(Audrey’s POV)
“Beg Florian Stormhowl?” The thought flickered through my mind like a desperate, dying flame.
I lay there bound and gagged, my skin burning with the allergic reaction as the pack healer approached with his silver-tipped needle. My eyes darted to the doorway where I could hear Elder Shadowcrest’s voice. Would Florian choose me or Serena Shadowcrest?
Deep down, I already knew the answer. Elder Shadowcrest’s warnings echoed in my mind-his devotion to Serena spanned five long years. He would never simply watch her die, not when another life could save hers.
My life.
I closed my eyes, feeling the rough silver restraints cutting into my already inflamed skin. The burning sensation multiplied the agony of my allergic reaction. Every heartbeat seemed to cry out the same tragic truth-when two lives are weighed by the pack, mine had already been marked for loss.
“He’ll choose her,” my wolf whispered inside me, resigned to our fate.
The pack healer hesitated, needle poised above my arm. In that moment of suspended action, I prayed not for rescue, but for it to be over quickly. At least then the burning would stop.
“Bang-”
The treatment room door splintered with a deafening crash. Florian Stormhowl’s boot had kicked it nearly off its hinges, sending fragments of wood scattering across the floor.
A cold wave of pure Alpha energy followed him into the room, making the Beta wolves flinch and lower their gazes instinctively. His golden wolf eyes blazed with fury as he surveyed the scene.
Without hesitation, he strode directly to me. With brutal efficiency, he sliced through the ropes binding me to the chair, his movements precise and controlled despite the rage emanating from him.
He tore the gag from my mouth, his fingers surprisingly gentle against my skin.
“Audrey Winter, why are you so stupid again?” His voice trembled somewhere between anger and relief.
I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off with a sharp gesture.
“Alright, don’t talk-this is humiliating.” His golden eyes swept over me, checking for injuries. “Did they expose you to silver?”
I shook my head weakly.
His expression softened marginally. “I’ll take you to see a pack healer.”
Emma Shadowcrest recoiled at the intensity of his Alpha aura, but recovered quickly, her face contorting with fury.
“You can’t take her anywhere today!” she spat, her fists clenched at her sides. “My sister needs her blood!”
As if responding to an unspoken command, Mrs. Shadowcrest’s pack guards swarmed the doorway, blocking our exit. Their hulking forms created a wall of muscle and menace.
Florian seemed completely unfazed by the show of force. He gently supported my arms as I pushed myself up from the chair, his fingers pressing in soothing circles against the angry rash covering my skin.
“This is the Stormhowl Pack Medical Center,” he declared, his voice carrying an authority that seemed to chill the very air. “Your wolves, get out.”
Mrs. Shadowcrest stepped forward, her face a mask of desperation and rage. “Alpha Stormhowl, you can leave-but Audrey Winter stays. My daughter needs her!”
Florian’s expression didn’t change. He shrugged with casual indifference. “Then have them kill me. If they can’t, I’m leaving with her.”
The Shadowcrest pack guards exchanged uncertain glances. Their pack was already at odds with the Moonstone Pack-adding the Stormhowl Pack to their list of enemies would be catastrophic. Their hesitation was palpable.
(Third-person’s POV)
Elder Shadowcrest watched the standoff with growing distress. The frail elderly she-wolf trembled visibly, torn between pack loyalty and the injustice unfolding before her eyes.
She gripped Mrs. Shadowcrest’s arm tightly, her weathered fingers digging into the younger she-wolf’s flesh.
“My granddaughter would never forgive herself if her life came from another’s suffering,” she whispered, her voice trembling with emotion. “Not like this, not through force.”
Mrs. Shadowcrest wrenched her arm free, turning on her mother-in-law with blazing eyes.
“Have you asked Audrey if she’s willing to die?” she challenged, her voice rising hysterically. “When your life is weighed against a packless omega’s, who would choose the omega?”
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