a

delivered to the Presidential Suite a

nching the bridge of his nose as tension

en festering all day sha

barbaric traditions he'd fought tooth and nail to m

th America, with tens of thousands of wolves under his iron fist,

th

s pure

led from the leather chair across from his desk, sp

n-command, Beta in name but often th

fed the fire already eati

neath us," Kaius muttered, reaching

throat was the only hone

es for a breeding female like

agree to it? You've told half a dozen families to

w, dangerous growl, pacing like a cag

l answer, even if neit

eyes still blazing with defiance desp

n whose disappointment co

efore I die, Kai. Just one. Is

r than necessary, the crystal ring

ce in his voice. "Territory expansion, exclusive shipping routes, pr

rategist. "She should make it through the birth. Once the heir arr

g his shoulders to shake off the cr

ffocating. The

his nightmar

rdinal

e lobby bowed their heads as Kaius pass

ested, Alpha," his head of security murmured

aff access without your

orrow's power plays-board meetings, quarterly projections, th

rld tilted o

into him like a

uckle blooming under summer lightning.

ly. His pulse exploded, blood r

th his skin, every in

snarled, pacing frantically.

residual traces of heat suppressants. Maybe the hotel's expens

re to be distracted by phantom sc

ulfill a contrac

a Walton and

ped out onto the top floor, his foo

-stronger this time. Clos

rational thought. He followed it like a man possessed, heart pounding with an urgenc

icked. The door

-to-ceiling windows, painting e

en he

hair fanned across silk pillows like spilled starligh

hing in the delicate hollows of her throat. She was smaller than he'd expected,

Trembling with desperate need. Her b

h

the gradual, cyclic hea

ificial. Che

ing from deep in his chest li

ustrial-grade heat inducers. Left her here like

him again with the forc

ofia

Ome

consciousness like a nucle

very atom of his being, unde

is destined other half. Drugged. Vulnerab

odlust rising like a tsunami. [RI

tight his knuckles went bone-white, ra

this situation wa

ed with primitive satisfaction.

indlink his Beta and launch an immediate war against Walton's tr

ender fingers brushing against

oice cracked and raw like broke

arched involuntarily, a puppet dancing to the s

om draped in intimate darkness. Only the sound of their ragged breat

ng her delicate wrist. He could feel her puls

fever. That sweet, intoxicating scent mixed with the salt of de

ike mainlining

anaged to ask, his voice

er hand clawing weakly at his chest.

aius's sanity snappe

words left her

off her body like it had