Chapter 9 Chapter 9

Alpha Adrian quickly shrugged off his wool sweater and draped it over Vanessa's bare shoulders.

Vanessa wailed, her sobs shaking the room like a storm rattling windows.

"Alpha Adrian, she attacked me! A low-ranking she-wolf laid hands on a Quinn clan daughter-this is an insult to our bloodline!"

"Vivian, get out!" Alpha Adrian roared.

Ryan snapped out of his shock, rushing to steady me as my knees buckled.

"You okay? Can you stand?"

I clenched my jaw, eyes red-rimmed but blazing with fire.

"Alpha Adrian, you make me sick to my soul."

I pushed Ryan's hand away, my back screaming in agony, but determined to walk out on my own.

Alpha Adrian's heart constricted, a primal fear lurching in his gut.

Ryan's voice cut through Vanessa's theatrics.

"Vivian's hurt her back. Look at her-she can barely stand. It's bad, Alpha."

Alpha Adrian froze, replaying the moment he'd yanked me back, my face contorted in pain flashing in his mind. Ignoring Vanessa's dramatic sobs-she was clutching her cheek like it might fall off-he bolted after me.

"Cassie, I want to speed this up. I can't. I can't breathe in the same air as him anymore."

I leaned against the elevator's corner, my voice faint, trembling with suppressed sobs as I spoke into the phone.

I couldn't return to the wing looking this wrecked-my team would ask questions, and I didn't have the strength to lie.

Gritting my teeth against the pain that shot down my legs, I left the administrative building and drove to my new apartment, a place Alpha Adrian didn't know existed.

Cassie Monroe, hearing the raw break in my voice, grabbed her leather satchel and car keys, already moving toward the door. "Where are you?"

I gave her the address.

"Got it. I'm coming. Don't move-sit down, put ice on it if you have any."

Cassie was my best friend since we were cubs, chasing fireflies in the sacred grove.

She knew me inside out: soft-spoken and elegant on the surface, but with a spine of steel beneath.

From discovering Alpha Adrian's betrayal to now, I'd stayed composed, mapping out the bond severance like a strategic battle plan, never shedding a tear in front of her.

For me to break like this, the hurt had to be bone-deep, the kind that scarred a wolf's soul.

That bastard Alpha Adrian.

He'd pay for this.

"I'll wait," I said, hanging up. I slumped against the elevator wall, eyes closed, my long hair veiling my face like a curtain, blocking out the harsh fluorescent light. Time blurred, the elevator's soft hum mixing with the thud of my own heartbeat.

"Almost done?"

A deep, clear voice cut through the elevator's silence.

My eyes snapped open, and I turned, flustered, my hand flying to my back as the movement jolted pain through me.

My gaze landed on broad shoulders clad in a black cashmere coat, a pale, elegant neck. Looking up, I met a pair of glacial eyes staring back.

"It's you." I murmured, recognizing him from the accident, then froze, locked in an awkward stare-off.

Alpha Gideon Hartley was thoroughly annoyed.

I'd trailed him from the underground garage like a lost cub, then claimed the elevator's prime corner, my scent-faint, but marked with another's bond-clinging to the air.

He leaned forward, his height towering over me.

At six-foot-four, he loomed like a mountain, his presence filling the small space.

I instinctively raised a hand, my palm out. "What are you-"

Before I could finish, his graceful hand grazed my arm.

Only then did I snap out of my daze.

The elevator hadn't moved because I hadn't pressed anything.

Worse, I'd been blocking the scanner, trapping him too. Mortifying. So mortifying.

The elevator hummed to life, climbing upward.

At floor six, I quietly pressed the scanner, noticing his floor.

Then his phone buzzed.

That cool, resonant voice filled the space.

"What? Yeah? Her measurements? Ms. Hart asked."

My neck creaked as I turned, embarrassment frying my nerves, my vision blurring.

I took a deep breath. "Is this a bad time?" Alpha Gideon's face was calm as stone.

Ding.

The elevator doors slid open.

I, saved, clutched my aching back and hurried out.

When Cassie arrived, I was sprawled on my new bedroom's bed, looking calmer,.

"What happened?" Cassie knelt beside me, voice gentle.

I focused my gaze.

The elevator fiasco had jolted me out of my emotional spiral.

I recounted the office scene, my tone even, detached.

Cassie, though, was livid.

"He's got her waltzing into Helixon while you're still there? Hooking up in broad daylight and shoving you around?!"

"He's lost it, strutting around with no shame!"

"Vivian, they're openly taunting you. You sure you just want to break the bond?"

I stirred, trying to roll over, but a sharp pain in my back stopped me. I stayed put.

"You know why I'm doing it this way. It's not fear. I'm showing him I'm the one walking away. A filthy, rotten wolf like him? I won't spare him a second thought. I'll toss him out like trash."

Cassie's eyes softened with pity.

She ruffled my hair.

"Talking tough, huh? Then why'd you let yourself get this beat up?"

"Got carried away," I said, a self-mocking smirk tugging at my lips.

"Two weeks left. Even if they strip down and go at it in front of me, I swear I won't blink."

"Not worried your eyes'll rot?"

"Beasts mating? I'll just puke and move on."

"That's still bad for your stomach."

Cassie stayed a while, making sure I was okay, then grabbed some medicated patches for my back from a pharmacy.

Night had fallen outside.

Alpha Adrian scoured every place I might go, called every friend, even checked with my parents. No trace of me.

Cassie was his first call.

She claimed ignorance.

By the tenth call, I spoke up.

"Answer it. He probably knows you left the firm this afternoon."

"Stupid wolf, panicking now," Cassie muttered, stepping onto the balcony to pick up.

She unleashed.

"Alpha Adrian, Vivian's gone? Perfect! No one to cramp your style with that little side piece. How nice!"

Her words confirmed to Alpha Adrian we were together.

His voice rasped. "Put her on."

"Can't. Don't know where she is. Maybe she jumped into the ocean. Wanna go fish her out?"

Cassie hung up, smirking.

Let him sweat.

Alpha Adrian's face darkened.

When Cassie's phone rang again, I stepped out. "I'll take it."

I answered. "Stop bugging Cassie. I'll come back."

A brief silence, then his heavy breathing came through, cautious.

"Where are you? I'll pick you up. How's your back? Still hurt?"

I let out a sharp laugh.

"Alpha Adrian, your fake concern is giving me the creeps."