Chapter 625
I tossed the bloodied brass stand aside and reached into the inner pocket of my suit jacket. I pulled out my encrypted satellite phone and dialed an untraceable frequency.
The line connected after one ring.
“Ghost,” I said, my voice flat and dead calm.
A sharp intake of breath hissed through the speaker. The arrogant, booming tone of Elder Malcolm instantly dissolved into pure, trembling reverence.
“Sir,” Malcolm stammered, his Inner Wolf clearly cowering at the mere sound of my voice.
“Your pup,” I informed him, my tone dripping with glacial authority, “just returned from Europe only to attempt an assault on my Luna in a public boutique.”
I didn’t wait for his frantic excuses. I tossed the phone directly onto Julian’s heaving chest.
“Pick it up,” I commanded.
Trembling violently, Julian lifted the phone to his ear.
“Get on your knees!” Malcolm’s voice erupted from the speaker, laced with a frantic, crushing Alpha’s Command that bled through the digital connection. “You ignorant, arrogant fool — you have no idea what you’ve done! I barely kept our bloodline alive after the last purge, and you just signed our death warrant! Apologize to Alpha King Marshall and his Luna right now, you stupid whelp! Then drag yourself back to the territory for solitary confinement before he slaughters you!”
Julian’s eyes widened in absolute disbelief. The Elder he had believed to be invincible was begging for mercy from the crippled King in the wheelchair. Julian’s Inner Wolf completely submitted, utterly broken by the hierarchy of terror and the devastating weight of his own ignorance.
He turned his tear-stained face toward Adella. “I… I’m sorry, Luna Adella,” he stammered, his voice hollow and pathetic.
Stripped of all dignity, he didn’t dare look at me again. Supported by his two battered Warriors, Julian dragged his ruined leg across the marble and fled the boutique like a beaten dog.
Twenty minutes later, the heavy doors of my armored SUV sealed shut, isolating Adella and me from the chaos of the city.
As the adrenaline slowly bled from my veins, the agonizing phantom fire of the silver in my spine flared with a vengeance. I leaned my head back against the luxurious leather seat, my chest rising and falling in a slow, measured rhythm.
The silence in the cabin was heavy. I turned my head to look at Adella. She was staring at me, her beautiful eyes still processing the sheer, unadulterated violence I had just unleashed.
A cold spike of fear pierced my chest. Did she see the monster? The ruthless shadow leader who commanded Alphas from the dark?
“Are you afraid?” I asked, my voice a rough, hesitant rasp. “Of what I can do?”
Adella held my gaze. Her soothing scent of Moonflowers and rain washed over me, steady and unwavering. She reached across the console, her soft hand gently covering my scarred knuckles.
“No,” she said softly, her thumb brushing my skin. “But I am starting to realize you have some very dark secrets, Dallas.”