Alpha's STOLEN Mate Chapter 170

Elowen

The commotion started before dawn—shouts, running footsteps, the sound of a crowd gathering.

I jolted awake, immediately reaching for Scarlett. "What's happening?"

"I don't know." She was already at the window, looking down at the courtyard. "There's a huge crowd gathering in the main square. Something's going on."

Hope surged through me. "Maybe they're releasing Evelyn? Zane said the extraction was nearly complete—"

We dressed quickly and rushed out, following the streams of vampires heading toward the square. But as we got closer, the hope curdled into dread.

A scaffold had been erected in the center of the square. A executioner's platform.

"No." The word came out strangled. "No, no, no—"

Zane appeared in my path, blocking my way forward. His expression was cold, devoid of the predatory charm he usually wore.

"The agreement is void," he said simply.

"What?" I grabbed his arm. "What are you talking about?"

"I cannot guarantee your friend's survival. Therefore, our arrangement is null."

"You promised—the extraction is complete! You said you'd release her!" My voice rose with panic and fury.

"I did release her." Zane's tone was infuriatingly calm. "This morning, as promised. She was escorted to the border and told to leave vampire territory."

"Then why—" I gestured at the scaffold.

"She refused to go. Turned around and tried to break back into the sanctuary." His eyes were hard. "Trespassing on sacred ground, assaulting guards, violating the terms of her release. These are capital crimes in vampire law."

Understanding crashed over me. This was revenge. Punishment for my defiance last night, for refusing his advances, for daring to slap him.

"You bastard—"

"The law is the law," Zane interrupted. "Even you cannot be above it. Even as my... well, you chose to refuse that position, didn't you?"

The execution bell began to toll.

I shoved past him and ran.

---

The square was packed with vampires, all watching with that cold curiosity their kind seemed to specialize in. On the platform, Evelyn knelt before the executioner's block, her hands bound, her head forced down toward the bloodstained wood.

She looked so small. So fragile after days of extraction. But her eyes—when they found mine in the crowd—burned with unbroken defiance.

"STOP!" I tried to push through the crowd, but vampire guards blocked my path.

The executioner raised his blade.

Scarlett moved before I could. She launched herself through the crowd with a warrior's roar, daggers flashing. She cut down two guards before they even registered the attack, her movements a blur of deadly precision.

But there were too many. For every vampire she dropped, three more appeared. A blade caught her shoulder. Another sliced across her ribs.

I tried to surge forward, but Zane's hand clamped on my wrist like an iron shackle.

"Don't," he said quietly. "If you interfere now, you'll be declaring war. Your friend dies, and diplomatic relations between our peoples collapse. Is that what you want?"

"Let me go—"

"Accept my proposal." His voice was urgent now, almost desperate. "Become my consort. My official partner. Then you'll have the authority to pardon her. It's the only way."

I stared at him, at that handsome face that hid such ugliness. He was offering me a choice—surrender completely, or watch Evelyn die.

On the platform, the executioner adjusted his stance. Scarlett was down, bleeding, surrounded. Evelyn's head was pressed against the block.

"I..." The word stuck in my throat.

Time seemed to slow. I could feel Zane's expectant gaze. Could hear the crowd's anticipation. Could see the blade beginning its descent.

And something inside me snapped.

"No."

The word came out clear. Final.

"I will never forget who I am," I said, my voice carrying across the suddenly quiet square. "I am the White Wolf. Alpha. Queen. I don't hide in shadows like you, Zane. I don't manipulate and scheme like a rat in the dark." I met his shocked gaze. "You're nothing but a coward who needs chains and contracts to feel powerful. You disgust me."

Zane's face transformed—pleasant mask shattering to reveal pure, incandescent rage.

"KILL HER!" His roar echoed across the square. "KILL THE WITCH NOW!"

The blade fell.

I transformed mid-leap.

My body exploded into my wolf form—pure white, massive, faster than any vampire's eye could follow. I hit the platform in a blur of fur and fangs, my jaws closing around the executioner's wrist a split second before the blade could complete its arc.

