Dorian arrived at the high court in a murderous mood. He slammed on the brakes, bringing the sleek, black Porsche to a screeching halt outside the towering stone building.
Jake hurried out through the front doors the exact second Dorian stepped down and slammed his car door shut. A bone ticked violently in his jaw as he stormed up the grand stairs, his handsome face twisted into a vicious scowl.
"Alpha," Jake bowed, nearly having his shoulder ripped off as Dorian shoved past him without breaking stride.
"Where are they?" he growled furiously.
"Inside the board room," Jake said, trying to catch up with Dorian’s long strides. "They have no idea you’re coming."
Dorian stalked up the stairs, his fingers twitching violently before curling into tight, bone-crushing fists. The council members had overstepped their boundaries this time.
Meanwhile, inside the board room, the twelve council members were conversing in hushed tones. They sat gathered around a massive mahogany desk, six on each side.
The room itself was austere, painted in a soft beige, with only a grand crystal chandelier and a projector hanging from the high ceiling.
The leader of the council, a bearded man named Kane, was hunched low over the desk, scribbling on a long piece of parchment.
Beside him, the assistant, Connor, kept shifting restlessly in his seat, casting worried glances toward the double doors as if he were expecting someone to barge in and disrupt their proceedings.
Suddenly, an unnatural, icy chill seeped into the room, causing the temperature to plummet in an instant. Connor’s eyes widened as he stared toward the threshold, his entire frame going stone-rigid.
The rest of the council felt the sudden frost too, the unmistakable, icy wind that always followed the Alpha of the North, announcing his presence before he even showed his face.
The crystal chandelier overhead began to rattle violently, its glass pieces clinking together like a warning bell. On the desk, loose parchments fluttered wildly, caught in the sudden draft of Dorian’s approaching presence.
Kane shot to his feet, the stoic mask on his face cracking open to reveal the raw terror underneath.
"Who called the Alpha?" he whispered, his voice shaking. When met with absolute silence, his control snapped and he roared, "WHO?!"
The council members murmured among themselves, frantically shaking their heads in denial. Then, Connor’s eyes went wide with sudden realization.
"Jake and Alec were present at the first briefing. One of them must have overheard us when we–"
He never got the chance to finish his sentence.
The double doors were suddenly flung open with a deafening, explosive bang, slamming into the drywall behind them.
Dorian stepped through the threshold, his eyes blazing a brilliant, eerie, gold, his fangs completely bared. Every single inch of his towering body was locked down in a wave of pure, unadulterated rage.
In a flash, he moved across the room, his massive form blurring rapidly. He grabbed Kane around the throat, lifted the grown man into the air, and slammed him brutally into the wall.
A spray of dark blood sputtered from Kane’s mouth as his spine collided with the wall with a sickening crash. The impact was so devastating that his head left a deep, fractured dent in the wall.
Dorian pushed his face forward, his golden eyes burning like wild flames, his grip tightening like an iron vice around Kane’s neck.
"What is this I heard about?" he muttered in a terrifyingly low voice. "A decree? A law of succession?"
His razor-sharp claws slowly pushed out from his fingertips, digging directly into the veins on Kane’s neck. Kane froze, his eyes wide, bloodshot, and bulging. He couldn’t muster a single syllable.
Behind Dorian, the remaining eleven council members were on their feet, their heads bowed down deeply in a sign of total submission. Even Jake wasn’t exempted. It was impossible to remain unmoved when Dorian’s Alpha aura flooded the room like a heavy, drowning weight.
Kane finally forced the words past his bleeding lips, his voice a hoarse, squeaky gasp.
"Alpha... it’s... it’s not me," he choked out, blood dripping down his collar and soaking into his clothes. "It’s... your mother’s... it’s her royal decree..."
The moment Dorian heard the mention of his mother, the rage inside him whooshed out like a fire that had been extinguished.
He lowered Kane, tossing him aside as he took a slow step back, his claws still twitching with adrenaline.
Kane collapsed to his knees, clutching his bleeding throat and greedily sucking in air as he tried to scramble backward, away from Dorian’s reach.
"What decree?" Dorian growled, the temperature in the room remaining dangerously low.
