Chapter 3: Shadows in the Bloodline

My pulse thundered in my ears as Kael’s voice slithered through the speakerphone like poison from my nightmares. “That pathetic pregnant whore I dealt with last year.” The words sliced deeper than the silver dagger ever had. I stood frozen against Damien’s desk, my new, stronger body rigid with the effort not to shift right there and tear his throat out.  

Damien’s golden eyes never left my face. He was studying me like a predator sizing up unfamiliar prey looking curious, hungry, and dangerously perceptive. His jaw flexed as he cut his brother off mid-sentence.  

“Enough, Kael. I don’t need your paranoid bullshit today. Handle your own mess and stay out of my office affairs.” He ended the call with a decisive tap, the silence that followed heavier than any growl.  

The air between us crackled. I could still feel the ghost of his fingers on my thigh, the thick heat of his arousal pressed against me moments before. My core throbbed traitorously, slick and needy despite the ice-cold fear flooding my veins. My wolf paced inside me, torn between wanting to submit to this powerful Alpha and wanting to rip his heart out for sharing blood with the monster who had killed me. 

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Seraphina,” Damien said, his voice low and rough. He stepped closer again, invading my space until the edge of the desk dug into my ass. One large hand braced beside me, caging me in. Cedarwood and raw masculinity flooded my senses. “Kael’s name seems to bother you. Care to explain why?”  

I forced a cool smile, tilting my chin up to meet his gaze. In my old life as Elara, I would have crumbled under that stare. Now? I let a spark of my new power bleed into my silver-grey eyes. “Your brother has a reputation for ruining pretty things. I’d rather not be another statistic on his list.”  

Damien’s nostrils flared. He leaned in, lips brushing the shell of my ear as he inhaled deeply. “You smell like lies and arousal, little wolf. You look sweet and dangerous like you’re hiding secrets that could get you killed… or fucked until you scream the truth.”  

A shiver raced down my spine. My nipples tightened painfully against the thin fabric of my blouse. I wanted to hate him. I needed to hate him but the Moon Goddess had cursed me with this body that responded to him like dry tinder to flame.  

“I was hired for work, Mr. Blackthorn,” I whispered, placing a hand on his chest to push him back. The hard muscle beneath my palm flexed, and I felt his heartbeat strong, steady and dominant. “Not for whatever game this is.”  

He caught my wrist before I could withdraw, his grip was firm . “Everything in this tower is my game. Including you.” His thumb stroked the inside of my wrist, right over my racing pulse. “And I play to win.”  

The tension snapped as his phone buzzed again,,this time with a calendar reminder. He released me with obvious reluctance, glancing at the screen. “We have a strategy session in ten minutes with the finance team. You’ll present the Voss merger projections. Impress me, Seraphina. Or I’ll find creative ways to punish your failures.”  

The dark promise in his tone sent another unwanted pulse of heat between my legs. I nodded sharply and gathered my tablet, following him out of the office on legs that felt far too unsteady.  

The rest of the afternoon blurred into a whirlwind of power meetings, whispered negotiations, and the constant weight of Damien’s gaze on me. In the glass conference room overlooking Lagos’ glittering skyline, I stood at the head of the table and delivered the projections with a confidence I hadn’t possessed in my first life. Numbers flowed from my lips: sharp, precise, laced with strategic insights that made several executives shift uncomfortably. Seraphina’s memories blended seamlessly with my own past knowledge of pack politics. I was no longer the weak omega. I was something sharper and deadlier.  

Damien watched me the entire time, leaning back in his chair like a king on his throne. Every time I glanced his way, his eyes burned with that same feral intensity. When I finished, the room erupted in reluctant applause. He said nothing. He just gave a slow, predatory nod that made my stomach tighten.  

By the time we returned to his private office as the sun dipped low over the city, painting everything in blood-red hues, I was exhausted from holding myself together. Flashbacks kept assaulting me at the worst moments.  

