Chapter 6: THE DAWN CONTRACT

Elliot POV

The clock on the kitchen island read 5:45 AM. The blue numbers glared at me from across the marble counter. I hadn’t slept all night. My green and silver Wolves tracksuit felt stiff and tight from the night’s sweat. My muscles ached from the ice. My chest felt worse. A bad feeling was growing inside me.

The penthouse was very quiet. It felt like it was closing in on me. The air smelled like cedarwood and mint. Sebastian’s scent. It was everywhere, in the curtains, on the glass walls, and in my lungs. It reminded me that I was in a trap.

I had a forced marriage and a lifetime contract. If Devereux shared my medical files with the sports registry, my career would be over. They would find out I was an Omega using Beta papers and black-market medicine to play in an Alpha league. I wouldn’t just get banned; I’d go to prison for fraud. Everything I worked hard for would be gone.

The private elevator chimed, breaking the silence. The doors opened. Two men walked into the kitchen.

Sebastian came in first. He had just showered. His dark hair was pushed back, showing his jaw. He wore a shirt with rolled-up sleeves, showing off his strong forearms. He looked like an executioner about to sentence someone.

Behind him was Arthur Vance, a lawyer. He looked perfect for 6 AM, dressed in a navy suit. He carried a heavy leather briefcase. He set it down on the counter with a loud thud.

"Sit," Sebastian said. His deep voice cut through the quiet. He slid a mug of coffee toward me.

I didn’t touch the mug. I stood still, gripping the marble island tightly. "Let’s get this over with. I want to see the protection clauses before I sign anything."

Vance opened his briefcase, pulled out three thick folders, and slid the documents toward me. "The terms are final. We had to make this airtight. This isn’t just a certificate. We are tying your millions in assets to Sebastian’s estate. Your Wolves contract, endorsements, and private trust are all legally bound to Sebastian’s estate."

"My money stays mine," I snapped, glaring at Sebastian. "I am not giving a dime of my hockey revenue to a rival team captain."

"You don’t understand the gravity of your situation," Sebastian said, leaning against the counter. He crossed his arms, his hazel eyes darkening. "If the league suspects a sham, they invoke Article 9. They force a blood screening. But if our money is tied together, the league cannot audit your medical history without my signature. My Alpha status protects your assets because, legally, they are now our assets."

My jaw clenched until my teeth ached. I looked down at the legal text. The words blurred before my eyes.

Section 12: Co-Habitation and Public Demeanor. The signees must reside together in the Redmoor Penthouse for at least thirty-six months. In public spaces and in front of the media, both parties must project an image of a matched, bonded couple.

"Three years," I whispered, feeling a weight drop into my stomach. "You expect me to live here? With you? We play for rival teams, Sebastian! The media will destroy us the second we arrive at the arena together."

"That’s the strategy," Vance interrupted, pointing a gold pen at the page. "We are controlling the narrative before Devereux can leak any file. We are telling the press this was a secret, forbidden romance, the star captain of the Kings and the star winger of the Wolves. We’ll say the pressure of the Finals broke your restraint, and you bonded. If the public thinks it’s a sudden biological mating, they won’t look for fraud. It stops the investigation dead."

"It makes us a public circus," I spat, my hands trembling.

"It keeps you out of a cell," Sebastian countered.

He walked around the island, his footsteps loud on the hardwood floor. He stopped less than a foot from me. His massive frame blocked out the morning light from the windows, trapping me in his shadow.

The proximity made my chest tighten. My heart hammered against my ribs, adrenaline threatening to overwhelm me. I felt dizzy, the panic rising in my throat. I wanted to reach up and touch my neck, to make sure my chemical scent patch wasn’t peeling under stress, but I couldn’t move.

Then Sebastian leaned in. He didn’t touch me, but his intense scent of cedarwood and cold mint washed over me, heavy and dominant. The sheer force of his Alpha presence acted like an anchor. It cut through my spiraling thoughts, forcing the panic back down into my chest. Even choked with suppressants, my body recognized his weight.

"You're a genius on the ice, Elliot," Sebastian whispered, his voice a low, visceral rumble. "But out here, you have zero options. Sign the papers now, or I tell Arthur to pack his bags, and I walk away."

I stared up at him, hating him with every fiber of my being. He held all the cards. He had held them from the moment he smelled my true dynamic through my torn jersey in Game 7.

"Give me the pen," I whispered.

Vance handed me a heavy black fountain pen. My fingers shook as I signed the first copy. Elliot Gray. The dark ink bled deep into the thick paper. I signed the second and third copies, each stroke a nail in the coffin of my autonomy.

The moment I dropped the pen, Sebastian picked it up. With large, practiced strokes, he wrote his name next to mine: Sebastian Wolfe.

Arthur Vance brought down a notary stamp with a loud thud. "It’s official. The digital encryption is hitting the league registry database now. The legal marriage is filed."

The lawyer left the penthouse. When the heavy front door clicked shut behind him, the suffocating silence returned.

I turned on my heel to put a physical wall between us, but Sebastian’s hand shot out like lightning. His large fingers caught my jaw, a grip firm and unyielding. He tilted my face upward, forcing me to look into his hazel eyes. He looked at the fresh ink on the counter and then back to my face.

"You're a Wolfe now, pretty boy," Sebastian murmured, his thumb brushing against my lower lip, sending a spike of heat down my spine. "The league has to go through me first."

Before I could swat his hand away, a metallic crash echoed from the back hallway of the penthouse.

Sebastian froze. His eyes shifted to pitch-black as his nostrils flared, catching a foul scent in the air. Someone else was inside, the heavy stench of a raw, unbonded Alpha pouring out from the dark corridor.