Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

The adrenaline that had sustained me in the jewelry store evaporated the moment we slid into the velvet booth of The Gilded Bean, an upscale café three blocks away. My hands shook so violently that the china cup rattled against its saucer, threatening to spill dark roast coffee across the pristine white tablecloth.

“Drink,” Azalea ordered, sliding a sugar packet toward me. Her voice was firm, stripped of its usual playful lilt. “You look like you’re about to pass out, and I am not carrying you back to the car p>

I took a sip. The bitter heat grounded me, but it couldn’t slow my racing heart. Across the table, Azalea watched me with the focused intensity of a predator assessing its prey. She wasn’t just my friend right now—she was the Alpha King’s daughter, and she could smell a secret.

“Talk, Adelia,” she said, leaning forward. Her amber eyes locked onto mine. “That ring. The Blackwood guards. The way the manager looked at you like you were royalty. Who is he p>

I swallowed hard. “Azalea, I p>

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗼𝗻

“Don’t you dare lie to me,” she cut in, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “Braydon is unhinged. If you’ve got yourself mixed up with some dangerous man to get back at him, I need to know. I can’t protect you if I’m blind p>

“It’s not some dangerous man,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “It’s your father p>

The silence that followed was heavier than lead. The clinking of spoons and the murmur of other patrons faded to a dull roar. Azalea blinked. Once. Twice. Her mouth opened, then closed.

“My father?” she repeated, as though the words were foreign on her tongue. “Dallas p>

I nodded, gripping the edge of the table until my knuckles turned white. “We signed the papers yesterday. It’s a Binding Protection Contract. A marriage in name only p>

I braced for her anger—expected her to scream, to flip the table, to accuse me of gold-digging or betraying our friendship.

Instead, a strange sound escaped her throat. It started as a snort and spiraled rapidly into full-blown, hysterical laughter. She threw her head back, cackling so loudly that several nearby patrons turned to stare.

“Oh my Goddess,” she gasped, pressing a hand to her chest as she wiped a tear from her eye. She reached across the table and grabbed my hand, squeezing it tight. “Adelia, you didn’t just get a shield. You dropped a nuke on him p>

“You’re not mad?” I asked, bewildered.

“Mad? I’m ecstatic!” Her grin turned predatory, showing a hint of fang. “Do you realize what you’ve done? Braydon Hyde just threatened the Lycan King’s wife. My father isn’t just an Alpha, Adelia—he’s a monster in a silk suit. Braydon didn’t just lose you; he declared war on a god.” She sat back, regarding me with newfound respect. “So I suppose I should call you ‘Mom’ now p>

“Please don’t,” I groaned, burying my face in my hands. “It’s just a contract, Az. He needed a wife to silence the Council, and I needed safety p>

“Safety,” Azalea mused, her expression softening. “Well, you certainly got that. Nobody touches Dallas Marshall’s things and lives to tell the tale p>

Then, without warning, Azalea went rigid. Her eyes glazed over, losing focus as her gaze fixed on some point beyond my shoulder. The air around her shimmered faintly with the static charge of a powerful Mind-Link.

I went still. Being wolfless, I had never experienced the telepathic connection of the pack, but I knew the signs well enough. She was speaking to someone.

A moment later she blinked, color returning to her irises. She looked at me, her expression shifting from amusement to something closer to awe.

“He just linked me,” she whispered.

My stomach twisted. “Is he angry? Did the manager tell him p>

“Oh, he knows,” Azalea said slowly. “But he didn’t ask about the store.” She paused, studying my face. “He asked, ‘Is she okay p>

I stared at her. “What p>

“He asked if you were okay, Adelia,” she repeated, leaning in. “My father doesn’t ask questions. He gives orders. He commands. He demands status reports. In twenty-two years, I have never once heard him ask something that soft. He didn’t ask about the damage to the store or the reputation of the pack. He asked about you p>

For a single, unguarded moment, a treacherous warmth bloomed in my chest.

Is she okay?

I crushed it immediately. I couldn’t afford to be delusional. Hope was a dangerous thing for a girl like me.

“He’s checking on his asset, Azalea,” I said, my voice flattening. I drew my hand back from hers. “Don’t romanticize it. I am an investment. His property was attacked on his territory by a rival. Of course he wants to know if the goods are damaged—it’s bad for business p>

Azalea shook her head slowly. “I don’t think so. I felt his tone through the link. It was dark. Possessive. That wasn’t business p>

“It’s a contract,” I insisted, lifting my coffee cup to hide the tremor in my lip. “That’s all it will ever be. And frankly, that’s all I want it to be p>

Azalea didn’t argue. But the look she gave me was filled with quiet pity—and a knowing skepticism that unsettled me far more than Braydon’s rage ever had. She thought this was a fairy tale just beginning. She didn’t understand that monsters like Dallas Marshall didn’t save girls like me out of care. They saved us because they wanted to own us.

And I had just sold myself to the most dangerous owner of them all.