Chapter 29
Chapter 29:
I was beyond reason. Beyond the careful distance I had maintained for weeks. I had spent years watching her, protecting her from the shadows, holding every instinct at arm’s length—and tonight, watching another man’s hands on her skin, something fundamental had fractured beyond repair.
I brought her to her bedroom door and pushed it open, then released her arm. She stumbled into the center of the room and spun to face me, clutching her wrist, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
“What are you doing p>
I stepped inside and closed the door, turning the lock with a deliberate, final click.
Lightning split the sky outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the fear on her face and the hunger on mine. I moved toward her until her legs met the edge of the bed and she had nowhere left to go.
I𝘯𝘀𝘁𝘢𝘯𝘁 𝗮cc𝗲s𝘀 𝗈n
“You want to talk about agreements, Adelia?” I said, my voice rough with something that was no longer entirely human.
“Contracts are for business,” I murmured, holding her gaze. “Mates are for life. Tonight, you will learn the difference p>
“Mates are for life p>
His words hung in the air, heavy and suffocating, draining the oxygen from the room. I stepped back until the backs of my knees met the mattress and I had nowhere left to go.
Dallas loomed over me—a dark, terrifying silhouette against the lightning strobing outside. His eyes were no longer the grey I had begun to trust. They burned molten gold, swirling with a savage, predatory hunger. This wasn’t the man who had restored my mother’s garden. This was the Alpha King. This was the monster the tabloids warned about.
“Dallas, please,” I whispered, my voice barely holding. “The contract. You promised p>
“The contract,” he said, stepping closer, his voice edged with something raw and fraying. The air around him crackled with static that raised the hair along my arms. “Does the contract stop your heart from racing when I’m near? Does it stop him?” He pressed a trembling hand to his own chest, meaning his Lycan.
I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for his touch—for the violence I was certain would follow. I expected force. I expected him to take what the beast inside him was screaming for.
The blow never came.
Instead, a guttural roar tore through the room—a sound so full of agony it could have been bones snapping. My eyes flew open. Dallas had stumbled back, his massive body slamming into the wall with enough force to rattle the paintings from their hooks. He wasn’t looking at me anymore. He was gripping his own skull, fingers digging into his scalp as though trying to tear something free from the inside.
“No!” The word came out layered—his voice and something deeper beneath it, something that vibrated through the floorboards and into my chest. “Not like this! Back down, Ragnar! Back down p>
He slid down the wall, his legs folding beneath him. The terrifying predator was gone, replaced by a man fighting a war inside his own skin. Sweat had soaked through his black shirt, plastering it to his heaving chest.