Ruin Me, Alpha-Chapter 49: The Alpha’s Possessive Claim

DEVON

I sat in the driver’s seat, the lights cut, parked on a ridge overlooking the Ironfang ceremonial grounds. The darkness inside the car was comforting.

Below me, the engagement party was in full swing.

Alpha Theo had chosen the West Field for the occasion. It was a sprawling expanse of manicured grass usually reserved for combat training, but tonight, it had been transformed into a grotesque display of wealth. Massive white marquees glowed with golden fairy lights, open-sided to let the night breeze through. Tables draped in white linen were arranged in a semi-circle around a raised dais. Servants moved like ants, carrying trays of roasted venison and sparkling wine.

It was a waste of resources. It was a waste of time.

But my eyes weren’t on the decor. They were locked on the woman sitting at the center of the high table.

Irene.

In this loop, she wore sage green. It fitted her perfectly, along with that red hair I had once fisted while we fucked against my office mahogany desk.

The silk clung to her frame, the color bringing out the amber fire in her eyes, even from this distance. She looked breathtaking. She also looked like she wanted to die.

I watched her through the windshield, my fingers tightening on the leather steering wheel until the material creaked. She wasn’t looking at the guests. She wasn’t looking at the food. She was staring at a spot on the tablecloth, her face a mask of tragic beauty.

She was mourning Baron. My kills were fresh in this timeline. She was grieving her brother, and she was grieving the life she thought she deserved—the one with Simon Lewis. Of course, she already started loving Simon in this loop.

I shifted my gaze slightly. Simon was there, standing near the edge of the tent, looking pathetic in a suit that didn’t fit his shoulders right. He was watching her, too.

Good, I thought, a cold satisfaction settling in my gut. Look at her, Simon. Realize she’s never going to be yours.

"Time check," I muttered to the empty car.

8:42 PM.

In the original timeline, I was drinking whiskey in my office while going over the eastern border monthly report. In this timeline, I was stalking an engagement party like a predator waiting for a deer to stray from the herd.

Then, the variable moved.

King Voltage. Ruler of the North.

He stood up from his seat beside Irene. He was a tall man, broad, with electric blue eyes. He wore a tuxedo that cost more than most Pack houses. He turned to Irene, saying something that made the crowd laugh politely. Irene didn’t smile. She didn’t even blink.

Voltage didn’t like that. I saw his jaw tighten. He reached out, his hand sliding around her waist, pulling her possessively against his side. He leaned in, whispering something in her ear that made her flinch.

The leather of my steering wheel tore.

Rage, hot and white, flooded my vision. It wasn’t the slow burn of calculation. It was the primal, possessive fury of a wolf seeing another male touch his mate.

That waist belonged to me. That flinch belonged to me. Her hatred, her love, her grief—it was all mine.

"Loop or no loop," I snarled, my voice filling the small space. "You don’t touch her."

I didn’t bother turning off the engine. I shoved the door open and stepped out into the cool night air.

The ridge was about two hundred yards from the main tent. Between me and the party stood a perimeter of soldiers. A mix of Ironfang guards and Voltage’s Northern elites.

I buttoned my suit jacket, adjusted my cuffs, and started walking down the slope. My stride was even. Unhurried.

I reached the first line of defense in thirty seconds.

"Halt!"

A soldier stepped out of the shadows. Northern armor. He was big, holding an assault rifle across his chest, that also probably had silver had bullets. Behind him, three others fanned out, their eyes glowing with their wolves’ presence.

"Identify yourself," the soldier barked, shining a flashlight in my face. "This is a private event for King Voltage and Alpha Theo. No entry."

I didn’t stop walking.

"I said halt!" The soldier moved to block me, reaching for my shoulder.

I didn’t break stride. My hand moved faster than his eyes could track. I grabbed his wrist, twisted until the bone snapped with a wet crunch, and used his momentum to spin him around. I grabbed his head with my other hand.

Snap.

The sound was loud in the quiet field. The soldier dropped like a sack of stones.

"Intruder!" one of the others screamed.

The air shifted as twenty soldiers charged.

I sighed. Inefficient.

I didn’t shift. I didn’t need the wolf. I was faster than them in human form. I ducked under a swinging claw, driving my fist into the attacker’s throat. He collapsed, gargling blood. I spun, catching a blade aimed for my ribs, and drove it back into the owner’s eye socket.

A Northern elite lunged at me. I side-stepped, grabbed his throat, and squeezed until the windpipe collapsed. Another tried to tackle me. I drove my knee into his chest, shattering his sternum, and tossed him aside like trash.

One minute.

It took exactly sixty-two seconds.

Twenty men lay broken and bleeding on the manicured grass. I stood amidst the carnage, my heart rate barely elevated. I pulled a white silk handkerchief from my breast pocket and calmly wiped a speck of blood from my thumb.

The music in the tent had stopped.

