Alpha's Regret After Putting Me In Jail novel Chapter 57

Chapter 57: A Contract

Chapter 57: A Contract

(Alexander’s POV)

Scarlett’s gentle voice floated beside me as she ran her fingers over the pair of pendants displayed, asking my opinion.

For a moment, her words didn’t register. A sharp, metallic tang invaded my senses.

The scent hit me faster than I could process: blood.

And more than that–it was Nina’s. The faint copper scent carried her signature, an

unmistakable mark I’d been trained to recognize even in the thickest of chaos.

I stiffened, my white wolf snapping into focus, instincts kicking in like a lightning strike.

It wasn’t just blood. There was wolfsbane. Poisonous. Acrid. It stung the air, mingling with faint traces of fear interwoven with something cold and unfamiliar.

I didn’t think. I reacted.

Gripping my pendant so hard my knuckles whitened, I turned from the stall without a word. Before she could finish whatever question she’d been asking, my feet pounded the

cobblestone path leading toward the tavern. Each step was faster than logic could keep up

with.

“Alexander?” Scarlett’s soft voice behind me trembled with confusion. She dropped the

pendant she’d been holding, chasing after me. “Alex! Where are you going? Wait!”

I didn’t slow. My wolf pulled me with a singular, overwhelming purpose. Blood–Nina’s blood- meant something had gone wrong. The urgency clawed at my skin.

I pushed through the crowd, shoving past startled wolves and ignoring their protests. Wolves parted instinctively. Some muttered indignant remarks about dominance, but I didn’t stop to

care.

Scarlett’s voice faded into the ambient noise of the marketplace, her insistent pleas barely a

hum compared to the rushing blood pounding in my ears.

The moment I burst into the dimly lit tavern, my eyes scanned the wrecked space. Overturned chairs. The strong, heavy scent of wolves clashing. The cloying tang of wolfsbane. All of it

stopped me cold.

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Chapter 57: A Contract

And then I saw her.

Nina lay crumpled near the wall, her silver–gray wolf shuddering with weak breaths. Blood

smeared her face. A fresh stream trickled from her mouth, pooling faintly beneath her trembling form.

My breath hitched in my chest. Fury surged through me, unrelenting, as I crossed the room in two steps. Dropping swiftly to one knee, I hovered over her with restrained desperation.

Her form was battered, body slumped like a discarded doll. Her silver fur flickered in patches, her shift incomplete. But those sharp gray eyes lifted themselves toward me, her wolf’s pain clear even as it fought to hold focus.

“S–She’s gone,” Nina rasped weakly, every word sounding like it was wrenched from her ribs. Blood spattered as her lips trembled.

“Gone?” My tone was sharp, panic bleeding into every syllable. “Nina–what do you mean,

gone? What happened?”

Her chest rose and fell with shuddering effort. “Ambushed,” she whispered, barely audible. “My

… my lady…”

I clenched my jaw so hard I thought it might break. “Who?” My voice was a low growl now, my wolf pushing against me with ferocity. “Who took her?”

She coughed, her wolf keening weakly. The sound sliced into me sharper than any blade.

“Mercenaries… two of them. Male. Skilled.”

Her eyes flickered down toward the floor. I followed her line of sight, noticing gleaming rope discarded there. I picked it up cautiously, holding it under the weak light. It stung faintly where it brushed my bare skin–wolfsbane. Runes and ancient symbols ran along its length, glinting

ominously.

“They used this on her.” Nina’s voice wavered, her wolf trembling. “Pre–planned. Talked about…

a contract.”

The room spun for a split second. My breaths were sharp and uneven. “A contract?”

I couldn’t hold back the snarl now. My wolf surged forward with pure rage, unable to tolerate the idea that someone–anyone–would dare try this. My hands gripped the rope tighter, my claws digging into its surface.

“They wanted to stop her mate ceremony,” Nina added. “Paid… to take her before she got…

there.”

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Chapter 57: A Contract

The words struck like molten iron, branding themselves on my resolve. I shot up to my full height in one fluid motion, tuning out the faint broken wheeze of air that left her. “Kane,” I barked through the pack link. “Lock down every border in this territory now. Send units to scout. No wolf moves without my permission. None.”

“Yes, sir!” Kane’s immediate response crackled crisply through the link, his tone as sharp and

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focused as mine.

“Alexander?” A familiar voice rang sharply from the doorway.

Scarlett.

Her petite frame clutched the wood as if to steady herself. Emerald eyes brimming with tears

locked onto mine. “What’s happening? Where’s Celeste?” Her words were shaky, riddled with

confusion tinged with something else I couldn’t place.

My mouth twisted into something sharp and bitter. “She’s been taken,” I bit out.

The tears clouding her gaze grew heavier, her wolf suddenly trembling with soft, pitiful whines.

“Taken?” she repeated, her voice a whisper. “By who? Why?”

I didn’t answer. Noise wouldn’t serve me now. Instead, I turned my attention back to Nina,

checking for even faint answers.

Scarlett rushed toward me, reaching for my arm in a panic. “Alex, you’re not thinking of going

after her, are you?” she asked, her voice cracking sharply, filled with urgency.

I turned on her sharply. “Move,” I said, my tone brooking no argument. If I spent another second explaining the obvious, the trail would grow colder.

But Scarlett hesitated, her tiny frame trembling as she wrapped her arms around herself.”

Please… please don’t risk yourself for her,” she murmured.

Her words hit like sand on raw wounds, only feeding my simmering anger. I had no room for her pleas now, not while Nina struggled to breathe and Celeste was in the hands of enemies.

“Move,” I snapped again. This time sharper.

Dominant energy surged into the room like a howling storm, demanding attention. It blasted into every crevice of the tavern, oppressive and frigid as it swept through the air. The weight of it was impossible to ignore, chilling down to the marrow of my bones.

Marcus Blackwood.

His imposing figure cut through the space, violet eyes glowing with menace beneath a veil of cold restraint. Every movement radiated absolute control, but his aura was volatile.

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Chapter 57: A Contract

He absorbed the wreckage of the room in seconds–Nina’s broken form, the spilled blood, the faint wolfsbane aroma still hanging thickly.

When he turned to me, his gaze froze with deadly precision. “Where is she?”

The edge in his voice could have sliced through the densest stone. Control barely held his

wolf’s fury in check.

I didn’t flinch but met his glare evenly. “Gone,” I said curtly. “Mercenaries ambushed her. She’s

been taken.”

Marcus growled deep in his throat, the sound more beast than human. His wolf surged dangerously, flashing like wildfire across the surface of his skin. He moved toward Nina with