Chapter 6

Ember POV

The heavy thud of the deadbolt echoing through the foyer sounded like the sealing of a tomb. Damien's scent-a suffocating, violent clash of cedar and crackling storm-battered against my senses, thick with the enraged pheromones of an Alpha whose authority had been challenged.

He moved with terrifying, predatory speed. Before I could even take a breath, his massive hand clamped around my bicep. His grip was a vice of pure muscle, threatening to snap the bone. He shoved me backward, and my spine collided with the cold marble wall, knocking the air from my lungs.

"Where do you think you're going, *Omega*?" he snarled. His voice vibrated with the monstrous, guttural timbre of his inner wolf, Tyrant, demanding absolute submission.

He reached for the strap of my duffel bag, his eyes burning with a dark, possessive fury.

Seven years of terror, of shrinking myself into a silent shadow, vanished in a sudden, blinding surge of adrenaline. I didn't think. I just reacted. I swung my free hand with every ounce of strength I possessed.

*Crack.*

The slap echoed like a gunshot in the cavernous, empty foyer. The impact stung my palm, but the sight before me was worth the pain. Damien's head snapped to the side. For a split second, the great Alpha of the Blackwood Pack was frozen in absolute, paralyzing shock. A *wolfless* Omega had just struck him.

That shock rapidly morphed into a murderous, pitch-black rage. His chest heaved, and I could feel the Alpha's Command rising in his throat, ready to force me to my knees.

I didn't give him the chance. I yanked my encrypted phone from my pocket, tapped the screen, and shoved it between us.

A glaring red timer pulsed on the screen: *01:30*.

"This is the kill switch for the Chiron Protocol," I said. My voice was dead, hollow, and completely devoid of the fear he thrived on. "In ninety seconds, if I don't enter my passcode, a massive data packet is sent to the SEC and every single member of the Alpha Council."

Damien's eyes darted to the screen, his jaw clenching so hard I thought his teeth might shatter.

"It contains proof of your insider trading, your illegal offshore accounts, and a detailed, medically verified record of every time you broke Pack law by assaulting your Luna," I continued, the words slicing through his heavy aura like a silver blade. "Your empire, both human and wolf, will turn to ash by sunrise."

*00:45.*

*00:44.*

He stared at me as if looking at a stranger. The veins in his neck bulged. His Alpha aura battered against me, demanding I submit, but the digital lock I had built was something his fangs couldn't tear apart. He was a predator caught in a snare he couldn't even see.

*00:15.*

*00:14.*

"Stop. It," he ground out, the words tasting like poison on his tongue.

I held his furious gaze for three more seconds before typing the passcode. The screen flashed green, and the countdown vanished.

I slipped the phone back into my pocket, stepping away from the wall. "Our contract expires in three days. Until then, you will not touch me. You will not speak to me. You will keep your whore out of this building." I adjusted the strap of my bag, my voice dropping to a lethal whisper. "After the contract is void, I walk out that door. If you try to stop me, the protocol reactivates."

I turned my back on him and walked toward the guest suite. I paused at the door, glancing back at the towering Alpha standing paralyzed in his own foyer, stripped of his power by the mate he deemed worthless.

"Enjoy your gilded cage, *Alpha*."

I stepped inside the guest room and locked the heavy door behind me. The silence of the room pressed in on me as my adrenaline finally began to crash. I had won the night, but as I sank onto the edge of the bed, a cold dread settled in my stomach. Damien's pride was a dangerous thing. He couldn't touch me himself without destroying his empire, but he would never let this humiliation stand. He would look for a loophole, a weapon I hadn't accounted for, long before the sun came up.