot
Another crack– this one deeper. Final
The Alpha of the Ebonclaw Pack let out a strangled gurgle before going limp, his body slumping like a broken puppet.
Finally
Duke exhaled. The rage that had festered in him for years, that had kept him awake at night, was momentarily silenced. He straightened, chest heaving , as if he had just exorcised a demon from his soul
Then he turned.
And saw Theo Hale standing in the doorway.
Theus fare was pale, eyes wide behind his glasses. For once, the doctor had no smug words, no side remarks
“You’re insane.” Theo muttered “The room has surveillance What were you thinking
Duke didn’t flinch. He raised a brow
150 FM p P
168
“So what’s the noble healer going to do? Turn me in?”
Theo glanced back at the bloodied wreckage of Alpha Alaric, then at the door. His lips pressed into a tight line.
“Go. I’ll take care of the footage.”
Duke stepped toward him and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
“Knew I liked you for a reason. Drinks on me tonight . ”
The night descended on Mooncrest in a blaze of neon and thumping bass.
+8 Pearls
Inside Silverfang Den, the city’s most notorious bar, music pounded like war drums. The crowd was wild, half drunk, half feral. Exactly the kind of place where secrets disappeared.
Duke and Theo sat in a shadowed corner booth, downing one glass after another.
Duke drank to burn away the image of Riley’s suffering–the memory of her bloodied hands and broken voice.
Theo drank for different reasons.
Each sip dulled the memory of his own cruelty–the sharp words he’d once hurled at Riley, the way he had laughed at her pain alongside Kael Vale. Now every bitter drop reminded him of what a coward he’d been.
A fool.
A traitor in healer’s robes
Hours blurred. Glasses clinked Laughter grew louder.
Eventually, Theo collapsed sideways onto the leather couch, passed out cold.
Duke, still somewhat lucid, stumbled toward the bar’s exit, breath fogging in the chill air outside. He pulled off his glasses, tugged at his collar, and dropped heavily onto the curb.
He needed the
cold.
He needed to feel something other than rage.
But he wasn’t alone.
From a shadowed corner of the bar, Carmen had been watching the two men all night, her expression unreadable. Now, seeing Duke alone and exposed, she moved.
She approached with the grace of a predator.
Duke looked up just in time to see a slender girl step into the glow of the streetlamp. She held an umbrella in her hand, and her voice was sol–almost innocent.
“Sir, your umbrella.”
Her tone was gentle, almost hesitant . Her eyes were wide, shimmering like the sea under moonlight.
She looked like a harmless, polite girl offering a kindness .
But Duke’s instincts twitched
He knew a wolf in sheep’s clothing when he saw one.
Carmen similed sweetly
Inude the bar , Theo Hale stirred on the couch – just in time to feel a burning sting across his cheek
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Carmen’s slap echoed like a whip track.
She stood over him, eyes blazing with fury.
She knew him. Theo had once stood by Kael Vale, had once called Riley names, laughed at her tears.
Carmen would never forget that.
“Trash, she muttered.
Then she turned on her heel and left Theo bleeding and stunned, stalking after Duke.
1
+8 Pearls
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Because any man who was friends with those monsters from the Ebonclaw Pack–Kael Vale, Theo Hale, even Duke–was no better than the rest.
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