The pain is everywhere, spreading, suffocating, drilling straight into my chest like something’s trying to tear its way out of me. My heartbeat is erratic, violent, each thud making my vision blur red at the edges.

They noticed it early.

Good.

If they hadn’t cleared the place out fast enough, I’d already be exposed, half-shifted, out of control, and a fucking mess in front of everyone. But that doesn’t matter right now. None of it does.

Not the media.

Not the pack.

Not the consequences.

The only thing that matters is...

Ashley.

Where the hell is she?

.....

While Nathan descended into a full-blown frenzy, tearing through the mating ceremony venue like something unhinged, his warriors, who are posted as bodyguards across the hall, reacted instantly.

They moved with sharp intent, forcing out every member of the media Nathan had invited to capture Ashley’s humiliation, some of them still streaming live as confusion rippled through the crowd.

The shift in atmosphere was immediate; the moment the two disheveled warriors collapsed to their knees, those stationed nearby sensed something was off. Without hesitation, they cut through the crowd, positioning themselves at the front, ready to extract the humans before things spiraled further.

Most of the media present were human, and that alone made the situation volatile. The ceremony was being held in a five-star hotel in the city center, deliberately chosen for its proximity, which was just three hours by car from the pack’s territory.

Holding it within the pack grounds had never been an option this time. Inviting outsiders meant risking exposure, one wrong moment, one uncontrolled shift, and every secret of their kind would unravel before the masses.

They couldn’t guarantee control in their own territory with so many unfamiliar eyes watching. So they brought the ceremony out into human space, thinking it would contain the danger.

Now, with Nathan losing control and tension snapping tight across the room, that decision was starting to feel like a mistake.

After all, no one expected things to turn out like this.

So, the moment the two warriors opened their mouths and started speaking, Nathan’s Alpha aura surged, bearing down on everyone within reach. By then, the media had already been forced outside, barely keeping their footing as the pressure spilled beyond the venue.

Glass panels nearby shattered in sharp, violent bursts, and even the cars parked along the street began blaring, alarms screaming into the chaos.

No one understood what was happening. Fear hit first, fast and raw, leaving them frozen where they stood, wide-eyed, shaken, and completely overwhelmed. Whatever composure they had left snapped under the weight of it, and one by one, the livestreams cut off, ending abruptly as panic took over.

While Nathan tore through the place in a blind, violent rage and driving the two warriors to the edge of death as he demanded answers about what they’d done and why Ashley had fallen, their fear was already cracking them open.

They were seconds away from breaking, from spilling everything just to make it stop. And they knew it. If Nathan kept pushing, there would be no hiding the truth.

Maddison moved the instant she realized it.

She stepped in, cutting through the chaos with calculated urgency. A fated mate could calm an Alpha when he lost control, pull him back from the brink, and she had done it before, more than once.

With her own Alpha bloodline, she wasn’t someone easily crushed under Nathan’s dominance. She could withstand his pressure, match him just enough to reach him, to steady him. At least, that’s how it had always worked.

That’s how she expected it to go this time.

Even before the two warriors could report anything, Maddison had already pieced it together. Ashley hadn’t just gone missing; something had gone wrong, and it lined up too perfectly with the time she had been "teaching her a lesson."

The realization hit her instantly. Her heart lurched violently in her chest, and a cold, creeping dread clawed its way through her gut at the thought of Nathan finding out, of him uncovering what she had really been doing to Ashley behind his back.

Every bit of cruelty she’d inflicted since yesterday wasn’t impulsive; it was deliberate, and personal. Maddison had taken it upon herself to punish both mother and daughter, pushing things further than anyone knew.

The plan had always been simple: humiliate Ashley in front of everyone, let Nathan and everyone watch the sex video, and then explain it all in a way he could accept. She needed him to see this video of Ashley, as she believed that this level of brutality was necessary to burn out whatever lingering attachment he still had for Ashley.

Because, despite the mate bond anchoring him to her, Maddison could feel the resistance. Subtle, buried, but there. Whenever it came to Ashley, something in Nathan would push back, and she couldn’t allow that to grow.

So she made sure it never had the chance.

Before this public humiliation was even set in motion, she had already worked on him, playing the pity card, playing wronged, feeding him a version of the past that twisted guilt into obedience. She made him believe that this was the only way he could make up for everything she had endured.

And he believed it.

Completely.

Nathan thought this was his decision from the start, his plan, his judgment.

But it never was.

It was hers from the very beginning.

When Nathan took Ashley with him, his intent had been harsh but controlled, to make her pay, prove to Maddison that she held no special place in his heart. In his original plan, Ashley wouldn’t be broken like this. She’d suffer, yes, but not to the point of ruin.

Maddison changed that.

Slowly. Carefully. She fed him the idea piece by piece, subtle enough that he never noticed where his thoughts ended, and hers began. All while she played the part of a fragile victim, the woman whose life had been torn apart by a mother and daughter who stole everything just to give Ashley a better future.

People pitied her. Nathan pitied her. And that sympathy twisted into something uglier over time, until what once felt excessive started to feel justified... even necessary.

Until dragging Ashley through the dirt felt like the only way to make things right.

But there were lines Nathan didn’t know had already been crossed.

If he ever found out that Maddison had Ashley’s mother killed behind his back, and worse, that she’d ordered two warriors to violate her, then everything would shatter. The image she built in his eyes, the version of herself he clung to... gone. What he’d see instead was something ruthless, calculating, and irredeemable.

And Maddison couldn’t allow that.

Not now. Not ever.

She had to stop this interrogation before the truth slipped out.

"Nathan... stop! You’re going to kill them... I’m scared..." Maddison’s voice broke into a soft, trembling whimper as she clutched his arm, the same arm that had the warrior lifted off the ground by his throat.

Nathan didn’t even flinch. His gaze burned, locked onto his victim, eyes bloodshot and feral. His canines were fully bared, saliva trailing from the edges as his killing intent thickened the air, heavy enough to suffocate.