Destroyed by the Heartless Alpha

Elena's POV

I was strapped to a cold metal table in the basement, begging my mate to spare my life.

"Do it," he said, ignoring my tears. "You shouldn't have hurt Shari's puppy out of jealousy. This is the price you pay for harming my only heir."

A silvery liquid was injected into my veins, burning through my body and severing the bond between me and the wolf.

"NOOOOOO!"

A scream burst from my throat as tears streamed down my face, my wolf nature stripped away.

I became the most insignificant servant in the pack, while Alpha Zack, embracing his childhood friend, publicly declared his illegitimate son the Alpha heir of the pack.

Alpha Zack thought I would become insecure and weak, eventually submitting to become the mother of his illegitimate son and serving him and Shari, but he didn't know that my true identity was the most beloved daughter of the leader of the Bloodclaw Pack.

I dialed my father's number. I had 24 hours left before I could escape this damn hellhole.

I tried to move my wrist, and the chains instantly shrieked. Silver shackles clamped around me so tightly they burned my skin red. The air reeked of disinfectant, rust, and one scent that triggered fear deep in my instincts.

Liquid silver.

My eyes flew open.

The surgical lamp in the basement blazed overhead. I was bound inside the infirmary hidden in the deepest part of the Blade Pack estate. This place was meant to treat wounded warriors, but now I was strapped to the metal table at its center like a failed experiment.

"Zack..."

My voice was so hoarse it was barely audible.

The man standing at the end of the operating table lifted his eyes.

Alpha Zack.

My fated mate.

My husband.

And the only person in this world who could decide whether I lived or died with a single sentence.

He wore a black suit, his silver-gray tie perfectly straight, handsome in a way that bordered on cruel. The eyes that had once stayed on me all night when I had a fever now held not a trace of warmth.

He looked at me as if I were a nuisance.

"Please." I struggled to lift myself, but the shackles yanked me back onto the metal table. "Zack, don't do this. Silver will destroy me."

The doctor beside him kept his head lowered, not daring to look at me.

I knew him. Doctor Park. The oldest medical officer in the pack. He had once told me himself that my body was special, that even as an Omega, I had the potential to become the mate of a powerful wolf warrior.

But now, he was holding a clear syringe.

Inside it swirled a glaring silver liquid.

Zack didn't answer me.

Instead, Shari, standing behind him, let out a soft sigh.

"Darling, maybe it doesn't have to go this far." Her voice was gentle, thin as gauze. "She is your fated mate, after all. Even if Elena never awakened any real strength, she's still been by your side all these years."

As she spoke, her hand naturally came to rest on Zack's arm.

I saw her fingertips lightly stroke his sleeve.

That was the kind of touch only an intimate person would make.

It felt as if someone had clenched my heart in a fist.

Zack didn't push her away.

He even lowered his gaze to her, his tone softening a little.

"You don't need to plead for her."

Shari lowered her eyes, but for a split second, the corner of her lips curved.

Only I saw it.

She was smiling.

That was when I understood. She wasn't here to plead for me. She was here to watch me be destroyed with her own eyes.

"Zack." I gritted my teeth, tears spilling uncontrollably down my face. "I'm your mate. You can feel it, can't you? You know what silver will sever."

My voice shook violently.

"It's not ordinary poison. It will tear apart the bond between me and my wolf. It will make me weaker than a human. It will leave me never... never able to reach my wolf again."

For a werewolf, being stripped of your wolf was crueler than death.

At last, something shifted in Zack's gaze.

For one brief second, I thought he might relent.

But he only frowned.

"It's precisely because you still have your wolf that you've become a problem."

I froze.

He stepped closer, his shadow falling across my face.

"Your wolf attacked Ethan, and he is my son. That means you must be punished. Once you lose your wolf, you'll be much quieter, and much safer too."

Safer?

I almost laughed.

"So this is for my own good?"

Zack did not deny it.

In a soft voice, Shari said, "She's too emotional right now. The doctor said that after the silver injection, she'll be more stable. She can still stay at the estate afterward and keep doing the things she's used to."

The things I was used to?

Ever since Shari appeared in the pack, the only things I had grown used to were lowering my head, doing housework, and hearing people call me "the Alpha's discarded mate" whenever I passed through the main hall with a tray in my hands.

I looked at Zack and finally asked the question I had swallowed for far too long.

"Is this because of her?"

The basement went silent.

Shari's fingers stiffened for a second.

Zack looked at me coldly.

"Don't blame everything on Shari."

"Then is it because of her child?" I stared at him, my voice growing softer and softer. "You want her son to inherit the pack, so you have to destroy me first. Because as long as I'm still your fated mate, she can never rightfully stand at your side."

Zack's expression darkened.

"That child is my blood."

"Are you sure?"

The moment the words left my mouth, his eyes turned icy.

The fragile look on Shari's face almost cracked apart.

But quickly, her eyes reddened, and she shrank behind Zack.

"I know she hates me," she said with a choked sob. "But she can't insult a child like this. Zack, Ethan is still so little. He doesn't know anything."

Zack turned to look at Shari, and I caught the flash of tenderness in his eyes.

In that moment, it felt like the shackles weren't burning my skin, but my heart.

When he turned back, his voice was utterly cold.

"Do it."

Doctor Park's hand trembled.

"Alpha, she won't survive it."

"I said, do it."

I began to struggle.

The chains slammed against the metal table, sharp as an alarm tearing through the night. I didn't want to beg anymore, but the terror in my body was more honest than my pride.

"Zack, don't."

My tears slid into my hair.

"I never hurt Shari. I never harmed that child. I only loved you."

He didn't look at me.

When Doctor Park pushed the needle into my vein, every muscle in my body locked tight.

The instant the first drop of silver entered me, I heard my own scream.

Pain.

So much pain.

As if countless red-hot blades were flowing through my veins, slicing open my bones, cutting through my soul, then tearing the deepest, most primal part of the wolf inside me out by force.

I wanted to curl up, but I was bound too tightly to move.

I wanted to call his name, but only broken gasps came out.

Through my blurred vision, I saw Shari leaning against Zack. She covered her mouth as if horrified, but her eyes shone with a terrifying brightness.

And Zack stood there.

My fated mate stood there.

He didn't step forward even once.

He only watched as the silver slowly destroyed me.

It was only when the last trace of warmth inside me died that I finally understood.

I was not his beloved.

I was the obstacle he had to clear away to make room for Shari.