King Novel novel Chapter 29

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Chapter 29

Chapter 29

I don’t move.

I don’t even breathe.

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The entire dining hall has gone so silent, I can hear the faintest scrape of utensils against plates, the shifting of weight as pack members try to act like they aren’t completely fixated on the shit show about to unravel in front of them. The Omegas line the perimeter like ghosts, their heads bowed, but I can feel their eyes darting toward me. Toward Kallias.

Across from me, Seraphina grips her fork like she’s debating whether to stab it into the table or straight into my hand. Her knuckles are white, and I don’t miss the way her nostrils flare every time Kallias turns his attention to me. Which, unfortunately, is every second.

Kallias leans in, way too close, voice sickeningly soft. “Taryn, baby, you need to eat.”

I stare at the spoon hovering near my lips, piled with something mushy and unappetizing. I’d rather lick the fucking floor.

“Taryn, baby, you have to eat,” Kallias coos, holding a spoonful of soup way too close to my face.

I glare at him. “I’d rather eat glass.”

Murmurs ripple across the room. The Omegas standing along the walls shift on their feet, their expressions ranging from shocked to downright amused. The higher–ranked pack members, including Gamma Abel, stay silent. I swear I can hear the barely contained snickers of the lower ranks, and honestly, if I weren’t the one being force–fed, I’d be entertained too.

His smile twitches. It’s the same smug, practiced look he used to give me when we were together–when he could still pretend he gave a damn. “Come on, sweetheart. Just one bite.”

I shift my chair back slightly, barely an inch, but the movement is noticed. Kallias’s jaw flexes, and the whispers around the room pick up again. This isn’t about me eating. It’s about control. He wants to put on a show. To make sure everyone sees that I still belong to him, still follow his every command, even if I’m disgusted to my fucking core.

“Taryn.”

I don’t look at him. Instead, I glance to the right–toward Enoch.

Enoch is watching me. I can feel it. Heavy, piercing. Like if I so much as flinch the wrong way, he’ll have Kallias’s head on a silver platter. It’s reassuring in the worst way. Because I know Kallias is pushing his luck. He always does.

Good.

Or maybe not.

The Gamma stands, murmuring something under his breath as the Alpha mind–links him. He exits, his absence making the air even heavier, as if his presence was the only thing keeping this whole dinner from going up in flames.

“Taryn,” Kallias tries again, voice still sickeningly sweet. “Just one bite, yeah?”

Seraphina lets out a sharp exhale. A barely contained scoff, maybe. Kallias, however, is past amused. His smile twitches, but he doesn’t let it fall. Instead, he lifts the spoon again, urging it toward my mouth.

I slap it away.

It clatters onto the plate, soup spilling across the table, and then everything stops. The murmurs, the shifting, the quiet amusement. The air turns thick, suffocating.

Kallias stills.

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Chapter 29

Then his hand is on my face, gripping, hard. Fingers dig into my jaw, forcing it open as he picks up another spoonful of food.

My breath stills in my chest. My hands go to his wrist, pushing, shoving, nails digging into his skin. He doesn’t budge.

“You are my mate,” he breathes, eyes wild. “You’ll cat when I say you eat.”

Panic claws up my throat. My heartbeat slams against my ribs, the overwhelming scent of his rage flooding my nose.

I thrash, shoving at his chest. “You’re fucking insane-”

“Kallias,” Seraphina says, and for once, there’s an edge of worry in her voice. “Enough.”

She reaches out, her manicured nails grazing his wrist, but he shoves her off without looking. Hard.

Seraphina flies back, colliding into the wooden bar table behind her. Bottles crash, glass shatters, and a sharp cry follows.

No one moves.

For a split second, there is nothing but the sound of glass settling on the floor, Seraphina groaning, and the sharp, ragged breaths from the wolf sitting

to

1. me.

And then, Kallias is ripped away from me.

Holy shit.

One second he’s inches from my face, the next, he’s airborne.

His body slams against the wall so hard the stone cracks.

Dead silence.

-The force of it sends my chair skidding back as Kallias’s body crashes into the wall with a sickening crack.

I barely have time to process before a roar–deep, guttural, otherworldly–rips through the room.

