Marked By The ShadowFang Alpha

# **📘 CHAPTER 3 — THE CAFÉ THAT TURNED INTO A BATTLEFIELD**

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The message on Aria’s phone glowed like a death sentence.

**“Step outside in 5 minutes… or we come in.”**

Her fingers tightened around the device.

The cold room suddenly felt suffocating.

Lucian’s breathing was still uneven, but there was a new sharpness in his eyes—a predator waking up.

“Aria,” he whispered, voice deeper than before, “listen to me very carefully.”

She nodded, fighting the rising panic.

“You need to run out the back door. Take the alley to the left. Don’t stop. Don’t look back.”

Aria shook her head instantly.

“I’m not leaving you here.”

Lucian closed his eyes briefly, jaw clenching as another wave of pain cut through him. When he opened them again, the silver glow was brighter—dangerous, inhuman.

“Little human…” His voice dropped, almost a growl.

“If they break that door and find you, they will take you. And I won’t be able to stop them in time.”

She swallowed hard but didn’t move.

“I don’t care,” she whispered.

“I won’t leave you.”

For a moment… something flickered across his face.

Disbelief.

Frustration.

And something softer—something that didn’t belong on a Mafia king or an Alpha.

But the moment shattered as—

**BANG!**

The front café windows exploded inward.

Aria screamed as glass rained across the floor.

Lucian’s head snapped up instantly, instincts igniting. He sat up with a grunt, gripping his side where blood seeped through his bandages.

“Stay behind me,” he rasped.

“You can’t even stand properly!” she cried.

“I don’t need to stand to kill.”

His voice was ice.

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## **The Attack Begins**

Footsteps echoed through the destroyed café.

At least five.

Maybe more.

Aria’s heartbeat skyrocketed.

Lucian pushed himself to his feet, staggering for barely a second before forcing his spine straight. His eyes were glowing fully now—silver fire beneath a storm.

Aria stepped beside him.

“Aria,” he said without looking at her, “if they reach you, I will lose control. I don’t want you to see what I become.”

“I’m not scared of you.”

“You should be.”

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## **The First Intruder**

The storage room door rattled.

Aria froze.

Lucian lifted his hand—shaking, but deadly steady.

The shadow outside shifted.

Then—

**The door burst open.**

A man in black rushed in, gun raised.

Aria gasped.

Lucian moved faster than someone bleeding should.

His hand snapped up, grabbing the attacker’s wrist. Bones cracked loudly. The gun clattered to the floor.

Lucian twisted—

and the man hit the ground with a strangled scream.

Aria stared.

That wasn’t human speed.

Lucian swayed slightly, gripping the shelf to stay upright.

Three more men appeared in the doorway.

One aimed straight at Aria.

“No!” Lucian roared, voice shaking the walls.

He stepped in front of her—his body shielding hers entirely.

A shot fired.

Aria screamed and grabbed Lucian’s arm.

But the bullet never reached them.

Lucian had slammed the intruder into the wall so fast Aria barely saw his movement. The man slumped unconscious onto the floor.

Two attackers remained.

They circled slowly, realizing who they were up against.

“Alpha,” one hissed.

“You should’ve died tonight.”

Lucian straightened.

His eyes glowing like the full moon.

His voice deeper, vibrating with power.

“I don’t die,” he said softly.

“I take lives.”

One man lunged.

Lucian grabbed him by the throat—even in his weakened state—and threw him across the room like he weighed nothing.

The last attacker raised his gun again.

Aria didn’t think.

She grabbed a metal tray from the shelf and smashed it against the man’s arm.

“Aria!” Lucian snarled.

The man stumbled, losing grip on the gun.

Lucian was there in an instant.

A swift movement.

A grunt of pain.

Another body fell.

Silence.

Only the sound of Aria’s terrified breathing filled the room.

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## **The Aftermath**

Lucian swayed.

He caught himself on the wall, jaw clenched, sweat dripping from his temple.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he said without turning around.

Aria stared at the unconscious men.

“Done what?” she whispered shakily.

“Put yourself in danger.”

She stepped toward him.

“You’re bleeding again.”

Lucian laughed softly—dark, sarcastic.

“I’ll survive.”

He finally faced her.

His silver eyes locked with hers.

“You won’t,” he added quietly, “if you stay with me.”

Aria didn’t flinch.

She closed the distance between them and placed a hand over his wound.

“I’m not leaving.”

Lucian stared at her—something unreadable in his gaze.

“You don’t understand what you’ve done,” he whispered.

“You saved me. You fought for me. You stood between me and a bullet.”

He leaned closer, voice dropping to a dangerous, intimate rumble.

“No human woman has ever done that.”

Aria swallowed hard.

“What does that mean?”

Lucian exhaled slowly.

“It means,” he said, fingers brushing her cheek,

“you’ve become someone my world will kill to find.”

Her heart stopped.

“What happens now?” she whispered.

Lucian’s eyes glowed brighter.

“Now,” he said, “I get you out of here alive.”

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