Chapter 12
Chapter 12:
“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>
𝖲𝗁𝘢𝘳e y𝘰𝘶r 𝗍𝗁o𝘶𝗀h𝗍s 𝗈n 𝗴𝘢𝗹ո𝗈𝗏𝘦𝗹ѕ.𝗰𝗼𝗺
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.
Adelia