Chapter 357
Chapter 357:
Adelina POV
The warmth of the ceramic mug in my hands grounded me. Kain stood before me, the morning sun tracing the lethal grace of his muscles and the dark A.W. ink permanently branded over his heart. I took a sip of the black coffee, my wolfless body still humming from the breathtaking, all-consuming union of last night.
I reached up, my fingertips brushing the tender, bruised flesh of my neck. The Mark—his feral, primitive claim of ownership—throbbed with a dull ache. It didn’t spark fear anymore. It sparked a terrifying, absolute sense of belonging. I had surrendered to the monster, and in return, he had handed me the world.
On the muted flat-screen TV across the suite, the financial news ticker bled a brilliant red. Blackstone Financial Empire Completes Hostile Takeover of Davenport Tech.
My phone buzzed on the nightstand. A push notification from The Howl lit up the screen. I tapped it, watching the leaked security footage of Jase Davenport pounding on our suite door last night, his face twisted in a pathetic, unhinged breakdown. The headline read: The Fallen Alpha: An Epic Meltdown.
I looked up at Kain. He took a slow sip of his coffee, his golden eyes watching me with a lazy, sated predator’s calm. He had wiped my nightmare from the earth, treating the destruction of an Alpha’s legacy as casually as taking out the trash.
Suddenly, my private cell phone rang, shattering the quiet intimacy of the room.
𝘕e𝘄 с𝘩𝗮p𝗍𝗲𝗋𝘀 еve𝘳𝘆 w𝖾𝗲k 𝗈𝘯
The caller ID displayed a number I hadn’t seen in over a year. Richard Davenport. Jase’s father and the Alpha Patriarch of the Davenport Pack.
I answered, putting it on speaker.
“Adelina,” the old Alpha’s voice crackled through the phone, thick with a desperate, rotting panic that completely lacked his usual oppressive authority. “Please. Jase is ruined, but the Davenport legacy… our Pack is bleeding out. You have the King’s ear. Show mercy on the family that once sheltered you p>
I stared at the phone. A year ago, this man’s mere presence would have crushed my fragile spirit. Now, wrapped in the invisible, impenetrable shield of Kain’s power, I felt absolutely nothing but cold, detached disgust.
“Mr. Davenport,” I said, my voice a flat, freezing void that surprised even me. “I think you have the wrong number. Adelina Wolfe died the day your son rejected her for another woman p>
I didn’t wait for his desperate, choking reply. I ended the call. With a few swift taps on the screen, I blocked his number, along with every Davenport board member still lingering in my contacts. I tossed the phone onto the mattress, severing the final, rotting thread of my past.
The atmospheric pressure in the room instantly plummeted.
Kain set his coffee mug on the nightstand with a soft clink. The intoxicating, heavy scent of ancient cedar surged, thick with the dark, possessive approval of his Lycan. He closed the distance between us with terrifying grace, taking my mug and setting it aside.
His large hand cupped my jaw, his thumb brushing over my swollen lower lip, forcing me to look up into his molten gold eyes. The feral, vibrating purr of his Inner Wolf echoed deep in his chest, immensely satisfied by the ruthless cruelty I had just shown our enemies.