A vase toppled from a pedestal behind me and shattered against the floor. My hand jumped to my mouth to hold in my whimper.
"Who goes there?!" The shout slammed into me like a thunderclap. I didn't wait, I bolted. I didn't waste my time to see what was happening. Just pure motion.
I sprinted down the hall, my lungs already burning. I suddenly heard the guards cursing behind me, the thud of boots hitting the stone.
"Sound the alarm!" "Someone is running!" I didn't know where I was going, only that I couldn't stop. I turned corners blindly, leaped over steps, and careened through the side gardens like a wild animal until I saw a fence.
It loomed high against the dark sky, its wire frame tangled with vines and moonlight. I started to run faster. My legs burned, but adrenaline pumped faster in me, giving me more strength, even though I didn't know where the strength came from.
There was a heat in my chest, a surge in my blood. My body moved faster than it ever had. My wolf was alive, I could feel it. It was. They couldn't catch me. They were behind but too far.
I could smell freedom calling to me, and I would do everything to reach it. I reached the fence and grabbed the metal, climbing up with every ounce of strength I had left.
My hands suddenly stung, and my foot slipped once, but I continued. I was almost at the top. When I got to the top, I would cross over and be out of these surroundings.
Gone forever.
Away from Alpha Klaus. Away from the evil of this world. On getting to the top, I crossed a leg to the other side and I was about to cross the second when a strong hand clamped around my ankle.
My eyes snapped open with disbelief. I gasped and twisted, kicking out, but I couldn't break free. I looked down to see who it was, and ice slid through my veins. Alpha Klaus.
*
KLAUS' POV
The water was quiet tonight. It felt cool on my half-naked body as I swam to the other side. I had just killed again.
A rogue who had disguised himself as a member of my pack. I had smelled him within minutes, fetched him out, and torn his throat away.
I was not the devil all Alphas feared for no reason. I couldn't count how many deaths I had on my hands, but that was what made me.
I didn't try to escape from my brutality; it was what I had grown to know and adapt to.
My father, Alpha Kareem, once told me, "The world is full of people who don't care about you; they only care about your power.
The more you wield, the more respect you get. The world isn't kind to the weak and the kind ones, son. Your life is meaningless if you are not ruling the world.
If you are not at the top yet, do anything to get there. People worship what they fear." His words never left me. Not for once. I had lived every day of my life living up to those words.
It was why the world bowed at my feet and flinched at the sound of my name. I, Klaus, reveled in it. I dominated power, and power dominated me.
I reached for the top and strived to rule. I didn't hesitate to kill whoever tried to defy me or dared to compete with me. It is who I was brought up to be. It is who I am.
I drift beneath the surface of the calm water, arms cutting through the warm pool in slow, and perfect strokes.
The moon spilled light across the surface like silver paint. I was enjoying the night more than usual. My father couldn't wait to hold my pups, and only then would I ascend his throne.
I would be unstoppable. Penelope Blackwood. She hadn't left my mind since the first day I saw her. And that was weeks ago when I claimed her as my mate.
A sinful-looking ripped teenager like her was tagged as wolfless when it was her Alpha who had bound her wolf so she could be useless and incomparable to his daughter. She didn't know the extent to which I knew about her, but I would leave it that way.
I didn't need her, at least not in the way everyone else thought. I only needed her to give me an heir. A powerful heir who only she could give me.
I had had the doctor inject her so that the babies could be two and I would have a high chance of having a son amongst them, but luckily, they were three. I should kill her after she gave birth to my pups, but I can't.
And the reason was selfish, but that was who I was.
I put my needs first; I didn't starve myself of them. She didn't know it, but it had required every ounce of my self-control not to burst into her room, tear her clothes off her and take her like she was created to fulfill my deepest lustful desires.
That was how swooned I had become after I had sex with her. Her body felt like a forbidden offering I never knew I craved until I tasted it.
It was strange, but sex with her had consumed me. It wasn't the first time I would have sex with a virgin, so that wasn't what made her different.
I only wanted the babies from her. That was my end goal. I wouldn't be distracted by common sex. That was why I had stayed away from her, but I wanted her again.
I had craved her continuously since that night and… "Alpha!" I swore, I could kill whoever was calling me this loud in the middle of the night. I was angry already.
"Alpha! You need to be aware of this," The voice repeated. I rose from the water in a single movement, droplets sliding down my skin. My head snapped toward the panicked footsteps slapping against the marble.
"What?" My tone was relaxed as usual. I didn't exhaust my energy on meaningless things.
Nothing was worth freaking over. If it stresses you, kill it.
His next words had me swallowing my words back. Some things were worth your energy. "It's Penelope, she escaped her quarters. She's heading for the fence."
My entire body exploded. She was running with my babies? All I saw was red.
I quickly put on my robe and its belt. There was no time to be wearing shoes. I stormed through the corridors, my wet footprints smearing across the polished stone. Every muscle in me pulsed with rising fury.
That foolish girl. That traitorous little mate. She thought she could leave with my babies?
If she wasn't carrying my babies, I would tear her throat out immediately and my hands settled on her.
I burst into the courtyard just as the guards shouted from the back perimeter. "She's at the fence! She's climbing!" My heart thundered with rage.
I didn't slow down as I sprinted towards the direction. And there she was, her body pulled tight against the fence as she motioned to cross over.
Her black hair was loose and wild in the wind. She looked like a goddamn angel trying to flee Hell.
I would catch her, and it would be so easy. With one jump, I had her ankle. And with one pull, I dragged her back down to me.