Chapter 4

Conall’s POV

"Your coffee is getting cold, Alpha," my beta, Logan, muttered, sliding a fresh stack of financial documents onto the edge of my desk.

I did not look up from the dark window, my fingers tightly gripping the glass of whiskey that had replaced my actual breakfast weeks ago.

"Leave it, Logan," I said, my voice sounding incredibly rough and completely drained of life.

For five miserable years, my entire existence had felt like walking through a massive pile of cold gray ash.

On paper, the Blackwood Pack was completely thriving, our corporate stock prices hitting record highs every single quarter.

But inside my chest, everything was dead. My inner wolf spent every single night pacing back and forth in my mind, howling for a ghost we couldn't bring back.

The memory of Isabelle’s pale face on the day I tossed those divorce papers at her was permanently burned into my eyelids.

I thought she was weak. I thought she was just an annoying political liability that I needed to scrub away to keep the elders happy.

Then she fled into that brutal storm and vanished into the raging river, leaving me with a severed mate bond that felt like a permanent physical wound.

"We have a massive situation with the shipping network," Logan continued, his voice dragging me out of my dark thoughts. "The hackers struck the New York terminal again, and our firewalls completely folded like paper."

"How much did we lose this time?" I asked, finally turning around to face him.

"Three million dollars in delayed cargo, and two major corporate clients just pulled their shipping contracts entirely," Logan sighed, rubbing his tired eyes.

I let out a dark growl, the raw sound making the glass on my desk vibrate slightly.

Blackwood Holdings was getting absolutely slaughtered by digital sabotage, and our internal IT team was completely useless against the attacks.

The only solution left on the entire planet was Aegis Systems, a massive cybersecurity company that had come out of nowhere and taken over the industry.

"Did you manage to get us into that private summit?" I demanded, leaning my hands flat on the desk.

"It was a complete nightmare, Conall," Logan admitted, shaking his head. "The Aegis board members don't care about pack status or corporate wealth. I had to threaten three different venture capitalists just to secure two VIP passes for us."

"Good," I muttered, grabbing my suit jacket off the back of the chair. "Because if we do not get a face-to-face meeting with their anonymous director tonight, our entire global logistics empire is going to collapse by the end of the month."

We left the office and drove down to the grand convention center, the heavy Boston traffic doing absolutely nothing to soothe my exploding temper.

My inner wolf was acting completely crazy inside my head, clawing at my ribs like he was trying to break out of his cage.

"Calm the hell down," I snapped internally, trying to force the animalistic instincts back into the dark corners of my mind.

We walked through the heavy glass doors of the grand ballroom, the bright lights and loud chatter of thousands of investors immediately giving me a massive headache.

Logan led the way toward the restricted VIP section, our pack guards taking their positions at the edge of the row to give us some space.

I slumped into the expensive leather seat, crossing my legs as I watched the human executives mingle and drink champagne.

"The presentation is starting in five minutes," Logan whispered, leaning over to check his phone. "They say the secret mastermind behind the code is finally going to step onto the stage and reveal their true identity."

"I do not care who wrote the code, Logan," I muttered, my eyes scanning the room out of pure habit. "I just want their signature on our security contract so we can stop losing millions every single week."

Suddenly, the air inside the massive room shifted completely, the temperature seemingly dropping by twenty degrees in a split second.

A heavy wave of pure dread slammed directly into my chest, making it incredibly hard to pull oxygen into my lungs.

My inner wolf stopped pacing entirely, his virtual ears flattening against his head before he began to howl in absolute terror and confusion.

"What is that smell?" I whispered, my hand instinctively moving to the collar of my shirt to loosen my tie.

"What smell?" Logan asked, looking at me like I had completely lost my mind. "I don't smell anything except expensive perfume and human sweat, Alpha."

He was wrong. There was something else cutting through the room, an overwhelming presence that felt dangerously familiar yet completely terrifying.

It felt like the ancient power of a dominant alpha, but it was wrapped in a cold, suffocating layer of pure corporate authority.

My pulse began to hammer against my veins, my heart beating so loudly that it was completely drowning out the noise of the crowd around us.

The stage lights suddenly dimmed, and the massive digital screens behind the podium flashed with the bright silver logo of Aegis Systems.

The master of ceremonies walked up to the microphone, his voice echoing loudly through the state-of-the-art sound system.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer proclaimed, his voice booming across the silent room. "Tonight, we are privileged to finally meet the hidden mind behind the fastest-growing technology empire in America."

My eyes locked onto the heavy velvet curtains at the side of the stage, my body going completely rigid as my instincts screamed at me to run.

"The majority shareholder and chief technical director of Aegis Systems," the announcer shouted into the microphone. "Please welcome Isabelle Loren."

The heavy double doors swung open, and a woman stepped out into the center of the bright white spotlight.

She was wearing a sharp, emerald green suit that screamed wealth, her long dark hair falling perfectly over her shoulders as she walked.

My heart stopped beating entirely, the air in my throat turning into solid ice as I stared at her face.

The delicate, submissive Luna I had thrown out into the rain five years ago was standing right in front of me.

But she was completely different. Her eyes were not filled with tears or begging for my affection; they were like two pieces of polished gray stone.

She radiated a massive wave of power that actually made my inner wolf bow his head in submission inside my own mind.

Isabelle scanned the massive crowd, her cold gaze moving slowly across the rows of seats until it landed directly on my face.

She did not flinch. She did not look shocked to see me sitting there.

Instead, a tiny, mocking smile touched the corners of her lips, a silent declaration of war that left me completely paralyzed in my seat.

"Conall?" Logan whispered from next to me, his voice sounding like it was miles away. "Conall, what is wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost."

The dead mate bond inside my chest suddenly reawoke with a violent, agonizing screech, flooding my entire body with a desperate, clawing hunger.

She was supposed to be at the bottom of the river. She was supposed to be dead and buried in an unmarked grave.

I gripped the armrests of my leather chair so hard that the expensive material began to tear beneath my fingernails.

I stared at the breathtaking, untouchable billionaire standing on the stage, my voice cracking as I whispered the only words left in my head.

"No way.”