Chapter 13 An Alpha’s Rage
An Alpha's Rage
Damon
I’d been an utter fool. The thought roared, clawed through my mind as we dissolved from the loading dock. The metallic taste of shadow travel burned my tongue, but I barely felt it over the acidity of my rage.
We materialized in the Shadow Chamber with a rush of displaced air. Complete darkness swallowed the space, carved from black stone deep beneath the estate. No windows. No surveillance. No witnesses. Just us and the weight of the earth pressing down from above.
Cora gasped, her body struggling against the disorienting effects of our violent displacement. I held her upright as she swayed, my grip bruising on her arms, keeping her from collapsing while her mind caught up.
“Where…?” She blinked hard, trying to orient herself in the near-total blackness. Her eyes hadn’t adjusted yet, couldn’t see the way mine could in the heart of House Hades. “Where are we?”
“The Shadow Chamber.” I released her, and she stumbled back until she hit the curved wall.
“The safest, most secluded place in the Blackwood Estate.” My voice was flat, devoid of everything but a chilling purpose.
“It’s built to keep the darkness of the Shadow Realm from escaping.
I feel I may repurpose it. For arrogant, lying Omegas. ”
Understanding dawned on her face. She took in the featureless walls, the absence of any perceivable exit, the oppressive shadows that answered only to my will.
“Damon, please—”
“Please what?” I cut her off. “Pretend the lab didn’t happen? Ignore that you ran? That you deliberately hid the full extent of your power from me?”
“I wasn’t trying to actually escape.” Her back was flush against the wall, her fingers splayed against the rough stone for support. “I just needed to get you both away from Theo, from the staff.”
I took a step closer, crowding her against the unforgiving rock. “Don’t lie to me. Not now. Not here. You’ve lied enough.”
I didn’t know what infuriated me more, her deception, or the fact that I had so willingly fallen for it. I’d let myself believe her softening was real. And all this time, she’d been playing me.
Cora opened her mouth to argue, then clamped it shut. Smart. Excuses would only make this worse.
I stopped directly in front of her, close enough that she had to tilt her head back to meet my eyes. The fragile trust from the night before felt like a phantom limb, an ache for something that had been amputated. “That vulnerability in the nest… was that just another part of the act?”
“I wanted it to be real!” The admission burst out of her, desperate and raw. “I thought… I actually thought you saw me. That I meant something more to you than just property.”
“Then why run?”
“Because you proved me wrong!” Her voice cracked, anger bleeding through the fear. “The moment Alexander appeared, you forgot everything. You forgot Theo, you forgot my research. All you cared about was proving you were the bigger Alpha.”
The accusation hit harder than it should have. Because she wasn’t entirely wrong. Alexander’s appearance had triggered every possessive instinct, to the point that I’d lost focus on the actual reasons for the visit. But that didn’t excuse what she’d done.
“I’m an Alpha, Cora.” I slammed my hand against the stone beside her head, the impact echoing in the dead air. “Territorial dominance is what I do. And you knew that the moment you agreed to our deal.
“I suppose I was the only one who ever intended to fulfill the terms. Isn’t that right, Dr. Ellis? You hid your strength from me. You let me believe you were helpless. You manipulated me.”
“So what if I did?” She lifted her chin, defiance warring with the fear in her eyes.
“You’re a hypocrite, Damon. You kidnapped me, you locked me up, you forced a claim on me.
You knew what Alexander was, you knew he was the one who hurt me, and you still let your pride turn my life’s work into a war zone.
” She took a ragged breath, her next words honed to a razor’s edge, designed to cut as deep as possible.
“You’re no better than him. Alexander would have been a kinder master. ”
The words landed, and for a moment, the inferno in my chest went silent, replaced by something cold and absolute.
The rational part of my mind simply ceased to exist. All that was left was the raw, primal wound.
She would choose the snake who’d poisoned her over me.
After everything, she still saw me as the greater monster.
The last thread of restraint inside me shattered, a clean fracture in my control.
I grabbed her by the throat, forcing her down until she was kneeling before me. She struggled, but I held firm, working my belt buckle with vicious efficiency. Her eyes widened in horrified understanding. A split second later, she shoved against my thighs, her hands trembling but defiant.
“Don’t—” She choked on the protest as I pushed my cock to the edge of her lips.
“You thought you meant something to me?” I forced her jaw open and slid into the wet heat of her mouth. “You’re mine. And it’s time you learned what that means.”
She gagged, her body convulsing against the invasion. I held her fast, one hand fisted in her hair while the other gripped her jaw. My voice dropped to a guttural command. “Look at me. Take it.”
Her eyes met mine, full of fury and humiliation and something else I couldn’t name. She tried to turn her head away, but I kept her in place, watching her eyes water as she fought her own body’s reflexes.
The taste of her, the sight of her on her knees, the helpless sounds she made… All of it was a brutal confirmation of my ownership. It fed the vicious satisfaction of finally making her understand. She couldn’t manipulate me. Couldn’t deceive me. Couldn’t run.
I pulled back slowly and let her gasp for air before pushing deeper again. “See?” I traced my thumb along her rigid jawline, reveling in her obvious tension. “You can’t resist. Your body knows what you are even when your mind fights it.”
She made a sound around me, half protest, half something else, and I felt the shift in her. The moment her anger transformed into something darker, more complicated. Her tongue moved against me, no longer just trying to endure but actively participating despite the fury in her eyes.
That small surrender broke something in me. The cold detachment I’d been clinging to cracked, replaced by a heat that had nothing to do with punishment and everything to do with need.
I pulled out of her mouth with a wet sound that left us both panting. “Get up.”
