Chapter 3

Hollis POV:

Hearing that terrifying voice outside, I bolted upright on the black velvet bed, an invisible fist squeezing my heart until my chest ached.

I frantically checked my clothes. My dirty shirt and jeans were still on, covered only by a heavy bespoke suit jacket saturated with that suffocating pine scent.

The cracked phone clutched in my palm suddenly buzzed violently, the name "Brenda" flashing on the screen.

My thumb hit answer out of sheer conditioning, and Brenda's shrill scream blasted through the speaker.

"Where the hell did you die, you little bitch? Where is the bread? Do you want Dwayne to starve?"

"I... I'm coming back right now," I whispered, hanging up with shaking fingers.

I couldn't afford to think about why I was in a billionaire Alpha's penthouse. Throwing off the velvet duvet, I stepped barefoot onto the thick Persian rug and crept toward the half-open mahogany double doors.

The hallway outside was paved with cold marble. Just as I poked my head out, tense voices drifted from the living room, freezing my feet to the floor.

"Alpha, this young woman is suffering from severe blood loss and chronic malnutrition..." a trembling voice reported. "And more importantly, she... she is two months pregnant."

The word "pregnant" turned my blood to ice. I clamped both hands over my mouth to choke back a gasp.

A deafening crash of shattering glass echoed from the living room, followed by that terrifyingly cold voice ordering the doctor to get out or be thrown into a pool of molten silver.

Run! I had to get out of here right now!

Spinning around, I bolted down the opposite end of the sprawling hallway, searching desperately for a service exit. The massive penthouse was a maze of dark doors and marble pillars. Sweat beaded on my forehead as my heart hammered against my ribs.

Heavy, unhurried footsteps suddenly echoed behind me.

Panicking, I whipped around a corner and reached for a guest room doorknob, only to slam face-first into a wall of solid muscle.

The impact knocked me backward. A steel-like arm shot out, hooking around my waist and yanking me flush against a hard chest.

The overpowering scent of winter pine filled my nose, making my legs go weak before I could even struggle. I looked up into a pair of bottomless black eyes burning with rage, set in a face that was as handsome as it was cruel.

His gaze dragged slowly down my face and locked onto my flat stomach.

"Awake?" His low, raspy voice vibrated against my eardrums, his large hand tightening around my waist.

Trembling, I glanced down at the right hand gripping my hip. On his long index finger sat a silver-toned ring inlaid with a glowing moonstone carved with a wolf totem.

My pupils shrank to pinpricks. Two months ago in that pitch-black hotel room, that exact freezing stone had scraped across my collarbone while I begged for mercy.

It was him!

Terror and humiliation snapped the last thread of my control. I shoved hard against his chest, stumbling backward until my spine slammed against the cold marble wall.

"Don't touch me!" I screamed, my voice cracking as I crossed both arms tightly over my belly.

His eyes turned to ice as he took a slow step forward, trapping me against the wall.

Ferrell POV:

Minutes earlier in the living room, Arthur's trembling diagnosis had hit me like a sledgehammer.

Pregnant?

Every high-ranking elder in the northern territories knew the Cummings bloodline carried an ancient, ruthless curse of infertility—my seed was too volatile to let any female conceive.

"Say that again," I had snarled, unleashing a wave of Alpha's Command that forced Arthur to his knees on the marble floor.

"It's true, Alpha! The life pulse is faint, about two months along!"

Two months matched that night, yet the curse made it impossible. Furious at the thought that my Fated Mate had spread her legs for another man right after leaving me—even as my inner wolf whined in a strange, protective agony—I had swept a crystal ashtray off the table and ordered Arthur to keep his mouth shut under threat of molten silver.

Now, staring down at the trembling girl cowering against my hallway wall and shielding her stomach from me like I was a plague, my jealousy boiled over into a cruel sneer.

"What's wrong? Carrying another man's bastard makes you that afraid of my touch?"