Chapter 52

Chapter 52:

“Victoria Hyde,” I admitted, seeing no point in lying to a creature with senses like his. “She invited me to Braydon’s engagement party p>

Dallas pushed off the doorframe and stalked into the room. The air pressure seemed to drop, the atmosphere thickening with his protective aggression.

“And p>

“And I’m going p>

His jaw tightened, a muscle ticking in his cheek. He stopped in front of me, his shadow engulfing my smaller frame. He didn’t ask why. He didn’t ask if I was sure. He simply issued a decree, his voice laced with the undeniable weight of an Alpha’s command.

𝖰𝘂𝗮𝗅i𝘁𝘆 t𝘳а𝗻𝘀𝗅𝗮𝘁𝘪oո𝘴 𝗈𝘯 ѕ.𝘤𝘰𝘮

“We go p>

My head snapped up. “No p>

The word hung between us, sharp and defiant. Dallas’s eyes narrowed, the gold flaring brighter.

“Excuse me?” he growled, stepping closer until his thighs brushed against mine, forcing me to tilt my head back to hold his gaze.

“I need to do this,” I said, my voice trembling but my resolve hardening like steel. “If I walk in there on your arm, I’m just your possession. I’m just the Alpha King’s pet. I need to face them as me. As Adella Everett p>

“You are mine, Adella,” he snarled, his hand reaching out to grip my chin and tilt my face up to his. “They will tear you apart p>

“Let them try,” I whispered.

He stared down at me, the beast behind his eyes pacing, snarling, demanding he lock me away for my own safety. I was fighting a war on two fronts — against the Hydes, and now against the most powerful predator in the world.

Dallas

The silence in the penthouse was not peaceful — it was the heavy, charged silence before an execution.

I sat at the head of the ebony dining table, my untouched black coffee growing cold in front of me. Across the expanse of dark wood, Adella picked at her scrambled eggs. She looked pale, the shadows under her eyes stark against her porcelain skin, but her jaw was set in a line of stubborn defiance that made Ragnar pace aggressively in the back of my mind.

She rejects us, Ragnar snarled, his voice a jagged edge against my skull. She chooses to walk into the viper’s nest alone. She is ashamed of us.

“I’m not changing my mind, Dallas,” Adella said softly, not looking up from her plate. Her scent was spiked with anxiety — burnt sugar and nervous sweat — but beneath it lay that infuriating steel. “I need to do this. Alone p>

My hand tightened around the ceramic mug until a hairline fracture appeared near the handle. “You are walking into a room full of wolves who view you as nothing more than a defect,” I said, my voice low and vibrating with restrained power. “As your Mate, it is my right to stand beside you. To tear the throat out of anyone who looks at you with anything less than reverence p>