Giovanni's breath hitched as the silver collar hummed against her throat. The runes were cold, a sharp contrast to the fire burning in her veins from the injection.

"Choose, Giovanni," Russell growled. His hand remained tangled in her hair, his knuckles brushing her scalp. "My brother is at that gate with a Council. If they take you, they won't be as gentle as I've been. They'll strip you down in a lab to verify your purity and your fertility. Is that what you want?"

"Gentle?" Giovanni choked out, a bitter laugh escaping her. She looked up at him, her eyes clouded with tears and the haze of the drug. "You've locked me up and drugged me. You call this gentle?"

"I call this necessary," Russell snapped. He pulled her closer, his face inches from hers. "You have five seconds before I let them in. If you want to be a state-owned breeder, by all means, walk out that door. But if you want to stay under the protection of the Van-Doren name, you're going to have to prove you're already mine."

The intercom crackled again. Xavier's voice was louder this time, dripping with mocking concern. "Russell, don't be difficult. If the girl is untouched, the marriage is void under pack law. Just let the Council do a quick check and we'll be out of your hair."

Russell's jaw tightened. The growl that ripped from his chest was low and vibrating, a sound of pure, unadulterated dominance. He looked at Giovanni, and for a second, his gaze softened into something that looked like possession.

"Please," Giovanni whispered, her wolf whimpering at the thought of being touched by the Council's cold hands. "Don't let them take me."

"Then show them," Russell commanded.

He didn't wait for her to agree. He hauled her to her feet and grabbed a silk robe from the foot of the bed, throwing it over her shoulders to cover her torn dress. He kept one hand firmly on the back of her neck, guiding her toward the balcony that overlooked the front courtyard.

He slammed the glass doors open. The night air was crisp, but it did nothing to cool the fever in Giovanni's blood.

Below, in the floodlights of the driveway, stood Xavier and a man in the grey uniform of the Council. Several guards were positioned between them and the house, their postures rigid.

"Xavier!" Russell's voice boomed over the courtyard, echoing with the power of an Alpha. "You're trespassing on private pack territory."

Xavier looked up, a smirk playing on his lips until his eyes landed on Giovanni. He went still, his gaze raking over her disheveled hair and the silver collar glinting on her neck.

"The Council received a tip that the union was a sham, Russell," He shouted, his hand resting on his sidearm. "We're here to escort the Omega to the sanctuary for verification."

"The only place this Omega is going is back to my bed," Russell replied. He reached out and pulled Giovanni flush against his side, his arm heavy and possessive around her waist.

"She looks terrified, Russ," Xavier called out, his voice sharp. "And what's with the collar? Afraid she'll run?"

"She's in heat," Russell lied, though the drug made the lie look like the truth. Giovanni's face was flushed, her scent-now sweet and heavy like ripening peaches-filling the air. "She's overwhelmed by the bond. Or are you calling me a liar in front of a Council official?"

The Enforcer hesitated. An Alpha's claim over a female in heat was nearly sacred in pack law. To interfere was to invite a blood feud.

"If she's in heat, then the mating should be well underway," the Enforcer said, his eyes narrowing. "Let her speak. Giovanni, do you claim Russell Van-Doren as your Alpha and mate?"

Giovanni felt Russell's fingers dig into her hip, a silent, painful warning. She looked down at the men below, then at the monster beside her. She was trapped between a cage and a storm.

"I... I am his," she whispered, her voice trembling so much it was barely audible.

"Louder," Russell hissed in her ear.

"I am his!" she cried out, the words feeling like a betrayal to her soul. "Please, just leave us alone."

Xavier's expression shifted. The smirk was gone, replaced by a dark, brooding look that Giovanni couldn't decipher. He stared at her for a long beat before turning to the Enforcer.

"You heard her. The asset is claimed. Let's go."

The Enforcer nodded slowly. "We'll be back in forty-eight hours for the blood work, Alpha. If there's no trace of a successful knotting in her system by then, the contract is forfeit."

They turned and walked back toward their vehicles. Giovanni felt the tension leave Russell's body as the SUV's headlights faded into the distance.

He didn't let go of her. He dragged her back inside the room and kicked the balcony doors shut, locking them with a sharp click.

