Chapter 193: Checkmate scenario

With a hiss, the cigarette butt cut through the air and hit the ground. Magnus dug his fingers into his coarse hair with a low, guttural growl, messily shoving it back at the nape of his neck in a desperate bid to tame the primal rage pounding against his temples. It was useless. The fury refused to subside; it only condensed, turning heavier, thicker, and more suffocating by the second.

"If you keep twitching like that, your damn stitches are going to burst, and you’ll bleed out before I even get the chance to patch you up for a third time!" Alan barked nervously.

With trembling hands, the doctor snatched a cigarette straight from Magnus’s pack. Magnus, breathing heavily and staring blankly ahead, merely pulled a fresh black shirt over his broad shoulders.

"Well, well, Alan. You smoke?" Sayan bared his teeth in a dark, pale grin, staring at the doctor with an unreadable expression. "Doc, wasn’t it just the other day you were lecturing me on the irreversible damage tobacco does to potency?"

"If I have to patch up either of you two idiots again while bouncing around in the back of a speeding car, potency will be the least of my concerns," the doctor snapped, his exhaustion showing as he squinted one eye and cast a grim glance at the long, nasty gash across Sayan’s abdomen. "Have you completely lost your mind, jumping under a silver blade today? Do you even realize you shouldn’t even be walking normally for a week?"

"I hope your stitches are as tough as you claim, Doc. Because sitting still right now is physically impossible," Sayan grunted through clenched teeth, pushing himself up from the sofa with a subtle wince as a sharp bolt of pain flared through his side.

"You could at least wash the blood off your face, Alpha. You’re going to terrify every servant in the house," Alan murmured quietly, taking a drag and wincing as the harsh, throat-burning tobacco from the Alpha’s cigarette hit his lungs.

"Askold will be here soon. He’s taking Matthias to his place until all of this is settled," Magnus said, completely ignoring the doctor’s words as he grabbed his phone off the table to check once more for any message from his mate.

Her absence cut into him like a physical weapon, as though he had been cast alive into the belly of a volcano, burning in boiling lava without the mercy of death to end the agony. It tore him apart, incinerating every last shred of humanity within him. Though, objectively speaking, after what had transpired at the council meeting and its immediate aftermath, whatever humanity he had left was reduced to miserable, charred ashes—tinier than dust.

"Magnus... you realize they aren’t going to just let this go, right?" Sayan said softly, stepping closer. "You executed government officials. High-ranking figures. Right in the main hall, in front of witnesses."

Magnus slowly lifted his heavy gaze from the black screen of his phone to meet his friend’s eyes. He understood perfectly well. He knew that pull of blood and treason would never go unpunished in any territory. But right now, nothing mattered except his mate and her life—and the tiny life beating beneath her heart. Whatever came next, he would crush it. Because now, not a single bastard who had betrayed him in this city would dare stand in his way. He had slaughtered them all. Every last one.

It had all erupted at the emergency clan council. One of the lesser, envy-driven factions belonging to Leone Boyle—the city mayor’s son—had attempted to poison every Alpha in attendance and wipe out the leadership to seize control. When the poison failed, the mercenaries hired by his father stormed the hall, armed to the teeth.

And it was right in the middle of that bloody slaughter that Magnus learned his future bride had been abducted from the heart of the city.

Distracted by the blood-curdling news, he had taken two bullets. Sayan was critically wounded when he threw his own body in front of Leone’s blade to shield Magnus’s back. The cowardly bastard had lunged from behind, and Magnus, driven by a blind, primal impulse of animal fury, had snapped his neck with his bare hands.

An hour later, Magnus had executed Leone’s father as well. All the filth accumulated over years burst forth like rotted water from a split sack: human trafficking, illegal experiments in underground laboratories, and the black-market sale of state resources to foreign hands.

Trusted, loyal men from the alliance of clans swiftly raided the old bastard’s estate. In the basement, they uncovered the missing breeders—five emaciated women, one of whom turned out to be the daughter of his own chief of security.

Magnus had personally freed the girl, letting her collapse into her weeping father’s arms. And as he looked into the broken eyes of that crushed man, Magnus realized exactly how his woman had been taken. Who had orchestrated the diversion. Who had leaked her route.

Sayan had sworn to bury that traitor so deep and far away that Magnus wouldn’t even know where the grave lay.

Magnus forgave no one. Not a single soul who brought suffering to those he swore to protect.

"Whatever happens to this city next, your main priority is to look after Jane. I know they’ll try to put me away, and I’ve already set things in motion so it won’t last long," Magnus declared coldly, staring out the window at the convoy of black SUVs pulling into the estate grounds.

There was purpose behind the ruthless execution of that government scum: now Askold Pharean could freely cross out of the lower city without fear of a blockade.

"Alan, how is my son?" Magnus asked, not turning around.

"Sleeping. I gave him a mild pediatric sedative. He cried himself to exhaustion after the explosion, so he’ll likely sleep straight through until morning. He’ll handle the transfer to Askold fine, and once he’s there..."

"Once he’s there, I’ll take care of him," a harsh, deep voice growled from the doorway.

Magnus turned abruptly to face the Alpha, who stood dark as a thunderhead.

"Didn’t expect you to bring this much firepower," Magnus noted with a dry grunt, assessing the heavily armed operatives lining the corridor behind Jane’s brother.

"These men oversee the lower city dam. They are elite divers, and I brought them for you. Believe me, when it comes to open water, every single one is a lethal killer. They will assist you in breaching the yacht," Askold stated flatly, leaving no room for argument.

For several long seconds, the two Alphas locked eyes. Magnus found not a trace of blame or judgment in Pharean’s gaze. Askold understood the checkmate scenario they had all been dragged into, placing the fault entirely on the greedy, boundary-less bastards who had deemed themselves untouchable.

Suddenly, a heavy, dark droplet hit the light hardwood floor with a dull thud. Every eye in the room snapped to the leather duffel bag in Askold’s hand. Its reinforced bottom was already soaked through with a dark, damp stain. The sharp, iron tang of fresh blood immediately flooded the air.

Without waiting for an invitation, Pharean stepped into the study and set the heavy bag onto the desk with a thud. A crimson puddle bloomed outward across the polished surface.

"What is that?" Sayan asked, his voice tense as his hand hovered near his holster.

"An unofficial wedding gift. A gesture for our family’s future bond," Pharean replied evenly. With a short nod, he turned on his heel and headed down the hall toward the nursery to gather Matthias.