Chapter 5: The Leak

Grayson POV

The TV wouldn’t stop screaming her name.

"Senator Luke Carter’s daughter. Caught with business partner Grayson Vale. Footage leaked 2 hours ago."

My penthouse was trashed. Phones on the floor. Whiskey on the rug.

Because the woman on that screen was mine.

And the world had her.

I watched it again. Grainy night vision. Everly under me. My hands in her hair. Her mouth on mine.

My board members were already emailing resignations. The pack elders were calling for my head. "Stepping down effective immediately," one text read. "For the good of the pack."

They wanted me gone. They wanted her gone. And Luke? Luke wanted me dead.

Someone had sold it. Someone who had access to my security.

My lawyer called for the 12th time. I ignored it. The board called for the 13th. I threw the phone at the wall.

The bond was screaming. Pulling me east. To her. To the Carter estate 100 miles away.

Luke’s threat rang in my head: "If I see you within 100 miles of her again, I will end you."

I grabbed my keys.

Screw him.

If he wanted a war, he’d get one.

The drive was hell. Every mile the bond got tighter. Every mile I felt her fear, her anger, her grief.

At a gas station 50 miles out, a reporter recognized me. "Mr. Vale! Comment on the scandal!" I nearly shifted right there. Had to lock my wolf down. Lila was clawing at me, desperate to get to Everly.

She thought I abandoned her.

I pulled over 2 miles from the Carter gates. Parked in the trees. Shifted.

Lila was pacing on the other side. I could feel her.

And then I smelled him.

Alpha. Expensive cologne. Political.

Damian Black.

He was walking up the driveway like he owned it. Security saluted him.

What the hell was he doing here?

---

Everly POV

Day 2 of hell.

No phone. No windows. Just a bed and a guard who wouldn’t look at me.

Downstairs the TV was on 24/7. Reporters saying my name like it was dirty.

"Scandal." "Disgrace." "Campaign in freefall."

Lila kept showing me images. Grayson’s hands. His mouth. The way he said my name. It was torture. The bond was stretched so thin I thought it would snap.

I sat with my back to the door, hand on my neck, over the mark.

It burned. Because he was close.

I could feel him.

A knock.

Collins opened the door. His face was blank.

"Visitor," he said. "Alpha Damian Black."

My blood went cold.

Damian walked in like he was already in charge. 28. Black suit. Black eyes. Smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

He was beautiful. And terrifying.

"Everly," he said. Voice smooth. "We need to talk."

"Get out," I whispered.

He sat on the edge of my bed like he had a right to. "No. Your father and I have an arrangement. The scandal broke 2 hours ago. His polls dropped 15 points. The only way to save him is me."

"You think I don’t know about mates?" He leaned closer. "I do. But mates can be... reassigned. Especially when one of them commits political suicide. Your wolf will get over him, Everly. They always do."

He leaned in. Smelled like cedar and power.

"You and me. Wedding. In 3 days. Public. Televised. It’ll bury the Grayson story."

I laughed. It came out broken. "I’m his mate. I’m marked. I can’t—"

"Marked?" His eyes dropped to my collar. His jaw ticked. "I saw the video, Everly. I know what he did to you."

He said it like it was a crime. Like I was evidence.

"I don’t want you," he said bluntly. "I want the Carter name. The Carter votes. The Carter alliance. Marry me. We play happy for 6 months. After the election we annul it. Quietly. You can go back to your wolf then."

My chest cracked. "You want me to lie? On national TV?"

"I want you to save your father," he corrected. "Unless you’d rather watch his career burn. Watch him go to jail when the ethics committee comes for him. All because of you and Vale."

The door opened again.

Dad.

His eyes were dead. "Damian. Thank you for coming."

"Senator," Damian stood. "We were just discussing the wedding details."

Dad looked at me. Through me.

"It’s done. 3 days. St. Mary’s Cathedral. The press will be there."

He turned to leave. Then stopped.

"Don’t make me ashamed of you again, Everly."

The door closed.

Damian’s hand brushed my knee. I flinched.

"Don’t touch me," I hissed.

His smile finally reached his eyes. Cold. "You will. In 3 days. In front of God and everyone."

He stood and straightened his cufflinks. "Oh, and Everly? I suggest you practice smiling. The cameras will be watching."

He left.

I fell apart the second he was gone.

That night I heard the guards shift. Footsteps outside. Then nothing.

A shadow at my window.

Grayson.

He tapped the glass once.

I pressed my hand to it. He pressed his to mine. Glass between us.

His mouth formed words: Don’t sign anything.

Then headlights.

Damian’s car pulling back up. At midnight.

Grayson vanished into the trees.

Damian got out with a folder. He looked up. Right at my window. Right at me.

And smiled.

Like he knew.

---

Grayson POV

I was 100 yards away when I saw it.

Damian going back into the house at midnight. With a folder.

Why?

I shifted back. Hacked the Carter security feed on my phone.

And I saw it.

3 weeks ago. Damian at my penthouse. With my head of security.

Money exchanged hands.

A USB drive.

My blood froze.

He leaked it.

He paid to leak me and Everly.

To force her into his bed.

I punched the tree beside me. Bark flew. My wolf howled. He was using her. Using Luke. Using the scandal to crown himself.

Rage went white hot. I almost ran through the front gates.

But then I saw Everly at the window again. Crying.

I couldn’t get her killed.

I texted Collins from a burner:

Then I disappeared back into the woods.

3 days.

That’s all we had.

Before they tried to put a ring on her finger that wasn’t mine.

---

Everly POV

Morning.

Collins slipped me a note with breakfast.

Proof.

But what good was proof when the wedding invitations were already sent?

When the news was already playing?

When Damian was downstairs picking out flowers?

The invitation on my desk had gold foil. "Senator Luke Carter & Alpha Damian Black request your presence." My name wasn’t even on it. I was just the bride. The object.

I looked out the window.

No Grayson.

The bond felt like static.

I pressed my hand to my neck. To the mark.

3 days, I thought.

Hold on, Gray. Please hold on.

Downstairs, Damian’s voice: "The dress fitting is at 2. Don’t be late, fiancée."

The word made me sick.

I had 72 hours.

To stop a wedding.

To save my father.

To choose between duty and the mate the moon gave me.

The door locked again.

But this time, I wasn’t waiting.

I was planning.