Chapter 4
Tristan
I raised my head to see the man I had healed earlier in the woods. It was really him. He looked at me, his features hard and commanding, his tan skin glowing faintly under the sun. I stared at him, heart racing, unable to make sense of what I was seeing.
He was dressed in a black suit and trousers, his aura dark and cold.
"Who…who are you?" Jack asked.
The man tore his gaze from me, turning to Jack. "I am Tristan, a member of the Council, King of Lycans."
I shuddered, realizing the man I had healed was no ordinary man. He was the ruler of the Lycans, a powerful king, and a member of the Council governing all the wolves in Vlẽkhut. They had the power to dethrone any Alpha they deemed unfit. And now Jack stood there helpless. What was Tristan doing here?
Jack took a step backward, eyes widening in shock.
"Everyone!" he yelled. "Bow to the Lycan King!"
Jack was the first to react, dropping to his knees. The people followed suit, bowing their heads to him.
My gaze shifted to the black Rolls-Royce parked not too far from Tristan. The door opened, and a Lycan stepped down, his aura cold. He was dressed just like Tristan, with tan skin and black eyes. With his hands in his pockets, he walked to stand beside Tristan.
"Animals," he murmured, glancing at the people kneeling.
I glanced up to see another Lycan, a dark-skinned one, stepping out of the car behind the Rolls-Royce.
"What has he done now?" the Lycan asked.
Tristan knelt down, picking up the cane from the ground, and stared at it. "He broke her skin with this."
"Marcus," Tristan said to the dark-skinned Lycan behind him. "Unbind her."
Marcus walked toward me, bending down to remove the shackles from my wrists. The chains fell, and I winced at the burning pain in my wrists.
I turned to Tristan, unable to believe I had healed a Lycan.
"Is… is this real?" I asked. Why was a Lycan here? It was rare for the Council to visit packs unless they had important information to pass on.
"Yes," the dark-skinned Lycan answered, giving me a brief smile.
Tristan's hand clenched around the cane as he glared at the people kneeling.
He turned to the guards, who were also on their knees—the same guards who had dragged me and forced me down.
He walked to one of the guards. "How dare you?"
The guard trembled. "Your Highness."
Suddenly, Tristan grabbed the guard by the neck, lifting him off the ground.
"It's a pity I have to ruin my expensive suit," he said. Before I could understand what he meant, he dug his hand into the guard's chest, pulling out his heart. My eyes widened, and shivers lined my skin as I watched Tristan drop the lifeless guard. He squeezed the heart, blood dripping from his hand, and then threw it down.
Moving to the next guard, who stood up terrified and tried to run away, Tristan was fast, catching his arm and pulling him down to rip out his heart. The third guard stood up, fetching a gun from his pocket, and raised it at Tristan.
"Not the gun," Marcus said softly. "That's a grave mistake."
"He's going to regret it," the other Lycan said.
The guard fired at Tristan, shooting him with bullets laced with wolfsbane.
"You dare shoot me?" Tristan asked, stumbling backward. When I thought he was going to fall and die, he took out the bullet, the wolfsbane burning his skin.
Throwing the bullet to the ground, he turned back to the guard, his expression darkening. Tristan closed the distance between them, grabbing the guard's neck, and twisted it, tearing it apart.
Blood sprayed from the man's neck, gushing onto Tristan's face as he shook his head. I felt my stomach churn at the gruesome sight, but I couldn't bring myself to look away. Tristan was ruthless, his smirk widening as he turned to Jack.
"You," he snarled, facing Jack, who looked like he was about to piss himself. "You should have thought twice before touching what belongs to me."
What belongs to me? I furrowed my brows in confusion as I stared at Tristan.
I blinked. In that brief moment, I noticed Tristan had lifted Jack off the ground.
I turned, ignoring the sharp pain in my back. Tristan's hand was wrapped around Jack, pinning him to the car door.
"You are nothing but a pathetic wolf," Tristan sneered. "I'd say you're not worthy of being the Alpha of the Dhùgak Pack."
Was Tristan going to dethrone Jack? No, it looked like he was about to kill him.
Jack gasped and struggled against Tristan's tight grip, his face turning a deep shade of red as his veins bulged.
"Please!" One of the young maids rushed to Tristan's feet. "I beg you! He's our Alpha! You cannot kill him."
Tristan didn't even spare her a glance. "Cry all you want. That won't change my mind," he said. "He touched what's mine, and no one does that and lives."
"Please forgive him. He won't do it again. Please don't kill him!" Another maid joined in.
My chest burned as I watched the maids plead for Jack. They had been there when he was torturing me and had said nothing. Scorching pain coursed through me as I took a heavy breath. I wasn't healing. Healers didn't have the ability to heal themselves since there was no one to take their pain.
"Let him go," I said. "Please."
Tristan's head tilted toward me, eyes narrowing. "Why? Why would you beg for his life after what he did to you?"
"Because… because he's still my brother," I murmured.
A long moment passed before Tristan's face twisted into a smirk. "And you think I would listen to you after he whipped you?"
Without warning, Tristan's grip tightened around Jack's neck, and with a swift motion, he ripped his heart out. The people fell silent as Jack's body went limp, dropping to the ground.
The maids let out screeching screams as they hurried to Jack's body.
"He's dead."
Tristan pulled out a white handkerchief from his suit and turned his gaze to me as he wiped the blood from his hands.
My eyes widened, and I felt speechless, unsure of what to say. He killed him. Tristan killed Jack. Though Jack had always treated me badly, he was still my family. I looked at Tristan, who stared at me as if killing a man was nothing, as though he had done far worse before.
"No one touches what belongs to me," he repeated, his eyes falling on me. "Not even you can change that, my little mouse."
He glanced at Jack's lifeless body before turning back to me. "K'var Thàr"
Remember that.