Chapter 453: Motionless.
Noah.
Damien’s absurd, sickening accusation hung in the air for less than a fraction of a second before my brain completely short-circuited with pure rage.
Without thinking, without breathing, I lunged forward. I grabbed Damien violently by the collar of his shirt, my knuckles digging into his throat as I shoved him backward against the stone wall with enough force to rattle his teeth.
"What the hell do you mean by such a question?!" I roared, my voice echoing off the stone walls like thunder. The blood roared so loudly in my ears that I could barely hear myself speak. "Are you out of your mind, Damien?! Say that again! I dare you!"
Damien didn’t even flinch. Despite the way I held him pinned against the wall, a dark, infuriating smirk slowly spread across his lips. His dark eyes glittered with a twisted sense of amusement as he looked down at my hands on his collar.
"Relax, Noah," Damien murmured, his voice dropping into a mocking, smooth tone as he casually raised his hands in defense. "It was a harmless question. I’m just trying to make sense of the situation, that’s all."
"Harmless?!" I spat, my grip tightening until the fabric of his shirt began to tear beneath my fingers. "You just accused me of touching your sister! You think I would ever do something like that to Anabel—or anyone?! You insane bastard!"
"Well, you’re the one reacting so violently," Damien replied smoothly, his grin fading into a cold, dangerous glare as his eyes flashed gold. "Guilty conscience, perhaps?"
That was the absolute limit of my restraint.
I pulled my arm back and drove my fist directly into Damien’s jaw with a sickening, heavy crack. His head snapped back hard, hitting the stone wall before he stumbled sideways, blood immediately welling at the corner of his lip.
"Noah, stop!" Maria’s terrified scream echoed down the corridor, her voice laced with sheer panic.
Damien wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, spat onto the floor, and let out a dark, feral laugh. "So that’s how we’re doing this?" he growled, his wolf surging straight to the surface.
Before I could reset my footing, Damien lunged forward and threw a brutal right hook straight into my cheek. The blow knocked me back two steps, the sharp sting of pain exploding across my face. I shook it off instantly, gritting my teeth as I stepped right back into his space, swinging another heavy blow that landed square against his ribs, sending him staggering back.
We traded violent blows, the sounds of heavy fists hitting flesh and bone echoing through the narrow hallway. I managed to duck under his wild swing, catching him with a hard left uppercut that pushed him back against the wall once again.
"Enough!" Aidan’s commanding roar vibrated through the floorboards.
I expected Aidan to break us apart, but the moment I turned my head to keep my guard up, I realized how utterly foolish I was to expect fairness from them.
Davian charged in from my blind side, his massive shoulder slamming directly into my chest with the momentum of a runaway train. The impact knocked the wind out of my lungs, sending me crashing hard onto the stone floor.
Before I could even roll over to push myself up, Adrein stepped in, his face twisted in a mask of bitter rage, and drove his boot squarely into my stomach. I gasped for air, doubling over in pain as the breath was completely stolen from my chest.
"Davian, Adrein, get him!" Damien barked, wiping the fresh blood from his chin as he stepped back in, his eyes burning with absolute, murderous hatred.
They didn’t hesitate. They swooped in like a pack of rabid wolves, swarming over me in a chaotic, brutal assault.
I scrambled to my feet, managing to land a solid punch right on Davian’s nose, feeling the cartilage yield under my knuckles, but the numbers were simply stacked against me. Aidan grabbed both of my arms from behind, locking them in a tight, inescapable iron grip, pinning me completely helpless.
"Let go of me, you cowards!" I yelled, struggling wildly against Aidan’s hold, kicking my legs out in a desperate attempt to break free. "Four against one?! Is this how Alpha brothers fight?!"
"Shut your mouth!" Davian growled, wiping his bloody nose before swinging a heavy fist straight into my midsection.
Pain exploded across my abdomen, folding me in half, but Aidan’s grip kept me standing upright, forced to take every single hit.
