Alpha Nathan pov.

How could she dare talk to Isabella that way!

The audacity filled me with white-hot rage that coursed through my veins like liquid fire.

"Who does she think she is?" I silently fumed, my hands clenching into fists so tight my knuckles turned white.

"This worthless human dares to disrespect MY Isabella?"

The possessive thought slipped through my mental defenses before I could catch it, forcing me to acknowledge that even after all these years, I still thought of Isabella as mine in some fundamental way.

"Ten years I've spent regretting losing her, ten years of watching her happy with my best friend while I suffered in silence," I raged internally, the bitter taste of that loss still fresh despite the passage of time.

"And now this... this stranger, this human sex slave I didn't even choose, has the audacity to speak to her with such disrespect?"

The thought was unbearable, triggering a protective instinct toward Isabella that overwhelmed any rational thought.

"No one speaks to her that way," I growled under my breath. "Especially not some worthless woman who was literally delivered to my door in a box!"

My chest heaved with each ragged breath as I struggled to contain the wolf that clawed beneath my skin, demanding release and vengeance for this insult to the woman who still held my heart.

My temper and unbridled anger completely possessed me, shutting down the rational part of my brain that might have urged caution or restraint.

"She needs to learn her place," a dark voice whispered from the primal part of my consciousness.

"She needs to understand the consequences of disrespecting an Alpha female, especially THIS Alpha female."

I moved on pure instinct, barely conscious of my actions as I dragged Emily up the grand staircase by her hair, deaf to her cries of pain and pleas for mercy.

"Please, Nathan, you're hurting me!" she sobbed, stumbling as she tried to keep pace with my supernatural strength and speed.

"I didn't understand! I didn't know who she was to you!"

Her desperate explanations fell on ears that refused to hear, my rage creating a barrier between her words and my understanding.

Once inside our bedroom, I slammed the door with such force that the heavy wood cracked against the frame, the sound echoing through the castle like a gunshot.

"You think you can just say whatever you want without consequences?" I snarled, my voice dropping to the guttural register that signaled my wolf's increasing dominance over my human side.

"You think you can embarrass me in front of my oldest friends, in front of their son, in my own home?"

With mechanical efficiency born of supernatural strength, I seized rope from a drawer and roughly bound her hands behind her back, ignoring her increasingly frantic pleas.

"Nathan, please listen to me! I'm sorry! I was jealous and scared! Please don't do this!"

Her terror was palpable, filling the air with a scent that should have triggered my protective instincts but instead only fed the dark satisfaction of my enraged wolf.

I tied her legs as well, the rope cutting into her delicate human skin as I secured the knots with unnecessary force.

"You're staying here!" I spat, the cruel word feeling foreign on my tongue yet somehow satisfying in the moment.

With a final contemptuous look at her bound form trembling on the cold marble floor, I turned toward the door, my hand already reaching for the handle.

"Wait!" she cried, real fear making her voice crack. "You can't just leave me like this! I can't move!"

I paused, looking back over my shoulder with an expression that must have terrified her based on the way she shrank back against the floor.

"That's the point," I stated coldly. "Maybe some time alone will teach you to think before you speak."

Without another word or backward glance, I wrenched the door open and stalked into the hallway, slamming it behind me with enough force to rattle the nearby windows.

"No one is to enter that room," I commanded the startled guard who had appeared at the commotion.

"No food, no water, no assistance of any kind without my direct order. Is that understood?"

The young werewolf nodded nervously, clearly confused but unwilling to question his Alpha in such a dangerous mood.

"Yes, Alpha. No one enters without your command."

With that assurance, I stalked away, desperately needing distance between myself and the human who had triggered such uncharacteristic cruelty in me.

For thirty long hours, I left Emily bound and alone on that floor, refusing to allow anyone to check on her condition or provide even the most basic necessities.

"She doesn't deserve comfort," I told myself as I paced the grounds, trying to walk off the restless energy that continued to plague me despite physical exhaustion.

"She needs to learn respect."

To distance myself further from her suffering, I slept in one of the guest chambers on the opposite side of the castle, deliberately choosing the room farthest from our shared suite.

"I can't trust myself near her right now," I admitted silently as I tossed and turned on the unfamiliar bed.

The cold rationality that eventually began seeping back into my consciousness as my initial rage subsided brought uncomfortable questions I wasn't ready to face.

"Is this really about her disrespecting Isabella?" a small voice in my mind whispered.

"Or is it about your own feelings for Isabella being exposed so publicly?"

I pushed the thought away, unwilling to examine too closely the disproportionate nature of my reaction.

"She embarrassed me in front of the Pack," I insisted to myself. "She needs to understand her place."

Yet even as I repeated these justifications, a growing sense of shame began to creep around the edges of my righteous anger, threatening to undermine the fortress of indignation I had built around my actions.

