Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Nessa’s POV

I ended up in a dark, cramped alley beside the gigantic hotel. I sank down onto the cold concrete, surrounded by the blaring horns of New York traffic and the towering walls of skyscrapers. There, I finally burst into tears. I had no idea how we were going to get home. I didn’t have a single cent on me because I didn’t get paid, and I had no money for fare back to our province. I had hoped everything would go well and that I would return with money. I should have made sure first.

Beside me, Zarek sat whimpering and restless, as if he could feel the deep ache in my heart. My mind was an absolute mess, worrying about how I would face my mother without any money. I would only disappoint her.

Because I was crying so hard and overthinking, I lost track of my surroundings. When I finally calmed down a bit and looked to my side, Zarek was gone.

"Zarek?!" My eyes widened. A sudden panic seized me, and I screamed.

I stood up immediately and ran blindly through the dark alley.

"Zarek! Where are you?! Please don’t leave me!" My voice echoed in the darkness of the night.

I kept running. I checked every single alleyway, hoping he would be there. I cried, losing more and more hope by the second.

I was completely breathless and on the verge of a full panic attack, thinking someone might have taken him or that city animal control had caught him. But before I could completely lose all hope, he suddenly appeared from behind a large building.

He walked slowly toward me, but there was something different about him. He was carrying a black, expensive leather wallet in his mouth.

"Oh my god, Zarek!" I whispered loudly, dropping to my knees in front of him. I took the wallet from his mouth. Its texture was unusual, clearly made of luxury leather, and it bore gold initials: M.A.

"What did you do? Are you a thief now? Who did you take this from, my son?!"

I was about to grab his face to scold him, but I froze. Zarek’s golden fur suddenly started to change. His body slowly lengthened and shifted shape. Right before my very eyes, my extra-large puppy gradually transformed into a grown man—a human. He had messy, curly hair and glowing violet eyes.

Before my brain could even process the impossible thing I was witnessing, he looked at me with a face of pure innocence.

"Mama..." his voice was soft, sounding like music in the dark.

“Who are you?” I immediately scrambled backward, almost tripping over myself. “What do you mean, 'Mama'? You’re older than me! You look like you're thirty!”

He smirked, and he was incredibly handsome. The world around me started to go black. From the sheer shock, fear, and confusion, my vision spun completely, and I collapsed onto the cold concrete of the alley, passing out.

Matthew’s POV

"Search it again! It cannot just disappear!" my right-hand man, Klien, barked at the security team inside my private office.

The entire room was in absolute chaos. My men were practically dizzy from turning the office upside down, searching every single corner, under the couches, and inside the drawers. Everyone was sweating in fear because my personal wallet was missing. It didn't just contain millions; it held every single one of my elite black cards, my international IDs, and high-security access chips that controlled my businesses across the globe.

I sat quietly behind my desk, my fingers laced together under my chin. I didn't say a word, but my jaw was clenched so tightly. My inner wolf was snarling, furious at the incompetence of the people around me.

Klien rushed back into the room, his face completely pale. He was holding a tablet, his hands slightly shaking.

"Sir..." Klien swallowed hard, looking at me with wide eyes. "The security footage from the private penthouse corridor... we finally recovered it."

I raised my eyes, my gaze cold and sharp as steel. "Did one of the staff steal it?"

"No, Sir. You… you wouldn't believe this," Klien stammered, stepping forward and placing the tablet on my desk. "Look at the time stamp. Exactly 20 minutes after you ordered the waitress to be released."

I looked down at the screen. The high-definition footage showed the empty hallway right outside my office door. Then, a small, golden flash appeared on the camera.

It was the golden wolf pup.

The pup trotted toward my office door. It didn't struggle, and it didn’t hesitate. It stood on its hind legs, jumped, and looked directly into the high-security biometric scanner. The heavy metal doors clicked open. The pup slipped inside, and a few seconds later, it ran out with my black leather wallet firmly gripped in its tiny teeth.

I stood up slowly, the chair behind me screeching against the floor.

My heart hammered against my ribs, not out of anger, but from absolute shock. The security lock on my private office was the most advanced system in the world. It didn't use a key, a password, or a card.

The biometric required to open that door was my own iris. My genetic code. And that puppy just opened it with a single glance.