nor
like a bridal gown and more lik
now, I stood at the bottom of the wide, freezing stone steps of Manhattan City Hall. Th
oors at the top of the stair
Lovers. Soulmates. People who chose each other willingly. But to me, they looruthless stranger I had met less than twenty-four hours ago-final
d blinding, s
, my heel pivoting as every instinct screamed at me to run. To flee this p
noticed e
inescapable-a vice of pure, unyielding strength that made my bones creak in warning. He yan
d that sent ice shooting through my veins. "It's a blood pact with my Pack. If you run,
Let the w
here is nowhere on this
bt
fate worse than being a Rogue. Rogues were killed quickly. Debtors were broken. Hunted for sport. Enslave
to run evaporated, replaced by a chilling,
orced myself to move, letting him guide me u
had sna
e a shrinking box. The air smelled of old paper and bureaucratic indifference. Behind a heavy d
clerk droned, readi
ace-this cold, sterile box-felt like a silve
ay my adoptive mother used to remind me at every opportunity that I was just a wolfless orphan they had never truly accepted. The ove
wedded husband?" the clerk asked, looking up with the dead-eyed ex
my lips parted. N
dn't b
nd too long, Damien's hand shifte
world stopp
Absolutely irresistible. It was the Alpha's Command-a power that could bend the will of ev
bypassed my mind entirely, hijacking my v
rembling violently as the words we
I pronounce you husband and wife," the clerk said,
legal transacti
cting Damien to turn and walk
ds suddenly cupped my
ze, a terrifying flash of f
nner
sp, his mouth cra
iss. It was a
g, heavy scent of sharp cedarwood, a raging rainstorm, and rich Cuban tobacco flooded my senses, drowning out the stale air
ke a trapped bird. My lips were swollen. My breath was gone. My entire
lip. His chest vibrated with a low, guttu
the words barely audible but heavy
him, trembling
married a bi
with an apex predator. And h
mall of my back to steer me out of the office and back toward the waiting Maybach. His touch was possessi
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