After a night of fitful sleep, I awoke the following morning still determined to maintain my harsh stance despite the growing discomfort in my conscience.

"She hasn't suffered enough yet," I told myself firmly as I dressed in fresh clothes, deliberately taking my time with my morning routine.

"One difficult night won't undo the damage she caused."

I made my way to the dining hall with measured steps, nodding acknowledgment to the staff and guards I passed, all of whom were careful to maintain neutral expressions despite the gossip that must have been spreading like wildfire throughout the castle.

"Good morning, Alpha," my head housekeeper greeted me cautiously as I seated myself at the massive dining table.

"Would you like your usual breakfast?"

I nodded curtly, accepting the morning newspaper she offered with one hand while reaching for the freshly poured coffee with the other.

"And the Luna?" she inquired with carefully masked concern. "Will she be joining you this morning?"

I fixed her with a cold stare that immediately silenced any further questions.

"The Luna is indisposed," I stated flatly. "That will be all."

With a quick nod of understanding, she retreated to the kitchen, leaving me to enjoy my breakfast in solitary silence as though nothing unusual had occurred—as though a young woman wasn't lying bound and hungry on my bedroom floor just two floors above where I calmly spread jam on my toast.

Yes, I had stripped her completely naked before leaving her—a final humiliation designed to reinforce her vulnerability and my dominance.

"She should be grateful that's all I did," I thought darkly as I chewed my food without tasting it.

"She should be on her knees thanking me that I didn't whip her or use her in even more degrading ways."

The violent thoughts disturbed me even as they crossed my mind, so unlike my usual measured approach to leadership and justice.

I had always prided myself on being a fair Alpha who used physical punishment only as a last resort and never with excessive cruelty.

"What's happened to me?" I wondered briefly before quickly suppressing the uncomfortable question.

"She's lucky I didn't just throw her out into the forest," I continued my internal justification, imagining her small, naked human form abandoned in the dark woods during the heavy rainstorm that had pounded against the castle windows all night.

"Let her take her chances with the vampires and wild animals that roam our territory. Let her see how long a defenseless human lasts without my protection."

The scenario played out vividly in my imagination—her terror as she ran barefoot through the underbrush, the inevitable moment when predators caught her scent, the desperate screams that would eventually fall silent.

The graphic nature of these vengeful fantasies should have shocked me, should have triggered immediate self-reflection about what was happening to my sense of justice and compassion.

Instead, I took another bite of toast, telling myself that merely imagining such scenarios rather than enacting them showed remarkable restraint on my part.

While I was eating my breakfast with this disturbing calm, one of my guards approached with a cell phone extended toward me.

"Excuse me, Alpha," he said respectfully, his expression carefully neutral. "You have an urgent call."

I frowned at the interruption, wiping my mouth with a napkin before accepting the device.

I had no official Beta since discovering my previous second-in-command in bed with my first Luna years ago—a betrayal that had left me to trust anyone with that level of authority again.

Instead, I maintained a rotating schedule of senior guards who handled communications and basic Pack management under my direct supervision.

"Who is it?" I asked the guard, who merely shook his head.

"She asked to speak with you directly, Alpha. Said it was an emergency."

Curious and slightly concerned, I pressed the phone to my ear, only to be assaulted by the frantic voice of my sister Mila screaming from the other end of the line.

"Nathan, please help me!" she sobbed, her voice cracking with what sounded like genuine terror.

"He's going to kill me! Please come quickly!"

I immediately stood from the table, my body tensing as protective instincts toward my family overrode all other concerns.

"Who's threatening you?" I demanded, my hand already clenching into a fist as I imagined someone daring to harm my younger sister.

"Where are you right now?"

A fresh sob broke through the connection before Mila managed to choke out, "My mate! I told you he was dangerous! I warned you he was violent but you didn't listen! He's been beating me daily and now he's threatening worse!"

The line suddenly went dead with an ominous click, leaving me staring at the silent phone with mounting rage.

"Mila? MILA!" I shouted uselessly into the dead connection.

I immediately tried calling her back, punching the redial button with enough force to nearly break it, but received no answer—just endless ringing that increased my anxiety with each unanswered second.

"Dammit!" I swore, switching tactics to dial her mate's number directly, prepared to threaten him with immediate and painful consequences if he had harmed even a single hair on my sister's head.

To my surprise, Mila's mate answered on the second ring, his tone suspiciously calm and normal given what I had just heard from my sister.

"Alpha Nathan," he greeted me with appropriate respect, betraying no sign of the violent confrontation Mila had described.

"To what do I owe the honor of your call this morning?"

His casual normalcy only increased my suspicion—was this the calculated composure of a skilled abuser who knew how to present a respectable face to the world?

"Where is my sister?" I demanded without preamble, not bothering with social niceties given the potential danger Mila faced.