The Alpha I Was Meant to Kill

THE AMBUSH AT THE GALA

The air in the Grand Opera House grew heavier by the minute. The luxury auction was drawing to a close, but the suffocating tension in the room hadn't shifted. Underneath the table, Julian’s hand remained firmly wrapped around mine, his heat contrasting against the icy weight of the multi-million-dollar diamond necklace resting on my collarbone.

Across the room, the scarred rival alpha from the fractured Bloodmoon faction was still watching us. He hadn't broken eye contact once.

"He’s going to make a move," I murmured, keeping my voice low so only Julian could hear. My fake, adoring smile was still plastered on my face for the benefit of any watching journalists, but my eyes were scanning the exits. My Justiciar training was screaming at me that the perimeter was compromised.

"Let him," Julian replied, his baritone voice a calm, dangerous rumble. He didn't look at the rival lord. Instead, he reached up with his free hand and lazily brushed a strand of hair away from my cheek, playing the part of the obsessed fiancé perfectly. "He thinks he’s the hunter tonight. He doesn't realize I've been waiting for him to step out of the shadows for months."

Before I could ask him what he meant, the grand crystal chandeliers above us flickered.

Once. Twice.

Then, the entire venue plunged into absolute, pitch-black darkness.

The orchestra music stopped instantly, the sudden silence hanging in the air for one terrifying heartbeat. Then, the screaming began.

BOOM.

The massive glass ceiling of the Opera House shattered, raining thousands of sharp, deadly shards down onto the screaming crowd below. High-society humans panicked, knocking over tables, chairs, and champagne towers as they scrambled blindly through the dark toward the main exits. The air was instantly flooded with the thick, metallic scent of fresh blood and the terrifying, heavy pheromones of dozens of rogue Lycans.

"Stay behind me!" Julian roared.

The dominant, suffocating pressure of his Alpha energy exploded from his body, so powerful it made the air vibrate. His hand ripped away from mine as his body began to shift. In the faint moonlight filtering through the shattered ceiling, I watched his broad shoulders expand, his custom tuxedo jacket tearing at the seams as his fingers grew long, lethal claws. His eyes burned like twin pools of molten crimson in the dark.

Three rogue Lycans dropped from the ceiling, landing directly on our table with wild, guttural snarls. Julian didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, catching the first wolf by the throat and slamming him into the stone floor with enough force to c***k the foundation.

Chaos swallowed the room. It was a bloodbath.

I scrambled backward, away from the flying claws and tearing teeth. My heart hammered violently against my ribs, but my mind was completely clear. The panic that had gripped me outside on the red carpet was entirely gone, replaced by the cold, precise focus of a trained hunter. I looked around, searching for a weapon, but my silver sword was still locked inside Julian’s fortress safe. I was empty-handed in a room full of monsters.

Through the shadows and the flashing emergency lights, I saw the scarred rival alpha pushing through the fleeing crowd. He wasn't looking for Julian. He was looking for me. He wanted to take the Alpha King's new human mate as a prize.

I turned, weaving through the screaming socialites, dodging a falling ice sculpture as I made my way toward the back corridors of the venue. I needed space to move. I needed a weapon.

As I burst through a set of double doors leading to the service hallway, a sharp, terrified scream echoed from a nearby alcove.

"Please! No!"

I stopped in my tracks. A young, human waitress in a black-and-white uniform was pinned against the wall. Standing over her was a massive, rogue Lycan. His clothes were torn, his jaw extended, exposing rows of razor-sharp fangs dripping with thick saliva. His yellow eyes were wide with a primal, bloodthirsty hunger. He didn't care about the pack wars or the politics. He just wanted to s*******r an innocent human.

The girl was sobbing, her hands raised defensively as the monster bared his teeth, raising a clawed hand to rip her throat out.

My Justiciar training kicked in before my brain could even process the danger.

A Justiciar protects the innocent. We keep the monsters in check. Elder Thomas’s most important rule echoed in my mind, drowning out my survival instincts. I couldn't just stand there and watch a human die.

I looked down. Sitting on a nearby room-service cart was a heavy, solid silver ice bucket. It wasn't pure silver like my ancestral needle, but it was heavy, and it would hurt.

I grabbed the heavy metal bucket by the handle, spun around, and sprinted down the hallway. Just as the rogue Lycan brought his claws down toward the waitress's face, I lunged forward, swinging the ice bucket with every ounce of strength in my body.

CRACK.

The heavy metal collided violently with the side of the Lycan’s jaw. The force of the impact jarred my arms, but it worked. The monster let out a sharp howl of pain, his head snapping to the side as he stumbled backward, away from the terrified girl.

"Run!" I screamed at the waitress, stepping directly between her and the beast. "Get out of the building! Now!"

The girl didn't need to be told twice. She scrambled to her feet and sprinted down the hallway toward the emergency exit, her footsteps fading into the distance.

The rogue Lycan shook his head, wiping a smear of dark blood from his mouth. His yellow eyes locked onto me, burning with a fierce, murderous rage. He let out a low, terrifying growl that rattled the loose drywall around us. He realized I was a human, but I didn't smell like a victim. I smelled like a threat.

He crouched low, his muscles coiling as he prepared to spring, ready to tear me limb from limb.