Chapter 262
Chapter 262:
Jase’s jaw clenched. His scent spiked with sharp frustration. He channeled his bruised ego into the game, playing with a reckless, aggressive arrogance designed to intimidate me. After bullying his way into winning a minor pot, he tossed his cards down with a sneer. “Stick to slots, little Omega. This is an Alpha’s table p>
“I’m a fast learner,” I countered evenly. And I was. Without an Inner Wolf to rely on, I had spent years surviving by reading the room. I watched the subtle twitch of his jaw, the greedy flare of his nostrils when he bluffed, and the arrogant relaxation of his shoulders when he held power.
An hour later, the tension in the room had become a suffocating weight. The center of the green felt was buried under a mountain of obsidian and ivory chips. It was the final hand.
Jase stared at me, his eyes burning with a desperate need to reclaim his dominance. He shoved his entire towering stack of chips into the center. “All in p>
He flipped his cards over, slamming them onto the table. “Full House. Kings full of Tens.” He leaned back, a victorious, malicious grin spreading across his face. “Read ’em and weep p>
D𝗈𝘸ո𝗹oа𝗱𝖺b𝗅е р𝘋Fѕ o𝘯
The room went dead silent. I slowly turned my head to look at Kain. The Lycan King didn’t look at my cards — he looked directly into my eyes. The feral, molten gold in his pupils burned with absolute, unwavering pride. He was giving me the floor.
I turned back to Jase. “I call p>
I flipped my hole cards, sliding them next to the two Aces already sitting face-up in the community cards. “Four of a Kind. Aces p>
Jase’s victorious grin froze. All the color drained violently from his face. He stared at the four Aces, his mouth opening and closing like a suffocating fish. The sheer, devastating humiliation of losing everything to the wolfless Omega he had discarded shattered his Alpha pride into a million jagged pieces.
“Beginner’s luck,” Jase choked out, his voice trembling with denial.
“No,” I said, my voice glacially calm as I reached out and began to rake the massive pile of obsidian chips toward me. “I was just paying attention p>
I gathered the last of his dignity into my pile. Then I leaned forward, resting my arms on the edge of the table, and dropped my voice into a freezing, lethal whisper that sliced straight through his soul.
“You know, Jase, I finally remembered who really carried me to the Healer’s Wing during my First Shift p>
Jase went completely rigid. The sour metal of his scent instantly turned to the putrid stench of absolute terror. His eyes darted frantically between me and Kain as the horrifying realization crashed down on him. The lie was over. He was exposed.
I didn’t wait for his pathetic excuses. I turned my head and shared a cold, victorious smile with Kain. Across the table, Xavier and Harrison exchanged a dark, knowing glance. They didn’t need to hear the exact words — the complete, catastrophic collapse of Jase’s scent told them the Davenport Alpha had just been slaughtered without a single drop of blood being spilled.