Damien stepped directly into my face, his knuckles bruised and bloodied. "You come into our home, you disrespect our authority, and you think you can take Maria away from us?" Damien snarled, bringing his fist down hard across my jaw. My head snapped to the side, a metallic taste of copper filling my mouth as blood dripped onto my collar. "You are nothing here, Noah! Absolutely nothing!"
"Stop it! Please, stop it! Leave him alone!" Maria’s voice was hysterical, filled with breathless, desperate sobs. She ran forward, trying to grab Damien’s arm to pull him away from me. "Damien, please! You’re going to kill him! Stop!"
Adrein roughly shoved her back, keeping her away from the violence. "Stay out of this, Maria!" Adrein shouted, his voice laced with frustration and anger. "He brought this on himself!"
"Noah!" Maria cried out, her eyes wide with terror as she watched Adrein step back in, landing another sharp blow to my chest.
I spat blood onto the floor, glaring up at Damien through a swelling eye, refusing to give them the satisfaction of hearing me beg or scream. "Is this... the best you’ve got?" I choked out, a bloody, defiant grin spreading across my face despite the blinding pain throbbing in every inch of my body.
Damien’s face contorted in pure, unadulterated fury, every muscle tightening with the sheer force of his rage. His eyes burned with a terrifying intensity as he glared down at me, his expression twisted into something almost unrecognizable.
"Kill him," Damien growled, his voice low and vicious as he raised his clenched fist once more, preparing to bring it crashing down on me again.
"NO!" Maria shrieked.
Her voice pierced through the chaotic noise of the brawl, rising into a sharp, gut-wrenching cry that seemed to slice straight through the air. The desperation in her scream made my chest tighten.
I forced my aching head upward, fighting against the dizziness clouding my vision. Everything around me remained a blurry mess of moving bodies and violent chaos, but I desperately searched through the crowded hallway for one person.
Maria.
My eyes strained against the blur, desperately trying to find her through the chaos.
Maria was standing only a few feet away, her hands tightly clutching the sides of her head as though she could somehow block out everything happening around her. Her fingers trembled violently against her hair, and her face had been completely drained of color. It was starkly white against the dark walls surrounding her, making her look almost ghostlike.
Her chest rose and fell in rapid, uneven movements. Every breath she dragged into her lungs was frantic, shallow, and ragged, coming in short, broken gasps that seemed barely enough to sustain her. Her entire body was trembling uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking and her legs visibly struggling beneath her as the crushing weight of the trauma unfolding before her eyes became too much for her to bear.
"Maria—" I tried to call out to her.
My voice came out weak and raspy, barely recognizable even to my own ears. I tried to force more strength into the single word, but the name caught painfully in my throat before I could finish it.
Maria suddenly went still.
Her eyes rolled slowly backward until only the whites were visible. For one terrifying second, she remained standing there, completely unresponsive, and then her knees buckled beneath her.
She didn’t make a single sound.
Her body simply went completely limp, all strength seemingly abandoning her at once. She pitched forward helplessly, unable to catch herself, and crashed onto the cold stone floor.
THUD!
The heavy, sickening sound of her body hitting the ground seemed to tear straight through the chaos.
The violence instantly ground to a sudden, screeching halt.
Aidan’s grip on my arms loosened in total shock. His fingers fell away as his attention snapped toward Maria, allowing me to drop heavily onto my knees. I gasped sharply, immediately clutching my bruised ribs as pain shot through my body, each breath feeling strained and painfully shallow.
But none of us paid attention to the fight anymore.
Damien, Davian, Adrein, and Aidan all froze where they stood.
The aggressive Alpha energy that had filled the room only moments earlier vanished in a fraction of a second. Their hardened expressions disappeared, replaced by absolute, paralyzing panic.
All four of them stared at Maria.
She lay motionless and unconscious on the cold floor between us, completely still, while the realization of what had just happened seemed to leave every one of them utterly shaken.