Page 34 of The Forbidden Alpha

The air in the garden seemed to thicken, turning into lead in my lungs. When he spoke, he projected a wave of raw, undeniable authority that slammed into my bones.

“Submit.”

My body wasn’t mine anymore. Despite the screaming in my head, my knees dropped as he released me. My spine curved and my head bowed. I collapsed further into the dirt, my head tilting to offer my bare neck in a forced, agonizing surrender.

He used the moment to shred the rest of my dignity; his gaze was a rot on my skin. I stared at the ground, praying for the darkness to take me.

“I’ve waited for this day,” he murmured, his voice thick with greed.

Then, the world shattered.

A roar filled the garden, violent enough to drown out the screaming in my head. The crushing weight of the submission snapped as a dark blur exploded from the shadows.

Ethan didn’t just strike him; he collided with Shane like celestial vengeance.

It was a brutal, full-body tackle that sent them both careening across the courtyard. Shane was ripped off me, his body hitting the stone arches hard enough to split the mortar.

I scrambled back, covering my chest, my breath hitching as my eyes found the two beast-like men.

Ethan was a blur, a shadow made of iron spikes and silent rage as he straddled Shane. He didn’t look back at me. His eyes were locked on his prey, and in them, I saw a death sentence.

Ethan’s fist met Shane’s face—a sickening crunch of bone meeting bone. Again and again. Shane snarled, a wet crack, his mouth full of blood as his own beast rose to the surface. He threw a right hook, catching a spike and Ethan’s head jerked when it connected. They rolled across the gravel, a blur of tuxedos and muscles.

The two Alphas collided in a brutal, bone-snapping brawl. To my horror, it wasn’t a one-sided slaughter—they were evenly matched in their ferocity, two beasts tearing at each other’s throats. I heard the literal spitting and snarling of their wolves, canines tearing flesh, and a guttural noise that made the hair on my arms stand. They traded blows that echoed off stone.

Shane caught Ethan’s collar, driving his knee into Ethan’s midsection. Ethan reached out and his fingers sank into the meat of Shane’s shoulder. There was a sickening rip as he tore through silk and muscle. I caught a flash of white—bone exposed to the moonlight—before the blood spread. Ethan’s silence was more terrifying than Shane’s roars. Shane fought like a man possessed; Ethan fought like a god exacting vengeance.

Shane turned his head, gold eyes on me. It wasn’t pain I found there, but desperation. My breath hitched seconds before Ethan caught him with a final hook, sending him crashing into the stone fountain. Marble shattered under the impact, water spraying into the air in a glittering arc. Enforcers swarmed from the shadows, their silver-plated rifles leveled as they pinned Shane to the wet floor. He fought against six before they were able to detain him, his face bloodied, his breath coming in ragged gasps, but his eyes never left mine—fixed on me.

I couldn’t make sense of the pain I felt. Tears finally broke, streaming down my cheeks as I curled into myself, clutching my chest, my hands shaking uncontrollably.

Ethan turned. His gaze promised the end. He stood over the struggling Shane, the moonlight catching the iron spikes of his mask until he looked less like a savior and more like a god of ruin.

Ethan’s shoulders rose and fell, his breath plumed as blood dripped from his knuckles. As the Enforcers pinned Shane’s face into the wet stone, Ethan turned toward me. The moment his gaze snagged on my torn dress, his nostrils flared, and he inhaled the scent of Shane on my skin. All that aggression was now directed at me. His control was nowhere in sight. He was in front of me in a blur—there was no hesitation. The harsh metallic bite of his zipper echoed in the courtyard as he freed himself.

My eyes dropped and my lips parted as his cock sprang free, the thick length slapping his abdomen. I gasped, my eyes widening as I glanced at the spiked mask. From my knees, I felt the displacement of the air—the heavy suffocating weight of a beast unleashed, his power pressing down on my shoulders, refusing to let me move.

He offered his palm. “Spit.”

I swallowed then did as he said. When his hand didn’t move, I repeated the action. Then he fisted the base angrily. His chin dipped, his eyes on me as his hand moved, positioning himself so he hovered over me. His thumb swept over the crown, smearing the moisture. I wet my lips and he growled. This wasn’t Shane’s cruelty; this was the burning heat of a mate who snapped. His breaths came out in hungry bursts his gaze feeding on mine.

My mind screamed and my soul rumbled in a way I didn’t know was possible. The tether between mates made the hair on my arms stand. I should have looked away, but nothing could have made me tear my gaze from him.

“Let him watch as I mark you as mine,” he growled, his hand a blur of desperate motion between us. “Let them all see.”

Shane had tried to break me; Ethan was showing the world I belonged to him. The humiliation I expected to feel was drowned out by the terrifying relief. My body knew his and in that, I felt safety.

I turned and looked to find Shane, bloodied, but eyes filled with hate as he still fought beneath the Enforcer’s boots. My heart lurched as fingers found my chin and jerked me back.

“Look at what’s yours, mate.”

His fist rushed down, hitting a velvety bulge, then tugged. The veins protruded from his arm stretching up his forearm as he slid off the crown before slamming down. He jerked the bottom, slamming against his knot.

“I’m going to mark you as mine. No one will question who owns you.” My eyes flickered to the slits in his mask. He groaned as warmth coated my face, hair and chest.

The world narrowed down to the scent of him—musk, alpha, mine, and it made my head reel. I felt the weight of his brand and it burned hotter than the bruises on my neck. I was shaking, my breath coming in shallow hitches, but for the first time the void within me was filled with him.

When he was done, he tucked himself in with a quiet calm. His hand slid to the back of my neck as he pulled back enough to look at Shane.