Page 39 of The Alpha King's Mate

“Talon, secure the Silvermere Alpha. String him up on the central post,” I murmured, stroking Aliana’s hair.

An Alpha had a duty to his pack members, and he had repeatedly failed my mate. His demise would serve as a warning to every other pack watching.

A few moments later, shots rang out. I didn’t need to look to know my officers had surrounded the Alpha and his kin.

I slipped my arm beneath her legs and gathered her close before I stood. The crowd parted while my officers kept their weapons drawn.

“Hospital,” I snapped, and two officers ran ahead of me.

Aliana patted my chest. I glanced at her flushed face.

“Don’t be so mean,” she murmured.

I was about to defend myself when she spoke again.

“Not to our pack.”

Excellent. That left me thirteen other packs to torment. But I didn’t tell her that.

? ? ?

The doctor had placed an intravenous antivenom drip in Aliana’s arm, and nurses came every twenty minutes to check her blood pressure, lung function, and any signs of swelling.

I’d had to cut the wedding dress off her. Which made Aliana sad. Which drove me straight back into a bloodthirsty frenzy.

“I feel much better now,” she said, trying to sit up.

I placed my hand over her hospital gown, holding her down.

“You were dying an hour and a half ago,” I said, glancing up.

Her eyes had returned to dark brown and black.

“Technically, I was dead.”

Malakh growled.

She claimed to have seen her mother, but it could have been a hallucination—fluid building in her lungs, the toxins causing the frothing and excess drool. A sight I never wanted to see again.

“Seriously, I’m hungry. What happened to the ceremony feast?”

This is criminal, Malakh snapped.Feed our mate.

I raised a finger.

“Do not move. Not a single inch.”

She nodded, but a slight smile played on her lips.

“Maybe you can be my royal food tester, like in the olden days?”

I stood. She had a point.

Talon was born for this new role.

Chapter 19

Aliana