The Billionaire Alpha's Wolfless Fated Mate

Annette POV:

"Where did you put the steel key to my desk?"

I pushed open the half-ajar bedroom door, the metallic taste of adrenaline flooding my tongue. The air inside smelled overwhelmingly of cheap synthetic vanilla-the exact scent my younger sister Karmen used to mask her low-grade Omega pheromones.

My gaze snapped to the bottom of the work table.

The heavy steel lock on my security drawer hung wide open. It was completely empty.

My heart plummeted straight into my stomach.

I rushed forward, my hands trembling as I tore through the empty metal slots. The blueprint folder for the Apex City Northern Commercial Sector was gone. Three months of sleepless nights, countless structural calculations, and the single contract meant to pay for my adoptive father's organ treatments had vanished.

Raucous laughter drifted up from the living room downstairs.

I turned on my heel and bolted down the wooden steps, my knuckles white against the handrail.

At the bottom of the stairs, my adoptive mother, Erlinda Glass, sat on the worn floral sofa. Her fingers were rapidly counting a thick stack of blue Pack territory gold vouchers.

"Where is my blueprint?" I demanded, my voice shaking with a fury so sharp it made my vision blur. "Erlinda, what did you do?"

Erlinda did not even bother looking up. She casually shoved the stack of currency vouchers into the pocket of her faded cardigan, her voice dripping with cold indifference.

"Your sister needed a deposit for her new suburban estate," Erlinda said, crossing her ankles. "Those scrap papers of yours were finally worth something. You should be grateful they fetched enough territory gold."

"Those weren't scrap papers!" Blood rushed to my ears, a high-pitched ringing drowning out the hum of the refrigerator. "That was the proprietary bidding design for Stone Architecture! Pack Law strictly forbids the private transfer of commercial blueprints! You just handed my entire career to the black market!"

The bathroom door swung open with a theatrical click.

Karmen strolled out, smoothing a thick collagen face mask over her high cheekbones. Her long, acrylic-tipped fingers rested against her collarbone as she looked me up and down with open contempt.

"Stop acting so righteous, Annette," Karmen scoffed, her sharp shoulder bumping hard against mine as she walked past. "You're just a broken Wolfless. You don't even have an inner wolf to shift with. Why should a defective cripple hoard the highest-tier design contracts in the city?"

My stomach twisted painfully. For twenty-three years, the entire Glass family had treated me like a genetic mistake because my inner wolf had never awakened. In our wolf-dominated society, being wolfless meant you were bottom-tier garbage, unable to feel the collective pack bond or defend your own territory.

"Who bought the file?" I stepped into Karmen's space, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Give me the buyer's name. Right now."

Erlinda jumped to her feet, placing her bulky frame directly between me and her precious biological daughter.

"Watch your tone with your sister!" Erlinda sneered, pointing a calloused finger directly between my eyes. "Karmen is courting a high-ranking Alpha from the eastern district. She needs an estate that matches her upcoming status. You should be honored your useless drawings contributed to our family's elevation!"

The sheer absurdity of her words made bile rise in my throat. I turned toward the glass coffee table, reaching for my communicator to dial the local Pack enforcement bureau.

Before my fingers could touch the screen, Erlinda lunged forward and snatched the device. With a vicious flick of her wrist, she smashed it against the tiled floor.

The glass shattered on impact.

"You dare call the enforcers on your own blood?" Erlinda hissed, stepping on the shattered screen with her slipper. "Don't you ever forget who pulled you out of the cold streets when you were a stray pup that nobody wanted!"

A sharp shard of casing bounced off the floor and sliced through the skin near my ankle. A thin bead of red welled up, but I did not look down. I bit the inside of my lip until I tasted copper, refusing to let them see a single tear.

Karmen kicked the remaining debris toward the wall, extending her palm toward my face.

"Since Stone Architecture is going to fire you by sunrise anyway," Karmen said, her lips curving into a predatory grin, "hand over the deed to this apartment. I still need another fifty thousand gold coins to clear the closing costs on the estate."

I let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh. "You stole my life's work, and now you want the roof over my head?"

"This apartment was purchased with family funds!" Erlinda barked, stepping closer to loom over me. "You were merely the name on the title. Go to the safe and get the property deed right now!"

"I paid off every single cent of that down payment with my university design scholarships and four years of night shifts," I said, my voice turning icy. "You haven't contributed a single copper to this place."

Karmen immediately pulled a wounded face, her eyes welling with fake tears as she turned toward Erlinda. "Mom, look at her. I told you she was an ungrateful parasite."

The last shred of childhood sentimentality inside me snapped like dry kindling.

