The Alpha Behind The Mask-Chapter 95: Injured
Oliver’s POV
Simon didn’t give me a chance to breathe. He moved like a flash of lightning, his body turning into a gray blur as he lunged at me. I didn’t shift. I kept my feet planted in the dirt, my wolf howling under my skin, begging to be let out.
I ducked as his claws hissed through the air, inches from my throat. He was fast—faster than any vampire I had fought in years. He spun around, trying to kick my ribs, but I caught his ankle. The impact felt like hitting a steel pipe.
"Is that all, King?" Simon hissed, his red eyes glowing.
With a roar, I swung him bodily and slammed him into a nearby oak tree. The wood cracked, and the entire coven let out a collective hiss. Simon rolled to his feet, wiping black blood from his lip. He wasn’t smiling anymore. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
"Fine," he growled. "Let’s see how you handle this."
He came at me again, but this time, he wasn’t just using his hands. He pulled a hidden dagger from his sleeve. My eyes fell on it, and my wolf recoiled instantly. Silver.
"You brought silver to a duel?" Silas roared from the sidelines, stepping forward.
"Stay back!" I commanded, my voice booming with Alpha authority.
Simon laughed and slashed at me. I felt the burn before I even saw the blood. The silver blade sliced across my shoulder, the metal acting like acid against my skin. I gritted my teeth, refusing to scream. My vision blurred for a second, the poison of the silver already trying to slow my healing.
"Shift into me," my wolf roared... but I didn’t... this fight wasn’t worth it.
"You’re getting slow, Oliver," Simon taunted, circling me like prey. "Maybe your little assistant has made you soft."
My blood turned to ice. He knew about Aurora.
That was his last mistake.
I stopped fighting like a man and started fighting like a King. I didn’t care about the silver anymore. All I cared about was winning this fight and returning back to Aurora.
As he lunged for my heart, I didn’t dodge. I let the blade sink into my shoulder, ignoring the agonizing scream of my nerves, just so I could grab his throat with both hands.
His red eyes widened. He tried to pull the knife out, but I held him tight.
"You should have never mentioned her," I growled, my voice sounding more like a wolf than a human.
I twisted my hands with all my Alpha strength. There was a sickening crack that echoed through the silent forest. Simon’s body went limp, his head lolling to the side. I dropped him like a piece of trash.
The vampires screamed in rage, but Silas and his warriors didn’t give them a chance. They tore into the coven, finishing what I had started.
I reached up and ripped the silver dagger from my shoulder, throwing it into the dirt. The wound was black and smoking, and my legs felt heavy. I was losing a lot of blood, and the silver was making my head spin.
"Sire!" Silas was at my side in a second, catching me before I hit the grass. "We need to get you to the healers."
"No," I wheezed, my mind filled with Aurora’s face. "The helicopter. Take me back to the packhouse."
"But the silver—"
"Now, Silas!" I roared, even as my vision began to go dark.
Silas and Miller hauled me inside. I collapsed against the leather seat, my breath coming in short, painful rasps. Every vibration of the engine felt like a serrated knife dragging through my shoulder.
"Get the healers," I barked at Gideon, my Beta, through the mind link, my voice strained. "Tell them to have the neutralizing kits ready at the palace. Now!"
As the helicopter banked hard toward the city, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. The silver was a poison, a slow-burning fire that moved through my veins, making my wolf howl in agony. But through the haze of pain, I wasn’t thinking about the victory or the injury. I was thinking about the girl I had left standing at her desk. I was thinking about the look in her eyes—half-anger, half-terror—and the promise I had made just to see her one more time.
I have to get back, I thought. I can’t leave her with that being our last memory.
After twenty minutes that felt like hours, the helicopter touched down on the palace rooftop. The doors slid open to a blur of white coats and urgent shouting. My healers and doctors were already there with a stretcher.
"I can walk," I growled, trying to push myself up, but my knees buckled.
Gideon caught me, his face full of worry. "Don’t be a hero, Oliver. You’ve got silver in your blood."
They hurried me down the private elevator and into my royal suite. I was vaguely aware of being lifted onto the bed, of the cold sting of antiseptic, and the sharp, medicinal smell of the healing pastes. The healers worked in silence, digging out the shrapnel of the silver blade. I gritted my teeth, my fingers digging into the silk sheets until they tore.
Slowly, the crushing weight on my chest began to lift. My wolf started to stir again, finally able to knit my skin back together now that the poison was being drawn out.
"Are you okay, Sire?" Gideon asked, standing by the foot of the bed once the healers stepped back.
"I’m back," I rasped, my voice sounding like broken glass. I could feel my strength returning, the Alpha blood in me fighting to take control of my body again.
But then, I heard it. A familiar, panicked voice echoing from the hallway outside my bedroom doors.
"Why can’t you just let me see him?" Aurora’s voice rose, sharp and filled with a desperate kind of fear. "I know he’s in there! I saw the helicopter! I saw the blood!"
I frowned, my heart skipping a beat. I looked at Gideon. "She’s still here?"
"She never left, Oliver," Gideon said, rubbing the back of his neck. "She’s been in the office waiting for you all night. When she heard you were back and injured, she nearly tackled the guards. She’s been demanding to come in for the last ten minutes."
The guilt hit me harder than the silver. I had left her in a state of rejection and confusion, and then I had come home at the brink of death.
"Let her in," I commanded, my voice gaining its Alpha edge despite my weakness.
"The healers aren’t quite done cleaning the wound—"
"I said let her in, Gideon. Now."
He sighed and signaled to the guards. The doors swung open, and Aurora practically stumbled into the room. She looked exhausted; her hair was messy, her clothes were wrinkled, and her eyes were wide with a terror that broke my heart.
She stopped dead at the edge of the bed. Her gaze fell on my bare chest, the thick, blood-stained bandages, and the way I was struggling to breathe.
"Oliver," she breathed.
She rushed to the side of the bed, her hands hovering over me as if she were afraid to touch me. I reached out with my good arm, my fingers catching hers and pulling her small, shaking hand against my chest—right over my beating heart.
"I told you... I’d be fine," I murmured, trying to keep my voice steady.
She didn’t answer. Instead, she sank to her knees beside the bed, burying her face in the mattress next to my hand, and let out a sob she had clearly been holding in since I walked out of that office.
"I thought I lost you," she choked out. "I thought you were never coming back."
I signaled Gideon and the healers to leave. They filed out quietly, the heavy doors clicking shut behind them. I was finally alone with her. I reached out, my thumb stroking her temple, feeling the warmth of her skin.
"Aurora... look at me. I’m right here."
