CHAPTER 6

"What the fuck, Elodie? Was any of it real?"

Camille’s voice didn't just shake. It shredded the air. The newspaper in her grip was a crumpled weapon, the ink smearing against her trembling fingers. Those blurry photos—me, Victor, the villa—looked like a confession of a crime I hadn't realized I was committing until this exact second.

"Cam, please," I rasped. I took a step, my hand reaching out, but the words choked me.

Behind me, Victor didn't move. He stood like a glacier, his heat the only thing stopping me from collapsing. His hand slammed onto my waist, his fingers digging into my hip bone through the silk of my dress. He wasn't comforting me. He was branding me. Right in front of her.

"Don't 'Cam' me!" she screamed. The scent of her pain was acidic, sharp like burning plastic. Her wolf was clawing at the back of her eyes, turning them a muddy, frantic brown. "I stood up for you! I told the Council you were innocent. I told everyone you were my sister!"

"I am your sister," I whispered.

"Liar!" Camille’s hand flew out. The glass of water she’d been holding hit the hardwood floor. Smash. Shards of glass sprayed across the polished surface, glittering like diamonds in the penthouse lights. A metaphor for my life. Broken. Sharp. Dangerous to touch.

Victor’s growl started deep in his chest. It made the floorboards vibrate under my heels. He didn't say he was sorry. He didn't explain. He just tightened his grip on my waist, pulling me back against his rock-hard frame. His Alpha arrogance was a physical wall, blocking Camille out.

"Watch your tongue, Camille," Victor hissed. "She is your future Luna."

"She’s a stray!" Camille spat the word like it was poison. "She’s a wolfless nobody who crawled into your bed to get her status back. Did you think I wouldn't find out? Did you think the whole pack wouldn't see you for the gold-digger you are, Elodie?"

"It’s the bond!" I shouted back, tears finally spilling over. "I didn't choose this! I didn't ask for the Moon Goddess to tie me to a man who banished me!"

"The bond?" Camille stepped over the broken glass, her heels crunching on the shards. "You don't get a bond. You’re broken. You’re just a warm body to him."

The nausea hit me then. A sudden, violent roll of my stomach. I gagged, my hand flying to my mouth. The scent of the room—Camille's rage, Victor's possessive musk—it was all too much.

"Get out," Victor commanded. The power in his voice hit like a physical wave. The windows in the penthouse rattled in their frames.

"You're kicking me out? For her?" Camille’s face crumbled.

"Now." Victor’s eyes flashed a lethal amber.

Camille turned and bolted. The door slammed so hard a painting on the wall tilted. I was alone. Isolated. The only person who had ever loved me just walked out, and all I could do was lean into the man who had orchestrated the whole disaster.

Victor didn't let me breathe. He spun me around, his hands moving from my waist to my hair, fisting the strands and forcing my head back.

"You're mine," he growled.

"You're a monster," I whispered.

He didn't care. He crashed his lips onto mine. It wasn't a kiss; it was a reclamation. His tongue forced my mouth open, tasting of salt and fury. I tried to fight, but the mate bond was a traitor. My legs went weak. My hands, which should have been slapping him, found the muscles of his back, clutching at his shirt.

He shoved me down onto the sofa, the leather cool against my heated skin. He didn't wait. He ripped the hem of my skirt up.

"Victor, the glass—"

"Shut up."

He fumbled with his belt, his breathing heavy and jagged. He wasn't the CEO now. He was a beast. He pulled my legs over his shoulders, his eyes locked on mine as he guided himself in.

He pushed deep. I gasped, my head hitting the cushions. It hurt, a blunt, stretching ache that quickly dissolved into a white-hot friction. He pounded into me, his movements raw and ungraceful. Each thrust sent a jolt of electricity through my spine.

"Say it," he panted, his sweat dripping onto my chest. "Say you belong to me."

"I... ahh! Victor!" I arched my back, my fingers digging into his biceps. I was cumming, my walls clenching around him as he let out a guttural roar, his seed filling me, a hot, heavy weight that felt like a permanent mark.

We lay there for a second, my breath hitching in broken sobs, his heavy body crushing me into the leather. The aftermath was a stinging hangover of skin and shame.

Thud.

The heavy sound of combat boots in the hallway snapped the silence. Victor was up in a second, zipping his trousers as Zack Vale led four members of the Shadow Guard into the room.

"Alpha," Zack said, his face a mask of regret. "The Council. They’ve seen the papers. They’ve issued an emergency summons."

Victor’s jaw creaked. "On what grounds?"

"Questioning the 'unknown female' for trespassing and corruption of the bloodline," Zack replied. He leaned in closer, his voice dropping. "It wasn't a paparazzo, Victor. Someone inside the High Guard leaked the villa photos. They’re using her to bait you into a coup."

My blood turned to ice. I wasn't just a mistress. I was a target.

"They think they can take her?" Victor’s aura flared, turning the air so heavy I could barely draw a breath.

"They’re already at the gates, Victor. They aren't here to protect her. They’re here to take her for 'interrogation.' You know she won't survive that."

Victor turned to me. The amber in his eyes was gone, replaced by a cold, terrifying resolve. He didn't ask. He didn't explain.

"We’re moving. Now."

"Victor, no! I’m not going back to the estate! They'll kill me!" I tried to scramble off the sofa, but my limbs were shaking too hard. The early pregnancy was draining every ounce of my strength.

"I won't let them touch you," he said, but he didn't sound like a lover. He sounded like a warden.

He scooped me up, my legs dangling as he strode toward the private elevator. I struggled, my fists thumping uselessly against his chest. "Put me down! You can't just kidnap me!"

"I can do whatever I want with what's mine," he hissed.

The elevator descended into the bowels of the building. When the doors opened, the garage was filled with the low, predatory hum of armored SUVs. Engines roared like hungry beasts.

Victor marched to the lead vehicle. Zack held the door open. Victor threw me into the back seat, the leather biting into my thighs.

"Victor, please! Don't do this!"

He ignored me, sliding in and locking the doors with a heavy clack. He leaned over me, his scent of storm clouds and forest overwhelming the small space. He grabbed my chin, his thumb forcing my mouth open slightly.

"You’re a ward of the Blackwood Pack now, Elodie," he whispered, his eyes dark and bottomless. "The city is gone. Your friend is gone. You’re coming home to the mountain, and you’re never leaving again."

The SUV tore out of the garage, tires screaming against the concrete, leaving my freedom in a cloud of exhaust. I looked out the tinted glass at the retreating skyline, my hand pressing against the secret of the life growing inside me.