Chapter 2

Seraphina POV

The dread that settled in my stomach outside his office didn't dissipate; it only festered as the hours ticked by. At exactly eight o'clock, I stood before the heavy mahogany doors of the Alpha's private study on the top floor.

Taking a shaky breath, I knocked and pushed the door open.

The study was a suffocatingly intimate space. There was no desk to act as a barrier-only a dark leather Chesterfield sofa, a roaring fireplace, and walls lined with towering bookshelves. The air was thick, saturated with Damien's overwhelming scent of sharp cedar, aged whiskey, and biting winter wind. It was the lair of an apex predator.

Damien was standing by the fireplace, the flickering flames casting harsh shadows across his chiseled jaw.

"Sit," he commanded softly.

I perched on the very edge of the sofa, keeping my posture rigid. I needed to maintain the boundary of our transaction. I was an employee, a pawn. Nothing more.

"I will have a gown sent to your room tomorrow for the Gala," Damien stated, not bothering to look at me as he adjusted his cuffs.

"With all due respect, Alpha, I can manage my own attire," I replied quickly, my fingers twisting the hem of my shirt. "You don't even know my size or my style. I don't want to be dressed up like some Pack doll."

Damien finally turned, his piercing gray eyes locking onto mine. A dark, unsettling smirk touched the corner of his lips.

"Thirty-four, twenty-four, thirty-six," he murmured, his voice dropping to a low, gravelly timber. His gaze drifted downward, tracing the lines of my body with a terrifying, predatory precision that made my skin prickle. "An Alpha notices everything."

A shiver of pure ice raced down my spine. The sheer possessiveness in his tone felt far too heavy for a simple business arrangement. It felt instinctual. Dangerous.

"You represent the Blackwood Pack now, Seraphina," he continued, the subtle, crushing weight of his Alpha's Command bleeding into his words, forcing my chin up. "You will wear what I provide."

Fighting him on this was useless. To preserve whatever tiny shred of autonomy I had left, I swallowed my pride. "Fine. But I want purple. And the skirt needs to allow me to run. Just in case."

His smirk widened fractionally. "Done."

A soft knock interrupted us as an Omega scurried in, leaving a silver cart of covered dinner plates before practically fleeing the room.

As Damien took a seat on the opposite end of the sofa, the atmosphere shifted, growing darker.

"A simple date won't be enough to break Chloe's ego," Damien said, his tone turning lethal as he stared at the fire. "She prides herself on her pureblood status. To truly humiliate her, she needs to believe she has been entirely replaced by a Rogue."

I frowned, a knot tightening in my chest. "What are you saying?"

"If Chloe, or anyone else, asks at the Gala, we have been seeing each other for weeks," he ordered smoothly. "Secret dates. Late nights. A deep, consuming infatuation."

My eyes widened in horror. I thought I was just playing a plus-one for a few hours. "So, I'm supposed to just admit we're sleeping together?" the words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Damien's eyes flashed with a cold, approving glint. "Exactly. You will look at me like I am the center of your universe, and you will let them believe I have claimed you in every way but a mark."

My heart hammered against my ribs. This wasn't just a lie; it was a death wish. Pretending to share a bed with the most powerful Alpha in the region would put a target on my back that no amount of pack protection could erase.

"Do we have an understanding, Seraphina?" he pressed, leaning closer.

The sheer force of his will crushed my protests. "Yes," I whispered, my voice trembling. I had agreed to play a game, but I was only just realizing the rules were rigged.

Damien held my gaze for a long, suffocating moment before he abruptly stood up. The muscles in his back were coiled tight, radiating a sudden, restless energy. Without another word, he walked over to the well-stocked home bar nestled in the corner of the room, his hand reaching for a heavy crystal decanter of whiskey.