Chapter 3

Hadley Burns POV:

I stared at the Blood Pact contract stamped with the dark gold Dire Wolf crest, my fingertips trembling as I shoved the heavy folder back toward the edge of the bed.

"Mr. Richardson, this joke has gone way too far," I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. "I can't possibly agree to this."

Bennet walked calmly to the bar, poured himself a glass of ice water, and took a slow sip, his throat moving smoothly.

Setting the glass down, he looked at me as if delivering a quarterly financial report. "It's not a joke, Hadley. It's a business deal that benefits us both."

I puffed out my cheeks slightly and met his gaze head-on. "A deal? What value could an orphan Wolfless living off the Glover and Mcdowell families possibly offer the strongest Alpha in the country?"

Bennet stepped closer and gripped the footboard with both hands, his tall frame radiating pressure. "I need a stable, controllable mate image to shut the Elders up."

He paused, his gray-blue eyes darkening. "The Richardson Pack is finalizing a massive cross-border corporate merger. The board and the Elders are demanding I establish a Luna first to guarantee the stability of my bloodline and leadership."

My brows knitted together. In the modern werewolf world, packs operated like giant corporations where the Elders acted as conservative board advisors, so his logic made sense on paper. "Then you could easily pick a noble pureblood Omega. Why me?"

Bennet let out a cold scoff. "Those high-ranked women only bring endless political schemes and spying from their home packs. I don't need a mole in my bed."

He pointed a long finger at me. "You have a clean background, no messy pack alliances, and most importantly, you know how to keep boundaries."

I bit my lower lip hard. His blunt words laid my lack of family backing bare on the table.

Jackson's mocking laugh from last night echoed in my head, squeezing my heart like an invisible fist and sparking a desperate urge to escape my old life.

Still, I couldn't jump into a fire blindly. I reached to the nightstand, picked up my phone with shaking fingers, and tried to dial my adoptive mother, Katherine Sweeney. "I need to discuss this with my family first."

Bennet moved with blinding Alpha speed. Before I could tap the screen, his large hand covered my phone, the cold silver cuff on his wrist grazing my knuckles and making me shiver.

He didn't snatch the phone away, just pressed it down firmly. "Are you sure you want to call Katherine Sweeney? From what my people tell me, her ex-husband Schmidt is currently shorting all her company stocks to bankrupt her. She can barely save herself."

I stared up at him in shock. Katherine always acted cold and unstable at the Mcdowell manor, never telling me anything, yet this Alpha King knew our family's secret financial crisis down to the last detail.

Bennet released my hand and stepped back half a pace to give me breathing room. "If you go back now, not only can you not help her, you'll just become a bargaining chip for the Glover Pack to use against her."

My shoulders slumped as I lowered the phone onto my lap, a heavy sense of helplessness washing over me.

Watching my head droop, Bennet's outer eye corners turned faintly red, and his fingers twitched at his side before curling into a tight fist.

He turned back to the window overlooking the steel city skyline, his voice turning cold and hard again. "Jackson Glover is a fool. He thinks cutting off your allowance and studio resources will force you to crawl back to him."

Hearing Jackson's name made my chest ache, and I gripped the edge of the cotton quilt tightly.

Bennet looked back over his shoulder, his gaze sharp as a blade. "Sign this Blood Pact, and you instantly become the supreme Luna of the Richardson Pack. The Glovers won't dare touch a single hair on your head."

The temptation was overwhelming, but I forced myself to ask the most crucial question. "If we're just acting for the Elders, why a Blood Pact? A Blood Pact is witnessed by the Moon Goddess and bound by pack law. It can't be broken easily."

Walking back to the bed, Bennet flipped the contract to the last page and tapped the blank signature line.

"Because I want everyone in this city to know you are my legal wife," he said, his low, raspy voice carrying a strange, hypnotic pull. "No one will ever have the right to question your status."

My heart thudded wildly against my ribs. Even knowing it was just a corporate transaction, the absolute protection in his tone shook me deeply.

"Then... how long is the contract term?" I whispered.

His eyes darkened, his throat bobbing slightly. "Until you no longer need me."

Flustered by that ambiguous answer, I dropped my gaze to the fine print on the page and froze at a bolded clause—No Obligation for The Marking.

I blinked and looked up at him in confusion. "No Marking?" Among werewolves, a male biting a female's neck left a permanent scar that locked their souls together forever.

Bennet turned his face slightly away, hiding the fierce glint in his eyes. "I told you, this is a transaction. I won't force you into anything."

He walked to the bedroom door and gripped the handle, pausing to look back at me. "You have ten minutes to decide. Sign it, or go back to being the worthless defect in Jackson's eyes."