로그인CHAPTER 82MARCOQUIET TEETH I paced the length of the room for what had to be the hundredth time, bare feet whispering over the polished floor before I turned sharply again, three steps short of the window. Always three. Muscle memory. Control. Or the illusion of it.My wolf hated this room. I could feel him pacing with me, a heavy presence just under my skin, shoulders rolling MY, teeth clicking faintly in agitation. The space was too tight, too watched. The air smelled wrong, layered with unfamiliar wolves, fresh dominance markers, ward magic humming like a low electrical current in my bones. Extra security. My father’s favourite language.“This isn’t subtle,” I muttered to no one. My wolf agreed, a low, irritated rumble curling through my chest.My father never did anything without intent. If there were more guards, more wards, more eyes, it wasn’t because he feared an attack. It was because he was controlling movement. Controlling information. Controlling me.And I knew exactly
CHAPTER 81CALLIE THE WEIGHT OF TEETH AND SILENCEBeing alone after Alessandro left was worse than being interrogated.At least when he was there, I knew where the danger was. It stood in front of me, wore a polite smile, and spoke in careful sentences. When he left, the danger became everything else, the quiet, the walls, the slow drip of time stretching itself thin just to see how much I could take.I stayed where I was for a long time. I didn’t know how long. The room didn’t have windows. Light came from somewhere unseen, steady and artificial, never shifting enough to mark hours. My wolf paced beneath my skin, restless, agitated, nails scraping against the inside of my ribs like she wanted out. I kept her there. Not because she was weak, but because she was loud. And loud people got killed.I replayed Alessandro’s words whether I wanted to or not. You could end this. One word from you.He was wrong about a lot of things, but not about that. I could end it. I could say the word he
CHAPTER 80MATTEO TEETH BEHIND THE SMILEAlessandro de Luca’s territory pressed in on me the moment I crossed the final boundary line. My wolf felt it first, hackles lifting under my skin, a low warning rumble settling in my chest. This wasn’t just land. It was claimed. Saturated with dominance, layered with scent marks so old and deliberate they felt carved into the air itself. Alessandro didn’t just rule this place. He branded it. He chose the meeting spot carefully. Of course he did.Not the main fortress. Not the public halls where packs gathered and postured. He brought me to a private estate tucked deeper into the territory, surrounded by dense forest and stone walls that hummed faintly with warding runes. Subtle. Expensive. Effective.I was escorted inside without ceremony. Two guards, silent, controlled, wolves riding close to the surface. They didn’t touch me. They didn’t need to. The message was already clear: you’re here because we allow it.Alessandro was waiting.He stoo
CHAPTER 79MATTEORESCUE MISSION I didn’t sleep on the plane. Not really. I closed my eyes, sure. I leaned my head back, pretended the engine’s hum was something soothing instead of a constant reminder that I was suspended in the air with nothing but thin metal between me and a very long fall. But my mind never shut up. It paced the way Santiago had back in the kitchen, tight circles, sharp turns, no release. Every bump of turbulence had my wolf stirring, nails scraping faintly at the inside of my ribs, irritated and restless.Easy, I told him. Not yet.He didn’t like flying. Neither did I. Wolves weren’t meant to be this far off the ground, boxed in with strangers who smelled like stress, cheap cologne, and stale coffee. I spent most of the flight cataloguing exits, counting steps, wondering how fast I could get to the aisle if something went wrong, knowing full well that if it really went wrong, none of that would matter.I thought about Callie.That was the worst part. Every time
CHAPTER 78 MARCO STRATEGIES The call came when my patience was already threadbare. I felt it before I heard it, the subtle shift in the wards, the low hum tightening in my chest. Then the phone vibrated against the desk. I stared at it for a second longer than necessary, jaw clenched, wondering why he's calling me when I just ended a secret call, before picking it up. “Talk,” Travis said. “I'm the one who's supposed to say that since you're the one who called. And how do you know I have something to say. Did you bug me?” “Marco…” He said tiredly. I didn’t waste timeafter that. “Matteo’s on his way.” He laughed, sharp and humorless. “You’re joking.” I let out a sigh. “I wish I was.” I pushed back from the desk and stood, pacing the length of the study. The room felt smaller than it had an hour ago. Smaller than it had any right to be. “What the
CHAPTER 77CALLIE ENDURING IT ALLPressure changed shape when it stayed too long. At first, it was sharp, clean, almost surgical. Fear with edges. Pain you could catalogue. I could survive that. I knew how to catalogue pain. I’d been doing it most of my life. But after a while, pressure stopped cutting and started sinking.It settled into my bones. My joints. The soft spaces between thoughts. It became weight instead of force, gravity instead of impact. It didn’t demand anything loudly. It just waited. I learned that quickly in the chair.The room hadn’t changed. It was still cold enough to make my teeth chatter when I stopped moving. Still empty enough that my own breathing sounded intrusive. Still quiet in a way that pressed in on my ears until I almost missed screaming.Almost. I didn’t scream. I talked instead. Not out loud, not to Alessandro, not to the walls, not to the guards who pretended they couldn’t hear me breat







