Defy The Alpha(s)

Chapter 266: Alpha Scratch Post

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Alpha Roman ," Abel grinned at Roman, who stirred from his long sleep. Due to the severity of his condition, he had been sedated to prevent further aggravation.

Right now, he groaned from the infirmary bed, feeling a crick in his tone. He sat up, stretching the affected area.

"I’m guessing I’m at the infirmary," he said, glancing around.

"Yes."

"What time is it?"

"8 p.m." another voice answered, and Roman turned his head to see Adele approaching with a clipboard in hand, and his cardinal brothers standing behind her.

"Oh great," Roman thought inwardly, sure they’d come to mock him and rub salt in his wounds.

"Well, well, well," Griffin was the first to speak, humor lacing his tone. "Isn’t it the famous Alpha Roman? Quite the stunt you pulled today."

"Fuck off," he retorted.

"How can you say that when we came to check up on you?" the big guy teased further.

Roman rubbed his temple. "If you’re here to gloat, save it. I’m already humiliated. You can’t do more damage."

"Oh, sweetheart," Adele spoke up, "this isn’t gloating. It’s a clinical assessment."

Roman stared at the corners of her twitching lips, watching her fight back a laugh, and groaned in annoyance. She was clearly in on this with them.

Great. Fuck his life. Wasn’t he supposed to be the patient here? They should be pampering him, maybe even giving him "get well" kisses—though the mental image of being kissed by his cardinal brothers made him cringe. Instead, they were here to make him feel even worse.

"What went wrong with him?" Asher cut straight to the point.

he was already down. What a friend he had

report, Patient Roman presented with—" she paused dramatically, "’severe genital discomfort described by him as biting fire, despite no visible rash, boils,

Alaric remarked, speaking for the

him

continued. "Skin shows linear abrasions, mild lacerations, and surface bruising consistent with repeated aggressive

all too accurately: "You humped a

tree!" Roman growled under the sheet. "I

of

heart crack. He’d thought Asher was his ally.

trauma and not a fracture or tear in the penile shaft. Otherwise, the southern pack would’ve been on their knees, praying to the goddess for your ability to

"Trust me, that would’ve

settled over the room, heavy and telling,

throat, addressing Adele. "If there was no infection or skin disease, what caused this? My alpha was in real

are not exactly as rare as you think. I suspect magical interference or a hex is at work here."

in the room as the implication sank in. Then Griffin

my god, he’s fucked," Griffin

witch! I haven’t slept with anyone outside the academy this

"Think harder, Roman—maybe you pissed off a girl enough that she hexed your

"They’re what?!"

before dinner. I haven’t seen that many close-ups since the last talent show you hosted. And based on the comments...yeah, let’s just say you’re

There goes his social life. Of all the scandals, he had to put

"You’ll live. Next time, try not to break a witch’s

Asher pointed out, "If that’s true, we might have

and humans. Incidents like what happened to Roman were precisely why every creature needed to be accounted for. If a string of murders ever broke out, the wolves would be the first to take the fall, tarnishing their already fragile reputation. But if those other

the wolves, witches had never gone to war with humans. But that didn’t mean they felt safe. On the contrary, witches rarely revealed themselves, wary of retaliation. They were good at hiding in plain sight, blending

of whoever you’ve hooked up with. We’ll weed out