I went back through the hallway, past the broken cell door, past the cold corridors. Every inch of me was trembling, but I didn't stop. I turned the corner into the corridor where Orion was kept.
The guards were still there. Shit. I froze at the edge, careful not to be seen. I peeked from the side, and my heart shattered. He was still tied up, and he looked like he was barely breathing.
But then he lifted his head as if he sensed me. His one unbruised eye found me, and I quickly raised a finger to my lips.
Don't speak.
I was sure he could read my lips because I emphasized it. He shook his head weakly. He was telling me to leave. No, I wouldn't. Not when Klaus had taken his sister away from him. He wouldn't die here too.
It was only a matter of time before chaos erupted outside and distracted the pack members. Orion would be saved. I stepped forward a bit, only to let out a sharp gasp as a hand tangled in my hair and wrenched me back. I screamed. Then I froze. That voice. My worst nightmare. I was doomed.
"You stupid little girl," Klaus hissed in my ear. "Did you forget I can feel you now? Your panic, fear, mood. You think I wouldn't notice?"
I had totally forgotten. My desperation to save Orion and myself had made me forget. I twisted in his grip. "Please…please, don't hurt him. Orion didn't tell me anything. I stole the key! He did nothing! I'm the one you should tie up."
He didn't answer me immediately. Instead, he tightened his grip on my hair and tilted my head back until my scalp and throat burned. "You know, I would have loved to tie you up, only that I would be fucking you and not hurting you. Not when you are carrying my babies."
That sickening grin graced his lips as he said, "I know what can hurt you deeply more than putting you up for torture right now." Then he looked at Orion. And he smiled.
"No!" I screamed, lunging forward. Klaus moved past me slowly and headed for Orion. The boy's eyes widened in his position, and tears streaked his cheeks. Klaus raised his hand, and his claws lengthened, silver glinting at the tips. I would be damned.
"NO!" He wrapped his hand around Orion's neck, then pressed his claws on him gently. Orion made a choking sound. "Klaus, stop! He is innocent, I swear…!"
My words got caught as the slash sound evaded the surroundings. Blood sprayed non-stop from Orion's neck, and I watched, unable to remove my eyes, as Orion went still. His head dropped. My mind went blank.
I screamed.
The sound tore from my throat with so much violence it shook the walls. Even my body couldn't control the rage I currently felt. A violent force erupted from my body, throwing everyone back. I didn't know what was happening to me, and I didn't care at the moment. Even Klaus stumbled.
The bulbs flickered wildly around us, then everything went still for a moment. I was panting. My chest was heaving. My vision… all I saw was tinted red. I stared at Orion's lifeless body. Then I looked down at my hands. They were shaking. My fangs were out. My nails had turned to claws. My eyes were burning. I was beyond livid, and for the first time in my life, I was enraged with the thirst to kill.
Every guard stared at me, and Klaus looked stunned. I didn't know what I was anymore, but this was what I knew: the old me was dead, and something inside me had just woken up. And it wasn't going back to sleep.
——
KLAUS POV
The dungeon trembled with the force of her scream.
The air distorted, and my men went flying like rag dolls across the floor, slamming into walls. They crumpled to the ground in gasps and groans.
Even I staggered a step back, blinking as a violent gust barreled through my chest. My claws were still warm with Orion's blood, but my gaze, my entire being, was glued to her. Penelope.
Her eyes were lit like the heart of a dying star. She looked feral, molten, and unrecognizable. Her hair whipped around her face as if even the air itself dared not touch her.
Fangs, elongated and glinting. Her fingers trembled with power. Her breath heaved in ragged bursts.
And the bond...our bond...screamed through my chest like a thunderclap. It was erratic and choking.
She's beyond furious. It takes a whole new level of sickness to be amused by this new her. I knew what ran in her bloodline, and that's why she was appointed to be the mother of my kids, to be my mate. What I don't expect is seeing her now, unshackled, unleashed, and all of it turned against me.
This isn't how it was meant to be.
"Penelope…" I start, stalking towards her and hoping I can calm her.
But she lunges. Power slams into me like a battering ram. I barely lift my arm in time to shield my face, the force of it sending me skidding backward across the bloodied floor.
My spine collides with the dungeon wall, and pain flares across my back. But I push off, crouch low, fangs bared in instinct, but not to threaten her. I'm not going to hurt her. I don't want to.
Oh goddess, I can't.
I hate my sharp teeth at her in an animalistic way, and she prepares to lunge again, but just then…
A sudden roar is heard. Followed by another. And another. Then bloody screams.
What the hell is happening under my nose?
As chaos erupts outside the dungeon, I smell blood. It's that of humans and werewolf's blood. The chaos is alive and consuming, and still, my gaze remains locked on her.
Penelope takes another step, and the earth seems to breathe around her. She's not done.
"You killed him," she growls, and her voice sounds deeper now. "You killed an innocent boy."
"I killed him," I say, breath coming in shallow gasps, "because his decision could ruin you and I."
She roars at me, but it doesn't sound like the usual wolf roars. It's totally different. I had never heard anything like it before.
Who really is Penelope Blackwood beyond what I know about her?
Her palms lift at me, and the pressure coils around my throat. It coils tightly, and her hands aren't even on me. My breath catches. I grab at my neck, and my fingers claw at nothing. My knees buckle, and I drop to them; choking and coughing.
My eyes widen in terror as I feel the taste of death on my lips. No one had ever gotten me this way since I became an Alpha.
Penelope is going to kill me. Me, her mate. Me, the father of her pups.