Chapter 17
Calhoun’s pov~
Tristan pulled up in the new car just as the sun was burning the edge of the morning sky. The moment I stepped out, I could feel the shift. Eyes darting, whispers circling, people too afraid to meet my stare yet too desperate to look away. The air reeked of curiosity and fear, and I couldn’t give a damn about any of it. My mind wasn’t here with them, it was locked on Carmela and the lesson she was about to finish learning.
My shoes struck against the marble floor as I marched down the corridor. Guards lined the walls, standing where I had ordered them to keep watch since last night. Carmela had been on her knees through the hours, the cold and rough ground gnawing at her skin while she broke piece by piece.
The moment I announced myself with a single word, “Move,” the air shifted. The guards snapped to attention and bowed their heads. “Alpha,” they echoed in unison.
And then Carmela... turned. Slowly, like a dying flame clinging to its last ember. Her eyes were hollow now, no trace of that mischief, that fire that used to glimmer in them. She looked like she had been wrung dry of every ounce of pride. She tried to rise, scrambling pathetically, but her legs betrayed her, sending her crashing face-first back onto the floor. The guards didn’t even flinch to help her. They knew better.
Tears poured down her face, the sound of her sobbing cutting through the silence. My chest didn’t stir. Pity was something she had long burned from me.
But then, instead of bowing her head and accepting defeat, she lost her fucking mind.
“Elodie!” she shrieked, her voice cracking. “Elodie is nothing but a filthy whore! A scheming, disgusting bitch who bewitched you, Calhoun Damaris! She put a spell on you! Because I know you—” she clawed at the air, her spit flying with her words— “you would never touch me, never hurt me! You love me, not that conniving slut!”
The entire corridor froze. Every whisper, every breath fell silent as her words rang through the air. I felt the shift deep inside me, my wolf snarling, growling so loud it thundered in my skull. My eyes flashed amber, the beast inside clawing to get out, to rip her throat wide open and end the noise once and for all.
I clenched my fists, forcing myself to cage him in. Not yet.