Chapter 419
Chapter 419:
Isabelle offered a cold, victorious smirk as she pulled the document back and slipped it into her briefcase like a newly acquired asset.
I couldn’t breathe. The walls of the restaurant were closing in. I shoved my velvet chair back so violently it toppled, crashing onto the hardwood floor. Ignoring the shocked gasps of the surrounding patrons, I bolted for the exit.
I burst through the heavy glass doors and stumbled onto the dirty concrete sidewalk bordering Central Park. The crisp autumn air was tainted with exhaust fumes and the sour, rotting stench of my own despairing Alpha scent.
I collapsed onto a cold wrought-iron bench, my chest heaving. Desperate to numb the agonizing reality of what I had just done, I pulled my phone from my pocket and blindly opened my browser.
The screen loaded, and the universe delivered its final, lethal blow.
𝖲а𝗏e 𝘺o𝘶𝗋 𝗳а𝘃o𝗿i𝘁е 𝘯o𝗏𝖾ls 𝘰n ga𝗹nо𝘃е𝗅ѕ.𝘤𝗼m
A breaking news notification from The Howl dominated the screen. It was a leaked paparazzi photograph, accompanied by a bold red headline: The King and His Queen: A Sacred Honeymoon on the Isle of the White Wolf.
My breath hitched. The photo was slightly grainy, taken from a distance, but the subjects were unmistakable. Kain Blackwell and Adelina Wolfe stood on a pristine white-sand beach, the vibrant Aegean sunset blazing behind them. Kain’s massive arms were wrapped tightly around her waist as he buried his face in her neck with a possessive, overwhelming devotion.
But it was Adelina’s face that shattered me.
She was throwing her head back, laughing — a raw, uninhibited, radiant joy. She looked ethereal, glowing with the absolute Soul’s Peace of a woman who was fiercely, unconditionally loved by her Fated Mate. She was a true Queen standing in the light, while I had just chained myself to the dark.
The contrast between her breathtaking happiness and my cold, sterile enslavement was too much.
The phone slipped from my numb fingers and struck the concrete. The glass screen shattered into a spiderweb of cracks, fracturing Adelina’s smiling face.
My legs gave out. I slid from the bench and collapsed onto the filthy, freezing sidewalk. I pulled my knees to my chest, buried my face in my hands, and right there — amidst the passing footsteps of indifferent strangers — let out a ragged, guttural sob.
Adelina Wolfe POV
While Jase Davenport was drowning in the cold, toxic ruins of his own making in New York, I was waking up to the brilliant, sun-drenched paradise of the Aegean Sea.
It had been three days since our Marking ceremony. I sat on a plush white linen lounger on the expansive terrace of our private villa on the Isle of the White Wolf. The air was a breathtaking blend of salty ocean breeze, blooming white roses, and the heavy, intoxicating warmth of Kain’s ancient cedar scent. For the first time in my life, the constant, suffocating hum of anxiety was entirely gone.
But the Lycan King standing near the edge of the infinity pool was not at peace.
Kain’s broad shoulders were rigidly tense. His golden eyes were fixed on the horizon, but I knew he wasn’t looking at the ocean. He was tapped deep into the