Chapter 461

Dallas

The stench of Estevan Parrish’s terror was a foul sweetness in the damp, rusted belly of Container 409. Rain hammered against the metal roof, but inside, the only sound was the ragged, pathetic wheezing of the man tied to the steel chair.

I stepped closer, the hydraulic braces on my legs whirring with a mechanical coldness that matched the deadness in my chest. Ragnar clawed at the surface, bleeding my irises into pure, bottomless black. The silver poison in my veins burned, but my killing intent burned hotter.

Vance Decker stood in the shadows, the harsh blue light of his tablet illuminating his stoic face. Without a word, he tapped the screen.

An audio recording echoed through the container — the voice of the Parrish Pack Alpha. “Estevan is a liability. The Pack strips him of his title. Do what you want with him, Ghost. We wash our hands of his mess.”

Estevan’s eyes bulged. The realization that his own bloodline had served him up on a silver platter shattered whatever fragile sanity he had left.

“No! No, please!” Estevan sobbed, thrashing against the heavy ropes. “It wasn’t my idea! It was Katherine! She wanted Adella dead!”

I stopped inches from him. The air pressure in the container dropped as my Alpha aura suffocated the space between us.

“Katherine was furious,” Estevan babbled, spit flying from his lips. “Braydon Hyde wouldn’t stop obsessing over Adella. Katherine wanted to destroy her on that track. I just rigged the brakes!”

My jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached. But Estevan wasn’t done. The coward was desperate to buy his life.

“There’s more! Katherine took the Rogue — the one named Suki!” Estevan choked out, his chest heaving. “She hired a blood-witch. They’re going to alter the Rogue, make her look and smell exactly like Adella. They want to swap them to claim the Everett Trust. The White Wolf inheritance!”

A low, demonic growl vibrated in my chest. They didn’t just want to hurt my mate — they wanted to erase her entirely.

I didn’t break eye contact with Estevan as I opened the mind-link to my Gamma. Send a strike team to Queens immediately. Extract the Rogue named Suki. Leave no survivors.

Yes, my King, Vance replied instantly.

I looked down at my own leg, feeling the phantom agony of the silver that had crippled me. Estevan had used machinery to try to take my mate’s life.

I let the crushing weight of my Alpha’s Command bleed into my voice, leaving no room for mercy. “Break his hands and his legs. I want him to feel what it’s like to be broken. Make sure he never touches a piece of machinery again.”

Adella POV

The scent of bleach and suffocating white lilies dragged me back to consciousness.

I opened my eyes to a sterile white ceiling. The steady beep of a heart monitor echoed in the quiet room, but it couldn’t drown out the hollow, tearing agony in my chest. The Rejection. It wasn’t a nightmare. What I had believed was our bond — what I had felt in every touch, every glance — was nothing but a beautiful lie he had constructed and then torn apart with his own hands.

“You’re awake.”