Cold marble under my knees. Kael’s laugh. The sharp twist of the dagger.  

I shook my head, pouring myself a glass of water from the crystal decanter on the sideboard. Damien loosened his tie, watching me. The top buttons of his shirt were open now, revealing a tantalizing glimpse of tanned, muscled chest.  

“You handled that better than my last three assistants combined,” he admitted with his voice quieter than before. Almost approving. “Where did you learn to read a room like that? Voss family taught you well before they lost everything?”  

I shrugged, keeping my back to him as I sipped the water. “Survival teaches better than any family.”  

He moved behind me silently. Alphas like him were predators even in human form. His hands settled on my hips, pulling me back against his solid frame. I gasped as I felt him again, hard and insistent against my ass.  

“Survival,” he murmured into my hair, one hand sliding up to cup my breast through my blouse, thumb circling my stiff nipple. “I like that. Makes me want to test how much you can take.”  

Pleasure shot through me like lightning. I arched involuntarily, biting back a moan. His other hand slipped lower, teasing the hem of my skirt again. So close to where I was dripping for him.  

“Damien…” I breathed, using his first name for the first time. A mistake. It sounded too intimate. Too much like surrender.  

“Say it again,” he growled, pinching my nipple hard enough to make me whimper. “I want to hear my name while I finger that soaked pussy you’ve been teasing me with all day.”  

My wolf howled inside, begging. My mind flashed to the vision from earlier,,him standing over me with a dagger, rejecting the child growing in my belly. I couldn’t. Not yet. Not until I knew if history would repeat.  

I spun in his arms, pushing him back with more strength than a normal assistant should possess. Surprise flickered in his golden eyes.  

“Not here. Not like this,” I said firmly, though my voice was husky with need. “I’m not one of your disposable toys, Mr. Blackthorn.”  

His lips curved into a dangerous smile. “You will be. Sooner than you think. And you’ll beg for it.”  

Before he could close the distance again, the elevator dinged. Victoria strode in without knocking, her expression sour. “Damien, there’s an urgent issue in the underground archives. Security caught someone trying to access the old Blackthorn-Voss alliance files. The ones sealed after the… incident last year.”  

My blood turned to ice. The incident. My death.  

Damien’s demeanor shifted instantly from seduction to lethal focus. “Who?”  

“Unknown female. She escaped, but left this.” Victoria held up a small silver pendant, one I recognized with horrifying clarity. It had been mine in my past life. A moonstone given to me by Kael before everything went to hell.  

I felt the room tilt. How was that possible? I had died with it around my neck.  

Damien took the pendant, his fingers tightening around it. When he looked at me, his eyes narrowed. “Seraphina. You’re coming with me. Something about this feels… connected to you.”  

I followed them down to the secure sub-levels, my heart hammering. The archives were dimly lit, lined with ancient tomes and digital vaults containing centuries of werewolf contracts, betrayals, and blood debts. As we approached the breached section, a familiar scent hit me, it was faint but unmistakable. My old pack’s scent markers.  

Damien scanned the area, then turned to me. “Explain why this pendant smells like you.”  

I froze. “It doesn’t. You’re imagining….”  

A low alarm blared suddenly. Red lights flashed. One of the sealed digital files unlocked on a nearby screen, triggered remotely.  

My face appeared. Not Seraphina’s. Elara’s. My old photo from the engagement announcement, pregnant and smiling beside Kael.  

The file header read: “Termination Protocol , Voss Omega Threat.”  

Damien’s entire body went rigid. He turned to me slowly, eyes glowing bright gold, fangs partially extended. “Seraphina Voss… or should I say, whoever the fuck you really are?”  

Behind him, shadows moved in the corridor. Multiple footsteps and Kael’s voice echoed from the approaching security feed: “Brother, I’m on my way up. We need to handle this intruder personally.”  

My wolf surged forward, claws extending. The game wasn’t just beginning anymore. It was about to explode in blood.