Betrayed and Claimed by the Lycan King Chapter 208

Isolde's POV

The banquet hall had descended into chaos. An elderly werewolf with a shock of silver hair was frantically commanding security personnel, his voice thundering across the space.

"Lock the doors! No one leaves this room!" he ordered, face red with fury and fear.

I stood frozen, my heart hammering against my ribs as if trying to escape my chest. My eyes darted to the high-end designer chair where Evanthe had been sitting moments before—now stained with dark red blood. My lips trembled as I tried to make sense of what was happening.

Beside me, Alpha Ezra's jaw was tight with barely contained anger. The disruption of his business event clearly displeased him, but there was something else in his expression—concern, perhaps, or calculation.

"Ezra," I whispered, my voice shaking. "What's happening?"

Before he could answer, the elderly man—whom I realized must be Aiden Hawthorne, Evanthe's father—turned his attention to Ezra.

"Lock it down," he repeated, gesturing to the security team.

Ezra's eyes narrowed. "Mr. Hawthorne, you do not give orders here."

"My daughter has been poisoned!" Aiden shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. "Someone in this room tried to kill her. I want the doors locked and every person searched until we find who did this!"

"You have no authority to command a lockdown of my guests and VIPs," Ezra stated coldly, standing taller. His Alpha presence filled the room, making several people lower their gazes instinctively.

"This isn't just about your precious authority," Aiden snapped. "This is about my daughter's life! Someone wants her dead... and no one is leaving this room until we find out who!"

Ezra's eyes flashed with irritation. "I am the CEO of Silver Moon Group. Security takes their orders from me."

"We're talking about my daughter's life!" Aiden's voice cracked with emotion.

The pieces suddenly clicked in my mind. Aiden Hawthorne—Evanthe's father, former security director of Silver Moon Group, and a respected Gamma warrior. His family had significant influence in werewolf society, especially with their connections to the Elders' Council.

"How do you know she was poisoned?" Ezra questioned, his voice level but challenging.

Aiden's eyes narrowed. "How can you be certain she wasn't?"

The ballroom fell into utter silence, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. Inside me, Lyra paced restlessly, her anxiety feeding into my own. Something about this situation felt wrong—staged, almost.

Ezra's eyes flashed gold, a clear sign of his wolf's presence rising to the surface. After a moment of tense silence, he gave a slight nod.

"Secure the ballroom," he commanded. "No one leaves until I say so."

Security personnel in sleek black suits moved toward the various entrances, their hands on their earpieces receiving instructions. The crowd of business elites shifted nervously, the scent of fear filling the air. My own anxiety spiked, my fingers trembling as I tried to maintain composure.

"We need to search everyone," Aiden declared. "Someone here is responsible, and I want to know who."

His announcement was met with immediate protests from the crowd.

"This is outrageous!"

"You can't just search us like criminals!"

"I won't submit to this!"

A braver businessman stepped forward from the crowd. "If someone needs to be searched, it should only be those who shared the main table with her!" His voice carried authority. "Look at the logic—if she was poisoned, it would have been done by someone close to her. They should start by searching those sitting nearest to her!"

Murmurs of agreement spread through the crowd. My blood turned to ice as the implications hit me. As Ezra's companion, I had been seated right next to Evanthe at the main table. Scalding fear flowed from my head to my toes as all eyes turned toward me.

Aiden's lips curled into something between a sneer and a smile. "Yes, I agree. The main table makes the most sense." His eyes gleamed with malicious satisfaction as he looked at Ezra. "Interesting how you're so quick to lock everyone in, but when it comes to being searched yourself..."

Ezra's eyes flashed with dangerous golden light. "Everyone will be searched," he stated, his Alpha command silencing the room once more. More security personnel in black suits entered the ballroom.

"Ezra," I whispered, my voice trembling.

Ezra placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's alright, baby... I'm just doing this to clarify the situation. Everything will be fine. I won't let anyone touch you." He pressed a kiss to my forehead, his words meant to reassure, but something in his tone rang hollow.

His face was all Alpha when he turned back to the security team. "Begin the search. Men and women separate."

The search proceeded methodically. Women were taken to one corner of the ballroom, men to another. It went on for what felt like several minutes, maybe hours—time seemed to stretch and contract unnaturally. The room buzzed with angry protests from business elites who weren't accustomed to being treated like suspects.

I watched, still unsearched, hoping they might overlook me. The thought of strangers patting me down made my skin crawl.

Finally, the security team announced the search was complete. No weapons or poisons had been found.

"You missed two people," Aiden pointed out, his voice cutting through the relieved murmurs. His finger pointed first at Ezra, then at me. "The Alpha and his... companion weren't searched. How convenient."

"We don't need to be searched," Ezra replied coldly.

Aiden's eyes narrowed as he stared directly at me. "Your companion clearly despises my daughter... Her previous behavior proves she hates Evanthe and is capable of harming her. That makes her a suspect..."

My heart raced as I realized where this was going.

"Evanthe's pregnancy has always been a thorn in your side," Aiden continued, turning to Ezra. "I wouldn't be surprised if you orchestrated her miscarriage."

"Father!" Orion's voice cut through the tension. "Show some respect!" He turned to the security team. "As head of security, I'm ordering this search to end now."

Ezra's eyes flashed gold again—not at Orion, but at Aiden. "I'll satisfy your request, but only because this concerns your daughter."

He beckoned to security. "One male officer for me, one female for my mate."

The room grew utterly still. The security personnel looked at each other uncertainly, but finally, a man and woman stepped forward.

I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. My limbs were numb, and I was close to breaking down completely. Lyra was howling in my mind, warning me repeatedly. *This is a trap! Don't let them do this!*

"Isolde..." Ezra approached me, his voice softer now. "If we don't do this, he'll have more reasons to incite others against us. Let's get this over with quickly, okay?"

I nodded mechanically, but inside I was screaming. *Something is wrong. I can feel it.*

Looking back at how events had unfolded—Evanthe's sudden bleeding, the immediate lockdown, the insistence on searching everyone, particularly me—it all felt orchestrated. A setup.

Things were about to get very bad, I could sense it.