Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

“He doesn’t want you, you wolfless pawn! He’s a King!” Braydon thrashed against the warriors’ grip. “He wants the Moonstone Lode beneath your feet! Once he has it, he’ll discard you like the trash you are! You’re just a signature on a deed, Adelia! And when he’s done, you’ll have nothing—no Pack, no home, no one to take you in again p>

I watched him struggle, and for the first time, I saw him with absolute clarity. Not the golden boy I had loved as a child. Not even the monster who had tormented me. Just a pathetic, jealous man who had spent ten years building a cage—and couldn’t bear that I had finally walked out of it.

His words found the cracks in my armor that hadn’t yet healed. I looked toward Dallas, desperate for him to deny it—desperate for some sign that Braydon was lying.

But Dallas didn’t look at me. His jaw was clenched so tight a muscle ticked in his cheek. His molten eyes were fixed on the place where Braydon had touched me, filled with a cold, unreadable fury. Then, without a word, he turned on his heel and walked into the darkness, leaving me alone on the pier with the echo of Braydon’s accusations.

I stood there shivering, watching him go. Was Braydon right? Was I just a tool? Had I traded one cage for another?

I ran back to the estate, my heart hammering. The grand house felt different now—looming and secretive, as though its walls had been listening all along.

“Dallas?” I pushed open the double doors of his study.

The room was empty. The fire in the hearth had burned down to embers.

My gaze landed on the mahogany desk. Sitting squarely in its center was a long, black velvet box. Beside it lay a card of heavy cream stock. My hands trembled as I picked it up. In sharp, angular handwriting, just two words:

For tonight.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘯

I opened the box. A diamond bracelet glittered beneath the lamplight—exquisite, worth more than anything I had ever owned, and utterly impersonal.

A gift. A payment. A dismissal.

“The Alpha King has departed, Miss Everett p>

I spun around. Elara, the head housekeeper, stood in the doorway, her expression sympathetic but carefully guarded.

“Departed?” I whispered. “Where p>

“The helicopter took off ten minutes ago,” she said softly. “He said urgent pack business required his attention p>

The floor seemed to drop out from under me. Urgent business. Or was the business concluded the moment I had signed the contract?

He doesn’t want you. You’re just a signature.

I looked down at the diamonds. They no longer looked like a gift. They looked like a transaction fee—a consolation prize handed to a pawn who had served her purpose.

I had escaped one family that saw me as a charity case, only to be handed to a King who might see me as a receipt.

He had witnessed Braydon touching me. He had seen the wreckage of my past laid bare. And then he had left.

Hours later, the storm broke.