CHAPTER 3

"Where the hell is my tablet? I had a firewall half-cracked!"

Liam’s voice cut through the stagnant air of the back seat like a serrated blade. He wasn't scared. He should have been terrified, but the kid just kicked the leather of the Maybach’s passenger seat, his silver eyes flashing with a defiance that made Samuel’s blood turn to ice.

"Shut it, Liam," Samuel hissed. He gripped the door handle, knuckles white, skin crawling.

The Alpha King didn't look back from the front. Adrian Stain sat like a mountain of stone, his presence alone sucking the oxygen out of the car. The scent of cedar and rain—the same scent that had haunted Samuel’s nightmares for five years—filled every lungful of air. It was thicker now. Heavier. It triggered a primal thrumming in Samuel’s bones that he couldn't switch off.

They were hauled through the lobby of Stain Global. Glass, steel, and a thousand eyes. Samuel kept his chin tucked into his ruined collar, hiding the pulse that hammered against the mark on his neck. Adrian didn't stop to talk to secretaries. He didn't acknowledge the bowing executives. He threw open the double doors to his top floor office and shoved Samuel inside.

The door slammed. The lock clicked.

"Start talking," Adrian growled. He didn't sit behind the massive mahogany desk. He loomed.

"There’s nothing to say," Samuel snapped, his voice trembling despite the fire in his gut. He grabbed Liam’s hand, pulling the boy behind his legs. "He’s a kid. We were passing through. You have no right to haul us in here like criminals."

Adrian’s lip curled. A flash of canine poked through. "Passing through? You’ve been hiding for five years. In the human slums. Stinking of cheap soap to drown out what you are."

"I'm human," Samuel lied. The word felt like lead on his tongue. "Liam is the result of a random night. Some guy in a bar. A human guy. We don't belong in your world, Adrian."

The desk groaned as Adrian slammed his palms onto the wood. The sound was like a gunshot. He leaned over, his face inches from Samuel’s. The heat radiating off the Alpha’s skin was a physical force, making Samuel’s concealment cream feel like it was melting.

"Liar," Adrian breathed. The word carried the weight of a death sentence.

"You don't know anything."

"I know enough." Adrian reached into his breast pocket and tossed a crisp white envelope onto the desk. "I pulled a strand of his hair the second I touched him on the sidewalk. My lab doesn't take five years to do a rush job. It takes twenty minutes."

Samuel’s hands shook as he reached for the paper. He didn't need to read the numbers. The bold, red 99.9% Match stared back at him like an accusation.

"He’s a True Blood, Samuel. Look at his eyes. Look at the way he’s already trying to hack my mainframe from that tablet in his bag. He’s my heir." Adrian stepped around the desk, his movements fluid and predatory. "You're moving into the estate. Tonight. Liam begins training in the morning. No more slums. No more hiding."

"No." Samuel backed away until his spine hit the floor-to-ceiling window. The height made his head spin. "Your pack will kill us. You have a Luna, Adrian. Isabelle Reed isn't going to let a 'human' and a bastard take the throne. We’ll be dead before the week is out."

Adrian let out a sound that wasn't human. It was a jagged, dry laugh that scraped the air.

"You think I care about Isabelle?" Adrian stepped into Samuel’s personal space, his chest brushing Samuel’s. He didn't grab him. He didn't have to. The air was so thick with Alpha pheromones that Samuel’s legs felt like water. "I haven't touched her. I haven't touched anyone. Since that night in the basement of the Eclipse, I haven't been able to stand the scent of another living soul."

Samuel blinked, his breath coming in shallow hitches. "What?"

"You marked me," Adrian hissed, his hand flying to his own neck, where the blue glow was beginning to seep through his skin. "You bit me, you little thief. You didn't just give me a pup. You poisoned me."

He grabbed Samuel’s hand and shoved it against his own chest. Adrian’s heart was drumming a frantic, irregular rhythm. It felt like it was trying to break out of his ribs.

"It’s a Death Bond," Adrian whispered, his silver eyes dark with a mix of hunger and agony. "That bite... your dormant gene didn't just wake up. It claimed the King. If we stay apart, the mark rots. My wolf goes feral. I die, Samuel. And if I die, the pack burns."

The room went silent. Even Liam had stopped fidgeting. Samuel stared at the man who held the supernatural world in his fist, realizing the truth. He wasn't just a one-night stand. He was the anchor. He held the leash of the most dangerous man on the planet.

"I didn't mean to," Samuel whispered, his fingers curling into the fabric of Adrian’s shirt.

"Doesn't matter. You're mine now. By blood. By law. By—"

The office door didn't just open; it was kicked off the hinges.

A woman in a red silk dress that looked like a bloodstain marched in. Her hair was pulled back so tight it looked painful. Isabelle Reed. Her eyes scanned the room, landing on Samuel with a disgust so potent it felt like acid.

"What is this, Adrian?" she shrieked, her claws extending, ripping through her expensive manicure. "The guards said you brought in human trash. And a pup? Why is there a mongrel in the throne room?"

She lunged toward Liam, her hand raised. "I’ll clear this filth out myself—"

Adrian moved faster than the eye could track. One second he was in front of Samuel; the next, he had Isabelle by the throat, pinning her against the wall high enough that her heels dangled off the carpet.

The executive board, following in her wake, froze in the doorway. Their faces were masks of horror.

"Touch him," Adrian growled, his voice dropping into a register that made the entire floor of the building vibrate, "and I will feed your remains to the border rogues."

"Adrian!" she gasped, her face turning a mottled purple. "I am your Luna! This... this thing is nothing!"

Adrian didn't look at her. He looked back at Samuel, who was clutching Liam against his chest. Adrian’s eyes weren't just silver now—they were glowing.

"Isabelle is nothing," Adrian announced, his voice carrying through the open door to every executive and guard in the hall. "The bond with the Reeds is null. This man is my mate. He is my Consort. Anyone who breathes in his direction without my permission will answer to the King."

He dropped Isabelle. She slumped to the floor, coughing and hacking.

Samuel felt the weight of a thousand targets settling onto his back. He looked at the executives. He saw the hatred, the calculation, and the raw greed in their eyes. He wasn't just an architect anymore. He was the most hunted man in the world, tied to a dying King and a throne made of glass.

Adrian stepped back to him, his hand heavy on Samuel’s shoulder.

"Welcome home, Samuel," Adrian smirked.