Alpha's Hidden Precious Luna-Chapter 148

Kai POV

My body slammed into Lucas with the force of a freight train, sending us both crashing through his office door. Wood splintered around us as we tumbled into the room, locked together in a tangle of limbs and fury. The desk caught my hip as we fell, pain flaring up my side, but I barely felt it through the red haze of rage.

Lucas twisted beneath me, using the momentum to throw me off. I rolled and sprang back to my feet just as he did the same, both of us circling each other in the confined space.

"You’ve lost your mind," Lucas spat, a thin line of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "Breaking into my territory, attacking me in my own home—"

I lunged forward, cutting off his words with a right hook that connected with his jaw. The impact sent a shock up my arm, but the satisfying crunch told me I’d landed it perfectly. Lucas staggered back, his eyes widening with genuine surprise.

"Where is she?" I demanded again, following up with a left jab that he barely dodged.

Lucas’s eyes flashed amber as his wolf rose closer to the surface. "I told you," he growled, feinting left before driving his fist into my ribs, "I don’t have your precious Lily."

The blow knocked the wind from my lungs, but I countered with an uppercut that caught him under the chin. His head snapped back, and I pressed my advantage, grabbing his shoulders and driving my knee into his stomach.

Lucas doubled over but recovered quickly, wrapping his arms around my waist and tackling me into the bookshelf behind us. Heavy volumes rained down as the shelves collapsed, one catching me on the temple hard enough to send stars spinning across my vision.

"You always were too impulsive," Lucas taunted, ramming his elbow into my sternum.

I gasped for air, tasting blood. With a roar, I seized his throat and slammed him back against the wall, plaster cracking under the impact. "If you’ve hurt her—"

"I haven’t touched her!" Lucas snarled, his claws extending to rake down my forearm.

I jerked back as his claws tore through flesh, warm blood trickling down to my wrist. The pain only fed my rage. I charged forward, driving my shoulder into his chest and sending us both crashing through another door into what appeared to be a sitting room.

We toppled over a coffee table, glass shattering beneath our weight. A shard sliced into my palm, but I barely noticed as I scrambled to pin Lucas down. He twisted beneath me, powerful legs kicking me off and sending me flying into an armchair that collapsed under the impact.

He was a Gamma wolf. The only thing he had to his advantage was speed, but I was an Alpha Wolf. I had strength and girth which he didn’t possess and Gamma wolves were only good for fighting in battles not throwing punches at someone within the confines of a building.

"You think I’d keep her here?" Lucas laughed, blood staining his teeth as he rose to his feet. "In my own pack house? Give me some credit for intelligence."

Something in his words caught my attention, a subtle slip, but I had no time to analyze it as he came at me again. I rolled away just as his hand slashed through the space where my face had been, his claws shredding the upholstery instead.

I kicked out, my foot connecting with his knee. There was a sickening pop, and Lucas howled in pain as his leg buckled beneath him. But instead of falling, he half-shifted, his features elongating into something between man and beast, strength surging through his limbs.

"Two can play that game," I growled, allowing my own partial shift. My senses sharpened, my muscles coiling with primal power as my wolf rose to the surface, lending me its strength while maintaining human form.

We crashed together again, a blur of claws and teeth. His fangs sank into my shoulder, and I roared in pain, retaliating by driving my claws deep into his side. Blood sprayed between us, hot and metallic, impossible to tell whose was whose.

I tore myself free from his grip, blood streaming from the wound in my shoulder. Lucas staggered back, clutching his side where my claws had left deep furrows in his flesh. Neither of us spoke now, beyond words in our feral state.

The next charge sent us careening into a glass cabinet, crystal decanters and tumblers exploding around us in a shower of glittering shards. A piece sliced across my cheek, another embedded itself in Lucas’s arm. He howled, grabbing a broken lamp and swinging it at my head.

I ducked, the lamp whistling over me to smash against the wall. In the same motion, I drove forward, tackling him around the waist and sending us both crashing through the window and out onto a stone balcony. Glass rained down around us as we rolled across the cold stone, each struggling for dominance.

My back hit the stone balustrade, knocking the breath from my lungs. Lucas seized the advantage, straddling my chest, his clawed hands wrapping around my throat. His eyes gleamed with triumph as he squeezed, cutting off my air.

"I should kill you for this," he snarled, blood dripping from his mouth onto my face. "Coming into my territory, attacking me in my own home."

Black spots danced at the edges of my vision as I struggled for breath. With a desperate surge of strength, I bucked upward, throwing Lucas off balance. His grip loosened just enough for me to slam my forehead into his nose with a satisfying crunch.

He reeled back, howling in pain, and I took my chance. I drove my fist into his already broken nose, then followed with a strike to his throat that left him choking and gasping. With a roar of pure rage, I seized his shoulders and hurled him bodily across the balcony.

Lucas slammed into the stone railing on the opposite side, the impact so violent that the balustrade cracked beneath him. He slumped to the ground, blood streaming from his nose, mouth, and the deep gouges in his side.

I stalked toward him, my wolf urging me to finish what I’d started. Lucas tried to rise, but his injured knee gave out beneath him, sending him sprawling back to the stone floor. Blood pooled beneath him, his chest heaving with labored breaths.

"It’s over, Lucas," I growled, standing over him, my own wounds throbbing with each heartbeat. "Tell me where Lily is, or I swear to the Moon Goddess I’ll end your miserable life right here."

For a moment, I thought he might finally break, might finally tell me the truth. But then his bloodied lips curved into a smile that sent ice down my spine.

"You think you’ve won?" he rasped, each word accompanied by a gurgle of blood. "You have no idea what’s coming. When I make Lily mine, she’ll finally have the protection she deserves."

My heart froze in my chest. "What did you say?"

"She deserves better than you," Lucas continued, his eyes gleaming with malice despite his broken state. "A real Alpha who can protect her, not some memory-addled fool who lets her wander off alone."

I seized him by the throat, lifting him halfway off the ground. "Where is she?"

Lucas laughed, blood bubbling from his lips. "Somewhere safe. Somewhere you’ll never find her. And when I mark her, when I claim her as mine, she’ll forget all about you."

Something snapped inside me at his words. The certainty in his voice, the possessive gleam in his eyes—he wasn’t lying. He had Lily. He had taken my mate.

"I will tear you apart," I promised, my voice barely recognizable as human. "I will end your bloodline, burn your territory to the ground, and scatter your ashes to the wind."

"You can try," Lucas wheezed, his face contorted with pain, yet still defiant. "But you’ll never find her in time. She’ll be mine, Kai. Mine in every way that matters."

A roar tore from my throat as I raised my clawed hand, ready to rip his throat out, to end this once and for all—

"Kai, stop!"

Vanessa’s voice cut through my rage, bringing me back from the brink. I turned to see her standing in the shattered window frame, her expression a mixture of horror and determination.

"If you kill him, you’ll never find Lily," she said, taking a cautious step forward. "And you will start a war that will destroy both our packs."

My hand trembled with the effort of restraint, every instinct screaming at me to end the threat to my mate.

"He took her," I said, my voice shaking with barely contained fury. "He admitted it."

Vanessa’s eyes widened, her gaze shifting to Lucas’s bloodied form. "Is this true?"

Lucas said nothing, his defiant glare was answer enough.

"Where is my sister?" Vanessa demanded her own Alpha power filling the air with electric tension.

But Lucas only smiled through bloodied teeth, his eyes never leaving mine. "You’re too late," he whispered. "By now, she’s already given herself to me."