Without a word, I turned toward the foyer wall, snatching my trench coat, my spare purse, and the spare set of metal keys from the hook.

Erlinda spread her arms, blocking the front door. "You are not leaving this house until you sign that property over to Karmen!"

Something ancient and dormant deep within my marrow surged against my ribs. A wave of raw, pure pressure radiated off my skin. It wasn't the manic energy of a low-grade wolf-it felt vast, heavy, and completely unyielding.

Erlinda's eyes widened. Her knees visibly wobbled, and she stumbled back half a step, her shoulder blade hitting the wooden door frame with a soft thud.

"Out of my way," I said, my voice dead and quiet.

"You psycho!" Karmen shrieked from behind the sofa, clutching her chest. "Did you see that? She's dangerous! I'm telling the entire district you're an unstable monster!"

I ignored her screeching, reaching down to turn the cold brass door handle.

Before I could push it outward, the front door was shoved open from the outside. A blast of wet, freezing night air rushed into the hallway.

Julian Hayes stepped over the threshold, his damp wool coat smelling of expensive cologne. In his left hand, he held a luxury boutique gift bag-the exact designer brand Karmen had been begging for all month.

Julian was my boyfriend of three years. Or so I had thought until two seconds ago.

Julian froze when his eyes locked with mine. His face drained of color, and he instinctively jerked the gift bag behind his back, his eyes darting toward the floor.

"Annette..." Julian stammered, clearing his throat. "What are you doing standing in the doorway?"

Karmen immediately rushed past me, throwing her arms around Julian's neck and burying her face into his wet collar.

"Julian, thank goodness you're here!" Karmen sobbed, her voice trembling with manufactured terror. "She tried to attack Mom! She lost her mind because her work blueprints got rejected!"

Julian wrapped an arm around Karmen's waist, his fingers resting casually on her hip with an intimacy that made my skin crawl.

"Annette, you need to calm down," Julian said, trying to adopt a stern, protective tone as he looked at me. "Karmen is your sister. Family comes first. Whatever happened at your firm, you shouldn't take it out on her."

I looked at the two of them standing together.

The realization hit me not with a bang, but with the chilling finality of an execution. The missing blueprints, the sudden down payment for a luxury estate, the secret late-night calls Julian had been taking for weeks-it all snapped into place.

"A thief and a coward," I said, my voice steady, though my fingers were freezing cold. "You two truly deserve each other."

Julian's cheeks burned crimson. "Annette, don't be unreasonable! I was going to talk to you after the bidding-"

I slammed my shoulder into Julian's chest, knocking him sideways against the coat rack, and strode out into the torrential rain.

Behind me, Erlinda's venomous curses echoed down the stairwell, but I didn't look back. The freezing downpour struck my face like needles, washing away the smell of vanilla and leaving only the bitter cold of the storm.

Annette POV:

The icy rain drenched through my trench coat within seconds, plastering dark strands of hair against my cheeks. I stood at the corner of the sidewalk, wiping water from my eyes as my chest heaved against the cold.

I couldn't just walk away and leave my legal documents in that apartment.

The property deed, my professional certification seals, and my passport were still locked inside the fireproof lockbox under the foyer console. If I left them behind, Erlinda would have a locksmith drill the box open before sunrise.

I turned around, stepping through the rising puddles, and marched straight back to the door I had just slammed.

I kicked the unlatched door wide open.

The heavy wood banged violently against the interior wall. The three people huddled in the center of the living room jumped nearly a foot into the air.

"You psychotic stray!" Erlinda shrieked, clutching her throat. "You dare kick my door? I will have the neighborhood Beta drag you to the enforcement cells!"

I didn't utter a single syllable. I walked directly past Julian, heading straight for the lower compartment of the shoe console.

Julian grabbed my forearm, his grip tight and sweaty. "Annette, stop this tantrum! Just give Karmen the deed. I will personally write you a bank transfer for five thousand gold coins to help you find a rental."

I looked down at his fingers wrapping around my sleeve. A wave of visceral disgust churned in my gut.

"Take your hands off me," I said, my voice flat. "Don't touch me with hands that touch trash."

Julian's jaw tightened in embarrassment.

Karmen peered over his shoulder, her lip curling into a venomous sneer. "Let her go, Julian. Look at her. A dried-up Wolfless who doesn't even have a Heat cycle. No high-born Alpha would ever mate with a genetic dud like her anyway. She's just bitter that you chose a real female."

I ripped my arm out of Julian's grasp.

Before Karmen could finish her smirk, I stepped into her space and snapped my right palm across her face.

The crack of skin against skin echoed through the room like a gunshot.

