Chapter 2 2

Elara POV

I stood frozen on the pavement. The crisp morning wind bit through the thin Chanel suit, but it was nothing compared to the ice in Elias Vance's eyes.

"I can take the subway," I stammered, my fingers digging into my purse.

Elias didn't raise his voice. He didn't have to. "It would be unwise for a wolfless Omega to cause a scene in the center of the Alpha's territory, Ms. Vance."

It wasn't a request. It was the crushing weight of the Pack hierarchy pressing down on my shoulders. Defeated and humiliated, I pulled the heavy door open and slid into the leather cage of the armored Maybach.

The privacy partition was down, and the silence inside was suffocating.

"The Alpha's Inner Wolf hasn't been this... settled in years," Elias remarked, his tone clinical, as the car merged into the Manhattan traffic.

"It was a mistake," I shot back, my voice trembling. "The alcohol, the gala-"

"Mistakes don't leave a mark, Ms. Vance," Elias interrupted smoothly. His eyes flicked to my neck in the rearview mirror. "Your scent. You reek of the Alpha. To any wolf out there, you smell entirely like his property. It is a Scent Mark. A claim."

My stomach plummeted. I wasn't just wearing his clothes; I was drenched in his pheromones-the suffocating scent of a forest before a storm and sharp cedar. I was branded on a biological level.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed against my thigh. I snatched it up like a lifeline. A text from Julian.

*Baby, sorry I missed your calls. Was exhausted and crashed early.*

I stared at the screen, a hollow ache forming in my chest. Julian was a night owl; he never slept early. Before I could even process the lie, another message popped up. It was from Dahlia, my only friend in the design department.

*Omg Elara, I saw Julian at the Dark Moon bar last night at 1 AM! He was all over some blonde she-wolf!*

The phone nearly slipped from my fingers. A double betrayal. The normal life I had desperately clung to was a pathetic lie, and the nightmare I had woken up to was my new reality.

The shock morphed into a cold, sharp panic. A horrifying realization hit me. Kaelen and I hadn't used protection. I was wolfless, blind to the biological rhythms of a she-wolf, but human biology was clear enough. I could be carrying an Alpha's pup.

"Pull over," I ordered. It was the first time in my life I had spoken with such absolute, unquestionable authority.

Elias blinked, but the Maybach glided to a halt outside a CVS pharmacy. I practically threw myself out the door. Under the harsh fluorescent lights, ignoring the human cashier's bored stare, I grabbed a box of Plan B. I slammed my last fifty-dollar bill on the counter and fled the store. I didn't look back, but I could feel Elias's heavy gaze tracking my every move through the tinted windows.

The car finally stopped outside my crumbling Brooklyn apartment building. The rusted fire escape looked pathetic next to the sleek vehicle. I reached for the door handle, desperate to escape to my den.

"Ms. Vance," Elias's voice stopped me cold. "A final reminder. An Alpha will protect what is his at all costs. And he will ruthlessly destroy anyone-or anything-that attempts to harm it."

The threat hung in the air, thick and suffocating. My hand instinctively brushed my flat stomach. My act of rebellion was a threat to his "property."

I scrambled out and ran up the brick steps. As I fumbled with my keys, I glanced back. Through the windshield, I saw Elias close his eyes, his posture rigid. He was using the Pack's Mind-Link. He was reporting to his Alpha.

The moment my heavy apartment door clicked shut behind me, a violent, inexplicable pressure seized my chest. A phantom sound echoed in my skull-the sharp, violent shatter of heavy crystal being crushed to dust. It wasn't a noise from the street. It was a terrifying tremor vibrating through a bond I desperately wanted to deny.