Chapter 3

Fallon POV

The cool evening air hit my flushed face the moment I stepped off the porch, but it did nothing to wash away the sickening stench of Dan and Laura's betrayal clinging to my memory. My hands shook violently as I pulled out my phone and used the Pack's internal app to summon a car service.

Minutes later, I slid into the back of a black SUV. The heavy door shut, sealing me in a quiet, leather-scented cocoon. Almost instantly, my phone screen lit up, vibrating aggressively against my palm.

*Dan.*

I stared at his name, my chest tightening with a fresh wave of agony. I hit mute and tossed the phone into my leather briefcase. It didn't stop. The muffled buzzing continued relentlessly against the lining of the bag, a pathetic rhythm of his panic. I leaned my head against the cold, tinted window, watching the glowing lights of the Blackwood Pack lands blur as silent tears finally spilled over my lashes. I had nowhere to go. No family to turn to. The only sanctuary my shattered mind could conjure was the one place where chaos was strictly forbidden.

Cain Industries.

The towering glass-and-steel headquarters was a silent beast in the night. The lobby was empty save for the Pack Warrior guards, who gave me a confused nod as I bypassed them and took the private elevator to the top floor.

When the doors parted, I walked straight into Alpha Kane Cain's office.

The moment I crossed the threshold, his scent-a sharp, intoxicating blend of cedar and winter frost-wrapped around me. Usually, his lingering aura made my skin prickle with the instinctual fear of a `wolfless` Omega. Tonight, it felt strangely grounding.

But the pain in my chest was a living, breathing thing, clawing at my ribs. I needed it to stop.

Dropping my bags by the door, I marched over to Kane's private mahogany bar. I didn't bother with a glass. I grabbed a heavy crystal bottle of his most expensive Scotch, popped the cork, and took a long, desperate pull. The amber liquid burned like liquid fire down my throat, making me cough, but the searing heat was exactly what I needed to numb the cold void inside me.

Suddenly, the private line on Kane's massive desk began to ring.

I stared at it, the alcohol already buzzing warmly in my veins, stripping away my usual cautious restraint. I picked up the receiver.

"Kane, darling?" a sickly sweet, heavily perfumed voice purred through the speaker. "It's Krystal. You haven't returned my calls. I know you're working late again..."

The sheer entitlement in her voice-the assumption that she had a right to someone else's time and loyalty-snapped the last frayed thread of my sanity. It sounded too much like Laura.

"He's not here," I said, my voice dripping with a venom I didn't know I possessed.

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end. "Excuse me? Who is this? Put the Alpha on the phone right now."

"Maybe he's busy finding a mate who won't bore him," I snapped, slamming the receiver down so hard the plastic cracked.

A twisted, sick sense of satisfaction flared in my chest, immediately followed by a wave of self-loathing. I was losing my mind. I took another reckless gulp of the Scotch, turning my back to the desk to stare out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the sprawling city below.

I didn't hear the elevator. I didn't even hear the heavy oak doors open.

But suddenly, the air in the room was sucked away. The ambient scent of cedar and frost exploded into a suffocating blizzard of pure, dominant Alpha power.

I spun around, nearly dropping the bottle.

Kane stood in the doorway. His broad chest was heaving slightly, his suit jacket discarded, and his tie loosened. His stormy gray eyes locked onto me with a terrifying intensity, tracking the tear stains on my cheeks and the half-empty bottle in my hand.

A `wolfless` Omega should have dropped to her knees under the sheer weight of his presence. But the whiskey and the heartbreak had made me reckless.

He crossed the massive room in three long, silent strides. Without a word, his large, warm hand wrapped around the neck of the bottle, prying it effortlessly from my trembling fingers. He set it on the desk with a heavy thud.

I tilted my head back to meet his furious gaze, my vision swimming slightly.

"You're an arrogant bastard, Kane," I slurred, the words tumbling out before I could stop them.

I braced myself for his wrath, for the crushing weight of his Alpha command. But the anger I expected never came. Instead, his jaw clenched, and a storm of unrecognizable emotions-worry, a dark, primal possessiveness, and a flicker of raw pain-swirled in his gray eyes as he stared down at me.