Chapter 582
“They didn’t hack the files,” I said quietly. “They bought a soul.”
Dallas’s eyes blazed. He didn’t speak aloud, but I watched his jaw move as he issued commands through the Mind-Link. Ragnar’s approval rumbled through our bond like distant thunder.
I picked up his discarded carbon-fiber cane and pressed it firmly into his hand. “Fix your tie. Gigi and Azalea are waiting in the dining room. We won’t let Dosha ruin our appetite.”
He straightened, his storm-gray eyes sharpening into lethal calculation. He gripped the cane and rose to his full height beside me — united, unbreakable.
Together, we stepped toward the dining room, a front forged in fire.
Adella POV
We stepped into the dining room, a front forged in fire. The massive mahogany table gleamed beneath crystal chandeliers, plates of rare steak bleeding onto fine porcelain. Gigi sat at the head, her presence commanding every corner of the room. Azalea flanked her, eyes sharp and watchful.
“Sit,” Gigi commanded, her voice ice over steel.
Dallas gripped his cane tighter, guiding me to our seats. His jaw was tight, his hands trembling slightly against the table.
“Dinner can wait,” Gigi said flatly, cutting her steak without looking up. “The Elders granted Dosha a temporary release on a technicality — Elder Malcolm’s doing, no doubt. She’s already back in play, and she’s allied herself with Seraphina Vance. Using the Vance family ties in neutral Pack medical hubs, they stole your Zurich files, Dallas. The ones proving silver destroyed your Marking ability. Tomorrow, at the Elder council, they will challenge your rule. An Alpha without a complete bloodline cannot bind his Luna.”
The room froze. Dallas’s hand trembled on his fork, and Ragnar’s roar echoed through our bond into my mind.
My burner buzzed. A self-deleting message from Bella Rose: a magically enhanced photograph of a dim Zurich restaurant — Seraphina sliding a cash-stuffed envelope across the table to Dr. Corbin, the Pack doctor entrusted with guarding the files.
“They didn’t hack them,” I said coldly, sliding the phone across the table. “They bought a soul.”
Dallas’s eyes blazed molten gold. He didn’t speak aloud, but I could tell by the subtle shift in his expression that commands were already moving through the Mind-Link.
Gigi glanced at the photograph, then gave a faint nod, a flicker of genuine respect crossing her features.
Dallas turned to me, his silver eyes lethal. “I will tear the Vance family apart. Starting with Seraphina.”
“No.” I held his gaze steadily. “This is Pack politics, Dallas. It needs a Luna’s touch, not just an Alpha’s fist. You handle the Rogue doctor. Seraphina is mine.”
Gigi’s lips twitched — true respect, barely restrained. Dallas’s rage softened into something that looked very close to pride. “As you command, Luna.”
Dinner dissolved into strategy. Later, on the master suite balcony, cold night air bit at my skin. Dallas’s phone buzzed — Dosha’s encrypted line.