Chapter 10
The doorbell rang.
Kit
I figured it was the housekeeper again.
But when I opened the door, I just… froze.
It had only been a month, but something about him had changed.
Same tall, sculpted body. Same infuriatingly handsome face. But gone was that polite, obedient air he used to fake so well. Now, he carried himself with sharp–edged confidence, power radiating off him like heat.
There was no mistaking it–Orion Albrecht had stepped into his full Alpha dominance. If any weaker wolf had been in the room, they’d probably be choking on it.
He leaned against the doorway with lazy ease, arms folded, eyes dark with something between hunger and possession.
“So,” he drawled, “I heard you’re planning to let some other man raise my pup?”
He reached for my hand and pressed it to his chest. “Can you hear it?”
I blinked, confused. “Hear what?”
“My wolf,” he said, voice low. “It says it wants you. It’s asking if you’ll be our mate.”
My face flushed deep crimson.
Right then, a message from Liora popped up on my phone. A news link, followed by:
[Zira! Isn’t this the beta you just hired?!]
I looked up at Orion in shock. “You’re the Alpha of Ebonlune Pack?!”
Suddenly, the memories came flooding back–college graduation year, when I was at my wildest.
My mom had left Mooncrest Pack, fed up with my dad’s constant infidelity. She went off to “find her value,” as she called it.
And apparently, my value… was marrying a man I barely knew, Caius, to seal a pack alliance.
So, in protest, I went off the rails. Bar–hopping, chasing pretty boys, burning through one–night stands like they were candy.
The day I first met Caius–our families had arranged a formal introduction–I decided to sabotage the whole thing.
Liora was in on it. I texted her: [I’m here. Where’s the guy?]
Liora: [Waiting at the door. Gray shirt. Total ten. Just go grab him.]
And sure enough, there was a guy leaning near the entrance, one hand holding a phone, the other holding a cigarette.
Didn’t look too hard. He was hot–that was enough.
I grabbed his arm. “Let’s go. I’m on a schedule.”
I was so focused on ruining the engagement, I missed the flicker of surprise in his eyes.
But by the time we reached the private booth… he made an excuse and left.
I’d stormed off, cursing Liora’s “terrible taste.” She was baffled. “Zira, he waited for you forever! Where the hell did you go?”
Only then did I realize–I’d grabbed the wrong guy.
Just a ridiculous, cringeworthy blip in my chaotic life… or so I thought.
Until Orion confessed: he was the one I’d dragged off that day.
He’d later found out I was engaged to Caius, and his only reaction was: “So what? An engagement doesn’t mean anything unless it sticks.”
Then he heard we’d actually formed a mate bond. Furious, he flew in from Ebonlune Pack the very next day.
The rest?
Applying to be my beta was impulsive.
Winning me over? That was premeditated.
Chapter 10
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Getting me pregnant? That was just him claiming what he thought had always been his.
Throughout my entire pregnancy, Orion never left my side. Every craving, every ache, every fear–he handled it all.
Sometimes, I’d wake up in the middle of the night to find him watching me, eyes burning with quiet obsession.
“Zira,” he murmured once, “our child… can only be mine.”
Chapter 10