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Enoch stands in the center of the hall, shoulders squared, chest heaving, his entire frame radiating pure, unrestrained fury. His eyes are locked onto Kallias, who groans, blood trailing down his temple. The entire pack is frozen, some already inching toward the exit, others whispering in hushed, urgent tones.

My heart jumps into my throat.

This is bad.

Enoch’s eyes are slowly shifting from those forest green to the same beastly ones similar to the wolf who killed the

headmaid.

He can get away by scratching Kallias now, but not if they assume he’s the murderer for having the same eyes as that beast back then.

“Enoch,” I say, barely above a whisper.

He doesn’t move. His breathing is ragged, sharp, his entire body locked up like he’s seconds away from earing Kallias apart limb by limb. His eyes flash red, and I know-

I know he’s seconds away from losing control.

I lunge forward, but before I can reach him, hands clamp around my arms, yanking me back. I let out a sharp yelp, twisting, shoving, but more hands join in, locking me in place.

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Chapter 29

Omegas.

“What the fuck-“I go to push past them, but they don’t budge.

Seraphina steps forward, brushing dust off her dress, looking far too pleased for someone who just ate shit against a bar. “Stay out of this, Taryn.”

My throat tightens. I look past her, back at the fight, where Kallias is slowly getting to his feet. There’s something wrong in his expression. Something dark and ugly and years in the making.

I shove at the Omegas again. “Let me go-”

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Seraphina’s breath is hot against my ear, thick with satisfaction. “Kallias has been waiting for this.” Her nails dig into my arm. her whisper slicing through the chaos like a blade to the throat. “He’s going to make that bastard regret ever stepping foot in our pack.”

No.

I thrash against the Omegas holding me down, but they’re stronger in numbers, their hands gripping my wrists, my shoulders, pinning me in place like a fucking insect. The room is a mess of shouting–pack warriors restraining Enoch, Kallias circling him like a goddamn predator, the crowd eating it up like this is some sick sport.

Kallias picks up a chair. A heavy one. Thick wood. I see the muscles in his arms flex as he hoists it above his head.

Enoch turns to me. His red eyes lock onto mine. The way he looks at me–fuck, it’s like he’s asking what he should do. Like I’m the only thing anchoring him.

I don’t think. I just scream.

“Enoch! Close your eyes!”

A guttural, desperate sound tears out of me, raw enough to split my throat. For a second–just a second–I think he won’t listen. That he’ll fight. That he’ll tear through those warriors like the monster I know he is. But then, slowly, obediently, his eyes slip shut.

The chair comes down.

Crack.

The sound is sickening. A crack, a thud, and then silence.

I can’t fucking breathe.

Enoch crumples. Blood pools instantly, dark and thick, spilling from his head and seeping into the floorboards. My ears ring, my

vision tunnels. He could have fought back. He could have killed Kallias with his bare hands. But he listened to me. He closed his eyes and let it happen.

I don’t realize I’m screaming again until my voice starts to break. The Omegas‘ grip loosens, like even they’re shocked into stillness.

The air changes.

A heavy silence crawls through the room, pressing down on us like a weight. I don’t see him at first–no

til the Gamma

steps in, looking like he’s been watching this whole time, frozen, powerless. But behind him–behind him is something

worse.

The Alpha.

The Alpha of the Riverstone Pack, who never fucking comes out.

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Chapter 29

He’s odd, but weak. His presence is suffocating, his expression unreadable. His face is unreadable, the lines of age carved, deep to the skin, tan the eye they are now old. They are sharp, predatory, and unforgiving.

Seraphina traightene instantly, frawing her head, fnn Kallia still high on whatever power trip he’s on–doesn’t even

He lifts the chair again

Gamma Abet mes first, grabbing his arm, but Kaffias struggles, crazed, ready to bash in Enoch’s skull like a fucking animal.

And there

*Kallias”

The single word is soft. Controlled.

Kallias stiffens like a puppet whose strings just got yanked. His breath shudders out, his grip loosening on the broken chair. For the first time in his arrogant, self–righteous life, he looks afraid.

Itis father stares at him, Silent, Calculating

Kallias drops the chair.

The Alpha shifts his attention. To me.

I don’t move as he steps forward. My pulse is hammering in my ears, my knees shaking.

Seraphina immediately drops into a bow, her head nearly touching the floor, but I stay frozen, my body locking up like prey in a wolf’s jaws.