Chapter 6 No.6

Dallas POV

The glass walls of my office offered a panoramic view of the city sprawling beneath me, a kingdom of steel and concrete that bowed to my will. But right now, the only thing I could focus on was the red haze clouding my vision.

My knuckles cracked as I gripped the edge of my obsidian desk. The wood groaned, splintering under the pressure of my Lycan strength.

"He touched her," Ragnar snarled in the back of my mind, his voice a guttural vibration that rattled my ribcage. "He cornered our mate. He frightened her. I want his throat, Dallas. I want to taste his blood."

"Patience," I commanded, though the leash on my own temper was fraying. "Death is too easy for a worm like Braydon Hyde. I want him broken first."

The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, breaking the silence. Vance Decker, my Gamma, stepped out. He was a mountain of a man, scarred and lethal, yet he approached my desk with the caution one would use when walking into a lion's den. He could smell the ozone and sulfur of my rage saturating the air.

"Report," I said, my voice dangerously low.

"The situation at the jewelry store is contained, Alpha," Vance said, keeping his head slightly bowed. "Security footage has been scrubbed. The manager has been debriefed and compensated for his silence. As for Braydon Hyde... my men escorted him off the premises. He has been blacklisted from every Marshall enterprise in the state. Hotels, restaurants, banks. He's effectively exiled from high society."

It was a bureaucratic execution. Efficient. Clean.

"Not enough," Ragnar growled, pacing in the cage of my mind.

"It will do for now," I said, releasing the desk. The wood was marred with deep indentations of my fingers. "But if he steps within ten feet of her again, Vance, you won't be escorting him anywhere. You will be burying him."

Vance nodded, his expression grim. "Understood."

"Get Duncan in here," I ordered. "Now."

Minutes later, Duncan Whitaker, my Beta, joined us. Duncan was the strategist to Vance's brute force, a man of logic and numbers. He adjusted his glasses, sensing the shift in the room's atmosphere.

"Close the door," I said.

Once the room was sealed, I turned to face them. "The arrangement with Adella Everett has changed."

Duncan raised an eyebrow. "The Binding Protection Contract? Is she demanding more assets?"

"No," I said, walking over to the window. I watched the tiny cars moving like ants below. "The contract was never just a contract. It was a placeholder." I turned back, pinning them with a stare that brooked no argument. "Adella is not just a protected asset. She is my wife. Legally. Spiritually. Irrevocably."

Silence slammed into the room. Duncan's mouth opened, then closed. Vance looked like he'd been struck with a stun baton.

"Alpha," Duncan started, his voice careful. "A marriage? To a wolfless girl from a fallen pack? The Council will have a field day. Strategically, this is-"

"Strategically," I cut him off, my tone icy, "it is the ultimate weapon against the Hyde Pack. Braydon thinks he can intimidate a helpless orphan. Let him try to intimidate the Luna of the Marshall Pack."

They exchanged glances. They bought it. They thought this was a masterstroke of political chess, a way to humiliate a rival Alpha by elevating his discard to royalty.

"Prepare the security detail," I dismissed them. "She is to be treated as Luna in all regards. Dismissed."

As the elevator doors closed behind them, the mask of the cold, calculating King slipped.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and unlocked it. The background wasn't a stock image or a corporate logo. It was a photo taken three years ago from a distance.

Adella was sitting on a university bench, her head thrown back in laughter, sunlight catching the golden highlights in her hair. She looked so alive. So free. I had been in my car, watching her from the shadows, my soul aching with a pull I couldn't explain until Ragnar had whispered that single, life-altering word.

Mate.

I traced her face on the screen with my thumb.

I had waited. I had watched. I had let her live her life, hoping she would find happiness without being dragged into the bloody darkness of my world. But when her parents died and Hyde began to circle her like a vulture, I knew my time in the shadows was over.

"Finally," Ragnar purred, the rage settling into a possessive hum. "Ours to protect. Ours to keep."

A sharp beep from Vance's laptop, which he had left on the side table, drew my attention. I walked over and tapped the screen.

A security alert flashed red.

UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS ATTEMPT: MARRIAGE REGISTRY DATABASE.

SOURCE: HYDE PACK IP.

STATUS: BLOCKED.

I watched as the system logged another attempt, and another. Braydon was frantic. He was tearing through the digital world, desperate to find the name of the man who had claimed his toy.

He would find nothing. I had buried the records so deep that even the Council couldn't find them without my fingerprint.

A dark, cruel smile curved my lips.

"Keep looking, boy," I whispered to the empty room. "You're not fighting a rival. You're fighting a god."

I closed the laptop. It was time to go home. My wife was waiting for dinner, and I had a role to play. For now, I would be her shield. Soon, I would be her everything.