Zayn A couple of hours earlier


    The incessant tapping of my fingers on the mahogany desk couldn''t drown out the chaos in my head. Nightshade City loomed outside my office window, a concrete jungle under the cloak of dusk, indifferent to my turmoil. The report I was supposed to be reviewing blurred before my eyes, each word a taunt reminding me of Cleo''s absence


    Learningst night her father was watching when I dropped her off pissed me off. I didn''t think he was stupid enough to try anything with my man keeping watch. I was wrong. He


    knocked him out, and God only knows what he told her to convince her to go back home with him


    "Vance," I growl lowly, my voice a rumble that filled the spacious office, "any updates from the border patrols?"


    "Quiet as the grave," Vance replies without looking up from his own stack of paperwork


    His dark hair is mussed from running his hands through it in frustration-a mirror image of my own restlessness, and I know my mood has him on edge


    "Good." I sigh, pushing myself back into my chair. But peace is far from my grasp. My wolf, Zarek, stirs within me, pacing relentlessly, sensing my unease. I try to focus on the numbers and figures, but my thoughts betray me, slipping to memories of her-Cleo, with her wild green


    eyes and that defiant tilt of her chin. Herughter echoing in my mind feels like a knife twisting in my chest


    "Hey, turn that up, will you?" Vance''s voice cuts through my reverie as he nods toward the television mounted on the wall that 1s muted


    I nce up, irritation ring at the interruption, but it dies on my lips as the screen fills with an image I know all too well-the Shadowcrest Pack insignia. The headline beneath sends a chill down my spine: ''A Pack Engagement.'' "What the hell is this?" I spit out, standing so swiftly that my chair toppled over with a crash


    Vance finds and fumbles with the remote, raising the volume just in time for the poised


    newscaster to deliver the blow."—and it seems


    the young heiress of the Shadowcrest Pack,


    Cleo, has returned to her father''s side to prepare for her uing engagement."


    "Engagement?" The word is like venom on my tongue. My vision goes red, a howl building deep within me


    "Zayn, calm down. We don''t know the full story..." Vance''s attempt to soothe me was futile


    "Full story?" I snarl, the sound more beast than man. "She left, and now she''s parading around, ready to bind herself to that sniveling worm?" And yet, here I was, brought to my knees not by an enemy''s de but by the betrayal of my mate


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    "Let''s not jump to conclusions. There has to be an exnation," Vance says, though doubtces his words


    "Exnation?" Fury thunders through me


    "She''s made her choice, returning to that damned pack. To him." My fists clenches so tightly my knuckles whitened, the urge to shift and let Zarek loose almost overwhelming


    "Zayn, think this through. You know Cleo doesn''t want to marry Boyd," Vance says, stepping closer with caution etched on his face


    The images flickering on the screen burn into my retinas-the headline screaming Cleo''s impending engagement. The sight of her standing beside him, her radiant smile mocking me from afar, is more than I could bear


    I swipe at the papers on my desk, scattering them across my office. My hands, shaking with a potent blend of anger and heartache, I throw the crystal decanter belonging to my father. It crashes against the wall, shattering into shards that reflect my fractured soul


    "Zayn!" Vance''s voice cut through the chaos, but I was too far gone. The primal roar that erupts from my chest is not human-it is the sound of a wounded animal, Zarek, pushed to his breaking point


    Overturning the mahogany desk with a strength born of my torment. The polished surface splinters, just like my self-control. Monitors toppled, technology sparking, and the scent of destruction mingles with the musk of my rage


    "Zayn, you have to stop!" Vance attempts to intervene, but Iam beyond reason. My vision blurs red, the world narrowing to the betrayal that seared my every nerve ending. I wanted to tear apart everything in sight


    "Zayn, listen to me!" Vance grabs my shoulders, his grip firm, grounding. But his words are distant echoes in the eye of the storm that rages? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    within me


    "Look at yourself!" he implores desperation threading his tone. "This isn''t you. You''re letting it consume you."


    And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the fury abates, leaving a hollow emptiness in its wake. I stand in the ruins of my office. My breaths came in ragged gasps, each one a battle between man and beast


    My gaze locked on the broken ss that littered the floor. "I need to see her. She can''t marry him."


    "Zayn, think about what you''re doing," Vance said cautiously. "You can''t just barge into Shadowerest. It''s her father''s territory."


    "Her father fucking sold her again," I spat out


    the words like venom. "He has no right. She is mine-my mate." My fists clench again, but this time with purpose


    "Then let''s be smart about this," Vance replies, his voice steady now. "You go in there. You''re just going to scare her," Vance tries to reason, but I snatch up my phone and try ringing her. I keep ringing, but she doesn''t answer, so I text "Zayn, stop!" Vance says, reaching for my phone, but I snarl at him, and he backs away from me