Ch. The Body-Swapped Heiress Returns as the Alpha’s Mate 4 The Body-Swapped Heiress Returns as the Alpha’s Mate 4

The door was suddenly torn open from the outside.
I strained to lift my heavy, leaden eyelids.
Two unfamiliar lycans, caked in grime, stepped into the room.
One strode to the bed and scanned me without the slightest restraint.
“She’s so feeble; it looks like her last breath could come any minute.
“Can she really endure what’s coming?”
The other pulled the door shut behind him and let out a dismissive laugh.
“What’s there to fear? Weak as she is, she is still a werewolf.”
He turned toward me with a knowing, malicious grin.
“Alpha Adrian and Beta Julian ordered us to take good care of you.”
I scrambled wildly toward the wall’s corner.
“That cannot be… They would never do such a thing to me.”
Yet in the next heartbeat, Adrian’s voice drifted in from outside.
“The witch claims Cecilia’s original vessel still rejects Lydia’s soul.
“Julian, are you certain that once she carries another wolf’s scent, her spirit will be sealed permanently inside this body, with no way to reverse the swap ever again?”
Julian sighed heavily. “Cecilia will understand our choice. Once you complete the mate bond with Lydia, I will present her to the pack as my adopted sister and guarantee her a comfortable life for all her years.”
An invisible fist clamped hard around my heart.
In that instant, I knew all my hopes had shattered beyond repair.
The lycan beside the bed ran out of patience.
He seized my ankle and dragged me away from the corner.
I fought with every shred of strength I still possessed.
“Get away! Do not touch me!”
My nails raked fiercely across his cheek, carving several oozing gashes into his skin.
Flying into rage, the lycan raised his palm and slapped me hard across the face.
The second lycan pinned my wrists down and growled in impatience.
“Hurry. Do not keep the two masters waiting out there.”
The weight bearing down on me rendered me immobile.
Rough fingers tugged at the front of my tunic.
Even if I could never reclaim my true form, I would not let them trample my dignity.
So long as I still breathed, I retained one final choice.
I fixed my gaze straight on the lycan looming over me. The second his hand reached for me, I bit down violently on my own tongue.
Blood welled at the corner of my mouth, quickly soaking through my clothing.
The lycan holding me froze on the spot.
Only when he saw the steady flow of blood did he snap out of shock and reach to pry my jaws open.
“Open your mouth! If you die, we will answer for this!”
The very next second, the bolted door was kicked clean off its hinges.
Julian burst through first.
His gaze swept over the rumpled bed and my blood-soaked garments, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks.
“Cecilia!”
The two lycans stumbled backward, overcome with terror.
“We didn’t do anything! She bit her own tongue! We couldn’t stop her!”
But Julian had lost all sense of reason.
He drove his boot straight into one lycan’s chest.
A sickening crack of bone echoed as the man slammed into the wall and crumpled, unable to rise again.
The second tried to bolt, yet Adrian snatched him by the throat in an instant.
Sharp lupine claws pierced his flesh.
Julian rushed to the bedside, tore off his coat, wrapped it around me, and pulled me tight against his chest.
“Cecilia, release your bite. It is over now.
“They will never lay hands on you again. I will slay anyone who harms you.”
His voice shook uncontrollably.
“Please, just let go.”
I stared at their frantic, desperate faces, tasting only bitter irony.
They were the ones who had driven me to this edge.
Now they pretended to be my rescuers.
I slowly relaxed my jaw.
Fresh blood gushed from my parted lips.
Julian’s hands shook violently.
He tried to stem the bleeding, yet nothing could halt the steady stream.
“Fetch a healer! At once!
“Why won’t the wound close? Why is her body refusing to heal?”
I tilted my head up toward him, speech slurred and faint.
“No… isn’t this all because of you?”
Julian’s movements froze entirely.
I struggled to pull air into my lungs, blood spilling with every word I forced out.
“If not for those ten lashes… my innate healing… would never have been suppressed.”
All color drained instantly from Julian’s face.
His lips trembled, and genuine dread finally flickered in his eyes.
“I know everything now.” I gasped weakly, “You wanted me trapped in this body forever. But I will never grant you that satisfaction.”
With those words, my strength vanished completely, and my body went limp within his arms.
“Cecilia!”