Chapter 4

Lirael POV

Aurora’s small body in the hospital gown was falling rapidly through the wind and snow.

“Aurora—!”

My throat felt as if it had been torn open. My hands gripped the railing tightly, my nails almost flipping back. There was only one thought left in my mind: jump down, even if I was smashed into pulp, I had to catch her.

Just as my feet were about to leave the terrace, a huge silver-gray shadow suddenly leaped up from below, shattering the snow-filled air.

It was Silas.

He had shifted into a huge iron-gray wolf and caught Aurora steadily in midair. Her tiny body landed on his broad wolf back. At that moment, the nerve stretched inside me almost to the breaking point finally loosened.

He wrapped Aurora in the cloak on his back and turned to rush toward the entrance downstairs.

The silver-gray giant wolf lifted his head and let out a long howl toward the third-floor terrace.

She was alive.

My Aurora was still alive.

I slid down from the railing, my knees hitting the ground hard, and forced a trembling breath from my throat. But the next second, I raised my head and looked at Sera’s delicately made-up face. All the fear in my chest burned into hatred.

Umbra roared deep in my consciousness. “Kill her!”

“You deserve to die.”

My voice was so hoarse it did not sound like my own. Like a mother beast who had lost all reason, I lunged at Sera and wrapped both hands tightly around her throat.

“Why did you touch my daughter? Why?”

Sera was forced to tilt her head back, and her face quickly turned red. But she did not struggle. She did not even pry at my hands.

Instead, a strange excitement lit up in her eyes.

Her gaze passed over my shoulder and looked into the distance, the corner of her lips slowly curving.

“Because…” she said in a voice only the two of us could hear, “Kai is here.”

The instant I froze, Sera suddenly broke free from my hands and fell backward, actually throwing herself off the terrace.

The loud crash shook the entire hospital as if it trembled.

A black-flame war wolf rose from the snow, carrying overwhelming pressure. It opened its huge mouth, but only gently caught the back collar of Sera’s coat with its fangs and landed steadily.

That’s right. It was Kael.

The Alpha of the Luthor Wolf Clan.

Even with one floor between us, the predator aura on him pressed down on my back like a mountain. My already badly injured body could no longer hold on. Sweetness rose in my throat, and I coughed up a large mouthful of blood.

The black flames dispersed, and Kael carried Sera as he leaped back onto the third-floor terrace.

Killing intent churned in his icy blue eyes.

Sera curled up in his arms, trembling like a leaf torn apart by the wind. “Kai, Lira has gone mad… she tried to kill me…”

I supported myself against the ground, trembling all over. “I didn’t! She threw Aurora down!”

“Shut up.”

Kael carefully placed Sera on the bench and took off his coat to wrap her tightly. But when he turned toward me, only violence remained in his eyes.

He walked toward me step by step, releasing his Alpha pressure without restraint. It crushed down on me. My chest felt as if it had been clamped by iron tongs, making even breathing difficult.

“You didn’t?” He looked at me in disgust. “I saw you push Sera down with my own eyes.”

“I didn’t push her… she did it herself…”

Before I could finish speaking, severe pain exploded in my abdomen.

Kael kicked me in the stomach.

My body flew out, slammed hard into the wall, then fell into the slush. Something in my chest seemed to shatter. Black blood mixed with pieces of internal organs surged from my mouth.

The bandages Silas had just wrapped around me all burst open. The whip wounds on my back tore open again.

It hurt.

But what hurt most was still my heart.

“Kai…” My mouth was full of blood. I struggled to lift my head and looked at the man I had once loved so deeply. “Why… do you never believe me…”

“Believe you?”

He sneered and stepped forward, grabbing my hair and pulling me up from the snow. My scalp hurt as if it were being torn open. I was forced to lift my face and meet his eyes, which were cold and without warmth.

“Believe a vicious bitch full of lies?” Kael gritted his teeth. “Five years ago, not only were you promiscuous yourself, you even drugged Sera and let rogue werewolves gang-rape her. Lirael, even your blood is dirty.”

He released his hand and threw me back to the ground. Then he lifted his military boot and stepped heavily onto my injured right hand.

“Ah—!”

The sound of bones breaking rang out clearly. I was in so much pain my vision went black, and my scream almost tore my throat apart.

“This filthy hand that touched Sera should be ruined.”

He pressed down and ground his foot hard. Broken bones shifted inside my flesh. My whole body convulsed, but I did not even have the strength to break free.

Downstairs, Silas was carrying Aurora on his back and about to rush toward the medical room. Hearing my scream, his huge wolf body leaped up suddenly and landed on the third floor.

Seeing me being trampled under Kael’s foot, Silas let out a low growl from his throat.

But just as he was about to rush over, four werewolf guards poured out from the stairway and blocked him.

“Get out of my way!”

Silas’s wolf tail lashed out sharply, sending the guard in front flying. But Aurora was still on his back, so he did not dare dodge too widely and could only endure the attacks from the remaining guards.

“Silo…” I wanted to tell him to take Aurora away, but my throat was full of blood foam, and I could not utter a single word.

I saw blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. He looked at me through the wall of people, his eyes so red they seemed about to drip blood.

He could not save me.

In front of a tyrant like Kael, we were all a joke.

My consciousness sank little by little.

Kael lowered his head and looked at me. There was no pleasure on his face, only deeper irritation. Especially when he saw Silas risking his life for me, that irritation seemed to ignite into anger.

At that moment, Sera let out a painful moan from the bench. “Kai… I’m so dizzy…”

The violence in Kael’s eyes instantly receded.

He finally removed his foot from me, turned, and quickly returned to Sera, holding her in his arms.

I lay in the pool of blood, my body convulsing uncontrollably. My right hand had already lost all feeling. Only the dull pain from the crushed bones drilled into my heart again and again.

The guards blocking Silas received an order and silently moved away.

Silas immediately untied the cloak wrapped around Aurora, then spread his own cashmere coat on the ground and carefully laid her flat. Then he rushed to my side. When he saw my collapsed ribs and deformed right hand, his eyes instantly turned blood-red.

“Kael!” he roared at that man. “You fool. You will regret this!”

“Shut up.”

Kael stopped with Sera in his arms and looked back, his gaze contemptuous.

“Silo, don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking. If not for your father, just based on the fact that you attacked my guards today, I could snap your neck right now.”

After he said that, his gaze swept over the small body wrapped in the cotton coat on the ground.

Aurora lay quietly, her breathing so weak it was almost inaudible.

Through my blurred vision, I saw Kael’s brows furrow very slightly. In that instant, it was as if something had stabbed him. A flash of pain crossed his eyes before he could hide it.

Sera leaned against his chest, her eyes shifting slightly, as if she had immediately noticed it.

Her eyes rolled, and she suddenly put on the dazed expression of someone having an attack of Mad Wolf Disease. Pointing at Aurora, she cried uncontrollably, “Baby… my baby…”

Kael had never refused any of her requests.

The next second, he ordered the guard beside him coldly:

“Bring the child over.”