ELARA'S POV.

“You seem to be new to my territory, Temptress.”

His voice cut through the dimness like a blade, his back still turned, or so I thought until the door shut behind us and I realized we were already in his private quarters. A room colder than the corridors outside, swallowed in shadows and silence.

“Hmm. If you say so,” I teased, forcing a smirk I didn’t feel. “Why? Afraid I might bite?”

The plan was simple. Julian had promised. Slip into the dress. Slip past his guard. Seduce the Alpha. Steal his phone. Get out.

Simple. At least, on paper.

But nothing in my life had ever gone according to plan. I stumbled against a heavy table in the dark, cursing under my breath. His voice materialized close too close.

“Your eyesight, Temptress,” he whispered, breath ghosting my ear. “Hone it. Or you’ll end up the prey, not the predator.”

A chill cut across my skin, not the kind that thrilled but the kind that warned. His fingers traced my jaw, sliding down the length of my spine, a map he seemed to already own.

“Kael…...” My lips betrayed me, the moan slipping free. Was this want??

His low chuckle vibrated against my throat. “You really are the definition of beauty, Miss Mitchell.”

His hands gripped my waist, sliding lower with a possession I loathed. My body, a traitor that it was, responded anyway. Julian’s voice in my head told me to focus, to fight. But Kael was drowning every sound except his.

He spun me with one savage pull, his mouth crashing against mine. No tenderness, no warmth. Just hunger. His arousal ground against me in merciless rhythm, punishing, claiming.

Cold Alpha, my mind hissed. The man who killed my parents. The monster.

And yet… the very man unraveling me.

Without warning, he shoved me back against the stone wall. The impact rattled my bones. His hand clamped around my throat, abyssal eyes devouring me even harder than his mouth. Then he kissed me again, not kissing, not testing, not claiming. Devouring.

Fabric ripped. Cold air sliced across my skin before his heat smothered it. My hips betrayed me, arching into his.

“Already trembling,” he rasped, voice dark silk. “You want me, don’t you?”

“No, Kael, never.” I panted, fighting for breath, for control. “I only needed… entertainment. And you...” His brutal thrust cut my words into a broken cry. “....you offered.”

His growl rumbled low, dangerous. “Entertainment?” The word was venom. “You dare reduce your Alpha to a pastime?”

Another savage thrust. My body jolted. A sound tore from me—half moan, half scream. My legs wrapped around him by instinct I hated.

“You’re wet for me,” he murmured against my ear, satisfaction dripping. “Dripping. Still call this entertainment, Temptress?”

“I… wanted more than muscle,” I hissed, forcing words past gasps. “And so far, Alpha… you disappoint.”

His hand twisted in my hair, yanking my head back until tears pricked. His teeth grazed my throat, biting just enough to bruise. Wolves marked there. He did it for lust, not bond—yet my body shuddered as if it knew something deeper.

“Won’t you submit to your Alpha?” His voice was guttural, primal, each thrust punctuating the demand. “Who are you really? Your demeanour is different. Your very being intoxicating.”

Revenge, I told myself. Revenge. But the sounds leaving my lips weren’t vengeance. They were surrender, and for Kael?

“You’ll break for me,” Kael commanded. His pace turned savage, relentless. And I did. Climax tore through me, violent and unwanted. My cry filled the room, body convulsing, betraying me completely.

His laugh was cold, cruel. He punished me with harsher thrusts until his own growl broke the air. He buried himself deep, release searing through me like fire.

When he pulled away, his eyes weren’t only lust, they were calculating, suspicious. His thumb smeared blood across my split lip.

“Get dressed. Clean yourself up,” he said flatly. “There’s a card on the table. Use it.”

The warmth was gone. Detached. Merciless. I forced a shaky smile. “Maybe you’re just not enough to keep me entertained.”

His lips curved sharp, cruel. “We’ll see.”

And I knew, he would never stop until he uncovered what I was.

---

Three Weeks Later.

Either I had food poisoning or something far worse. Bent over the sink, retching until my throat burned, I pressed a trembling hand against my belly.

“No…” My reflection stared back—pale, weak, frightened. “Not possible.”

No period. No relief. Only fear.

I tore open the box of pregnancy strips. One I’d always kept for times, I which and pray, not like this.

One test. Positive. Two pink lines. Another test. Same result. A third. The same mocking truth glared at me.

Pregnant. With a Wolf’s child. With Kael’s child.

The thought hollowed me. My body carried the seed of the man who had destroyed everything I loved.

My knees hit the tile. My hand pressed against my stomach as though I could erase it, erase him. “This wasn’t the plan.”

Julian. I needed Julian. He would know what to do. I scrambled for my phone, dialling with shaking fingers.

The doorbell rang.

Panic shot through me. Phone to my ear, I stumbled toward the door.

“Hello? Sort of a bad timing, little one,” Julian’s voice crackled.

“ Something off”

“Julian, something’s wrong. I think I’m preg—”

“Pregnant,” a voice finished.

Not Julian’s.

I froze. My eyes darted from the phone to the man at the door.

Kael.

The Alpha. The monster. The father of the child inside me and the murderer.

Clad in a black tuxedo, raven colored Hair, abyssal eyes gleaming, he held an envelope in one hand, a bouquet of flowers in the other and a smug I’d damn near love to punch off his face.

“Hello, Temptress,” he said smoothly. “Happy contract wedding day. I trust our child has already begun to make its presence known?.”

As if on cue, something fluttered inside me. A kick? Or my body mocking me further.

Julian’s voice shouted faintly from the phone I dropped, but I couldn’t hear him anymore. All I heard was Kael. The man at my door. The Father of my child?

“May I come in?” he asked.

No, he didn’t ask. His voice carried the weight of command. The kind that wasn’t a request. The kind that told me my life, my body, my fate were no longer my own.

And I knew: Kael wasn’t just at my door. He was inside the ruin he had already made of me.

Now, Fate what else could go wrong from this ?