Bone crunched. The executioner screamed. The blade clattered harmlessly to the side.

I tossed him off the platform with a shake of my head, then stood over Evelyn's bound form, lips pulled back in a snarl that showed every fang.

The message was clear: *Touch her and die.*

But Zane's attack came from behind—a coward's strike. His claws raked across my shoulder, tearing through fur and flesh. Pain exploded down my side, but I spun and snapped at him, forcing him back.

Scarlett had fought her way to the platform, blood-soaked but unbowed. She cut Evelyn's bonds with shaking hands.

"Can you stand?" Scarlett gasped.

"Barely." Evelyn's voice was weak, but she managed to get to her feet. "But I can still fight."

The three of us formed a tight triangle on the platform—Evelyn swaying but upright, Scarlett bleeding from a dozen wounds, and me in my white wolf form, shoulder burning from Zane's attack.

Around us, vampire warriors closed in like a noose tightening. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds.

"Well," Evelyn said with dark humor, "at least we'll die together."

"ENOUGH!"

The new voice cut through the chaos like a knife. The crowd parted as Arabella strode through, her presence radiating power and fury.

"Zane!" She faced the vampire lord, her eyes blazing. "What is the meaning of this? You gave your word that my daughter would be released unharmed!"

"Your daughter violated the terms of her release," Zane said coldly. "She's a criminal."

"That's bullshit and you know it!" Arabella's composure cracked. "You orchestrated this! Set her up to fail!"

"Did I?" Zane's smile was cruel. "Can you prove it? Or are you simply angry that your carefully laid plans are falling apart?"

"You promised—"

"I promised nothing about what would happen after her release." Zane stepped toward her, and something dangerous flickered in his eyes. "You seem to forget something, Arabella. You thought you were so clever, using your daughter and the White Wolf as payment for your debts. Trading them like pieces on a game board."

He circled her slowly, predatory. "But here's what you never understood—to me, you're just as much a piece. Just as expendable. You were useful when you brought me the White Wolf. But now?" His smile widened. "Now you're just another debtor who's outlived her purpose."

"Zane, wait—"

His hand moved faster than thought, punching through her chest.

Arabella's eyes went wide with shock. She looked down at where Zane's hand had pierced her sternum, blood blooming across her elegant robes.

"Mother—" Evelyn's voice came out strangled.

Zane withdrew his hand, and Arabella crumpled. He let her fall to the ground like discarded trash.

I wanted to shift back, to say something, but any moment of vulnerability would be suicide. I remained in wolf form, every muscle coiled to spring.

Arabella lay on the blood-stained platform, her breathing wet and labored. Her eyes found Evelyn's.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Evelyn, I'm so sorry. I thought—I thought I was being clever. Thought I could save you by—by trading for something more valuable—" Blood bubbled from her lips. "I was wrong. I was so wrong. Please—"

Evelyn's face was carved from ice. No tears. No visible emotion. Just cold, absolute nothing.

"You're right about one thing," Evelyn said quietly. "You were wrong."

"Please, baby, I—"

"Don't." Evelyn's voice could have frozen flame. "You made your choices. You sold me. You sold Elowen. You played your games and lost." She looked down at her dying mother with eyes like stone. "This is what you deserve. This is your consequence."

"Evelyn—" Arabella reached up with a shaking hand.

Evelyn stepped back, leaving that hand to fall uselessly.

Arabella's breathing rattled, then stopped. Her eyes stared sightlessly at the sky.

For just a moment—so brief I almost missed it—Evelyn's mask cracked. Pain flashed across her face, raw and devastating. Her hands trembled.

Then the ice reformed. When she looked up, her expression was empty again.

"Touching," Zane said with false sympathy. "A family reunion and goodbye, all at once. How economical."

He turned to us, and his pleasant facade was completely gone now, replaced by something ancient and monstrous.

"Now then." His body began to change, muscles swelling, fangs extending. "Where were we? Ah yes. I was about to kill you all."

Vampire warriors surged forward as Zane leaped onto the platform.

And the real battle began.