Kane quickly crawled back toward his seat. He fumbled with trembling hands through the stack of documents on the desk while Dorian lowered into the leather executive chair at the head of the table, his sharp features still contoured in absolute fury.
The council members took their respective seats, their eyes glued to the floor out of respect and fear.
Kane finally found the specific document he was looking for and pushed it carefully across the desk toward Dorian.
The decree clearly stated thus:
"The Alpha title is a conditional right. If the current Alpha fails to meet the required biological conditions, which includes marrying or siring an heir before the 135th Moon Ceremony, the decree will trigger an automatic transfer of power to the next eligible family member."
As Dorian’s eyes tracked across the words, the fury returned tenfold, burning hot in his chest. How could his mother have done something like this behind his back? And why was he just finding out about it now?
"Luna Andromeda knew you wouldn’t be able to bond with your fated mate because of the demon blood in your veins," Kane fearfully continued. "That’s why the council originally chose the Bennington heir for you to marry. We didn’t disclose the decree all this time because we fully expected you and Miss Samantha to be wedded before the deadline. But with the sudden arrival of the wolfless girl–"
Dorian’s head snapped up, his golden eyes bleeding into a cold, pitch-black darkness. He didn’t utter a single word, but the intensity of his stare instantly shut Kane’s mouth down mid-sentence.
Kane lowered his head, backing away as his entire body trembled. "Forgive me, Alpha."
For a long moment, Dorian didn’t speak. The blood-seal stamped at the bottom of the document was more than enough proof that this was real. His mother had truly enacted this decree before her death.
This changed everything. The 135th Moon Ceremony was only a few weeks away, and the preparations were already underway.
He was being backed into a corner; marry Samantha or lose his Alpha title. And marrying Samantha meant losing Alyssa, the girl he was quickly becoming obsessed with.
"Which of my cousins will the throne be transferred to?" he spoke at last, his voice laced with a razor-sharp edge.
Jake frowned up at him from across the room. Dorian wasn’t actually considering surrendering the Alpha title, was he?
Kane shuffled through another document and pushed it forward. "Your first cousin, Joffrey Lowell."
In a flash, Dorian’s rage returned. Not Joffrey! Not that bastard!
Across the room, Jake visibly paled. Joffrey and Dorian shared a history, a horrific, bloody history. Something had happened years ago, involving the two men and the woman Dorian had once married.
Dorian took a deep breath, forcing the beast back down. Now was not the time to lose control. He opened his eyes and pinned Kane under his death glare.
"My mother’s decree states I must marry or bear an heir before the 135th Moon Ceremony, correct?" he muttered, his voice strangely calm.
Kane nodded quickly, keeping his eyes glued to the table. "Yes, Alpha."
"Since it is impossible to bear an heir within a matter of weeks, it looks like I will have to get married."
He rose abruptly, the sudden movement causing the entire council to flinch backward in sheer terror.
"Jake, make preparations for my wedding. One week from today."
Jake’s jaw dropped open in utter disbelief. "Your wedding, Alpha?"
Dorian nodded as he stepped away from the table. "If the council demands a wedding to satisfy the decree, they will get one. But there is no way in hell I am surrendering my title to Joffrey!"
He turned on his heel and stormed out of the board room, taking the suffocating, crushing weight of his aura with him.
Kane collapsed back into his chair, wincing as he touched the bloody claw marks slowly healing on his neck.
"Send word to the Bennington pack," he ordered Connor. "Let them know the Alpha King and Miss Samantha will be wedded one week from today."
...
Outside the court, Dorian pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Anthony’s number, waiting impatiently as the line rang.
"Are you back at the mansion?" he demanded the second Anthony picked up.
"Yes. Pandora and I returned a few minutes ago," Anthony replied over the line.
"Where is Alyssa? Put her on."
There was a sudden pause on the other end before Anthony spoke again, his tone turning tense. "She’s not with you? We didn’t find her when we returned."
Dorian stopped dead in his tracks, his entire body freezing completely in place.
"What do you mean you didn’t find her?" he growled.
"We searched the entire mansion the moment we got back, Dorian," Anthony stated, a note of panic creeping into his voice. "There isn’t a single sign of her anywhere. I assumed you took her with you."
The moment those words registered in Dorian’s mind, the blood in his veins ran completely ice-cold.
Alyssa was missing.