THE NEXT ALPHA

Gianna POV:

For three years after taking my runaway cousin's place to marry the poisoned and blind Alpha, Ezequiel Henry, I had been secretly absorbing the deadly silver poison from his body.

But he had never touched me—until tonight, when something I did not yet understand drove him into a madness that pinned me fiercely beneath him.

"Take it off yourself."

Ezequiel's sightless eyes locked dead in my direction.

His heavy body pressing against me was scorching, yet his voice was as cold as the biting night wind outside the window.

I jolted, staring up into his dark, blindfolded face.

My heart began to pound wildly against my ribs, and a flush of heat crept up my neck.

"What... what's wrong with you?" I managed to ask, my voice trembling with a mix of fear and an undeniable sliver of anticipation.

We had been married for almost three years, and Ezequiel, the billionaire Alpha of the Henry Pack and CEO of Silvercrest Enterprises, had never laid a finger on me.

Now, with only one month left on the three-year marriage that was supposed to end in my divorce, why was he doing this?

Before I could move, he reached for his collar, tearing his custom shirt open with a sharp tug.

His broad, muscular chest heaved, slick with sweat.

His jaw was clenched tight, radiating a terrifying, suffocating Alpha aura heavily laced with the dominant scent of dark cedar.

Three years ago, a silver bullet assassination had stolen his sight.

At that time, my family was facing bankruptcy and begged him to honor an old marriage pact. To everyone else, I was just a greedy, wolfless parasite who married a crippled Alpha for his wealth.

But every single night, I secretly used my hidden Healer bloodline, absorbing his deadly silver poison into my own body to save his life.

This process forced my wolf core into a deep dormancy, entirely severing my mental link to the pack.

I had no idea that the extreme jealousy of learning his beloved was pregnant had prematurely triggered his Heat.

His inner Dire Wolf, driven mindless by frustrated possessiveness, was thrashing wildly beneath his ribs.

He didn't care who was beneath him; he just needed a body to bite, to vent, to prove his Alpha dominance.

I looked up at his handsome, sculptured features.

I foolishly thought that after three years of silent devotion, he finally wanted me.

"Ezequiel..." I hesitantly reached out, my trembling fingers grazing his burning chest. "For the sake of how much I truly love you... please be gentle."

His dark brows drew together beneath the blindfold as if he had just heard a hilarious joke.

He looked down at me, a cruel smirk twisting his lips.

"Stop pretending."

"Or do you think I haven't paid you enough?" he sneered.

The next second, he reached into the pocket of his discarded coat.

He pulled out a heavy, solid gold signet—the master key to the Henry family's endless treasury—and threw it hard against my collarbone.

Smack.

I froze, a wave of suffocating sourness washing over my heart.

"You've stayed in my territory for three years just to suck my pack dry, haven't you?" His voice was dripping with venom. "Take the gold, and take off your clothes."