Chapter 6

Elara Vance's POV:

As the guards dragged Ryker away, a tense quiet fell over the street. The show was over, but the audience remained, their eyes now fixed on the new center of the drama: the Alpha King kneeling beside a dirt-streaked, injured Omega.

Seraphina Thorne, ever the performer, recovered from her shock with breathtaking speed. Her strategy shifted in a blink. The panicked girlfriend vanished, replaced by a figure of tragic nobility.

She walked towards Alaric, her expression a mask of profound sorrow. She bowed her head deeply. Then, in a move that stunned the crowd, she turned to face me where I lay on the ground.

Slowly, gracefully, she sank to one knee. She lowered her head, exposing the long, pale column of her throat. It was a formal gesture of submission, an act of profound apology usually reserved for a defeated challenger or a grave transgression against a superior.

"Elara Vance," she said, her voice trembling with perfectly feigned sincerity. "For the harm my mate has caused you, I offer you my deepest apologies. Whatever misunderstanding lies between you, he never should have laid a hand on you."

She lifted her eyes, now glistening with unshed tears, to the King. "Alpha King, I am willing to bear half of his punishment. I beg you, consider his actions a moment of uncontrolled passion. Please, show him mercy."

It was a masterful performance. She had acknowledged Ryker's wrongdoing, positioned herself as a compassionate and noble future Luna, and subtly pleaded his case, all while looking like a heartbroken victim herself.

The whispers in the crowd changed again.

"What a good heart. She's a true Alpha's daughter."

"Ryker is lucky to have a mate like her."

I lay there, the world spinning from pain and blood loss, but my mind was coldly, furiously clear. I saw her for exactly what she was.

*A serpent's guile!* Lyra hissed weakly in my mind. *She sheds false tears to win favor!*

I tried to push the word out, to expose her. "...Hypocrite," I managed, the word a ragged whisper, barely audible.

But Alaric heard it. He was close enough. His expression didn't change, his stormy eyes remaining fixed on the kneeling Seraphina, his face unreadable.

"The fault is not yours, Miss Thorne," he said, his tone polite but distant. "Justice, however, must be served. Rise."

Her objective achieved, Seraphina allowed two of her friends to help her to her feet, where she continued to play the part of a fragile, shaken maiden.

Alaric paid her no more attention. His focus was entirely on me. I could feel my strength ebbing, my breathing growing shallow. The edges of my vision were darkening.

He touched my forehead again. It felt cool against my clammy skin.

"She's going into shock," he said to Leo, who was now ushering medical personnel forward.

The pain, the betrayal, Seraphina's sickening act-it all began to swirl into a meaningless vortex. The last thing I saw before the darkness consumed me was Alaric's face, those gray eyes like the heart of a storm. And in their depths, for just a second, I thought I saw a flicker of something I couldn't name.

Then, nothing.

I felt myself falling, but strong arms caught me.

When my consciousness briefly surfaced, I realized what had happened. Alaric hadn't waited for the stretcher. He had lifted me himself.

The Alpha King was carrying me. The murmurs from the crowd rose to a fever pitch of shock. He was holding a lowly, bloodied Omega from a foreign pack in his arms as if I were something precious.

Through a haze, I saw Seraphina's face. The mask had slipped. Her eyes were filled with a flash of raw, ugly jealousy before she smoothed it away.

Alaric ignored them all, striding toward the medical vehicle with a purpose that dared anyone to get in his way. His movements were steady, careful to not jostle my injured arm.

He laid me gently on the gurney, his scent lingering around me like a protective cloak.

He turned to the pack doctor, a silver-haired man named Aris Calder. His voice was low, but it held the unyielding command of a king.

"Use every resource we have. If anything happens to her in my territory, I will hold you personally responsible."