Bonds

tack.”

Chapter 99

-Maya’s POV-

The world erupted into a cacophony of snarls, growls, and the sickening thud of flesh on flesh. Alex’s command echoed in my ears, a death knell shattering the fragile peace we’d all clung to for the past hour.

Before I could even blink, his wolves were a blur of fur and fangs, launching themselves towards the center platform where my father stood, his own wolves scrambling to meet the attack. A primal scream tore from my throat as I watched Alex himself shift. The human form I knew, the one that had haunted my dreams and stolen my heart, dissolved before my eyes. In his place stood a magnificent beast, a black wolf, its fur rippling with raw power.

A guttural roar ripped from Alex’s wolf, a sound that sent shivers down my spine and echoed the primal fear rising within me. My father’s pack didn’t hesitate. With snarls of their own, they too shifted, a wave of brown and gray fur surging forward to meet the oncoming black

tide.

The clash was instantaneous, a whirlwind of snapping teeth and thrashing claws. The air grew thick with the stench of fur and blood, the polished floor of the hall slick with crimson. I stood rooted in place, paralyzed by the sudden, brutal violence that unfolded before me.

Then, a cold realization washed over me, sharp and undeniable. This wasn’t a show of force, a fight for dominance. This was a massacre. Alex

hadn’t come here to negotiate peace; he’d come here to destroy.

A frantic voice broke through the haze of terror clouding my mind. “Amaya!” I whipped my head around, searching for the source of the shout. Relief flooded me as I saw Ivan pushing his way through the throng of fighting wolves, his face etched with concern.

Instinct took over. I needed to find Natalia and Sarah, get them out of this madness. “Ivan,” I shouted, my voice barely audible over the growing chaos, “Natalia and Sarah! I need to find them!”

He reached me, his grip firm as he pulled me towards a side door leading out of the hall. “We need to get you out of here first,” he yelled, his voice strained. “I’ll find them once I get you safe.”

the need to get me out of harm’s way. But I couldn’t just abandon them. “No!

debate!” Ivan’s voice held a steely edge I hadn’t heard before. He grabbed my arm

the exit.

sign of Natalia or Sarah amidst the swirling mass of fur and fangs. Then, in the distance, I saw them. My father and Alex, locked in a vicious light, their wolf

throat. They were going to kill each other. In that moment, everything else faded away- the chaos, the fear, the need to

in

ripped my arm free from his grasp and bolted towards them. “No!” he roared after me, but I was already in the desperate need to intervene overriding every ounce of common

running,

felt like running through an adrenaline–fueled dream. The snarls and growls intensified as I got closer, punctuated by the sickening crack of bone on bone. Each step felt like wading through

fighting frenzy, a massive brown wolf, easily twice the size of any I’d ever

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Chapter 99

him sprawling across the ground. My heart lurched, dread twisting in

me. Alex’s wolf, a blur of lethal grace, tackled the brown from the side. They tumbled across the floor in a whirlwind of snarling fury, the sound of teeth snapping and claws ripping

of my wolf within, urged me forward. I wouldn’t stand by and watch him be ripped to shreds. With a deep breath that did little to calm the frantic pounding of my heart, I felt my wolf finally break through the cage that had bound her in my head and I did the one thing

I shifted.

of power surging through my body. My vision sharpened, the world narrowing to a predator’s focus. I saw the glint of the brown wolf’s fangs as he lunged for Alex’s

into him, driving him back a few steps. He whipped his head

a seasoned warrior, and his surprise

other, a deadly ballet on the blood–soaked floor. I darted in and out, nipping at his flanks, trying to draw his attention away from

left me vulnerable, and the growing pain in my leg, a result of a

sluggish

central brawl. My father’s wolf, fueled by rage and desperation, had managed

sprawling