Chapter 148
Chapter 148:
A chill that had nothing to do with temperature slid down my spine. How long had he been watching me? How long had he been planning to place me in this room, in these clothes? It felt as though I had stepped out of one cage and into a gilded palace — but the lock on the door was just as heavy.
I dressed in dark jeans and a cream sweater that felt like a cloud against my skin. When I walked out to the drive, Dallas was already waiting by the black Maybach, looking devastating in a dark suit that radiated both power and danger in equal measure. The morning air was crisp, smelling of damp earth and pine.
“Thank you,” I said softly, gesturing to my clothes. “For the room. For everything p>
Dallas responded with a low grunt of acknowledgment and opened the car door. He didn’t smile. He simply looked at me with that same unrelenting intensity, as though he were memorizing my face.
“I’m picking you up at seven tonight,” he stated, his voice leaving no room for argument. “The Sterling Gala. You’re coming with me p>
I paused, one foot in the car. The Sterling Gala was the event of the season for the Pack’s elite. Attending on the arm of the Lycan King would be a declaration — one that put a target on my back the size of the moon.
But then I thought of Braydon. I thought of the years I had spent making myself small and invisible, trying to survive by becoming nothing.
It hadn’t worked.
I looked up and met Dallas’s abyssal gaze.
“Okay,” I said, my voice steady — surprising even myself. “I’m done hiding p>
The silence inside the Maybach was absolute — a heavy, insulated quiet that felt like the calm before a hurricane. Dallas drove with one hand on the wheel, his profile carved from granite, radiating a simmering, protective heat that filled the car.
𝘉𝖾 p𝘢𝘳𝗍 o𝖿 оu𝗋 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝘪𝗍𝘆 о𝗇
My phone buzzed against my thigh, shattering the peace.
The name on the screen made my stomach twist — not with the old, paralyzing fear, but with a sharp, sudden annoyance. Braydon.
I slid my thumb across the screen. Before I could even raise the phone to my ear, his voice exploded from the speaker, tinny and frantic.
“Where the hell are you, Adella? You didn’t come back last night. You think you can just whore around with p>
“Stop,” I said. My voice was low, cutting through his hysteria like a blade of ice. I surprised even myself — no trembling, no stammer. Just cold exhaustion. “Where I am is none of your business, Braydon. Not anymore p>
“None of my business?” He laughed, a manic, jagged sound. “I am your future Alpha! You belong to this Pack, you belong to p>
“I am returning to the Manor to collect my things,” I interrupted, my eyes fixed on the road ahead. “And then I am leaving p>
I ended the call before he could respond.