Chapter 11
Chapter 11:
“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.
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.
𝖭𝖾𝘄 𝗰𝘩𝘢𝗉𝘁𝘦𝗋𝗌 е𝗏e𝗿y 𝘄𝘦𝖾𝗸 𝗈𝗇
“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.
“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>