Semua Bab Violet CLAW: Bab 51 - Bab 60

"You’re not using a knot-wrap. Don’t you dare finish inside me."I tried to shove Cole’s broad shoulders back, my voice thick with the haze of our shared heat."Didn't you claim you wanted to carry a Ryder heir to secure a piece of the family’s billions?" Cole’s voice was a low, vibrating growl as his hands locked onto my waist. "Here is your chance, Ivy."He didn't listen. By the time the storm outside began to quiet, he had already claimed his victory.That same afternoon, while the sun struggled to pierce the Zurich clouds, Jane Yoris was far from the mud of the valley. She was draped in silk, sipping herbal tea in her private suite at the Yoris estate, her phone pressed to her ear."Give me the update, Derek," she commanded. "You said the road to Autown was a wash-out. Is Dr. Mercer’s name on the casualty list yet?"She had been waiting for the notification of my "accidental" death since she’d orchestrated my departure on that flimsy e-bike. But Derek had gone silent for hours."M

I finally understood the weight of my own reckless words. The blood drained from my face as I heard Noah’s dismissal. I had used him as a shield, but the shadow falling over Cole’s features was blacker than a storm cloud. He looked at me as if I had personally violated every law of the pack.In that heartbeat, I began drafting my own funeral rites. Keep your head down and avoid the alpha’s path. Know when to retreat before the predator strikes.But reality didn't offer an escape. I had to face the silver-eyed storm."Noah, are you heading in for the kill—I mean, dinner?" I offered an awkward, trembling smile.I didn't dare look at Cole. I wasn't sure if the High Alpha of Ryder Global would even acknowledge a fallen socialite like me in front of his high-ranking associates."We’re hosting a few board members at Maple Restaurant," Noah said, his eyes flicking toward Cole to gauge the temperature. Finding only ice, he turned back to me. "Why don’t you and your friend join the pack table?

"You forget your place, Diane," I said, my voice cutting through the tension of the hallway. "I recall my father mentioning that you aren't even a true blood member of the Ryder line. If you were, perhaps the High Alpha would actually listen to you instead of constantly overstepping you to side with me."It was a low blow, but she had drawn first blood. Diane wasn't a biological Ryder; she was the daughter of an old family friend, adopted by the previous patriarch after her parents perished in a border skirmish. It was a tragic history, and normally, I would never weaponize someone’s grief, but she had walked into my home and called me a stray.The reminder hit its mark. Diane’s face contorted as she remembered every time Cole had brushed her concerns aside or favored my medical expertise over her traditionalist demands. Before, she might have dismissed it as his pity for a fallen house. Now, looking at the marks on my skin, she realized it was far more dangerous. If I climbed from th

But Cole immediately shattered any illusions of a fair split, his predatory nature surfacing with a cold smirk."I'm taking eighty percent," he stated flatly. "And since the initial transaction was conducted behind my back, your remaining twenty belongs to me as a 'distress tax' for the mental strain of finding out my woman is selling me off.""I object!"I practically snarled the words. This was my windfall, my golden parachute. Why should the High Alpha of Ryder Global get to strip me of it? Besides, the thought of what Diane would do if she found out I’d taken the gold without leaving the city made my skin crawl.But Cole’s voice was like a plunge into a frozen lake. "Your objection is noted and overruled. I’ll have a Beta team sweep the apartment and secure the assets within the hour."He turned and strode toward the master suite, unmasking the raw, muscular lines of his throat as he unbuttoned his collar. I stood there, speechless. I had never heard someone describe a daylight ro

I refused to give Sara and Jane the dark satisfaction of seeing me crumble. I forced a sharp, feline smile onto my face and tilted my head."Perhaps that is true, Mrs. Yoris. It seems the Great Spirit compensated for my lack of motherly affection by giving me a much more... visceral magnetism.""You think a man’s hunger for your skin is the same as a soul-bond? What a pathetic delusion!" Sara hissed, her Zurich refinement cracking. "A man’s heart and his heat are separate chambers. The more an Alpha cherishes his true mate, the less he wants to see her tainted by the rougher parts of the world. He saves his cheap thrills for the strays that are easily caught."She was trying to humiliate me, to cast me as a disposable toy compared to Jane’s "purity." I just leaned in, my voice a dangerous silk."Is that how it works? Then I suppose Mr. William Yoris must cherish you beyond measure, right? Since he so rarely seems to... indulge."I’d seen them at the Ryder Global functions; they were l