Karmen's head whipped to the side, her face mask tearing as she crashed sideways onto the sofa cushions. She let out an ear-splitting wail, clutching her rapidly swelling left cheek with both hands.

"You struck my daughter!" Erlinda roared, lunging at me with her nails aimed at my eyes.

I sidestepped her clumsy charge. As she stumbled past, I gripped the corner of the heavy wooden console and leaned down, speaking into the side of her face with lethal clarity.

"If you touch me again, Erlinda, I will file a formal complaint with the Pack Elder Council for systemic financial embezzlement and the unauthorized sale of restricted corporate assets."

The words "Elder Council" hit Erlinda like a bucket of ice water. She froze mid-step, her face draining of color. Low-ranking pack members like her lived in mortal terror of the Elders' tribunals; getting branded as an asset thief meant instant exile to the rogue wastelands.

I knelt down, spun the four-digit brass dial on my lockbox, and popped the lid with a crisp click.

I pulled out my blue property deed, my design guild master seals, my passport, and my last remaining physical debit cards, shoving them all into my waterproof backpack.

Julian watched me zip the bag with a mixture of guilt and frustration. "Did you really have to burn every bridge, Annette? We shared three years together."

I slung the backpack over my shoulders and stood up to face him.

"Three years of me doing your structural draftings for free while you took the credit at your firm," I said, meeting his shifting gaze. "Now that my blueprints are gone, you moved on to the parasite who stole them. May you two rot together."

"You think you're so superior!" Julian snapped, his voice rising in defensive anger. "You were never a real woman to me! You lived like a machine, buried in blueprints twelve hours a day! A male needs warmth, not a walking calculator!"

"Then enjoy your thief," I said. "She'll drain your bank accounts faster than you can draft a floor plan."

I walked toward the foyer.

Erlinda pulled Karmen into her arms, glaring at me with raw hatred. "Walk out that door and you won't see a single copper of your father's medical pension!"

I stopped at the threshold, turning my head slightly.

"I have paid every medical bill for Fernando since I was eighteen," I said calmly. "You haven't spent a cent on him. We are done."

I reached into my pocket, pulled out the heavy brass key to the front door, and hurled it across the room.

The metal struck the glass coffee table, shattering a water tumbler into glittering shards.

"As of tonight," I said, "I have no mother, no sister, and no partner. Cross my path again, and I will tear down whatever life you try to build."

I turned, stepped out, and pulled the door shut behind me, severing the noise of their screams in an instant.

The storm outside was raging even harder now. Thunder rumbled across the city skyline, shaking the concrete beneath my boots. I hugged my backpack to my chest and ran through the downpour toward the bus shelter three blocks down.

The glass on the bus shelter had been smashed out weeks ago. Freezing rain blew right through the metal frame, soaking my slacks.

I pulled out my cheap backup communicator, trying to tap on a ride-hailing app to take me to a motel.

The cracked screen flickered twice, threw up a shower of white static lines, and went completely black. Dead.

I let out a ragged breath, leaning my forehead against the cold metal pillar of the shelter.

A rusted sedan drove past the curb, hitting a deep puddle and sending a sheet of muddy water flying across my knees. I staggered back, staring down at my ruined trousers and soaked leather shoes.

My chest tightened with an overwhelming ache, but I pressed my thumb into the center of my palm, digging my nail in until the physical sting grounded me.

I couldn't afford to break down. Tomorrow morning, Victor Stone would demand answers at the firm. I needed to survive tonight.

I tightened the straps of my backpack, stepped out from under the broken roof, and began the long walk toward the industrial district where the cheapest motels were located.

The street was utterly deserted. The yellow streetlights flickered dimly through the dense curtain of rain. Every muscle in my legs burned from the damp cold.

Then, a deep, guttural roar shattered the sound of the falling water.

The ground beneath my boots began to vibrate.

Two blinding halogen high beams sliced through the darkness behind me, casting my elongated shadow across the wet asphalt.

A massive, heavy-duty armored off-road vehicle-a beast of matte-black steel that looked more like a military assault tank than a civilian car-was barreling down the narrow road at terrifying speed.

The engine screamed like an enraged predator. And it was heading straight for where I stood.

Annette POV:

The blinding halogen glare burned my retinas, turning the world into a wash of white.

The roar of that massive engine shook the very air in my lungs. In a fraction of a second, my mind screamed that I was dead, but my body moved on pure, unadulterated instinct.

I threw myself sideways toward the raised concrete curb.

Tires shrieked in agony as the heavy beast slammed its brakes, rubber smoking against the flooded pavement. The vehicle skidded sideways, stopping mere inches from where I had been standing.

