Chapter 29: Let it burn

Dorian remained inside the bedroom with Alyssa all through the day until dusk finally bled into the sky and she dozed off in his arms.

He slowly stroked her cheek, his other arm cradling her protectively against his chest. His eyes were distant, entirely lost in a dark spiral of thought.

He couldn’t stop replaying the horrors she had laid bare; the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her step-family, and the sick bastard who had purchased her like cattle.

One name in particular burned into his consciousness, igniting a lethal wave of fury. Fabian Hallow. The absolute brat! A violent urge to smash something tore through him.

Ensuring Alyssa was deeply asleep, he carefully slid out of the bed, drew the covers up to her chin, and quietly stepped out of the room.

In the main living room, Pandora, Anthony, and Alec were gathered around the TV, watching some sort of doomsday horror classic filled with bloody massacre and screaming.

The moment Dorian walked in, he noticed Anthony abruptly pull his hand away from Pandora’s shoulder, shifting his weight further down the couch. The sudden movement made Dorian’s brows knit together.

What the hell was that?

He didn’t want to overanalyze a harmless gesture, especially with his mind already preoccupied, so he let it go.

"Where is Jake?" he asked the room.

Alec looked up, his eyes glancing toward the hallway. "He stepped away to take an urgent call a few minutes ago. I’m surprised he isn’t back yet."

"Send for him through the mindlink," Dorian commanded, his voice tight. "Then the two of you get to my study. Now."

Pandora sat up instantly, her gaze meeting his. "Where’s Alyssa?"

"She’s asleep. You can stay with her if she wakes."

Pandora beamed, happily settling back into the cushions. But as Dorian turned and walked away, her eyes lingered on Anthony as he rose to follow, her gaze tracing the space he had just occupied.

Inside the privacy of the study, Dorian began to pace like a caged predator. His fists clenched and unclenched, his inner beast violently clawing to get to the surface.

When the pressure became too suffocating to contain, he grabbed the first thing his fingers brushed against, the Newton’s cradle resting on his mahogany desk, and hurled it forcefully across the room.

Jake was just stepping through the threshold when the metal object slammed violently into the doorframe right beside his ear. He froze, his eyes widening as he realized he had come within an inch of losing an eye.

Anthony silently observed Dorian. Having grown up alongside him, he knew it took something truly heinous to provoke this level of violence. Dorian’s beast was dangerously close to taking over.

"Control your beast, Dorian," he warned tentatively, his voice dropping. "Please. You’re already starting to shift."

Dorian looked down at his trembling hands, watching in real-time as thick, lethal claws began tearing through his nail beds. Coarse dark fur crept across his skin, his gums aching as his fangs pushed aggressively against his lips. If he didn’t lock it down immediately, he would completely lose his humanity.

[Shadow!] he roared internally at his wolf. [Calm yourself! Retreat!]

In response, Shadow let out a vicious, bloodthirsty howl inside his skull, sending an agonizing spike of pain through Dorian’s temples. The beast wanted out. It wanted to hunt. It wanted to rip apart every single bastard who had dared to lay a finger on their little lamb.

More dark fur erupted along Dorian’s forearms, his spine contorting violently as his skeletal frame shifted.

Jake and Alec instinctively took several rapid steps backward toward the wall, but Anthony stood his ground, knowing the absolute devastation that would follow if the Lycan King let his monster out.

"Dorian, snap out of it," he urged, his voice sharp with desperation. "Think about Alyssa. You cannot afford to lose control a second time."

The mention of Alyssa’s name acted like a physical anchor. Dorian stopped trembling. His hands twitched as the claws slowly retracted, his bones snapping heavily back into their rightful alignment.

Within a few agonizing minutes, the beast was forced back into its cage.

He exhaled a long, ragged breath, finally raising his golden eyes to meet his men.

"What was that about?" Anthony asked quietly.

Dorian didn’t answer immediately. He walked over to the crystal decanter on his desk, poured a shot of vodka, and downed it in a single swallow.

Once the burning alcohol settled his nerves, he turned around. "Alyssa was sold to Gerald Frazier."

Anthony’s eyes widened in instant horror. Beside him, Jake and Alec were rendered completely speechless.

"That fucking perv?" Jake breathed, his face draining of color.

Dorian offered a grim nod. "That is where she was trapped for the three years I spent searching for her. I didn’t think to search Frazier’s estate back then. The bastard kept her locked in his harem!"

His grip tightened so violently around the crystal tumbler that it shattered into a dozen jagged shards. Blood welled from his palm, but as his accelerated healing kicked in, the fragments of glass were aggressively pushed out of his flesh, the wounds sealing in seconds.

The three men stood in stunned silence. They all knew exactly who Gerald Frazier was, the disgusting, sadistic pervert who trafficked young girls into the Southern pack. Because Frazier was of little to no importance, Dorian had never bothered to eliminate him. Until now.

"What are your orders, Alpha?" Alec asked, his posture stiffening.

"I will marry Alyssa first to secure the crown," Dorian muttered, his voice dropping into a low, lethal growl. "Then I am going to march into the South and make that bastard watch as I rip his heart out with my bare hands."

"Alpha, executing a Southern lord without council approval will cause an uprising," Jake warned anxiously. "The Alpha of the Southern pack will..."

Dorian silenced his beta with a glare so ruthless it felt like a physical blow. "If it starts a bloody civil war, then let it burn," he snarled. "I will not rest while that monster breathes."

Anthony took a step forward, his jaw tight. "I’m with you, Dorian. It’s past time we burned that estate to the ground anyway."

Dorian grunted, but the tension in his shoulders didn’t ease. There was another detail lingering in the air, something that clearly bothered him just as much as the old perv, and Anthony picked up on it instantly.

"There’s something else, isn’t there?" he asked, crossing his arms. "It wasn’t just Frazier that almost made you fully shift. What’s the rest of it?"

Dorian didn’t bother denying it. His voice left no room for comfort. "She told me the name of the boy who broke her. The one who humiliated her and slept with her step-sister."

"Who?"

"Fabian," Dorian said, the name tasting like venom on his tongue. "Fabian Hallow."

The three men drew back as if they had been struck, a suffocating, disbelieving silence slamming into the room.

Because Fabian Hallow wasn’t just some random werewolf from a neighboring pack. He was Dorian’s cousin, and a prince of the royal bloodline.