Betrayed by Blood, Claimed by the Alpha-Chapter 170

Betrayed by Blood

Chapter 170

Cain burst into the place, barely noticing the scent of sweat, blood, and rot that always clung to these walls. The moment he stepped inside, his gaze locked onto her.

Avery.

She stood in the center of it all, trembling. Her hands were limp at her sides, but her entire body seemed to tremble with something wrong.

Everything around her was still.

The guards, the prisoners in their cells, even the filth-ridden criminals who had lived through the worst kinds of torment... all of them were frozen, their eyes locked on her. None of them spoke. None of them even breathed too loudly.

Cain’s chest tightened. He had seen fear before, had commanded it, inspired it. But this? This was something else entirely.

His gaze flickered toward the source of their horror.

Hugh. Or at least what remained of him.

A sharp, raw scream pierced through the air, snapping Cain’s focus back to the man on the ground. Hugh’s body was blackened, his flesh charred and curling from the intense heat that had scorched him alive.

The stench of burnt skin was overwhelming, thick enough to make a weaker man wretch.

His limbs twitched, convulsing against the cell floor as if his body still hadn’t realized it had already lost the fight.

Cain barely reacted.

He didn’t give a damn about Hugh. He barely even registered him.

His gaze shifted back to Avery, and he took a step forward, just one.

That’s when he saw it.

The way she wobbled, her breath hitched, her fingers twitching, then her knees buckled. Her body folded in on itself, fast, like the life was ripped from her all at once.

Cain lunged forward.

He caught her before she could hit the ground, his arms locking around her protectively.

"Avery, Avery. Avery." His voice was rough, urgent. He could feel her trembling against him.

Her skin was slick with sweat, but her breaths came in weak, shallow gasps. Cain adjusted his grip, pressing her closer to his chest, but her body lolled against him, head tipping back. She went unconscious.

His stomach dropped.

"Avery," he called again, louder this time, but there was no response.

Cain rushed through the hallway, calling out her name repeatedly, his heart thumping hard in his chest. His grip was tight... too tight, maybe—but he couldn’t loosen it. Not when she felt so fragile in his hold.

Not when she wasn’t waking up.

"Avery." His voice was rough, desperate. No response.

Cain barely registered the gasps of servants as he rushed past. He barely heard Lydia’s sharp intake of breath when he burst into the main hall, his beta stepping forward in alarm.

"Alpha—"

"Get the healers!" Cain ordered coldly as he stepped into the room. "Now!"

Lydia didn’t hesitate. She turned and sprinted down the hall. He carried Avery straight to his bed, lowering her carefully onto the sheets.

She didn’t stir.

Didn’t move.

Cain’s chest tightened painfully. Not more than a moment later, the door flew open and two women rushed in, their eyes widening momentarily the second they laid eyes on Avery.

"A-Alpha." One of them stammered out, and the other immediately sprang into action.

"What happened exactly?" She asked, going over to the bed where Avery was laying.

Cain ran his fingers through his hair exasperatedly. "I don’t know. She just went..." he trailed off for a second. "Do something! Make her conscious."

The second healer knelt beside Avery, pressing two fingers to her neck, then her wrist. Her frown deepened.

"She’s burning up," she murmured. "Yet her body feels like ice."

The first healer hovered beside her, hands raised, hesitant. "Her pulse is—"

"Too slow." The second healer cut in, glancing at Cain. "Alpha, we need time to examine her properly."

Cain’s patience snapped. "Fix her. Now."

The first healer flinched, but the second met his glare head-on. "That’s what we’re trying to do. But we won’t if you don’t let us work. Can you please leave."

Cain’s frown deepened, just as he opened his mouth to speak, Lydia quickly interjected. "Alpha, how about we let them do their work. We do need to investigate what happened."

Cain clenched his jaw, his entire body rigid. Every instinct screamed at him to stay, to do something, anything. But he wasn’t a healer. And standing here, hovering, wouldn’t wake Avery up.

His fists curled at his sides. Damn it.

With one last look at her still, too-pale form, Cain forced himself to turn away. Lydia fell into step beside him, her expression unreadable.

The moment the door shut behind them, he exhaled sharply. "Tell me exactly what the guards saw."

Lydia hesitated. "They’re... shaken. None of them have ever seen anything like it before."

Cain’s frown deepened. "What?"

"They say there was fire." Lydia’s voice dropped lower, like she was struggling to believe it herself. "That she burned him."

Cain went still.

He already knew that. He’d seen the aftermath himself. Hugh’s burnt, barely living body. But hearing it again, spoken aloud, made it more real.

Made it more impossible.

Cain’s hands twitched at his sides. "That’s impossible. How can she burn him? With what fire?"

Lydia shook her head. "That’s what they all said too. But they swear it’s true. One of the guards even has burns on his arms from trying to pull her away."

Cain dragged a hand down his face, frustration knotting in his chest. Burns.

Avery. His Avery had done something no ordinary wolf should have been capable of.

"Find out if anyone else has seen anything like this before," Cain muttered, his voice tight. "I don’t care what you have to do. Just find me answers."

Lydia nodded sharply. "Understood, Alpha." She turned and walked away, already calling for someone down the hall.

Cain stood there for a long time, staring at the closed doors of the room. And for the first time in a long, long while, Cain had second thoughts.

Was bringing her back to Blood Moon Pack worth it?