Chapter 61: Tiny silver blades

Victor slammed on the brakes, ditching his car deep within the abandoned forest. By fortune, his pack’s territory sat at a strategic frontier, sharing a direct border with the rogue kingdom, and he already had a contact on the other side who could smuggle him across.

Snatching his duffle bag from the trunk, he bolted through the underbrush, his legs burning as he raced toward the rusted perimeter fence.

However, his stride shattered instantly.

"A-Andrew?" Victor choked out, his throat turning dry as he stared up at the Alpha Prince.

"Drop to your knees," Andrew commanded, his voice a lethal, low growl while his eyes flashed with the iridescent pink hue of wrath. "Or I will rip your heart out right here and tear you to pieces."

Victor let the duffle bag slip from his fingers, letting it thud heavily against the forest floor. He forced a mask of confusion onto his face, though cold sweat beaded at his temples.

"Your Highness... you seem unusually angry for some reason," he murmured, feigning complete ignorance of whatever had transpired back in the capital.

"Yes. You tried to run away to escape your judgment," Andrew affirmed, his voice dangerously low as he closed the distance between them.

Knowing full well he stood no chance against the Alpha Prince in a direct physical confrontation, Victor let desperation guide his movements.

While Andrew stepped into his personal space, Victor’s hand slid slowly toward the back pocket of his jeans, his fingers wrapping stealthily around the hilt of a silver knife.

As Andrew grabbed onto the collar of Victor’s jacket, Victor whipped the silver knife upward, driving it straight into Andrew’s chest.

"I have no intention of dying here today, Andrew," Victor hissed. "If anyone dies today, it will be you."

Andrew’s hand shot out, locking around Victor’s wrist just as he tried to wrench the blade deeper toward his heart.

"Caroline will become a widow," Victor rasped, a malicious smirk twisting his features. "When the Alpha King sees the corpse of his youngest son, he’ll order her execution himself. Who would have thought the great Alpha Prince would die by my hands today? You shouldn’t have married that bitch or given her any authority. She was supposed to die that night with her family. Instead, she just lived long enough to die a widow."

Victor threw his weight behind the weapon, driving the blade further into Andrew’s chest. Under the mounting pressure, Andrew’s jaw clenched, his features tightening in a brief wince of pain.

That was the breaking point.

In a swift motion, Andrew’s free hand shot out, clamping around Victor’s windpipe as his fingernails lengthened into claws.

"Tiny silver blades don’t work on me," Andrew said.

With a violent shove, he hurled Victor backward. Victor left the ground entirely, sailing through the air before slamming hard against the trunk of a huge pine tree.

His vision blurred into a haze as Andrew’s inner wolf, Ares, broke free, surging forward with exceptional speed to charge straight at him.

A shriek tore from Victor’s throat the instant Ares’ sharp teeth tear the entire limb away brutally.

At that exact moment, Jeremy and the pack warriors burst through the tree line, arriving just in time to witness the ruthlessness of the Alpha Prince. They finally understood why he was called the most dangerous one among the royals.

With a shimmer of shifting form, Andrew stood back in his human shape, calmly wiping a smear of blood from the back of his hand. He looked down as Victor collapsed into the ground, writhing and weeping in agonizing pain.

"Ahh... my arm..." Victor sobbed, clutching the mangled, bleeding cavity where his arm had been as the agony consumed him.

Andrew grabbed Victor by his remaining shoulder, hauling him up.

"You touched what was mine from the very beginning," Andrew said while gritting his teeth. "You made her cry, and you dared to drag her name through the mud. Now, Victor, you’re going to learn what it actually feels like to beg for your life."

"Please, Prince Andrew, just let me go," Victor sobbed, tears and dirt streaking across his pale, blood-smeared cheeks. "I’ll disappear. I swear I’ll never show my face to you or Caroline again."

"Run as far as you can," Andrew commanded coldly, shoving him hard toward the rusted wire fence marking the rogue border. "Because now, I’m going to show you what it really feels like to run for your life."

Victor seized the opportunity, dragging his bloodied body along the forest floor in a desperate scramble toward the border fence.

"I can’t die like this," he wheezed through gritted teeth, his breath coming in jagged hitches.

A kick landed on him from behind. ℯ

"Agh!" Victor crashed face-first into the ground, the impact rattling his ribs. But the instinct to survive overpowered the blinding agony. Pushing off the earth with his remaining arm, he pulled himself up and broke into a staggering run.

"I won’t die... I won’t die..." he repeated, screaming inward at his wolf to force power into his trembling legs.

Just as Andrew closed the distance to finish him, something unnatural swept across the clearing.

Everyone felt the strong winds blowing that uprooted some small plants. Andrew brought his arm over his face to prevent himself from the dust that started flowing with the strong winds along with the other wolves.

Victor couldn’t stand against the wind and fell down, his eyes shutting tightly.

From the darkness beyond the rogue border, a figure appeared which none of them could understand.

Andrew lowered his arm, reaching out to drag Victor back. But the moment his fingers grazed Victor’s clothes, an invisible shockwave exploded between them, slamming into Andrew’s chest and sending him skidding backward across the forest floor.

Andrew hit the ground, his boots digging deep to break his slide. He shifted into Ares, knowing only in his true wolf form could he stand against dark magic.

From the shadow beyond the fence, a figure stepped forward. It wasn’t a witch, her dark robes trailing over the fallen leaves.

"He isn’t yours to kill today, Andrew," she purred.

The next second, she flicked her fingers and Victor disappeared along with her.