I looked up. The entire party was frozen. One hundred guests, Alphas, Betas, and socialites, were staring at me in absolute horror. The silence was heavy, broken only by the rustling of the wind in the tent flaps.

I tossed the bloody handkerchief onto the corpse of the Northern captain and stepped onto the red carpet leading to the high table.

"Alpha Warner," I said, my voice projecting clearly across the silent field without shouting.

I walked right up to the dais. Alpha Theo was standing, his face pale, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. King Voltage was on his feet, his hands crackling with literal electricity, his eyes narrowed into slits.

And Irene.

She was looking at me. Her eyes were wide, filled with a chaotic mix of fury and terror. She looked beautiful.

"Devon?" Theo finally choked out. "What... what is the meaning of this?"

"My invitation must have been lost in the mail," I said dryly, stepping onto the platform. I walked past the stunned guards who were too afraid to move. "I assume it was an administrative error, Theo. Your office has always been sloppy."

"You killed my men," Voltage rumbled, his voice deep and dangerous. He stepped in front of Irene, shielding her. "You just slaughtered twenty of my elites."

"They were in my way," I replied, stopping three feet from him. "And frankly, if those were your elites, the North is weaker than I thought."

Voltage growled, the sound vibrating the wine glasses on the table. "You are asking for war, boy. Do you have an idea who I am? I am—"

"I know who you are," I cut him off, bored. "You’re an obstacle."

I stepped around him. He moved to grab me, but I shot him a look, a look purely from the Alpha of the Silverclaw, a look that promised a death so slow he would beg for the loop to reset. He hesitated. That split second was all I needed.

I reached the table and picked up Theo’s glass of wine. I took a slow sip, savoring the vintage while staring directly at Irene.

"Hello, Irene," I said softly.

"You monster," she whispered, her hands gripping the table. "Get out of here. Haven’t you done enough?"

"Not yet," I said.

"Devon!" Theo roared, finding his courage. "Leave immediately! You have no right to be here! This is a union of the Ironfang and the North! You are outnumbered and outgunned!"

I set the glass down with a sharp clink.

"Outnumbered?" I laughed, a cold, humorless sound. "Theo, do you remember the winter of ’98? The unauthorized raids on the Southern borders? The ones you ordered to cover your gambling debts?"

Theo froze, the blood draining from his face.

"And you, Voltage," I turned to the King, my eyes flashing. "Does your lovely fiancée know about the deal you made with the rogue factions in the East? Does she know that the ’peace treaty’ you signed was actually a sale of Omega wolves for labor camps?"

The gathered crowd gasped. Voltage took a step back.

"How..." Voltage stammered. "How do you know that?"

"I know everything," I said simply. "I know what you ate for breakfast. I know where you bury your bodies. I know that if I released the documents I have in my safe, both of your packs would tear you apart before sunrise."

Silence descended again. Heavier this time.

I turned my back on them. They didn’t matter.

I faced Irene. She was trembling, not with fear, but with rage. She grabbed a steak knife from the table, her knuckles white.

"I will kill you," she hissed.

"Eventually, maybe," I agreed. "But not tonight."

"With no further ado," I announced, addressing the room at large, "I’d like to leave with what I came here for."

I moved toward her.

"Don’t come near me!" she screamed, raising the knife.

I didn’t have time for a duel. I didn’t have time to negotiate. The clock was ticking.

I closed the distance in a blur of motion. Before she could bring the knife down, my hand shot out, catching her wrist. I pulled her close, her body colliding with my chest. The scent of her—vanilla and rain—filled my senses, grounding me in the madness of the loop.

"Let me go!" she shrieked, struggling against my grip.

"Sleep," I whispered.

I shifted my grip to the back of her neck. With a precise, controlled application of pressure, I pinched the nerve cluster.

Snap.

Her eyes rolled back in her head. Her body went limp instantly.

She fell forward, and I caught her by the waist, swinging her effortlessly up onto my shoulder. Her sage green dress draped over my black suit.

"Irene!" Theo screamed. "Stop him! Kill him!"

The remaining guards on the perimeter raised their weapons.

I turned slowly to face them, Irene’s unconscious form secure on my shoulder. I let my wolf rise to the surface, my eyes bleeding into a glowing, monochromatic grey. The aura of death rolled off me in waves.

"If anyone takes a step," I said, my voice dropping to a demonic growl, "I will burn this entire field to ash. I will hunt down every single one of you, and I will end your bloodlines."

I looked at Theo. "Sit down, old man. The engagement is off."

I turned and walked away.

Not a single person moved. They watched in terrified silence as I carried the bride-to-be across the field, over the corpses of the Northern elites, and up the ridge.

I opened the back door of the SUV and laid her gently across the leather seats. She looked peaceful. For the first time in this timeline, she looked peaceful.

I shut the door, walked to the driver’s side, and got in. As I started the engine and reversed away from the scene, I checked the dashboard clock.

8:55 PM.

"Twenty-four days, twenty-three hours," I whispered.

I floored the accelerator, taking her home.