Lucian's Pov
Anger burned through me.
A deep, smoldering rage that coiled in my gut like a beast ready to strike.
I had expected bloodshed. Expected brutality. It was the nature of our kind—violence was as natural to us as breathing. But what I had not expected was for one of the trainees to be stupid enough to bring a weapon laced with silver to a non-lethal match.
Silver.
Poison to us. Fatal in the right doses.
I should have stopped the match the moment I saw it. Should have called it out, should have—
But I hadn't.
And that only made me angrier.
Angry at Enzo for his desperation, for his weakness, for his arrogance in thinking he could cheat his way into a win.
Angry at Sera for refusing to yield, for pushing herself past her limits, for forcing her body to keep fighting despite the blood gushing from her wound.
And angrier still as I watched Kael step into the fighting circle, completely ignoring the medics rushing toward her.
The Beta didn't hesitate. Didn't wait for permission.
He scooped her up like she was his.
A growl built in my throat before I even knew what I was doing.
"Put her down."
My voice cut through the silence, sharp and commanding.
Kael didn't so much as flinch.
Didn't even acknowledge that I had spoken.
The sheer audacity of it made something inside me burn.
I stepped forward, my shadow stretching long across the dirt as I neared the circle.
Kael straightened as well. He still didn't lower her.
She looked small in his arms, her face pressed against his chest, her body limp from blood loss.
The field was silent, every trainee, every instructor watching, waiting.
They could feel it.
The tension.
The power struggle.
Kael wasn't just ignoring my command.
He was challenging me.
For a brief moment, neither of us moved.
We were close in height, nearly eye to eye, and neither of us was willing to back down.
His green eyes flicked to mine, sharp and unreadable.
Daring me.
Testing me.
It wasn't outright defiance—not exactly.
But it was something dangerously close.
The rage in my chest sharpened into something more precise, more dangerous.
I could rip her from his arms.
But that wasn't enough.
I needed him to submit.
The power in my voice thickened, deep and undeniable as I let my Alpha King tone settle into every word.
"Put. Her. Down."
The shift in the air was immediate.
The weight of my command crashed over the field, heavy and unrelenting.
Kael's expression remained neutral, but I saw it.
The flicker of something in his eyes.
Not anger.
Not submission.
Amusement.
Like he knew this had nothing to do with Sera anymore.
Like he knew that I wasn't angry just because she was hurt.
I was angry because he had touched her.
And he found that funny.
Still, he obeyed.
Slowly. Deliberately.
He shifted his grip, lowering her carefully before passing her into the waiting arms of the medics.
Not roughly. Not carelessly.
Gently.
As if he wasn't submitting to me.
As if he was making the decision himself.
The medics moved quickly, carrying her away, blood staining their hands, their uniforms, the dirt beneath them.
Kael didn't spare them—or me—a single glance.
He just walked away.
No words. No acknowledgment.
Nothing.
Like I wasn't even worth a passing thought.
The rage inside me thundered.
My fists clenched at my sides, muscles coiled tight.
I wanted to punch something.
No.
I wanted to punch him.