"That was too close," he muttered, his voice thick with a dark adrenaline.

"They're coming back," Giovanni said, her voice small. She felt the weight of the silver collar, a reminder of the "asset" she had become. "What happens in forty-eight hours?"

Russell turned her around, his hands moving to the lapels of the robe he'd put on her. He slowly began to slide it off her shoulders, his eyes fixed on hers. The coldness was still there, but it was being burned away by a raw, primal hunger.

"In forty-eight hours, you'll be pregnant with my child," he said.

He picked her up, tossing her onto the center of the bed. This time, he didn't stay back. He moved over her, his large frame casting a shadow that swallowed her whole. He reached out, his thumb catching a stray tear on her cheek before sliding down to her lips.

"Don't look at me like that, Giovanni," he whispered, his voice a dangerous caress. "You chose this. You told them you were mine."

"I had no choice," she sobbed, her hands pushing feebly against his chest.

"You'll find I'm a very thorough owner," he rumbled.

He leaned down, his mouth hovering just over her marking place. He didn't bite, not yet. He just licked the wounded skin, his tongue hot and rough, sending a jolt of electricity straight to her core.

Giovanni's wolf let out a broken howl, her body arching toward him despite the fear screaming in her head. The chemistry was a poison, a beautiful, terrifying thing that made her want to pull him closer even as she hated every second of it.

"Tell me you want me," Russell commanded, his teeth grazing her pulse point. "Say it, and I might be gentle."

Giovanni gripped the sheets, her knuckles white. The room felt like it was spinning, the scent of him drowning out her common sense. She looked up at him, her heart shattering as she realized there was no escape.

"I... I want you," she whispered, the lie tasting like honey and ash.

Russell's eyes flared into a brilliant, blinding gold.

"Good girl," he growled.

He reached for the bedside table, picking up a small, velvet box he hadn't shown her before. He opened it to reveal a second collar-this one made of black leather and lined with gold spikes.

"The silver was for the Council," he said, his voice dropping to a register that made her whole body vibrate. "This one is for me."

The velvet box  shut with a soft and final click, Giovanni looked at it like it was a coffin. Russell didn't rush and that was the worst part. He moved with a deliberate calm that made everything feel inevitable like this had already been decided long before she ever stepped into that cathedral.

"The silver one stays on," he said, setting the box aside. "The Council needs to see it when they return. But this" his fingers brushed the black leather collar, " this is what you'll wear for me." Her throat tightened and the cold weight of the silver collar already felt suffocating, the runes dampening her wolf, pressing her instincts into a muted, restless hum. The thought of another, made something inside her splinter.

"I can't," she whispered.

Russell stilled. It was subtle, A shift in the air like the  kind of stillness that came right before a storm broke. "You can't?" he repeated softly. Giovanni swallowed hard, forcing herself to hold his gaze.  And she said. "I won't." For a moment, nothing happened. Then Russell smiled.

It wasn't warm and wasn't kind, It was sharp and slow and dangerous, like a blade being drawn across skin. "There it is," he whispered . "I was wondering when you'd find your spine." He leaned down, keeping one hand beside her head, trapping her beneath him without even touching her and his presence alone was enough to cage her in.

"But let's be clear about something, Giovanni," he continued, his voice dropping lower. "You don't get to refuse me. Her heart pounded, but something new flickered beneath the fear. It was anger. "You said I chose this," she shot back, her voice trembling but louder than before. "That I told them I was yours, but you didn't give me a real choice. You never have."

Russell's eyes darkened. "And yet," he said quietly, "you're still here." Before she could respond, he grabbed her chin firmly enough to hold her still. "You think my brother showing up was a coincidence?" he asked. "You think the Council just decided to take an interest in my marriage overnight?"

Giovanni frowned and confusion cutting through the haze of heat and fear. "What are you talking about?" "Xavier is testing me," Russell said. "He's looking for weakness or a crack in my control. And right now " his grip tightened slightly, " you are that crack." The words hit me harder than any physical blow. "I'm a crack?" she repeated, her voice hollow.

