Chapter 74 - 3.14 It’s Me
Oliver was startled. Rather than the shocking sentence of someone being killed in the hospital, he was more concerned about the first half of the nurse’s sentence. "My...Alpha?" Oliver choked out in a strained voice. Had he died and gone to an alternate universe? Since when did he have an Alpha?
"That—" The nurse blurted out in one breath. "The winged and horned beastman! The one who has always stayed by your side during your hospitalization!"
Before Oliver knew it, he had ripped out the IV drips and heartbeat detector. The pain be damned. His entire body screamed in protest from the sudden exertion. He gritted his teeth. "Lead the way! Hurry up!"
A loud commotion was heard in the hallway and Oliver could see a crowd of people around, their faces pale as they slumped against the wall. The silver haired Alpha stood in the middle of all, in his grasp was the neck of a woman in her last breath, wheezing with tears streaming down her purplish face.
Oliver held his breath as a wave of dominant pheromones swept through the air, so overpowered and sharp that it propelled everyone backward. Now Oliver knew why the nurse was so desperate for him. Altair exuded such a threatening scent that no one could get close to him unless they were ready to throw their lives away. Black veins flared out along his arms and the tip of his horns grew red as if boiling lava was concentrated there. A beta security guard braced himself and came forward to stop him only to be sent crashing against the wall by his wing, coughing blood. His feathers glinted under the light, looking particularly sharp and deathly. Just one glance was enough to tell Oliver that he was utterly livid — and tethering on the brink of losing control.
Oliver sucked in a sharp breath. The effect of Altair’s pheromones recognized no one and stabbed through him, drawing pain. Nevertheless, like a soldier who wasn’t afraid of death, Oliver marched forward into the battlefield. It was only when he drew closer did he realize that the person whose neck was in Altair’s vice grip was Cathy. The mouse omega’s eyes rolled back and her body convulsed. The words of apology could no longer be uttered from her broken throat. Not that Oliver cared either way.
He shifted his attention back to Altair. He had never seen the Alpha look like this before. In Oliver’s mind, he was always calm, composed and collected. He wouldn’t even change his expression even if the sky came crashing down. However, the person was currently narrowing his sharp eyes. His pupils dilated to the point where it almost disappeared, leaving him only with a pair of white scleras. His jaws clenched and unclenched. The black veins along his arms seemed as if they had come alive, pulsing and struggling to get out of his body. The instinct in Oliver’s body warned him to stay away as far as possible. This Alpha was dangerous! He could snap your neck off with a single hand! Alas, his heart twinged in a mixture of pain and happiness; pain because of Altair’s current condition and happiness because Oliver knew he was the reason behind it.
Sensing another presence, the Alpha’s eyes didn’t even move. His gaze transfixed on the dying mouse Omega with his grip tightened, slowly squeezing the life out of her in a slow torment. Only his wings moved, carrying with them a violent gust of wind that could surely send someone—or in Altair’s case, a flock of people—flying.
Oliver lifted his arm to block the gale, his eyes squinting. This was kinda suicidal, he realized. But the next thing he knew, he had thrown himself forward and clung onto Altair’s wings for dear life. The feathers ruffled wildly, ready to shake off whoever fool it was to the gate of death when Oliver suddenly shouted and released his own pheromones. "Altair...! Altair, calm down. It’s me, Oliver!"