Adrian's POV
Sighing, I stared at her when I heard rushed footsteps in the hallway. Multiple scents hit my nose—Alpha Daniel, his son Jake, Sebastian, and a few others.
"Alpha Adrian, I heard a rogue attacked, and someone was injured?" Alpha Daniel said as he burst into the room, slightly out of breath.
"Don't call me an Alpha," I corrected automatically. "I'm not an Alpha anymore."
"You'll always be the Alpha to us," Alpha Daniel chuckled, and I could hear the respect in his voice.
I sighed. No matter how many times I told people I'd stepped down, they refused to accept it. "Which one's the pack doctor?"
"She's coming," Alpha Daniel answered. "By the way, who is injured?"
"Her," I said, stepping slightly to the side.
The moment I moved, revealing the woman's face, everyone in the room went dead silent. Their mouths hung open in shock, and I could practically hear their hearts stop beating.
I frowned. What kind of reaction was this?
"What?" I demanded, looking between them. "What's wrong?"
Before he could finish explaining, a woman in her mid-40s entered the room. She looked composed and professional, wearing gloves and carrying a first aid kit. "Okay, where's the patient?" she asked, stepping inside.
"Here," I said, pointing toward the girl on the bed.
The moment the woman saw her face, the first aid box crashed to the floor. Her expression shifted completely, from professional calm to pure hatred and disgust.
"This little whore..." she spat, her voice dripping with venom. "I would never treat this royal bitch. It would be better if she would just di—"
Before the word could escape her lips, I moved like lightning. My hand wrapped around her throat, and I lifted her off the ground. She gasped and choked, clawing at my fingers as her feet dangled in the air.
"Brother, let her go! What are you doing?" Sebastian tried to intervene, grabbing my arm, but I didn't budge.
Everyone else was shouting, trying to get me to release her, but their voices faded to white noise. All I could see was red. All I could feel was the primal rage coursing through my veins.
HOW DARE SHE! Blake roared in my mind. KILL HER!
The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. I leaned in close to her terrified face, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Listen carefully," I sneered, my voice deadly cold. "If I hear one more syllable about my mate from your filthy mouth, I will hunt you down. I will make you suffer in ways that will make you beg for the mercy of death—a mercy I will never, ever grant. You will spend your remaining days as my personal reminder of what happens to those who disrespect what's mine."
I released her so suddenly that she collapsed to the floor, gasping and shaking. The silence that followed was absolute.
No one said a thing. No one moved.
I could see the shock on everyone's faces, like they couldn't believe what I'd just said. Sebastian's jaw literally hung open, his eyes bulging out like a cartoon character.
Ignoring all that, I looked down at the trembling woman at my feet. She was still shaking, her hand pressed against her throat where I'd grabbed her.
"Get up," I ordered, cutting through the dead silence. "Pick up your things and treat my mate."
The woman nodded fearfully, scrambling to gather the scattered medical supplies from the floor. Her hands shook as she collected bandages and antiseptic bottles, but she didn't dare look at me again.
Smart woman.
Finally, she grabbed everything and walked toward the bed with hesitant steps. That's when Sebastian snapped out of whatever trance he was in.
He jumped forward happily and approached me, his face lighting up like an excited puppy. "Wait, what did you just say?" He grabbed my arm. "This woman is your mate?"
I nodded.
"Holy shit! The Moon Goddess finally blessed you!" He cheered, practically vibrating with excitement. "I'm gonna have a sister-in-law!"
Sister-in-law? I glanced at the unconscious woman on the bed and nodded thoughtfully. The word felt weird. But there was something else bugging me—something more pressing than Sebastian's excitement. The reaction of the other people in the room.
Alpha Daniel was still standing there in shock, his complexion pale. Jake looked like he'd seen a ghost. Even the pack members who had followed them in were staring with a mixture of horror and disbelief.
"What's going on?" I demanded, my patience wearing thin. "Why are you all reacting this way?"
That's when Alpha's Daniel's daughter rolled her eyes and let out a nasty laugh. "Oh, this is perfect," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "The Moon Goddess has quite a sense of humour. Alpha Adrian's fated mate is the same little bitch he's going to have to butcher. Talk about a wedding that'll end in a funeral."
Alpha Daniel shot his daughter a warning glare before looking back at me. He opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again like a fish gasping for air. "Adrian, are you... are you absolutely sure you haven't made some kind of mistake?" he finally managed to ask. "How... how can she... how can she be your mate?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "I am not a two-year-old child, Alpha Daniel. I know what a mate bond feels like."
Alpha Daniel visibly flinched at my tone, taking an involuntary step backward
Sebastian frowned, looking between us with growing confusion. "Alpha Daniel, what's going on? Who is she?"
"Someone you'll want dead," Lira said with that same bitchy smile.
Both Sebastian and I ignored her completely. We kept staring at Alpha Daniel, waiting for an actual answer and an explanation. The man sighed heavily, looking like he'd aged ten years in the last five minutes.
"Her name is..." He paused, swallowing hard. "Seraphina Ashford."
Blake went absolutely crazy in my head the second he heard her name.
Seraphina... Seraphina... what a beautiful name, he sang happily. Mine. Our mate's name is Seraphina. Perfect. Beautiful. Ours.
Blake's voice was so loud, so joyful, that I almost missed the rest of what Alpha Daniel had said. But then that last name hit me like a truck to the face.
Ashford? As in the royal surname Ashford?
"She's an Ashford?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Alpha Daniel nodded slowly.
For a moment, everything stopped. All the memories came flooding back all at once. The pain, every drop of blood shed due to that evil kill, every person I'd lost because of that family, the curse... The little bit of hope that had been building in my chest turned to ice.
No wonder she ran away after seeing my face. She knew who I was and what I would do once I knew who she was. Mate? I sneered in my mind. The Moon Goddess really had a way of joking with my life.
"Brother, are you alright?" Sebastian asked, concern creeping into his voice.
I didn't answer. I couldn't. The walls of the room felt like they were closing in on me, and the air suddenly seemed too thick to breathe. Without another word, I turned and walked out of the room. By the time I hit the hallway, I was practically running.
I needed to get away from everyone.
I needed space to think.
And I needed to figure out what kind of sick joke the Moon Goddess was playing, giving me a mate from the family that destroyed my entire life.