"Yes," he said without hesitation. "An unproven mate, unsecured heir and a liability." Something inside her chest twisted painfully. "I'm not a thing," she said. "No," Russell said, his tone almost thoughtful. "You're more dangerous than that. Things don't get taken from me. People do." Giovanni stared at him, her breath catching.

"Is that what this is?" she asked slowly. "A war between you and your brother?"

Russell didn't answer immediately. His gaze flickered over her face, as if weighing how much to reveal. "Everything is a war," he finally said. Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating. Then Giovanni did something unexpected. She laughed. It was soft at first then sharper and almost hysterical.

Russell's expression hardened. "What's so funny?" "This," she said, gesturing weakly between them. "All of this. You, your brother, the Council, the collars, the injections" her voice cracked. "You're all fighting over power, and I'm just... what? The battlefield?" Russell's jaw clenched. "You're the prize," he corrected.

"That's worse," she shot back.

For the first time something in his expression shifted not quite but... unsettled. Giovanni saw it and she held onto it. "If I'm so important," she continued, her voice steadier now, "then stop treating me like I'm disposable." Russell went very still. "You're asking for respect," he said. I'm asking to be treated like a person," she replied.

A long pause then... "You'll get that," Russell said slowly, "when you prove you can survive this." The words landed like ice before she could respond then he reached for the velvet box again. Giovanni's body tensed but instead of opening it, he set it aside again.

"Not yet," he said, almost to himself. Her eyes widened slightly. That... wasn't what she expected. Russell stood running a hand through his hair as if trying to shake off something invisible. "The Council will be back in forty-eight hours," he said. "Until then, you don't leave this room. You don't speak to anyone unless I allow it. And you do exactly what Yvette tells you."

"And if I don't?" she challenged quietly. His gaze snapped back to hers. "Then you won't survive long enough to matter." The heat in her body surged again, sharper this time, making her gasp. She curled slightly, her fingers gripping the sheets. Russell noticed immediately.

"Still spiking," he observed.

"I hate this," she said, her voice breaking. "I hate what you're doing to me." Something flickered in his eyes again that same brief crack she'd seen before but it vanished just as quickly. "You'll hate it less when it works," he said. She shook her head weakly. "You don't even hear yourself."

Before he could respond, a knock sounded at the door. Three sharp knocks. Russell's expression darkened instantly. "What?" Declan's voice came through from the other side. "Alpha, we have a situation." Russell crossed the room in seconds, yanking the door open just enough to speak without exposing Giovanni.

"What kind of situation?"

"A breach," Declan said. "Not from outside. From within." Russell went still. "Explain." "One of the lower staff is missing," Declan continued. "And... there are signs someone accessed the west wing security system." Giovanni's breath caught. Russell's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Who?"

Declan hesitated. "...Xavier's personal guard was seen on the grounds earlier." A low, lethal growl rumbled from Russell's chest. "He's still here," Russell said. Giovanni's heart began to race for a completely different reason now.

Xavier hadn't left.

Russell turned back toward her slowly and his expression unreadable. "Looks like my brother isn't done playing games," he said. Giovanni swallowed hard. "What does that mean for me?" Russell walked back to the bed, stopping just close enough for his presence to press in around her. "It means," he said quietly, "that you just became even more valuable."

Her stomach dropped, which is not a good thing, is it?" His lips curved into that same sharp and dangerous smile. "For you?" he said. "No." Then he leaned down and his voice dropping to a whisper against her ear. "But it might be your only chance to survive."

The sunlight bled through the tall windows falling in sharp angles across the plush floor. Giovanni stirred, her body still humming from the fevered haze of the week prior. 

Every touch, every whispered command from Russell and every late-night collision of instinct and desire had left her unsteady like a moth trapped in a storm of fire. She had thought foolishly and  desperately that she had glimpsed something human beneath the mask of the Alpha.  A man capable of tendernes  even in his darkness.

Her fingers trembled as she held the small white stick between them. Positive... The symbol was undeniable. A life growing inside her and proof of a connection she had barely dared to hope could exist. Her chest tightened not from joy but a tangle of fear and hope. She had to tell him. She had to.

