Chapter 3

Corinna POV:

That terrifying wolf howl sucked the laughter straight out of every throat in the square. Felix's sword froze mid-swing above my shoulder, and cold sweat poured down his temples into the mud on his cheeks.

I turned my head toward the main road. Hundreds of knights clad in blackened steel armor with silver-alloy studs poured into the square like an iron flood, blocking off every single exit within seconds.

The lead rider held a massive black banner embroidered with a crimson dire wolf. It was the most feared emblem across the entire kingdom, the personal vanguard of the Regent Alpha.

The armored knights parted neatly to both sides, the heavy clanking of their metal plates making the low-ranking werewolves in the square weak in the knees. Down the wide path they cleared, a burly officer pushed a heavy black-iron wheelchair forward. The metal wheels ground against the flagstones with a slow, crushing weight.

A man sat in the wheelchair. Even trapped in that seat, his massive, broad-shouldered frame radiated a suffocating Lycan dominance that pressed down on everyone's chests like a mountain. Lycans were the ancient, supreme rulers above all Alphas, and Gavin was the only living terror who carried that bloodline, even though rumors claimed his legs had been ruined by silver poison.

A cold iron mask covered the upper half of his face, leaving only a pair of ice-blue eyes exposed. Those eyes swept over the crowd, devoid of any human warmth.

As the wheelchair rolled closer, every single werewolf in the square, including Felix, dropped to their knees with a heavy thud. Their heads bowed to the dirt, forced down by the genetic submission etched into their bones before a supreme predator.

Only I remained standing. I dug my fingernails deep into my bleeding palms, using the sharp pain to fight off the crushing weight in my chest, and met his murderous gaze head-on.

"Who was calling my name?" Gavin spoke, his low, raspy voice scraping against our eardrums like rough gravel.

Felix trembled violently on the ground, not daring to lift his mud-caked face. "Y-Your Highness! It is this mad lowly woman! She dared to use your noble name to spread filthy rumors!"

Gavin did not even spare Felix a glance. He lifted his right hand, clad in a black leather glove, and the officer behind him immediately pushed the wheelchair right up to my toes.

Gavin leaned forward slightly. An overwhelming scent of winter cedar mixed with thick blood wrapped around my nose, making my heart beat faster against my ribs. His ice-blue eyes locked onto my face.

"Was it you?" he asked coldly.

I looked straight back into his eyes, keeping my breathing steady. "It was me."

Without warning, Gavin's gloved hand shot out like lightning. His five fingers clamped around my throat like an iron vise, and with a terrifying surge of arm strength, he lifted me completely off the ground with one hand.

The air was wrenched from my lungs. My face burned hot as my blood rushed to my head, and my boots kicked in midair. Even as black spots danced in my vision, I dug my fingers into his hard wrist and refused to let a single begging sound escape my throat.

"How do you want to die?" His voice dropped to a deadly whisper.

Gasps echoed around us. From the corner of my eye, I saw Felix and Bianca staring up with wide, gleeful eyes, waiting to watch my neck snap.

I forced my vocal cords to vibrate, squeezing out broken words between his iron fingers. "I... can cure... your son."

At those five words, Gavin's pupils shrank to pinpricks. His tightening fingers froze around my windpipe.

The next second, he flung me aside. I crashed onto the stone ground, clutching my bruised neck as I coughed violently and gulped down mouthfuls of air.

"Do you have any idea what you are saying?" Gavin looked down at me from his wheelchair, the chill in his voice growing ten times heavier. "If you dare use Jamison to play tricks on me, I will bury the entire Sears Pack alive with you."

I braced my hand against the stone wall, pushed myself up onto my feet, and wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand. Looking straight at his iron mask, I spoke clearly.

"Your Highness, the poison inside the little prince's body cannot be cured by anyone in this world except me. Even your royal chief physicians can only watch helplessly as he suffers the agony of a thousand insects chewing on his heart every night."

Gavin's broad chest rose and fell heavily once. His ice-blue eyes narrowed as he stared at my face, seemingly weighing whether to tear me apart or believe my words.

Beside us, Felix could no longer hold back his panic. Seeing that I was still breathing, he shouted from his knees, "Your Highness, do not listen to her lies! She is a wolfless piece of trash who cannot even feel an inner wolf! How could she possibly know anything about healing?"

Gavin slowly turned his masked head, his icy gaze slicing across Felix's face like a butcher's cleaver.

"When I am speaking, since when is it your turn to bark?" Gavin tapped his index finger once against the black-iron armrest of his wheelchair.