Seraphina POV
My raised hand remained suspended in the air, trapped in Kain’s iron grip. His towering frame cast a dark shadow over me, and the crushing weight of his Alpha aura—a suffocating blend of pine after a storm and cold steel—froze the very air in Evelyn's office.
"Alpha!" Evelyn gasped, her smugness vanishing instantly. She clutched her reddened cheek, forcing tears to well in her eyes as she cowered behind her desk. "She attacked me! Like a feral rogue, she just snapped!"
"She insulted my father, Kain," I choked out, my voice trembling as I looked up into his merciless eyes, desperately searching for a shred of the man who used to hold me. "She said Connor was a worthless—"
"Enough." Kain’s voice wasn't a shout, but a low, vibrating growl that rattled my bones. He released my wrist, shoving my arm down with a look of utter disdain. He didn't even glance at Evelyn; his icy stare was fixed entirely on me.
The murmurs in the hallway grew louder. The entire pack was watching their future Luna being treated like a criminal.
"Apologize. Now," Kain demanded.
The words hit me like a physical blow. It wasn't a request. It was an *Alpha's Command*. As a wolfless, I didn't possess an inner wolf to feel the magical, knee-bending compulsion that forced lower-ranking wolves to submit. But I didn't need to. The absolute, freezing authority in his tone, the public betrayal of his stance—it crushed my spirit just the same.
"Kain, she—"
"I said, apologize," he repeated, the temperature in the room dropping further.
I looked at Evelyn, who was watching me from behind her fingers, a triumphant smirk playing on her lips. My throat tightened, swallowing glass. Under the heavy, judgmental stares of the pack members and the unyielding command of my mate, my resistance shattered.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, the words tasting like ash on my tongue.
Kain didn't offer a single word of comfort. He simply turned on his heel. "My office. Now."
The walk to the top floor was a blur of humiliation. When the heavy oak doors of the Alpha's Office clicked shut behind us, the silence was deafening. The room was stark, powerful, and dominated by a massive black desk that looked more like an altar.
And sitting right in the center of it was the mate-bond severance agreement.
"Why did you bypass me on the MQ Clothing contract?" I asked, my voice hollow. I needed to cling to my professionalism, the only armor I had left. "I built that campaign."
Kain ignored my question entirely. He walked behind his desk, tapping a long finger against the cold, white paper. "Have you read the terms yet? I want this signed by tomorrow."
I stared at the document, my hands trembling at my sides. The frayed remnants of our mate-bond bled out in my chest. I looked at the man I had loved for years, the man who was currently tearing my soul apart to make room for his ex-girlfriend.
I had to know. I had to ask the one question that terrified me the most.
"Kain," I started, my voice barely a breath. "If... if we had a child, would you still do this?"
For a fraction of a second, a muscle feathered in his jaw. But then his eyes hardened into twin chips of ice, devoid of any warmth or hesitation.
"There are no what-ifs, Seraphina," he said, his voice a cruel, steady blade. "And even if you were pregnant right now... I would not allow a pup born from a bond I intend to sever to see the light of day."
The blood drained from my face. The room spun. My hand twitched, instinctively wanting to cover my flat stomach, but I forced it to remain at my side.
He would kill it. He would erase his own flesh and blood just to wipe the slate clean for Galilea.
The secret growing inside me morphed instantly from a fragile miracle into a death sentence. He could never know. I would die before I let him find out.
"As for your campaign," Kain continued, oblivious to the fact that he had just murdered the last beating piece of my heart. "Darlene Ortiz is out. The new spokesperson for MQ Clothing is Galilea Clifford. It is already done."