I hit the rough sidewalk hard, the gravel tearing through my coat sleeve and shredding the skin on my elbow. Muddy water splashed over my face as I rolled onto my hands and knees, gasping for air.

My heart battered against my ribs like a caged bird.

The heavy, reinforced door of the vehicle swung open with a hydraulic hiss.

A pair of bespoke black leather combat boots stepped down into the rising water.

The rain around us seemed to slow down. An overwhelming, suffocating scent cut through the damp exhaust and the smell of wet pavement-a rich, dark blend of crisp mountain cedarwood and warm, golden amber.

The moment that scent hit my nostrils, every nerve ending in my body caught fire.

A violent shudder rippled down my spine. My blood surged hot through my veins, my skin prickling with electric sparks so intense that my thighs felt completely numb.

I looked up through the rain.

Standing over me was a man of towering height, his broad shoulders practically blocking the flickering streetlamp behind him. Water dripped from his ink-black hair, tracing the sharp, aristocratic contours of his jawline.

He wasn't wearing a coat. His tailored black shirt clung to a muscular frame that radiated an aura of lethal, terrifying dominance-the undeniable, suffocating pressure of a supreme Alpha.

His eyes were a striking, piercing ice-blue, fixed entirely on me.

Deep inside my chest, in the empty void where my defective, non-existent inner wolf was supposed to sleep, something stirred. A tiny, desperate whimper rose in my throat.

Mine.

The word echoed in my mind like a phantom hallucination, so clear it terrified me.

The man took a single step toward me. On his right hand, a heavy black obsidian signet ring gleamed under the streetlamp. The cedarwood aroma thickened, wrapping around my throat like a velvet noose.

"Are you..." His voice was a low, gravelly baritone that vibrated straight through my sternum, carrying a raw magnetic pull that made my knees tremble.

He slowly reached his large, scarred hand down toward me.

Panic slammed into my chest.

In our world, an Alpha of this caliber didn't stop for stray Wolfless females in the gutter unless they were hunting. The sheer intensity of the physiological reaction racking my body terrified me to my core.

I scrambled backward on my palms, grabbed the strap of my soaked backpack, and surged to my feet.

I didn't take his hand. I didn't even look into those ice-blue eyes again.

I spun around and bolted into the narrow, unlit alleyway between two brick warehouses.

My boots splashed wildly through the puddles as I ran as fast as my burning lungs would allow. The heavy cedar scent seemed to cling to my hair, refusing to wash away in the downpour.

I didn't stop running until I spilled out onto the main boulevard three blocks away, collapsing against the damp exterior wall of a dilapidated motor inn.

The faded neon sign above the door read Starlight Motel, with half the letters buzzing and dead.

I pushed open the peeling wooden door of the lobby, paid the night clerk my last remaining cash for a basement room, and took the rusted brass key.

The basement room smelled of mold and industrial bleach.

I locked the deadbolt, slumped against the wood, and slid down to the cold linoleum floor, burying my face in my knees as my whole body shook with tremors of cold and shock.

After twenty minutes of shivering, I forced myself to stand. I stripped off my soaked clothes, stepped into the cramped shower stall, and let the lukewarm water wash the grime and blood from my scraped elbow.

I pulled on a dry gray sweater and dark slacks from my backpack, then sat down at the small laminate desk where an old desktop computer was provided for guests.

I booted up the machine and logged into my secure cloud storage, hoping to find an uncorrupted backup of my earlier draft files.

My inbox was dead silent. The colleagues who usually praised my structural drawings had completely ignored the emergency messages I had sent earlier. In the face of corporate catastrophe, everyone had closed ranks.

Suddenly, a system notification popped up in the bottom right corner of the screen.

An anonymous email had just landed in my secondary inbox.

The subject line was simply: Audio Recording: Glass Household Transaction.

My brow furrowed. I clicked the attachment.

The crackle of cheap recording software filled the tiny room, followed by the muffled voices of Erlinda and Karmen, recorded right after I had slammed the front door an hour ago.

"Mom, she actually walked out." Karmen's whiny voice came through the speakers. "What about the closing costs on the estate? We can't clear the deed without the rest of the funds!"

"Calm down, you fool." Erlinda's raspy laugh crackled through the audio. "That girl cares more about her design career than her own life. Once Stone Architecture ruins her reputation and blacklists her tomorrow morning, she'll have nowhere else to crawl. She'll bring the apartment deed to our feet and beg us to take her back."

The audio cut off with a click.

I stared at the glowing monitor, my fingernails digging so deeply into the edge of the desk that the laminate cracked under my thumbs.

They had planned to break me completely just to harvest my last asset.