361 Threats

But I didn’t. I just drove, fuming. I stripped off my jacket and tugged at the buttons of my shirt, trying to loosen the fire caged in my chest. But before I could throw myself under the shower, my phone buzzed in my hand.

She lied. She had to. If another man had touched her, I would have known. I would have smelled him on her skin, felt it burn in my wolf’s bones. There was no way I could have missed it.

The silence stretched, sharp as a blade.

His laugh was harsher this time, sharper. “Such threats, Alpha. But threats don’t scare me. Remember this–I don’t warn twice. Tell Lennox, Levi, and Louis to stay out of my way. Olivia is mine. And if they test me, their blood will stain the ground before the moon rises.”

The lie echoed again and again in my skull. I have a man. I have a man.

“Don’t you ever bring him near Charlie,” I growled. My wolf pressed against my skin, fighting to be let out. “If you even think of letting another man into his life, I will take him from you. Do you understand me?”

When we finally pulled into the mansion grounds, the pack guards bowed their heads, but I barely noticed. My mind was locked on one thing–her words, her lie, the burn of jealousy I couldn’t shake.

The line went dead.

As soon as she stepped out with Charlie in her arms, I pulled out my phone, my voice cold and sharp when my Beta answered.

The car ride was a graveyard.

I wanted to laugh, I wanted to rip the steering wheel in half. I wanted to pull over and shake the truth out of her, demand she say it again to my face, and watch her crumble.

A man.

For a moment, I thought about ignoring it. But something in my wolf stirred, restless.

With a growl, I swiped to answer and lifted it to my ear.

“Don’t,” I finally said, my voice low, rough, but steady.

I ended the call before he could answer, my hand tightening around the phone. My gaze shifted back to where Sofia disappeared inside with Charlie.

The thought of another man standing where I stood, near Charlie, near Sofia–it burned hotter than any flame.

The words detonated inside me like an explosion. My teeth clenched, and my wolf howled furiously beneath my skin. “You dare call me to spew this filth?” I growled. “Olivia is not yours.”

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong,” Frederick sneered. “She was given to me. And I’ll make sure those triplet wolves of yours stay far away from her. If they don’t, I’ll bury them before they get the chance.”

A chuckle slid down the line, low and mocking. “Easy, Alpha Damien. It’s Frederick.”

Charlie shifted on the couch, his small body turning, a soft sigh escaping his lips. The sound comforted me for a moment, dragging me back from the edge of my fury. I lifted my eyes, just enough to see Sofia bend over him, brushing his hair gently from his forehead.

For a moment, I forgot how to breathe. My wolf surged forward, snarling, demanding a name, a face, blood. My jaw clenched so tightly it hurt, my knuckles whitening around the pen in my hand.

Her lips parted, but she said nothing. Her eyes shone with something I couldn’t read—fear, anger, maybe guilt.

Finally, I pushed back from the desk, standing to my full height. “Get up. We’re leaving.”

She sat stiffly on the passenger side, her arms crossed, her face turned to the window. Not a word left her lips. My grip on the steering wheel was iron, the veins in my hands straining as my wolf paced inside me.

My body stiffened, my wolf bristling instantly. “Frederick,” I said, my voice sharp as a blade. “Why are you calling me?”

And yet… the way she spoke tore at me. Her voice had no pause, no stumble. It was steady, clear, and sharp. Too real. Too sure. Like she wanted her words to cut and leave me bleeding.

My chest twisted. God, I love this woman.

Damien’s POV

Her head snapped up, her brows furrowed. “Don’t what?”

Instead, I bent my head lower, forcing myself to stare at the papers spread before me, though the words swam and tangled into a blur I couldn’t make sense of. My hand moved as if to write, but the pen refused to obey. I wasn’t writing at all—I was clutching it so hard that the plastic groaned under the pressure, my knuckles straining white. A sharp crack split the silence, the pen snapping in my grip, ink threatening to spill, yet still I didn’t loosen my hold.

“You think your title makes you untouchable? That crown, that name, that empty power–you cling to it like it makes you a god. But I’ll strip it all away. I’ll rip your throne from beneath you, drag your honor into the dirt, and burn your legacy down to dust until even your ancestors choke on ashes. And when your line is nothing but a memory, when your name is spoken only as a curse, you’ll understand what it means to cross me.”

“Find out if Sofia has been seeing anyone,” I ordered. “Check everything–every trip, every errand, every friend she has spoken to. If there’s a man…” My wolf growled inside, finishing the sentence for me. I’ll kill him.

“Try it,” I spat, my voice dropping into a dangerous rumble that shook the air. “Go ahead, lay a finger on them–touch even a strand of their hair–and see how long you survive. They are my blood, my heart walking outside my chest. I love my nephews more than my own life, and I swear to you, I would tear apart the world before letting harm reach them.”

“To save time,” he said casually, his tone dripping arrogance. “I don’t like wasting words. Tell your nephews–Lennox, Levi, and Louis–to stop circling where they don’t belong. Olivia… is mine.”

I didn’t look at her, I couldn’t. If I did, I might break.

Her words slammed into me like claws across my chest.

“Who the hell is this?” I snapped.