Page 9 of The Alpha's Fallen Spell
“She’s not anyone’s,” the scientist replies, his tone sharpening now. “She’s a failed prototype. A walking scar with a heartbeat. You’re not rescuing something that is lost; you’re clinging to something that never should’ve survived.”
Erik doesn’t move. Doesn’t answer.
The scientist takes a step forward—carefully, slowly—the firelight flickering against the glint of his coat buttons and the calculating glimmer in his eyes.
“But you,” he says now, his gaze focused on Erik, “you’ll make a fine consolation prize. Ever since Griffin escaped our grasp, we’ve been looking for someone carrying royal blood. The young king of the Eastern Kingdom is constantly guarded. But you…You’re replaceable, aren’t you?”
Erik remains silent.
“Take them both,” the scientist says over his shoulder, his voice snapping through the clearing like a whip. “Alive.”
That’s all it takes. The guards move as one, swift and practiced—and Erik erupts.
The change is fast, but not uncontrolled. It’s deliberate, seamless, a shattering of bones and skin that reforms into power and precision. One second he’s a man, the next a beast, with fur the color of shadow, eyes molten gold, and fangs that flash like moonlit steel.
He meets the first shifter mid-charge and tears his throat open before the man even blinks.
The second is slower and suffers longer, claws raking wildly before Erik pins him to the ground and rips open his side with aggressive brutality.
Blood flies. Flesh tears. Screams ripple through the night like smoke.
The others hesitate, but only for a breath. It’s a breath too long.
Erik is among them before they can regroup, moving like thunder, like wind, like death with purpose. He doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t flinch, doesn’t give them a chance to strategize.
He destroys them.
One tries to shift and is caught mid-transformation—Erik snaps his back in two before the bones finish forming. Another tries to flank him and gets gutted with a single upward claw across his chest. A third reaches for something at his belt, butErik is faster: his jaws clamp down on the man’s arm, and when he pulls away, the limb stays in his teeth.
I can’t look away. I want to. I should. But I don’t. Because for once, the fear isn’t mine. It’s theirs. And I’ve waited my entire life to see it.
The bodies pile up quickly. The ground is soaked with blood. The firelight dances across broken skin and scattered limbs, and still, Erik keeps moving.
I watch the scientist flee, fear on his face. He turns and disappears into the forest, vanishing among the trees like smoke in the wind.
Erik watches him go. He doesn’t chase him. Instead, he turns back to me.
The transformation is slower this time, as if the fury in him is reluctant to retreat. His body folds back into a human shape, skin stitching over muscle, bones shrinking beneath flesh, until he stands there again, tall, his breath fogging in the cold air.
He looks at me, and I don’t know what he sees.
He removes his shirt, and then, crouching beside me, he gently puts it on me. As he carefully pulls the sleeve over one arm and then the next, I watch him. I know what clothes are, but I’ve never been allowed to have any ever since I became their property. Being naked doesn’t bother me anymore. It is all I know. But it seems to bother my protector.
He buttons up the shirt, his hands quivering. I can smell the sharp scent of his anger. Is he angry at me? I can’t tell. But the creature inside of me is pleased.
Erik picks me up in his arms. “Come on, little one.” His voice is exceedingly gentle. “I’ll take you somewhere safe.”
I rest my head against his chest and close my eyes.
He killed the ones who wanted to hurt me.
I can trust him.
Chapter 2
Erik
Of all the things I expected to come across during my surveillance patrol, a young wolf wasn’t one of them, a female with wild eyes that are filled with fire and the desperate desire to live.
