Chapter 3: The Devil's Penthouse

Before I could process the weight of the deal I had just made, Kael moved.

​He didn't walk me out of the alley; he practically swept me off my feet. With one steel-like arm locked firmly around my waist, he guided me past the bodies on the wet asphalt toward the main street, where a sleek, armored black Maybach was idling at the curb.

​Vance hurried ahead and pulled the heavy rear door open, bowing his head as Kael pushed me gently but firmly onto the plush leather seats inside.

​The moment Kael climbed in beside me and shut the door, the cramped interior of the luxury car shrank to the size of a matchbox. His presence was overwhelming. Even sitting two feet away, the heat rolling off his massive frame and that intoxicating scent of dark pine and rain made it almost impossible for me to draw a full breath.

​"Vance," Kael commanded smoothly, unbuttoning his drenched trench coat and tossing it onto the opposite seat. "Take two guards from the Eastern sector and go to her apartment immediately. Bring her brother to the penthouse, and pay off whatever bottom-feeding loan sharks have been sniffing around their door. If they ask questions, break their jaws."

​My head snapped toward him, my heart leaping into my throat. "Wait! You can't just send armed men bursting into my apartment! Leo is twelve—he’ll be terrified! Let me call him first!"

​Kael reached into his pocket, pulled out a sleek black smartphone, and held it out to me. His molten gold eyes had faded back to a piercing, stormy silver-gray, though a faint ring of gold still lingered around his pupils.

​"Call him," Kael said simply. "Tell him to pack a bag and wait for Vance. You aren't leaving my sight tonight, little mouse."

​With trembling fingers, I took the phone and dialed our landline. Leo picked up on the second ring, his young voice thick with sleep and worry. It took everything in me to keep my voice steady as I lied, telling him that my boss had given me a huge promotion with free luxury housing, and that a security driver named Vance was coming to pick him up right now.

​When I hung up and handed the phone back, my hands were shaking violently from the adrenaline crash and the freezing wet clothes clinging to my skin.

​Kael watched me in silence for a beat. Then, without a word, he pressed a button on the console to crank the heated seats to the maximum, and draped a thick cashmere blanket over my shivering shoulders.

​I blinked in surprise, clutching the soft fabric around my throat. "Why are you doing this? You rule half the city's underworld. You could have any wealthy, powerful shifter woman in Silver City begging to sign a contract with you. Why force a broke human dishwasher from an alley?"

​Kael turned his head slowly to look at me. In the dim amber glow of the passing streetlights, the sharp angles of his face looked carved from marble.

​"Because the wealthy, powerful women in my world are vipers sent by the High Council to spy on me," Kael replied, his voice dangerously quiet. "And because for the past six months, my wolf has been clawing at the inside of my skull, driving me closer to madness every single night."

​He leaned forward suddenly, bracing his elbows on his knees, invading my space until I was pressed back against the car door. He lifted a hand, his warm knuckles brushing lightly against the side of my neck where my pulse was fluttering wildly.

​"Until ten minutes ago," Kael murmured, that golden ring flaring around his irises again. "The second I breathed you in, the noise in my head stopped. I don't know what you are, Elara, or why a fragile human carries a scent that brings a feral Alpha to his knees. But I don't let go of things that belong to me."

​"I don't belong to you," I breathed out, a reckless spark of defiance cutting through my fear. "It’s a one-year contract. A business transaction."

​A slow, lethal smirk curved Kael’s lips. "Keep telling yourself that, little mouse."

​Twenty minutes later, the car glided into a private underground garage beneath the tallest skyscraper in downtown Silver City—The Obsidian Tower.

​A private elevator took us straight to the top floor. When the brass doors slid open, my jaw nearly hit the floor. The penthouse was massive, wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass walls overlooking the glittering skyline, complete with dark marble floors and a roaring modern fireplace.

​Kael walked straight toward a heavy mahogany desk, picked up a leather folder, and tossed it onto the glass coffee table along with a gold fountain pen.

​"Read it or don't," Kael said, rolling his sleeves up his muscular forearms. "The terms are simple. One year. You live here under my roof. In public, and in front of the Pack Elders, you act like you are madly, hopelessly in love with me. You don't speak to other men, you don't leave the tower without a guard, and you never tell a soul that this marriage is on paper only."

​I walked slowly toward the table, staring down at the thick parchment stamped with the silver crest of a snarling wolf.

​"And if I break the rules?" I asked softly, picking up the heavy gold pen.

​Kael stepped up right behind me, the heat of his chest radiating against my back. He leaned down, bracing one hand on the table beside the contract.

​"If you break my rules," Kael whispered against my ear, sending a dark thrill straight down my spine, "there won't be a contract left to protect you from me. Now sign your name, Wife."