Chapter 16
Chapter 16:
I stared at the glittering sapphire in the dim light. I didn’t know who Kain really was, or why my grandmother had recognized his signature as ‘Blackstone,’ but as I slipped the velvet box into my pocket, the panic in my chest receded into a cold, hard resolve. I slipped out the cellar’s back door into the night, ready to face whatever Friday would bring.
Kain POV
The air in my top-floor office at Blackstone Tower was thick with the suffocating weight of my Lycan’s rage. The ancient cedar and leather scent of my domain usually calmed the beast beneath my skin, but today it paced relentlessly. Adelina had been cornered into attending a dinner with the Parrish family, and my instincts screamed at the perceived threat to my Fated Mate.
I was staring out at the glittering Manhattan skyline when Marcus Townsend’s voice echoed through our mind-link.
“Alpha. Bryan Parrish booked a private room at Le Coucou for Friday night. He invited Alpha Vincent and his heir, Babe Vincent p>
A low, guttural growl vibrated in my chest, cracking the glass of the tumbler in my hand. Bryan’s pathetic trap was obvious. He intended to parade the real Babe Vincent in front of Adelina, exposing her Mating Contract as a fraud and stripping her of her Pack trust fund.
“Book the entire floor of Le Coucou adjacent to their room,” I commanded through the link, my voice a lethal whip of authority. “Tell the restaurant it’s a last-minute Blackstone board dinner. Put our elite Warriors in server uniforms. I want to hear every word they say and see every breath they take p>
“Understood,” Marcus replied smoothly. “But there is an immediate complication. Kira Parrish and Dixie Davenport are setting a trap before the dinner. They lured your Luna to The Box club using a hard drive containing her architectural designs. They plan to drug her with wolfsbane-laced liquor to humiliate her p>
My phone buzzed on the obsidian desk. It was a text from Adelina.
Just picking up some old files. Don’t worry.
𝗪𝘩𝖺𝘁 𝘦𝘷𝖾𝘳𝗒𝗈ne i𝘴 𝗿𝖾𝖺𝗱𝗂𝗇g 𝗼ո 𝘨аl𝗻𝗼𝘷е𝗅𝗌.соm
She was lying to protect her pride, walking straight into a viper’s nest for the sake of her independence. I typed back a single word: Fine.
Then I opened a direct mind-link to my private security detail already stationed at the club. “She’s on her way. Eyes on her at all times. Let no one touch her. Report to me the second she arrives p>
Adelina POV
The heavy, thumping bass of The Box club vibrated through the soles of my sensible flats. The underground venue was a sensory nightmare. Flashing strobe lights sliced through the darkness, and the air was a suffocating cocktail of sweat, cheap alcohol, and the chaotic scents of dozens of different wolves.
I found Dixie Davenport and Kira Parrish lounging in a velvet-roped VIP booth.
“Adelina! You made it,” Dixie purred, sliding a martini glass across the sticky table. I could clearly see a faint ring of suspicious white powder clinging to the rim. Wolfsbane.
I didn’t touch it. I kept my posture rigid, refusing to show them the anxiety gnawing at my stomach. “Just give me the hard drive, Dixie. It has three years of my design portfolios on it. It belongs to me p>