Chosen By The Cursed Alpha King Chapter 130

Maximus's POV

My heart slammed so violently against my ribs I thought it would tear straight out of my chest.

Raina.

It was Raina standing there—leaning casually against a tree like she was greeting an old friend instead of pointing a gun at my skull. Her hair was wild, tangled from running through the forest, and her green eyes gleamed with something unhinged. Madness. Rage. Pain sharpened into something lethal.

So I hadn't been wrong.

Those green eyes I saw the day Damien was shot.

It was her.

My own breath froze in my chest. I didn't know if it was shock or fury, but it rooted me in place for a single impossible heartbeat.

"Raina…" the word scraped through my mind as a growl rumbling from deep inside my wolf. Why?

She smirked like she could hear every question clawing through my skull.

"Surprised?" she asked, tilting her head. "I told myself I'd enjoy this moment. Watching you realize it was me. Watching the great Alpha King bleed."

Her voice was calm. Too calm. Calm in a way only someone broken could manage.

My leg trembled under me, the burning pain spreading like wildfire. Whatever she shot me with—it wasn't normal. It wasn't meant to slow me down. It was meant to kill.

But I forced my wolf to steady me and pushed my voice through the link.

"Why are you doing this?" my growl echoed through her mind.

Her laughter split the air.

Cold.

Unhinged.

"Oh, Maximus," she whispered, lowering the gun then lifting it again like she was toying with me. "Isn't it obvious? Revenge. The sweetest kind."

I didn't have time for this.

Every second I stood here… Emilia slipped farther and farther away.

I could barely feel her through the bond. A faint tug. A dying thread.

My panic clawed at my throat.

Not now. Not this. Not her. Not when I was losing time.

"Whatever I did to you, Raina," I forced out, through the link, "I'm sorry. But I have to go. Now."

Her eyes went flat. Dead. The smile vanished.

"You killed my entire family," she whispered. Then louder, "You destroyed my pack. You brought us to the ground and told the world we never existed. And now you stand there and say sorry like it's nothing?" She spat on the ground. "Do you even remember the Crescent Pack, Maximus? Or did you wipe us from your memory the same way you wiped us from the earth?"

My stomach twisted.

The Forgotten Pack.

I remembered.

I remembered the blood. The screams that haunt me.

But I didn't have time for ghosts right now.

"Raina," I said through the link, fighting to keep my voice steady even as my wounded leg trembled beneath me, "I know you're angry. I know sorry doesn't fix it. But please… not tonight. You don't want to do this."

Her finger tightened on the trigger.

"Oh, I really, really do." Her voice shook with hate. "Tonight I send you straight to hell where you belong."

She pulled the trigger.

I twisted at the last second. The bullet grazed my shoulder, hot and searing, tearing fur and flesh. I didn't wait. I bolted.

Not because I was afraid to fight her.

Because Emilia was running out of time.

"You'll die tonight, Maximus!" she screamed behind me, voice cracking with fury. "I guarantee it!"

I ran like death itself was on my tail, because it was. Branches whipped my face. Blood poured from my leg, leaving a dark trail even a pup could follow. My lungs burned. My vision blurred at the edges. The poison was wolfsbane mixed with something worse—something that slowed healing, made every step feel like dragging my body through tar.

Another shot.

Then another.

I zigzagged between trees, ears ringing, heart thundering so loud I almost didn't hear the whistle of the next bullet.

It hit.

Back leg again. Same damn spot.

A howl tore out of me before I could stop it—raw, broken, furious. The pain was white-hot, blinding. My stance buckled. I crashed into the dirt, claws digging deep to keep from falling completely.

No.

No.

Get up. Get up. Emilia needs you.

I forced air into my lungs. Forced my wolf to burn through the poison faster. Forced my legs under me even as they shook like a newborn fawn.

I could hear Raina coming. Fast. Too fast. She'd trained for this. Planned this. Dreamed of this moment for years.

I took one step. Another. Limping now, but still moving.

Then she was there.

She dropped from the trees like a nightmare, landing in front of me, gun raised, barrel inches from my skull.

"End of the line, King," she hissed, finger already pulling back on the trigger.

I hated this. Hated that I was weak when Emilia needed me strong. Hated that I might fail her.

But suddenly—

A blur of brown fur slammed into Raina from the side.

The gun roared, but the bullet buried itself in a tree trunk instead of my head.

Raina hit the ground hard, breath whooshing out of her. Pinned beneath a brown she-wolf with blazing golden eyes.

Adele.

Lucien's mate.

She had Raina's throat between her jaws in a heartbeat, growling so deep the earth seemed to shake with it.

Through the link, Adele's voice was pure steel. "Go, Your Majesty. I'll take care of this bitch for you."

Relief crashed into me so hard I almost collapsed.

"Thank you," I said, "Don't kill her. I want her alive. I'll deal with her myself."

Adele gave a growl, teeth tightening just enough to make Raina choke out a whimper.

I didn't look back again.

I turned and I ran.

Blood poured down my legs. My muscles screamed. The world tilted and swayed, but I locked every thought on one thing. One name.

Emilia.

Hold on, my love, I'm coming.

I'm coming.

Just hold on.

The shadow of Hollow Mountain rose ahead of me like a sleeping beast, black against the starless sky. The air grew thick, heavy with old death and older curses.

I didn't care.

I bared my teeth at the darkness and charged straight into its mouth.

Emilia was in there.

And nothing—not poison, not bullets, not ghosts, not hell itself—was going to stop me from bringing her home.