THE PRICE OF ENTRY

Justin’s POV

I stared at the blood-stained contract on the marble floor until the words blurred.

My hands—hands that had commanded armies, signed treaties that reshaped the realm, and once held her hips while I knotted her so deep she screamed my name—now trembled as I reached for the folder.

Doctor Veronica Sanchez – Terms of Treatment and Authority

Every clause was a blade.

Full medical control.
No external healers.
Mandatory residence in her private wing during recovery.
Daily examinations.
Complete obedience to all clinical orders.
No Alpha commands inside the clinic.
Ninety days of total submission.

And the final line, written in her elegant, merciless handwriting:

Any violation will result in immediate termination of treatment. No exceptions. No appeals.

I could feel my men watching me. Their shame rolled off them in waves. The Supreme Alpha, on his knees in another Alpha’s territory, about to sign away his autonomy to the omega he had thrown away three years ago.

Three years.

Gods, it still tasted like ash.

I remembered that night too clearly. The grand hall lit with crystal and gold. My father’s voice in my ear: “The Princess’s alliance will secure the eastern borders. Love is a luxury Alphas like us cannot afford.” Veronica had stood in the shadows in that simple silver dress, her hand protectively over her stomach even then—though I hadn’t known it at the time. I had looked into her eyes and chosen duty over the woman who carried my scent, my bite marks still fresh on her throat.

I told her it was necessary.

I told myself I would find a way to keep her.

I was a fool.

She ran that same night. Disappeared like smoke. And I let the realm convince me she was just another omega who couldn’t handle the weight of power.

Now she was the weight of power.

And I was bleeding out on her floor.

A fresh wave of pain tore through my veins, making my vision spark black. The poison was a masterpiece—slow, elegant, designed to make me suffer. Whoever sent it knew exactly how to weaken an Alpha without killing him quickly. They wanted me desperate.

They wanted me here.

I pressed my bleeding palm against the signature line, leaving a dark crimson print instead of ink. The metallic scent mixed with hers—clean antiseptic, cool jasmine, and that unmistakable omega sweetness that still made my cock twitch even as my body failed.

The memory hit me hard.

Her on her back in my bed, legs wrapped around my waist, nails digging into my shoulders as I drove into her again and again. The way she had moaned “Justin…” like a prayer when my knot swelled inside her, locking us together while she came so hard she cried. The way she had whispered she loved me right before I shattered her.

I hated myself more in this moment than I ever had.

A pair of pristine white heels stopped inches from my face.

“Done?” Her voice was ice and velvet.

I looked up.

Veronica stood over me like a goddess of judgment. White coat immaculate, dark hair pinned back severely, exposing the long column of her neck I used to mark. Her expression revealed nothing. No triumph. No hatred. Just calm, absolute control.

It was more devastating than rage.

I pushed the signed contract toward her with shaking fingers.

“Signed in blood,” I rasped. “As fitting.”

She crouched gracefully, picked up the folder, and examined my bloody signature with clinical detachment. A faint smile touched her lips—small, satisfied, and so fucking beautiful it hurt.

“Welcome to the Black Veil Clinic, Patient Halderman. Your name no longer matters here. You are mine to heal… or not.”

The words sent a dark thrill through my broken body. My cock hardened fully despite the agony, pressing painfully against my blood-soaked pants. She noticed—of course she noticed. Her gaze dropped for half a second, and something flickered in her eyes. Not desire. Not yet.

Anticipation.

She rose and snapped her fingers. Two of her nurses appeared with a gurney.

“Take him to the secured wing. Prep for emergency stabilization. I want him conscious for the first procedure.”

As they lifted me, the world tilted. Pain exploded through every nerve, but I forced my eyes to stay on her.

“Veronica,” I whispered, too low for anyone else to hear.

She leaned down until her lips were beside my ear, her breath warm against my skin.

“I told you not to use my name.” Her voice dropped to a dangerous purr. “But since this is your first night under my care… I’ll allow it once.”

Her gloved hand slid slowly down my chest, pressing just hard enough on the worst of the wounds to make me groan. The touch was clinical, yet deliberately intimate.

“Sleep well, Justin,” she murmured. “Tomorrow, the real price begins. Every breath you take from now on will be because I allow it. Every moan of pain. Every drop of pleasure I decide to give you while I cut the poison from your body.”

She straightened as they wheeled me away.

I kept my eyes on her until the doors closed.

Even as darkness pulled at the edges of my vision, one truth burned brighter than the agony:

I had lost her completely.

And yet, kneeling in her blood and her power… some ruined, desperate part of me was already addicted to this new version of her.

The Queen Surgeon of Ruin.

My ruin.

And I would pay any price to stay in her hands.