Chapter 3

Blake POV:

The kitchen was a chaotic symphony of clanging pans and shouting line cooks, but the back prep area was quiet. I ran my hand under cold water, but it didn't help. The silver residue was already in my bloodstream, preventing the cells from knitting together.

"You need wolfsbane salve to draw out the metal."

The voice was deep, rumbling like a subterranean earthquake.

I turned. Austin Gordon, the head chef, was standing by the walk-in freezer. He was a massive man, over six-foot-five, with scars running down his forearms and eyes as dark as obsidian. He was a Rogue-a wolf without a pack-hired by Connor because his food was the best in the city.

But he didn't move like a cook. He was currently plating a dish with the surgical precision of a field medic or a sniper, placing garnish with tweezers that looked like toys in his massive hands.

Most people were terrified of him. He radiated a silent, lethal pressure.

"I don't have any," I said, my voice shaking.

Austin didn't speak. He reached into his pocket and tossed me a small tin. I caught it with my good hand.

"Apply it. Wrap it," he commanded. It wasn't an Alpha Command, but it carried natural authority.

Before I could thank him, the swinging doors burst open.

Jaden marched in. She looked out of place among the stainless steel and grease. She wrinkled her nose.

"It smells like wet dog in here," she complained. She walked right up to the pass, where Austin was plating a steak.

"This is medium," she said, poking the meat. "I wanted medium-rare. And put some caviar on it. The expensive kind."

Austin didn't look up. "No."

Jaden blinked. "Excuse me?"

"The steak is perfect. Caviar ruins the balance. Get out of my kitchen."

Jaden's face turned purple. She pulled out her phone. "I am going to have you fired. I am calling Connor right now!"

She hit the video call button. I expected it to go to voicemail, given Connor's important meeting. But seconds later, the line connected. Connor wasn't at the head of the table; he was in the hallway, looking harried and annoyed, clutching a stack of files.

"Jaden, I told you, I'm with the Redstone reps," Connor hissed, glancing over his shoulder.

"Connor!" Jaden wailed, turning the camera to her face. "They are bullying me! First your waitress tried to burn me, and now this Rogue cook is refusing to feed me!"

"I don't have time for this," Connor snapped, rubbing his temples. "Just give her what she wants so I can go back inside."

"Put Blake on," Connor ordered.

Jaden turned the camera to me. I was clutching the tin of salve, my hand wrapped in a towel stained with yellow pus and blood.

"Connor," I said, holding up my hand. "She used silver. Look at this."

Connor saw it. I saw his eyes widen. He knew what silver meant. For a second, I saw guilt. But then Jaden sobbed loudly, "I'm scared, Connor! She's looking at me like she wants to kill me! And Mark said she was threatening the guests!"

Connor looked back at the closed meeting room door. He was losing patience. He needed this problem to disappear so he could secure his funding.

His face hardened.

"Blake," he said, his voice dropping an octave. The air in the kitchen suddenly grew heavy. The gravity seemed to double.

"Apologize to Jaden. On your knees. Now."

It was the Alpha Command.

A wave of compulsion slammed into me. It was a physical force, trying to buckle my knees. My muscles spasmed. The biological imperative to obey the Alpha was woven into our DNA.

Austin stopped chopping. He looked at me, his knife hovering in the air.

My knees bent. The pain was excruciating. But then, something else surged.

My blood. The blood of the Moonstone line. The blood of Kings.

An Alpha does not bow to a fool.

I gritted my teeth. I locked my legs. I shook violently, sweat pouring down my face as I fought the Command. It felt like my bones were going to snap.

But I did not kneel.

I stared into the camera lens, my eyes burning.

"No," I whispered.

Connor looked shocked. An Omega resisting a direct Command? It was impossible.

"I said kneel!" he roared.

I reached out and tapped the 'End Call' button on Jaden's phone. The screen went black.

The silence in the kitchen was deafening. Jaden looked terrified. She had expected me to collapse. Instead, I was standing taller than before.

I turned to Austin. The suppressor patch on my neck was itching unbearable. It was done. The charade was over.

"Chef," I said, my voice eerily calm. "Lock the door."