Chapter 220 - 210

Chapter 220: Chapter 210

Drake

The air in my throat tasted like copper and ash.

My chest burned, pulling in shallow, jagged gasps that felt like glass sliding down my windpipe. Standing at the threshold of the outer reception parlor, my fingers dug so hard into the doorframe that the polished wood split under my grip, sending sharp splinters deep into my skin. I didn’t feel the pain.

Inside the dim, shadow-draped room, the scene tore through my eyes and burned straight into my brain.

Gideon was sitting on the dark sofa. And in his arms, leaning into his touch with soft, willing grace, was Lysander. My mate. The person I had wrapped in wool blankets, fed with my own hands, and locked in the master suite to keep safe from the world. His hands were rested on Gideon’s shoulders, his lips parted, his eyes heavy with a quiet, passionate surrender that made my entire world tilt on its axis.

He’s here, the dark, ugly voice inside my head roared. You locked the door, and he still found a way to him. Right under your roof. Right while your allies drink your wine downstairs.

"Lysander..." I choked out, but the sound was swallowed whole by the roaring thunder inside my ears.

A terrifying, suffocating heat exploded from my chest. My pulse spiked, hitting a pitch so violent that the glass lamps along the corridor walls began to rattle against their brass mountings. The air temperature in the hallway plunged, a thin, white frost spreading rapidly across the floorboards from the soles of my boots.

I threw myself forward into the parlor with blinding, explosive speed.

My boot struck the low wooden coffee table in the center of the room, shattering it into a dozen flying pieces. I lunged straight for Gideon’s throat, my hand reaching out like an iron clamp to tear his head from his shoulders.

Gideon’s eyes widened in sudden, genuine shock. He shoved the figure in his arms aside and threw his frame backward over the top of the sofa just as my fist crashed through the thick leather cushion.

CRACK.

The sofa shattered under the force of my strike, wood and springs exploding across the dark room.

"Drake, wait!" Gideon yelled, scrambling across the floorboards as he pulled a small smoke vial from his coat, his voice tight with unexpected panic.

"I will kill you!" I roared, my voice shaking the stone walls of the parlor.

I kicked off the ground, charging through the flying dust. My pureblood aura flared outward in a chaotic, uncontrolled wave, shattering the tall glass windows overlooking the garden. Cold night air and rain whipped into the parlor, mixing with the dark smoke and the thick, silvery mist hovering near the floor.

The sound of shattering glass and roaring stone echoed straight into the main hall.

Down the corridor, the music died instantly. Screams erupted from the grand salon as wealthy investors and vampire lords rushed toward the hallway, trying to see what was happening. Guards thundered down the passage, their heavy boots clicking frantically against the floorboards, their drawn weapons catching the light.

"Sovereign!" Commander Valen’s voice shouted above the noise. "Security detail, secure the perimeter!"

The corridor filled with instant, chaotic noise. Guests crowded the archway, shouting in confusion as cold wind and rain poured out of the broken parlor.

Gideon didn’t try to fight. He slammed the smoke vial onto the floor, releasing a thick, blinding cloud of black sulfur that instantly mixed with the silvery fog in the room.

I charged straight into the black smoke, my hands searching blindly through the dark, tearing through fabric and stone, but my senses were completely warped. The air smelled wrong—thick, unnatural, and dizzying. Every shadow looked like a figure; every sound echoed from three different directions at once.

"Clear the halls!" Valen was shouting to his men, his voice fighting against the panic of the fleeing guests. "Block the main exits!"

Through the thick, swirling smoke and the sea of rushing guards, I caught a split-second glimpse of two figures slipping through the shattered window frame out into the dark, rain-soaked garden.

"Stop them!" I roared, turning to chase them into the night, but three of my own security guards accidentally collided with me in the doorway, their shield plates clattering against my chest in the blinding darkness.

"Out of my way!" I snarled, shoving the guards aside with enough force to send them sliding across the floorboards.

By the time I broke through the shattered window frame and stepped onto the wet gravel of the garden path, the shadows were empty. The rain was heavy, washing away the footprints, the cold wind blowing wild through the pine trees. They were gone. Slid away under cover of the chaos, the smoke, and the panicked crowd.

I stood in the cold rain, my hands shaking violently at my sides, my chest heaving in short, ragged breaths.

My mind was locked on the image that had just ripped my heart out of my chest.

Lysander.

The pureblood static radiating from my body went completely out of control, crackling around my shoulders like invisible, razor-sharp lightning. The rain freezing into tiny ice pellets before it even touched my coat. My eyes burned with a dark, terrifying light, completely blinded by the illusion that had taken absolute root in my mind.

He had betrayed me again.

After everything I had done. After tearing down stone walls, breaking iron chains, and bringing him into my private suite. After keeping Julian alive and risking my own domain just to protect his core. He had waited until my back was turned, slipped out of the master suite, and given himself to Gideon in the dark corners of my own home.

A low, terrifying growl built deep within my chest—a sound stripped of all warmth, all tenderness, and all mercy.

I turned away from the dark garden, stepping back through the broken window frame. I ignored Valen, ignored the shouting guards, and ignored the terrified looks from the high-born guests cowering in the corridor.

I walked past them like a ghost of death, my boots leaving icy tracks on the polished floorboards as I headed straight for the grand marble staircase.

I took the stairs three at a time, the pureblood pressure around my body so thick and violent that the glass sconces mounted along the wall cracked as I passed.

I reached the upper wing. The two guards posted outside the master suite fell to their knees the moment my shadow fell over them, clutching their chests, unable to draw breath under the crushing weight of my aura.

I didn’t use the keycard.

I raised my boot and kicked the heavy wooden doors off their hinges.

The double doors slammed inward with a deafening BOOM, splintering into pieces as they crashed onto the floorboards of the bedroom.

I stepped through the ruin into the warm, dimly lit master suite, my crimson eyes burning through the shadows, my terrifying aura filling every corner of the room like a physical storm.

"Lysander!" I roared into the quiet, my voice shaking the vaulted ceiling.