Her steps were quiet on the carpet not to make a sound and  corridors were empty or so she thought. When she reached the study, the door was slightly ajar and voices leaking through the crack. She froze.

"...and she doesn't need to know the truth," Russell's voice was smooth and calm but every word sliced through her like a blade. "...biological necessity," Xavier's tone was clinical and almost amused. "Are you saying you'd sacrifice her status for the child?"

Russell's laugh was low, predatory. "The child is the Van-Doren heir. Nothing else matters. Once it's born, Giovanni will have no claim, no title. I'll exile her to the fringe packs before she can influence anything. The last thing I want is for my heir to inherit weakness. She will be a vessel, nothing more."

The words froze Giovanni mid-step. Her stomach lurched and her pulse hammering in her ears. The man she had clung to fought to believe could love her had been planning her erasure the entire time. Her body trembled while her hands gripping the doorframe. The stick was clenched so tightly, it threatened to snap.

Xavier laughed again but low and satisfied. "Efficient and calculated. You've thought this through." Russell's voice dropped, almost reverent in its cruelty. "Everything I do, I do for the pack. For the child. For the Van-Doren legacy. She's... replaceable."

Giovanni's hands fell to her sides as her breath hitched and ragged. The world seemed to tilt. Weeks of fevered nights, of the raw, unbearable chemistry she had thought was mutual, were nothing but a cage he had built around her. She had been a stepping stone for his legacy which is a  "biological necessity."

Her wolf howled in pain, sharp, internal scream that no human sound could match. Giovanni fled before they could notice her presence. Each step down the hallway felt like running through fire and her body shaking with betrayal and fear. She needed air, space and  distance. Anything to escape the suffocating realization.

She stumbled onto the balcony and the wind cutting through her hair, tearing at the remnants of fevered warmth she had carried from the bed with her fingers clutched the railing as she fought to steady her racing heartbeat. The city beyond looked unreal and detached from the jagged edges of her despair.

A memory from the past week clawed at her, Russell's hands on her skin and his voice low and commanding the flicker of something almost human in his eyes. She had thought she was reaching him but she hadn't reached a man. She had reached an Alpha who viewed her as a means, a tool and a vessel and not someone capable of love and care.

Giovanni's wolf shrieked inside her chest, clawing against her ribs and  mourning a hope she had dared to nurture. Tears blurred her vision. She had been desperate for love and in that desperation, she had let herself believe in a mirage.

She did not hear Russell's footsteps until he was on the balcony, the long shadow of his frame stretching over her. He stopped a few feet away, watching. His presence was heavy, a predator contained only by the narrow line of the railing. "Giovanni," he said softly, almost cautiously. "I know you heard." Her spine stiffened, her fists clenching. "I did," she said, voice shaking. "Every word."

Russell took a careful step closer to her and said. "It's not what you think"

"No," she spat, the venom tasting like ash. "It's exactly what I think. You never wanted me. You just wanted my body and my fertility. I was... disposable." Russell's expression shifted slightly, a flicker of something she had never seen before, uncertainty, perhaps guilt or maybe surprise that she could see through him so clearly. "Giovanni, listen "

"Don't," she interrupted sharply. "Don't tell me anything. I know who and what you are. And I will not will not be part of this nightmare."

He hesitated then he moved closer. His golden eyes burned into hers, a blend of anger and desire that made her skin crawl even as it made her pulse spike. "You're carrying my child," he said, low, deliberate. "That doesn't make you disposable. It makes you mine. Everything I do "

"I am not yours," she snapped, stepping back, shaking her head. "I am not yours to claim, to use, to discard. I trusted you. I wanted God, I wanted... something real. And you only wanted control."

Russell's jaw tightened, his anger thinly veiled over something else something primal, something dangerous. "Control isn't a crime, Giovanni. You can't survive in my world without it. Without me."

Giovanni laughed bitterly, a sound that was half heartbreak, half fury. "Survive without you? That's exactly what I plan to do. You will not dictate my life, my child, or my freedom."

Her wolf surged inside her with a torrent of instinct, rage, and she felt a sharp clarity for the first time in the fevered haze of the past week. She would not be his vessel. She would not be a pawn in his war and is surviving meant defying him, she would do it.