The Captive Healer's Secret Heir

Silver and Blood

I couldn't sleep.

The heavy, suffocating scent of Kade's pheromones wrapped around the Alpha Suite like a thick blanket. Asher was fast asleep in the center of the massive king-sized bed, his small fists clutching the silk sheets, completely exhausted by the sheer terror of the day.

I sat in a velvet armchair near the large glass balcony doors, watching the heavy snow fall over the Bloodbane territory.

Kade had kept his word. He hadn't stepped foot inside the room. But my heightened senses could hear the steady, rhythmic sound of his breathing right outside the heavy oak doors. The Alpha King of the South was sleeping on the hard marble floor of the hallway, standing guard over a woman who hated him and a son who feared him.

I pulled my knees to my chest, my mind spinning.

He threw Vivienne out. He called me his Luna.

The memory of his massive hand wrapped around the Northern Princess's throat made my inner wolf purr with a dark, traitorous satisfaction. I ruthlessly shoved the feeling down. One act of violent protection didn't erase four years of abandonment.

Suddenly, the wind against the balcony glass stopped.

A shadow, darker than the night, eclipsed the moonlight.

My heart completely stopped. My healer's instincts flared instantly. It wasn't Kade's scent. It was the foul, metallic stench of rogue blood and... silver.

Before I could even scream, the thick, reinforced glass of the balcony doors shattered inward with a deafening CRASH.

Shards of glass rained down on the expensive rugs. A massive, heavily scarred wolf in mid-shift vaulted into the room. He wasn't aiming for me. His feral, bloodshot eyes were locked entirely on the small boy sleeping on the bed.

An assassin. Vivienne's revenge.

"Asher!" I shrieked, throwing myself out of the armchair, desperately trying to put my body between the monster and my son.

But I was too slow. The assassin lunged, a jagged silver blade gleaming in his hand, aimed directly at Asher's chest.

BOOM!

The heavy oak doors of the suite didn't just open; they were violently ripped from their iron hinges.

Kade didn't run. He blurred.

A demonic, earth-shattering roar tore from his throat. He crossed the massive room in a fraction of a second. He didn't have time to shift. He didn't have time to draw a weapon.

Kade threw his massive, bare body directly over the bed, shielding Asher entirely.

The sickening sound of metal tearing through flesh echoed in the room.

Kade let out a sharp, guttural grunt as the assassin's silver blade sank deep into his right shoulder, stopping mere inches from where Asher lay trembling.

The scent of Kade's burning blood filled the air. Silver was lethal to an Alpha, but Kade didn't even flinch. The pain only seemed to fuel his apocalyptic rage.

With the blade still buried in his shoulder, Kade spun around. His golden eyes were completely black. He grabbed the assassin by the throat with one massive hand, lifting the massive rogue completely off the floor.

"You touched my bed," Kade whispered, his voice vibrating with a terrifying, demonic frequency.

Kade's claws extended, and with a single, ruthless twist of his wrist, he snapped the assassin's neck. The horrific crack echoed through the suite. Kade threw the lifeless body onto the glass-covered floor like a broken toy.