Chapter 74
Chapter 74:
“When she fed me silver, Braydon — where were you?” My voice was raspy, damaged from the burns, but it cut through the sterile air of the room like a blade.
“I told you, I froze! It happened so fast p>
“No,” I interrupted, my gaze hardening. “You didn’t freeze. You watched. You watched me choke on my own blood because you were too afraid of your mother to intervene. You don’t love me, Braydon. You love the idea of owning me because I was safe. Because I was quiet p>
Braydon recoiled as if I had struck him. “That’s not true. We are meant to be together. The Pack expects it p>
I looked at him — really looked at him — and felt the last tether of my childhood snap.
“To me, you are like a brother, Braydon. Nothing more p>
𝗥о𝘮аո𝗰𝘦 𝘯о𝘷е𝗅𝘴 𝗼ո
The silence that followed was deafening. In our world, calling a potential suitor a brother was the ultimate castration — a rejection that stripped away any possibility of a mate bond, reducing him to a platonic, sexless relative.
Braydon’s face turned a mottled shade of crimson. The humiliation radiated off him in waves. From the doorway, I saw the corner of Dallas’s mouth twitch — a cold, almost imperceptible smirk.
Braydon saw it too.
His shame curdled instantly into rage. He spun to face the Lycan King, hands balling into fists at his sides.
“You did this,” Braydon spat, jabbing a shaking finger at Dallas. “You poisoned her mind against me. What kind of sick game are you playing, Marshall p>
Dallas didn’t uncross his arms. He didn’t even push off the doorframe. “Careful, boy. You are speaking to a King p>
“I don’t care who you are!” Braydon shouted, his voice cracking. “She is a dependent of the Hyde Pack! Her parents’ trust fund is under my father’s control. She has nothing without us! You can’t just steal her p>
“She is not a piece of property to be stolen,” Dallas said, his voice dropping an octave — the rumble of a predator warning a scavenger.
“Isn’t she?” Braydon sneered, his eyes cutting back to me with undisguised malice. “She’s wolfless, Marshall. Useless to a Pack. So tell me — how much did you pay my father for her? Or is she just a temporary plaything? A breeder you picked up to warm your bed until a real wolf comes along p>
The air in the room vanished.
The insult hung heavy and toxic between us. Breeder. The word stripped me of my humanity, reducing me to a womb with a pulse.
Dallas moved.
It was a blur — too fast for human eyes. One moment he was leaning against the doorframe; the next, he was standing at the foot of my bed, his massive presence forming a wall between me and Braydon. The temperature in the room plummeted, the scent of ozone and impending storm pressing down on all of us.
“She is my wife p>
The words were spoken with a calm, terrifying finality.
Braydon staggered back, his mouth falling open. “What p>