Page 163 of Chased By My Grumpy Alpha
My wolf—my poor, caged, forgotten wolf—erupts into my mind with the force of a hurricane.
She’s massive. Powerful. Ancient in a way that makes no sense for someone my age. And she’s absolutely, completely furious.
PROTECT. FIGHT. KILL.
The words slam into my mind like a freight train. This isn’t the tender awakening I used to imagine when I dreamed of finally meeting my wolf. This is violent and chaotic and overwhelming.
“Lucian,” I gasp, my body convulsing as my wolf tries to force a shift.
But I can’t shift. The restraints, the ritual—something is preventing the transformation even as my wolf claws desperately at the walls of my consciousness.
“Excellent.” Aldric’s voice sounds distant through the roar in my head. “The suppression is breaking down beautifully. Continue.”
The hands on my temples press harder, and another wave of agony crashes over me. This time, I feel something else breaking. Something deeper than magic.
“No,” I whisper, then louder, “NO!”
But they don’t stop. Whatever they’re doing, whatever ritual they’re performing, it’s tearing me apart from the inside.
Then, I hear it.
The screaming starts as a distant echo, bouncing off the stone walls like a war cry. Metal clashing against metal. Boots pounding on rock.
“What—” Aldric spins toward the entrance to this chamber, but the hands still press against my temples from behind.
The pain in my skull intensifies, yet through the agony, I hear the most beautiful sound in the world: Lucian’s voice roaring my name.
“ASTRA!”
Hope spreads in my chest like wildfire. He found me. Somehow, impossibly, he found me.
“Continue the ritual!” Aldric shouts, and the hands press harder against my temples. “Don’t stop!”
The chamber erupts into chaos. Men pour from shadows I didn’t even notice before—Aldric’s guards, more than I realized were here. They charge toward the entrance just as soldiers in royal colors burst through the doorway.
And leading them is the most magnificent wolf I’ve ever seen.
Massive and silver-black, with eyes like molten gold, Lucian in his wolf form is a force of nature. He tears through the first line of defenders like they’re made of paper, his jaws snapping with lethal precision.
“Kill the Prince!” Zari screams, backing toward the far wall. “Kill them all!”
The fighting intensifies, soldiers clashing with Aldric’s hidden guards. Steel clangs against steel, men cry out in pain and rage. Through it all, my wolf is going insane in my head.
PROTECT MATE! KILL ENEMIES!
She’s clawing at my consciousness, desperate to shift, to fight, to defend. But the ritual—whatever they’re doing to me—is keeping her caged while simultaneously setting her free. It’sagony and turmoil, and I can feel something vital flowing out of me with each second that passes.
“Almost there,” the man behind me mutters, his fingers digging deeper into my skull. “Just a little more—”
Lucian’s massive wolf form moves with deadly grace as he tears through two more guards, his claws raking across their chests before his jaws close around a third man’s throat.
But there are so many of them. Too many.
“Lucian!” I scream as more people emerge from the shadows, surrounding him and his men.
His golden, wolf eyes find me through the bedlam. The fury and desperation in his gaze nearly undo me.
“Let her go,” Aldric snarls over his shoulder toward the man behind me. “The wolf can’t help her now.”
