Chapter 427
Chapter 427:
Trapped by the child’s plea, we froze in a tableau of a perfect, harmonious family. The forced intimacy made my skin crawl, yet Jaxon let out a soft sigh of relief, a small smile touching his lips as he drifted back to sleep.
The moment his breathing evened out, I snatched my hand away and retreated to the far side of the room, staring blindly out the floor-to-ceiling window at the rain-slicked city.
I heard Grant’s quiet footsteps approach. He stopped just behind me, close enough that his warmth radiated against my back.
“He needs a mother, Carmella,” Grant murmured, his voice shedding its Alpha edge, replaced by a seductive, devastating sorrow. He leaned in, his words piercing the deepest, most guarded wound in my soul. “And you… you need a pup to love p>
The breath left my lungs. It was a masterstroke of manipulation — wrapping a cold, calculated bargain in the guise of mutual salvation. I stood paralyzed against the glass, staring into the dark reflection of the Lycan who had just locked me in a cage I wasn’t sure I wanted to escape.
Jase POV
The Michelin-starred French restaurant bordering Central Park felt less like a dining room and more like a velvet-lined execution chamber. The rich, savory aromas of roast duck and shaved truffles were entirely suffocated by the woman sitting across from me. Isabelle Sterling reeked of cold, expensive human perfume — a sterile, calculated scent that made my Inner Wolf bare his teeth in agitation.
“Sign it, Jase,” Isabelle said, her voice a flat, emotionless drone. She slid a thick leather folder across the pristine white tablecloth.
I stared at the gold-embossed pages, my jaw clenched so tight my teeth ached. Just two hours ago, my father, Richard Davenport, had delivered his final ultimatum: Marry the Sterling girl today and secure her family’s capital, or I strip your Alpha title and cast you out as a Rogue.
Davenport Tech was bleeding out, pushed to the brink of bankruptcy after our disastrous financial war with the Lycan King, Kain Blackwell. I had no choice. But Isabelle knew exactly how desperate I was. Her sister Victoria was rotting in a holding cell, and her father’s bribery scandal had tanked Sterling Capital’s stock. Her board demanded a respectable, compliant husband to stabilize her public image. She didn’t want a mate; she wanted a puppet.
𝗧𝗵𝘰𝗎𝗌𝖺ո𝖽s оf rе𝖺𝗱𝘦𝘳𝘀 о𝗻
“Let’s review the terms,” Isabelle continued, her lips curling into a cruel smirk. “Separate residences. You will have zero input in my business affairs. And most importantly, you are strictly forbidden from releasing your Alpha scent in my presence. I find werewolf dominance displays utterly vulgar p>
A violent shudder ripped through my chest. My Inner Wolf howled in absolute, emasculating agony. To be ordered to suppress my scent by a human was the ultimate degradation.