Kason drove with white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. Dalia was sobbing quietly in the passenger seat, her ego bruised, but I barely heard her. I was still vibrating. My skin still tingled where Hadley had touched me. The scent of pine and storm still clung to my senses, overpowering the stale air of the car.

He was my Mate. The Supreme Alpha was my Fated Mate.

When we arrived at the Pack House, Kason didn't let me go to the basement.

"Get inside," he ordered, grabbing my arm the moment I stepped out of the car. His grip was bruising.

He dragged me past the main hall, ignoring the curious looks of the pack members, and shoved me toward his private apartment on the top floor.

"Kason, stop! You're hurting me!" I cried out, trying to pry his fingers off.

He threw the door open and hurled me inside. I stumbled, catching myself on the edge of his mahogany desk. The room smelled overwhelmingly of him-cedar and aggression.

He slammed the door and locked it. When he turned to face me, his eyes were glowing a sickly yellow. He was losing control. His wolf was near the surface, feral and confused.

"You smell like him," Kason hissed. He stalked toward me, sniffing the air. "Why do you smell like Hadley Payne?"

"He helped me," I said, backing away until my back hit the wall. "He was just being a gentleman. Something you've forgotten how to be."

Slap.

The sound cracked through the room. My head snapped to the side. My cheek burned, tears springing to my eyes instantly. He had never hit me. Not once in ten years.

"Don't you dare lecture me!" Kason roared. "I smelled the way the air changed! I saw the way he looked at you! Did you seduce him? Is that your plan? To climb the ladder by spreading your legs for a higher Alpha?"

"You're crazy," I whispered, holding my cheek. "You rejected me, Kason. You chose Dalia. You don't get to be jealous."

"I am not jealous!" he screamed, but the lie was palpable in the air. "You are mine! You are Oneal property! You don't get to have another Alpha's scent on you!"

He lunged at me. He didn't strike me this time; he grabbed me, burying his face in my neck, right over my scent gland. He was trying to rub his scent onto me, to mask Hadley's mark. It was a violation. His teeth scraped against my sensitive skin.

"Stay," he used the Alpha Command.

My body froze. My muscles locked up against my will. I couldn't move my arms to push him away. I was a statue, forced to endure his aggressive claiming.

No! my wolf screamed. Fight him! He is not our Alpha! He is not our Mate!

The command was strong, but my wolf was desperate. And somewhere, deep down, the bond I had felt with Hadley gave me a sliver of strength. The connection to a Supreme Alpha trumped the command of a regular Alpha.

My hand twitched.

Kason was distracted, growling against my neck, his hand fumbling with the zipper of my dress. He intended to mark me. If he bit me now, against my will, it would cause a rejected bond-a pain worse than death.

My fingers curled around the heavy silver base of the desk lamp next to me.

Silver.

To a wolf, silver burned like acid. It weakened us, sapped our strength.

With a scream of effort that tore at my throat, I broke through the paralysis of the Command. I swung the lamp.

CRACK.

The heavy silver base connected with the side of Kason's head.

He didn't just stumble; he howled. The silver seared his skin upon contact. He fell back, clutching his temple, blood trickling through his fingers. The smell of burnt flesh filled the room.

"You..." he gasped, his eyes rolling back. He slumped to the floor, unconscious.

I dropped the lamp. My hand, which had touched the silver, was blistering, red and angry. The pain was blinding.

I slid down the wall, curling into a ball in the corner of the room. The adrenaline crashed. The proximity to the silver lamp, combined with the trauma of the Alpha Command and the physical assault, was too much for my weak Omega body.

Black spots danced in my vision.

Hadley, I thought, the name a prayer, before the darkness took me.

Chapter 4

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