The Alpha's Unwanted Bride novel Chapter 710

Chapter 710: THE MASSACRE

The first thing I heard was screaming.

Not fear. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Rage.

The guards didn’t hesitate when he stepped through the broken archway.

They didn’t shout warnings or call for backup. They shifted with bones snapping and reforming as fur tore through skin, massive wolves launching themselves at him from every direction.

Aiden didn’t stop walking.

He didn’t even look surprised.

The ruby on his ring flared like a wound torn open, and the air around him bent. One wolf never reached him.

It froze mid-leap, crushed by something invisible, its body folding in on itself before hitting the stone floor in a lifeless heap.

Another lunged from behind.

Aiden turned calmly and caught it by the throat.

There was a sickening crack.

Then he let go.

The body slid bonelessly to the ground.

Maelis grabbed my arm hard enough to hurt.

"Now," she hissed.

The chamber shook as another roar split the air. I didn’t know if it was dragon or stone or my own blood rushing too fast through my ears.

Maelis pulled me toward the far wall, past the pedestal, past the screaming ruby that still pulsed wildly behind us.

She pressed her palm to a section of stone that looked solid, muttering words I didn’t recognize.

The wall opened.

Not smoothly.

Violently.

Additionally opening a narrow, jagged passage that dropped sharply downward.

"Go," she ordered.

I stumbled forward, clutching my belly, the pain still simmering low and dangerous despite the magic holding it at bay.

Maelis followed immediately, shoving the ruby chest ahead of us with a force that made my teeth rattle.

Behind us, I heard bone snap.

I didn’t turn back.

The tunnel was dark and steep, damp earth scraping my palms as I half slid, half ran downward. Roots clawed at my cloak, stones bit into my bare feet. Every breath burned.

We burst out into the open with no warning at all.

Cold night air slammed into my lungs.

The forest stretched before us.

And then the smell hit.

Blood.

So much blood it made my stomach revolt.

I staggered to a stop.

The ground was littered with bodies.

Wolves. Hundreds. Thousands.

Some already shifted wolf. Some in still in their unshifted form.

Some were in the middle of shifting.

But all they had something in common.

Torn apart like prey.

Trees splintered. Earth soaked dark.

The forest floor looked churned, trampled, as if something enormous had torn through again and again without mercy.

Maelis froze.

"No," she breathed.

She dropped the chest and ran forward, her movements wild now, uncontrolled. She fell to her knees beside the nearest body, hands shaking as she turned it over.

Her scream ripped through the night.

It wasn’t loud at first.

It was broken.

Raw.

She moved frantically through the carnage, calling names, sobbing as she searched, pushing bodies aside with desperate hands.

I stood rooted where I was, one hand pressed to my mouth, the other clamped over my belly as my baby shifted violently, distressed by the chaos, by the death.

Then Maelis stopped.

"I gave them order," he said. "They rejected it."

Maelis dropped the head gently to the ground and shifted.

Faster than I had ever seen anyone move.

White fur exploded outward as she lunged, a blur of teeth and fury aimed straight for his throat.

The fight was short.

Too short.

Aiden caught her mid-air.

The impact cracked like thunder.

He slammed her into the ground hard enough to send a shockwave through the forest floor. She shifted back under the force, human again, gasping as ribs caved.

She tried to rise.

He didn’t let her.

The ruby flared once.

Aiden drove his hand straight through her chest.

Maelis froze.

Her eyes went wide, shock replacing rage in an instant. Blood spilled down his arm, steaming faintly in the cold night air.

For a heartbeat, neither of them moved.

Then Aiden pulled his hand free.

Maelis collapsed at his feet.

Dead.

The world went silent.

I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t scream.

I couldn’t move.

My mind refused to understand what my eyes had just seen.

My baby kicked violently, panic surging through me as my body trembled uncontrollably. The magic holding the contractions at bay faltered, pain spiking sharp and sudden.

Aiden turned slowly.

And looked at me.