Chapter 44. Touch Me or Kill Me

Kade was a breath away from collapse himself. The air in the chamber had become a hostile, pressurized field of energy—the Moon Wolf’s desperate, agonizing fight for survival against the death sentence of the sealed mate bond.

He saw Aria’s face, etched now with the fine, lightning-silver lines of the fissures, and understood with searing clarity: his duty, his fear, was actively dissolving her. His denial was her executioner. There was no control, no negotiation, and no time left.

The two Betas, driven by Elder Theron’s panicked shouts, lunged simultaneously, aiming the silver shackles at Aria's wrists.

Kade reacted not as a Crest Alpha, but as a pure, instinctual predator. He didn't turn to face the enforcers. He simply widened his stance and unleashed a savage, psychic howl—a command woven with pure Alpha dominance that sheared through the air.

The Betas, already reeling from the destabilizing magic, stumbled back, clutching their heads, momentar