Chapter 48: Who poisoned her?

The silence inside the Dome was deafening. Not a single person dared to breathe. Everyone watched in terror as the elite guards dragged out the maids and servants, lining them up in a rigid row across the polished floor.

Dorian had already cast his tux jacket aside, rolling the sleeves of his black inner shirt up to his elbows. His eyes still burned a deep, predatory crimson, and the runes tracing his skin were beginning to glow brightly.

He stood like an imposing statue in front of the throne, his hands curled into tight fists, glaring down at the servants who kept their heads lowered in absolute fear.

Slowly, his gaze drifted past the line, landing squarely on Samantha and Seth, and then shifting over to Joffrey standing inside the crowd.

Once again, his sixth sense flared, warning him that they were deeply connected to the poisoning. Only Fabian didn’t draw his suspicion, but Dorian wasn’t ruling the brat out just yet.

Suddenly Joffrey stepped out from the crowd, his own eyes flickering to black as he sneered.

"This is an absolute outrage, Dorian! You cannot keep the high nobility trapped here for no reason at all. If you need someone to blame for your security failure, blame the damn guards!"

Dorian let out a vicious snarl. Moving with blinding, blurry speed, he materialized directly in front of Joffrey. Before his cousin could even raise a hand to defend himself, Dorian gripped him by the throat and unleashed a brutal punch on his face.

Joffrey’s body flew through the air, crashing hard against the floor inches away. Blood spilled from his broken nose as he groaned, rolling onto his side in agony.

Without giving him a second to recover, Dorian stormed over, gripped him by the collar, and yanked him off the floor until they were nose-to-nose.

"I hope for your sake that you had nothing to do with this," he muttered. "Because if you do, I will forget the blood relation between us and fucking skin you alive!"

He shoved Joffrey away, shot a cold, warning glare at his sisters, and walked back toward the steps of the throne. A moment later, Jake returned, a look of worry etched across his face.

He drew close to Dorian, whispering in his ear, "Alpha, someone tampered with the cameras. The lenses were completely melted from the inside out. We couldn’t retrieve the footage."

Dorian’s calm expression finally cracked, revealing the true monster within. In his mind, a savage creature howled to be let loose, a creature that had been dormant for years. It was Soren, his demon side, fully awakened by the sheer terror Dorian had felt when Alyssa almost died in his arms.

[Soren! Control yourself!] Dorian snarled inwardly, fighting for dominance. But Soren was on the verge of tearing loose. The bleeding crimson eyes and glowing runes were proof that the demon wanted to rip apart whoever dared to harm their Luna.

With immense mental effort, Dorian forced the monster back down, reclaiming control of his mind. He took a slow breath, letting it out through his teeth. Since the cameras were useless, he would have to hunt the culprit down himself.

He opened his eyes, his gaze zeroing in on the particular servant who had served Alyssa the champagne.

"Drag him out," he commanded.

In an instant, two guards seized the servant and yanked him from the line.

"No, please!" the man begged, his legs turning to jelly as he was dragged across the tiles. "I didn’t poison the Luna! I swear!"

​He was shoved roughly to the floor in front of Dorian, his face pressed against the cold tile, too terrified to lift his head.

"Alpha, I swear on my life I had nothing to do with the poisoning," he pleaded, his entire frame trembling violently. "I would never dream of harming the crown!"

Dorian stared down at him. His innate ability to sense when someone was telling a lie instantly told him the servant was innocent.

"Hold him up," he ordered next.

The guards grabbed the man’s arms and lifted him, forcing his head back so he had no choice but to look directly into Dorian’s blood-red eyes.

"What’s your name?"

"Reggie... Reggie Wood, Alpha."

"Reggie, I am going to give you exactly one minute to point out every single servant who manned the refreshment tables tonight. Every. Single. One."

The moment the guards released him, Reggie bolted to his feet, scrambling toward the line of staff. As his finger began trembling and pointing at them, the guards dragged them out one by one amidst terrified screams.

Among those dragged forward were Samantha and Seth.

Once they were done, Dorian raised his head and glared at the lingering crowd of guests.

"The rest of you, clear the hall. Now!"

There was a mad dash for the exits as the guests scrambled to escape the suffocating pressure of Dorian’s Alpha aura.

From where Joffrey stood, he stared back at Dorian for a tense moment, his eyes silently communicating that their standoff was far from over, before turning and walking off.

Within minutes, the Dome was empty, leaving only Dorian, his elite guards, and the trembling group of servants and maids.

Dorian turned his freezing attention to the six suspects pushed out before him.

"You all know the penalty for attempting to murder the Luna Queen," he began, his voice dropping into a dangerous timbre. "I am only going to ask this once. Who poisoned her?"

Suddenly, one of the servants jumped forward, pointing a shaking finger at a maid next to him.

"I saw her with a vial, Alpha! When the Dome went into lockdown, I saw her pull a glass vial out of her apron and try to hide it back in!"

Dorian’s furious gaze locked onto the accused maid. With a sharp snap of his fingers, two guards dragged her out of the line.

"NO!" she screamed, thrashing wildly against their iron grips. "I am innocent!"

They violently forced her to her knees, yanking her arms behind her back.

"Search her," Dorian ordered coldly.

One guard ripped the apron from her neck, tearing the pockets inside out. Several stolen gold watches clattered loudly onto the tile, and right along with them, a small glass vial.

Jake picked up the vial and handed it to Dorian, who silently inspected it under the chandelier lights. He brought the rim to his nose and took a sharp sniff.

The unmistakable odor of wolfsbane and aconite hit his senses, ripping a savage growl right out of his chest.

"Not only did you steal from my guests," he snarled, his eyes flashing gold beneath the crimson. "You tried to kill your Luna."

"I swear on my late mother’s grave, Alpha!" the maid sobbed. "I am innocent. I have no idea how that vial got into my apron! Yes... yes, I admit I stole the watches! But I didn’t poison the Luna! Someone set me up!"

Dorian crushed the vial in his fist. He knew that she was telling the truth. Yes, she was a thief, but she hadn’t poured the poison. She was merely a pawn that the real masterminds had implicated.

He knew they were watching now, waiting to see what he would do. He needed them to let their guard down and think he believed the maid was responsible. More than that, he needed to show them the price of treason.

His claws whipped out with a blinding speed that no one saw coming. The maid’s shrill screams were instantly cut short as his claws tore clean through her throat.

A sickening, gurgling sound filled the sudden silence of the Dome as her head severed from her neck, dropping heavily to the tile. Her body collapsed a second later, staining the pristine floor with a wide, pooling river of blood.

The remaining servants shrieked, backing away in sheer horror.

​"Let this be a warning to every soul in here," Dorian growled, his blood-red eyes sweeping across them one by one. "Whoever attempts to harm the Luna Queen will meet an instant, merciless death."

He stared down at the lifeless body without an ounce of emotion, but even with the execution handled, restlessness churned inside his chest. Soren was still prowling at the back of his mind, and Shadow was aggressively snapping for blood. His instinct wasn’t satisfied because the true threat was still breathing.

Slowly, he turned around, his eyes narrowing into slits as they landed directly on Seth and Samantha. They both kept their heads lowered, their postures perfectly feigning submission.

His intuition told him with absolute certainty that the Bennington twins were the real suspects. But he couldn’t take them out just yet.

He turned away, looking directly at his beta. "Jake, clean up this mess. And from now on, keep an eye on the Bennington twins."

Jake caught the subtle gleam in Dorian’s crimson eyes and instantly understood the trap he was setting.

"Consider it done, Alpha," he nodded.