Chapter 6

Elara POV

The morning traffic into Manhattan was a chaotic blur, but by 9:23 AM, I was sitting in the penthouse waiting room of the Manhattan Private Medical Center. This neutral territory was a sanctuary of minimalist wealth, accessible only via an exclusive keycard elevator. The air smelled faintly of clinical bleach and expensive eucalyptus diffusers, a stark contrast to the damp, blood-tinged dungeon of the Silvercrest Pack House I had left behind.

I was here for my mandatory annual physical under federal high-security protocols for DARPA. Here, I wasn't a wolfless Omega. I was Dr. Patterson.

The soft chime of the private elevator broke the quiet. Before the polished steel doors even fully parted, an aggressive, cloying scent invaded the neutral space. *Tuberose and champagne.*

My spine stiffened, but I didn't look up from the magazine in my lap until the heavy, suffocating aura of an angry Alpha swept over me.

Adrian stood there, his hand resting on the small of Seraphina's back. The tender, devoted expression he had been giving his mistress instantly froze, morphing into cold, territorial fury the second his eyes locked onto mine. He closed the distance between us in three long strides, towering over my chair.

"What the hell are you doing here, Elara?" Adrian demanded, his voice a low, dangerous rumble meant to force submission. "Did the insurance from your pathetic data entry job somehow cover the lobby fee? You don't belong in a place like this."

I calmly closed my magazine and stood up, meeting his furious gaze without a flinch. "I am here under federal high-security protocols for a mandatory physical, Adrian."

My flat, unbothered tone made his jaw clench. Before he could snap back, Seraphina glided to his side. She wrapped her arms intimately around his bicep, practically bathing him in her scent-a blatant, territorial claim.

"Who is this, Adrian?" she asked, her voice dripping with feigned innocence.

"My... wife," Adrian muttered, the word sounding like ash in his mouth.

Seraphina's eyes gleamed with malicious delight. She extended a perfectly manicured hand. I simply stared at it until she awkwardly let it drop. Her smile tightened, but she quickly recovered, stroking Adrian's arm.

"Well," Seraphina sighed, her tone dripping with condescension. "It's always good to have... Omegas... doing the foundational grunt work. It's necessary for people like us to thrive."

I said nothing. My absolute indifference seemed to unnerve her. I could see a flicker of unexplainable threat in her eyes, prompting her to dig her claws in deeper.

"Actually, my family's firm is currently consulting for a top-secret DARPA initiative," Seraphina boasted, puffing out her chest. "Project Chimera. Of course, you wouldn't understand the science. It's led by a brilliant woman, Dr. Patterson. She's a true Alpha female, standing at the top with her own mind and power, not by just being someone's mate."

Adrian let out a harsh, mocking laugh. "Don't pollute my wife's ears with that, darling. Her brain struggles to process the Pack's grocery ledgers, let alone advanced neural networks."

They looked at me with predatory anticipation, waiting for my shoulders to slump, waiting for the tears of a broken, inferior Omega.

Instead, a bizarre, almost comical sense of freedom washed over me.

"Oh? 'Consulting'?" I asked, my voice dropping to a cool, clinical register. "Then you must know their latest neural network model burned out two server nodes last week due to a severe liquid-cooling oversight?"

Seraphina's smug smile instantly paralyzed. The color drained from her cheeks, leaving her expression rigid and mechanical. She blinked, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Adrian frowned, looking between us in sudden confusion.

Before either of them could process the impossibility of my knowledge, a door down the hall opened. A nurse in crisp scrubs stepped out, holding a tablet.

"Dr. Patterson?" the nurse called out clearly.

Adrian and Seraphina didn't even turn their heads toward the nurse. They were still staring at me.

I calmly picked up my purse and stepped around them. I didn't look back, but as I brushed past Seraphina's shoulder, I murmured, "I hope your test results are exactly what you wish for."

I followed the nurse down the corridor, leaving them standing in the lobby, drowning in a sudden, suffocating sea of their own confusion.

When the heavy door of the examination room clicked shut behind me, sealing me in my spotless, sterile sanctuary, I leaned against the wood. I covered my mouth with my hand and, for the first time in four years, I laughed. It was a silent, breathless laugh born of pure, unadulterated liberation.