Chapter 104
Chapter 104:
I needed to shut this down. I needed to build an impenetrable wall around my own foolish heart. I leaned across the table, lowering my voice. “Blake, it’s a Mating Contract. Kain is involved with his Beta, Fletcher Banks. I’m just a cover to keep the Lycan Elders off his back p>
Blake stared at me, utterly unconvinced. “Adelina, please. That Lycan looks at you like he wants to slaughter anyone who breathes your air. That level of Alpha possessiveness cannot be faked p>
“It is,” I insisted, the lie tasting like bitter ash in my mouth. “I’ve seen them together. It’s all an act p>
Jase POV
The gray Manhattan skyline loomed outside the glass walls of my Davenport Tech office. Kira paced in front of my mahogany desk, her cloying jasmine perfume making my stomach churn.
𝖣o𝘸𝗻𝘭оа𝘥𝘢𝘣𝗅𝘦 𝘗𝗗𝘍s 𝗼𝘯
“We spin the pregnancy,” Kira demanded, her eyes gleaming with malice. “We leak a rumor that you and Adelina slept together right before she signed his contract. We make the Pack Elders question the paternity. It will humiliate the Blackstone bloodline p>
Absolute, paralyzing terror seized my Inner Wolf. I slammed my fists onto the desk, the polished mahogany fracturing under my knuckles with a loud crack.
“Are you insane?!” I roared, my chest heaving. “If you slander a Lycan King’s heir, Kain won’t just ruin us financially. He will slaughter us. He will tear my throat out in the middle of Fifth Avenue. You do not touch this topic, Kira. Ever p>
I pointed a shaking finger at the door. “Get out p>
Kira sneered, her face twisting in disgust, and stormed out of the room.
I sank into my chair, my heart hammering against my ribs. Through the glass wall, I watched her stop in the corridor and pull out her phone, a wicked, venomous smile spreading across her lips. She wasn’t dropping it. If she couldn’t use the pregnancy angle, she was pivoting — hunting for Kain Blackwell’s real secrets, dragging us all toward a catastrophic crossfire.
Adelina POV
The clinking of silverware and the low hum of chatter in the SoHo café felt entirely disconnected from the frantic beating of my heart. I stared at my half-empty glass of lemon water, desperately trying to maintain the indifferent mask I had spent the last few days perfecting.
“He looked at you like he was starving, Lina,” Blake pressed, leaning over the small table, her eyes narrowing. “Elder Maeve told me about the kiss in her room. She said he looked like you were the only thing that could feed his soul. You can’t fake that kind of hunger p>
My chest tightened. The phantom memory of Kain’s lips crashing against mine — the violent, electric spark, the possessive growl vibrating deep in his chest — flared in my mind, sending a dangerous heat straight to my core. I forced it down, burying it under the heavy, suffocating weight of my own insecurities.
“It was method acting, Blake,” I insisted, keeping my voice steady. “He needed my grandmother to believe the contract was real so she wouldn’t reject the medical care. He’s a Lycan King — he knows how to command a room p>