Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Dallas

The glass walls of my office offered a panoramic view of the city sprawling beneath me—a kingdom of steel and concrete that bowed to my will. But right now, the only thing I could focus on was the red haze clouding my vision.

My knuckles cracked as I gripped the edge of my obsidian desk. The wood groaned and splintered under the pressure of my Lycan strength.

“He touched her,” Ragnar snarled from the back of my mind, his voice a guttural vibration that rattled my ribcage. “He cornered our mate. He frightened her. I want his throat, Dallas. I want to taste his blood p>

“Patience,” I commanded, though the leash on my own temper was fraying. “Death is too easy for a worm like Braydon Hyde. I want him broken first p>

The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime. Vance Decker, my Gamma, stepped out—a mountain of a man, scarred and lethal, yet he approached my desk with the caution of someone walking into a lion’s den. He could smell the ozone and sulfur of my rage saturating the air.

“Report,” I said, my voice dangerously low.

“The situation at the jewelry store is contained, Alpha,” Vance said, keeping his head slightly bowed. “Security footage has been scrubbed. The manager has been debriefed and compensated for his silence. As for Braydon Hyde—my men escorted him off the premises. He has been blacklisted from every Marshall enterprise in the state. Hotels, restaurants, banks. He is effectively exiled from high society p>

A bureaucratic execution. Efficient. Clean.

“Not enough,” Ragnar growled, pacing the cage of my mind.

𝘑oin t𝘩𝗈𝘂𝘀𝘢n𝗱ѕ 𝗼𝘧 𝗳а𝘯ѕ 𝘰ո

“It will do for now,” I said, releasing the desk. Deep indentations of my fingers were carved into the wood. “But if he steps within ten feet of her again, Vance, you won’t be escorting him anywhere. You will be burying him p>

Vance nodded, his expression grim. “Understood p>

“Get Duncan in here. Now p>

Minutes later, Duncan Whitaker, my Beta, joined us. Where Vance was brute force, Duncan was strategy—a man of logic and precision who adjusted his glasses as he entered, already reading the shift in the room’s atmosphere.

“Close the door,” I said.

Once the room was sealed, I turned to face them both. “The arrangement with Adelia Everett has changed p>

Duncan raised an eyebrow. “The Binding Protection Contract? Is she demanding more assets p>

“No.” I walked to the window and watched the tiny cars moving like ants far below. “The contract was never just a contract. It was a placeholder.” I turned back, fixing them with a stare that brooked no argument. “Adelia is not just a protected asset. She is my wife. Legally. Spiritually. Irrevocably p>

Silence slammed into the room. Duncan’s mouth opened, then closed. Vance looked as though he’d been struck with a stun baton.

“Alpha,” Duncan began, his voice carefully measured. “A marriage? To a wolfless girl from a fallen pack? The Council will have a field day. Strategically, this is p>

“Strategically,” I cut him off, my tone dropping to ice, “it is the ultimate weapon against the Hyde Pack. Braydon thinks he can intimidate a helpless orphan. Let him try to intimidate the Luna of the Marshall Pack p>

They exchanged a glance. They bought it—convinced this was a masterstroke of political chess, a way to humiliate a rival Alpha by elevating his castoff to royalty.

“Prepare the security detail,” I said, moving toward my desk. “She is to be treated as Luna in all regards. Dismissed p>

The elevator doors closed behind them, and the mask of the cold, calculating King slipped.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and unlocked the screen. The background wasn’t a stock image or a corporate logo. It was a photograph taken three years ago from a distance—Adelia sitting on a university bench, her head thrown back in laughter, sunlight catching the golden highlights in her hair. She had looked so alive. So free. I had been watching from my car, parked in the shadows, my soul aching with a pull I couldn’t explain until Ragnar had whispered that single, life-altering word.

Mate.

I traced her face on the screen with my thumb.

I had waited. I had watched. I had let her live her life, hoping she would find happiness without being dragged into the bloody darkness of my world. But when her parents died and Hyde began circling her like a vulture, I knew my time in the shadows was over.

“Finally,” Ragnar purred, his rage settling into a deep, possessive hum. “Ours to protect. Ours to keep p>

A sharp beep from Vance’s laptop, left open on the side table, pulled my attention. I crossed the room and tapped the screen.

A security alert flashed red.

UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS ATTEMPT: MARRIAGE REGISTRY DATABASE. SOURCE: HYDE PACK IP. STATUS: BLOCKED.

I watched as the system logged another attempt, then another. Braydon was frantic, tearing through every digital channel he could find, desperate to uncover the name of the man who had claimed what he considered his.

He would find nothing. I had buried the records so deeply that even the Council couldn’t reach them without my fingerprint.

A dark, unhurried smile curved my lips.

“Keep looking, boy,” I murmured to the empty room. “You’re not fighting a rival. You’re fighting a god p>

I closed the laptop. It was time to go home. My wife was waiting, dinner was expected, and I had a role to play.

For now, I would be her shield. Soon, I would be her everything.