She stared at me, confused by the sudden command. I hauled her to her feet, spun her around, and shoved her face-first against the wall. Grabbing the fabric of her dress, I tore it with none of the careful control I’d shown before.
“Damon, stop!” she tried to protest.
I kicked her legs apart, pinning her with one hand between her shoulder blades. “Stop? That’s my line, Cora. Starting today, you’ll stop. No more games. No more lying about what we both know you want.”
My fingers found her slick and ready. Despite the fear, anger, and betrayal between us, nothing could really change what she was. The biological truth of her Omega nature overrode every rational objection.
“Your body doesn’t lie,” I positioned myself at her entrance, the head of my cock pressing against her wet heat. “Even when you do.”
I slammed inside without warning, burying myself to the hilt in one brutal thrust. She cried out, her hands splaying against the stone as she struggled to adjust. I didn’t give her time, just pulled back and drove in again with punishing force.
Every thrust was an accusation. Every time I bottomed out inside her was a reminder of her place. The sound of skin slapping against skin echoed off the chamber walls, mixing with her gasps and my own harsh breathing.
My lips brushed her ear, the words a low snarl. “Is this what you wanted? You wanted me to stop being careful? To ruin you?”
She didn’t answer, couldn’t answer, just made these broken sounds that fed the violent need consuming me. “You don’t deserve this bond,” I bit out between thrusts. “You don’t deserve my protection.”
But even as I said it, even as I punished her for every lie and betrayal, I felt her body responding.
Her slick heat coated my shaft, and she began to push back, her hips meeting my rhythm.
Her inner muscles clenched around my length, a greedy, traitorous grip that pulled me deeper, welcoming the very brutality her mind was fighting.
“Damon...” My name came out as a broken whimper, her nails scraping against the stone as she tried to find purchase.
I didn’t slow down. I just drove into her harder, chasing something I couldn’t name through the haze of fury. The ache in my spine intensified with every thrust, but I couldn’t stop, couldn’t do anything but take what she’d tried to deny me.
Her body locked without warning, and she came without permission, without pride, every fiber of her being surrendering to the pleasure.
I slammed in deeper, chasing the way her body milked me, chasing the high she didn’t mean to give me.
My knot swelled at the base of my cock, locking us together as my own release hit like it hated me.
Sharp and furious, I finished inside her with a harsh growl that echoed off the walls.
The knot kept us locked together. I stayed buried deep inside her, breathing hard, letting the aftershocks roll through me. The rage was finally spent, leaving behind something hollow and bitter. Her body was still spasming around the knot, drawing out my release in waves I couldn’t stop.
I waited for the knot to deflate enough to pull free. When I finally withdrew, I expected her usual sharp intake of breath. Instead, she went completely still.
“Cora?”
Her legs gave out. She collapsed forward, her body hitting the floor with a sickening thud that echoed deep in my own bones. There was no attempt to catch herself, no protest. Just a sudden, complete collapse.
I dropped to my knees beside her. Her cheek was pressed against the cold floor, her eyes barely open, her mouth parted as if she couldn’t catch her breath. When I touched her shoulder, her skin was ice-cold.
“Hey.” I rolled her gently onto her side, but she didn’t respond. Didn’t even seem to register my presence. Her breathing was wrong, too shallow, too irregular, like her body was forgetting how to function.
The rage in my gut shattered, and a brutal, ice-cold shock slammed into its place. The victorious heat of my release turned to ash in my veins. The Alpha inside me recoiled, a guttural snarl of pure, instinctual panic ripping through my own chest.
It took me mere seconds to realize what had happened.
Before we'd entered the chamber, she'd been stable.
Recovering. Now, the claiming mark on her throat was a ravenous void.
The bruised darkness from before was gone, replaced by an absolute black that bled outward from the bite.
The corruption raced with horrifying speed, swallowing her pale skin as it spread across her collarbone, down her chest.
The air in my lungs turned to ice. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t draw a proper breath.
I gathered her against my chest, only to find her limp and unresponsive. Her pulse was barely there, thready and weak.
“I’m sorry.” The words felt pathetic, inadequate. “Gods, Cora, I’m so sorry. Stay with me. Don’t—”
A movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention. Not my power, but something else. Something that carried the weight of decades and the cold of the deepest parts of the underworld.
My father materialized from the darkness, his form more solid than it had been in months. His eyes went immediately to Cora, and his expression shifted to something between pity and anger.
“What did you do?”
“I don’t know,” I croaked out. Except I did know, and I wasn’t cowardly enough to not admit. “I was angry. We fought, and I… I needed to claim her.”
No matter how harsh I’d been, the sex shouldn’t have done this. Not by itself. No, this was something different. “The mark… It’s spreading. I think it’s… It’s killing her.”
He crouched beside us, his hand reaching for her forehead. His fingers passed through her, insubstantial but still somehow making contact. “It’s not just the mark. Do you even realize where you brought her? The Shadow Chamber is a minefield, even for us. For her, it’s poison.”
The full scope of what I’d done crashed over me. “How do I fix it?”
A grim certainty settled on Victor’s spectral features. “Get her out of here. Away from this concentrated malevolence. And hope you haven’t already pushed her too far.”
Holding her closer, I stood up. She felt impossibly fragile in my arms, like something that would break if I moved too quickly. “If she dies—” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Then you’ll have to live with what your rage has cost you.” Victor was already fading, dissipating back into the Shadow Realm. “Get her to the healer. Now.”
I didn’t wait for more. I just wrapped us both in my power and traveled, praying it wasn’t already too late. Hades wasn’t a merciful patron, but I hoped that just this once, he’d hear me. At this point, it was my only hope.