Chapter 253
Chapter 253:
“I’ll drive you,” Grant stated, leaving no room for argument. He took a step closer, his Lycan instincts desperate to shower his mate with his wealth and protection. “In fact, I can have a new car delivered to your apartment by noon p>
Carmella’s spine went rigid. She interpreted his overwhelming dominance as a humiliating display of pity. “I don’t need your charity, Senator,” she said coldly, her voice laced with a defensive bite. “I just need a ride p>
Grant’s jaw clenched. His Inner Wolf was clearly thrashing against his ribs, furious at being rejected, but he forced a stiff nod and dialed back his overt possessiveness.
I watched them, my Luna instincts screaming. This wasn’t kindness — it was a predator testing the boundaries of his prey’s cage. I opened my mouth to intervene, to tell Carmella I would have my own driver take her, but the atmospheric pressure in the kitchen suddenly plummeted to a freezing vacuum.
Kain stepped into the room.
His ancient cedar scent was devoid of its usual warmth, carrying instead the sharp, crackling ozone of an impending storm. He nodded briefly to his brother, but his molten gold eyes immediately locked onto mine.
He didn’t speak a single word aloud. Instead, his deep, vibrating voice echoed directly through our private mind-link, shattering the quiet morning.
Adelina. It’s your grandmother. The Pack Doctor just linked me. She’s had a stroke.
The world around me dissolved into a deafening, icy silence. The glass of water I had just picked up slipped from my numb fingers and shattered against the marble floor.
Grant POV
The sound of shattering glass broke the tense morning. Kain had Adelina out the door in seconds, rushing to the Silvermoon Sanctum and leaving me alone in the kitchen with the woman who was currently tearing my soul apart.
Re𝖼о𝘮𝗆𝖾n𝗱 t𝗈 yo𝘶𝗿 𝘧𝘳𝗂e𝗇𝖽ѕ
Carmella didn’t linger. She retreated to the guest chamber, emerging minutes later dressed in her wrinkled clothes from the night before, clutching her purse like a fragile shield. She marched straight past me toward the private elevator foyer of the Penthouse Den.
“I’m calling a car,” she stated, refusing to meet my eyes.
Her scent — rosemary and rain — was laced with a frantic, suffocating need to escape my territory. She felt awkward, vulnerable, and entirely out of place in a predator’s den.
My Inner Wolf snarled, pacing violently against my ribs. Mine. Do not let her leave.
“Cancel it,” I commanded, stepping into her space. “A woman smelling of heartbreak and vulnerability walking alone in New York is blood in a shark tank. I am driving you p>
She froze, her human pride warring with the sheer, oppressive weight of my Lycan aura. Before she could argue, I reached past her and slammed the button for the sub-level garage.
The elevator doors opened to the cavernous, LED-lit garage. The air smelled of ozone, cold concrete, and expensive leather. As we walked toward my armored SUV, a small voice echoed off the walls.
“Daddy p>
Jaxon broke away from Mrs. Higgins near the service elevators, his little legs carrying him fast. He threw his arms around my thigh. “Are we going to Central Park now? You promised p>