Hadley Burns POV: I pushed open the heavy VIP lounge door at the Glover Pack club, and a blast of heavy metal music mixed with thick cigar smoke made me hold my breath. Through the dim lights, I looked for Jackson Glover, the Alpha heir I had followed and loved for ten years, until his arrogant voice drifted from behind a glass screen. "Hadley? She's just a Wolfless without an inner wolf," Jackson laughed, his tone dripping with mockery. "Right, how could a genetic defect like her ever birth strong pups for a pureblood Alpha?" Axel Sterling, his loyal follower, chimed in immediately. Their words hit me like a bucket of ice water poured straight over my head, freezing me to the bone. I stood frozen, the paint-stained calluses on my right index and middle fingers digging hard into the wooden doorframe to keep my knees from buckling. In our society, being born Wolfless meant a permanent genetic defect—I could never shift, never use the Mind-Link, and never feel the Moon Goddess's mate pull. Jackson poured himself a glass of whiskey, the ice clinking coldly. "I only keep an orphan like her around because she's obedient. The Glover Pack doesn't need a useless Luna." Ten years of humble devotion turned into a suffocating chill in my chest. I bit my lower lip until the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth, then forced my stiff legs to turn and walk away from that disgusting room. I stumbled down the velvet-lined corridor, tears blurring my vision as the word "defect" echoed endlessly in my ears. Reaching the noisy first-floor bar, I slammed my last few large bills onto the counter. "Give me your strongest tequila," I rasped to the bartender. Werewolves had fast metabolisms that burned through regular alcohol in minutes, so only high-proof liquor sold in pack clubs could numb the nerves. I downed four shots in a row. The fiery liquid burned down my throat, and the room finally spun as my stomach churned violently. Shoving aside a drunken warrior who tried to grab my arm, I staggered toward the heavy fire exit at the back of the club, desperate for fresh air. I pushed the iron door open into the dark alley. Freezing rain whipped against my burning cheeks, and my legs gave out completely, sending me falling forward toward the wet concrete. Instead of hitting the ground, I crashed into a broad, rock-hard chest radiating scorching heat. An aggressive scent of crisp cedar and dark night storms wrapped around me instantly. It was the pure Dominion of a top-tier Alpha, so heavy it made my spine tremble by instinct. I tried to pull back, but a large, muscular hand wearing a cold silver suppressor cuff gripped my waist, his palm burning through my thin dress. Blinking through my drunken haze, I looked up into deep gray-blue eyes that glowed with a faint, dangerous dark gold under the streetlight. The man stared down at me, his sharp jaw clenched tight. His Adam's apple bobbed hard in the dim light, looking as if he were fighting back a terrifying, primal instinct. The tequila had burned away my sanity. Staring at his rolling throat, I rose onto my tiptoes and bit down hard right on his Adam's apple. His tall body stiffened like iron, and a low, beastly groan rumbled straight from his chest against my ribs. A violent jolt of electricity shot from where my teeth met his skin straight to my toes. My blood boiled, leaving my fingertips numb and tingling. He didn't throw me off. Instead, his arm tightened around my waist, pressing me closer against his heat as his voice dropped to a terrifyingly hoarse whisper. "Do you have any idea what you're doing, Little Hadley?" That familiar nickname made my eyelids flutter. A strange sense of absolute safety washed over me, and I blacked out completely. Hours later, I vaguely felt myself being lifted into a warm space filled with cedar scent, the sound of tires rolling over puddles lulling me into a deep sleep where a giant black Dire Wolf shielded me beneath its belly. The next morning, bright sunlight pierced through the floor-to-ceiling curtains, stinging my eyes. Groaning, I held my splitting head and sat up. A silky Egyptian cotton duvet slid off my shoulders, revealing a bed the size of a basketball court and a room completely free of Glover Pack scents. Panic hit me as I looked down and saw I was wearing an oversized men's black silk shirt. The running water in the adjoining bathroom stopped abruptly. The frosted glass door swung open, and a tall man walked out, toweling his wet, jet-black hair. My breath caught in my throat when I saw his face. It was Bennet Richardson—the supreme Alpha King of the Richardson Pack and the billionaire CEO who ruled the city's werewolf empire. Water droplets slid down the hard muscles of his bare chest as he walked toward the bed with suffocating pressure. I scrambled backward against the headboard, clutching the quilt with white knuckles and puffing out my cheeks to hide my terror. He stopped right beside the mattress and leaned down, locking his icy gray-blue eyes on mine. His long index finger tapped the bright red, bruised bite mark on his Adam's apple. "Awake?" he drawled, his voice lazy yet carrying an undeniable Alpha command. "Let's talk about how you're going to compensate me."

Hadley Burns POV: Bennet's tall frame blocked the morning sunlight, casting a heavy shadow over me while his Alpha King aura made the air in the penthouse bedroom feel thin. Staring at the neat ring of tooth marks on his throat, memories of my drunken madness flooded back, setting my face on fire. Even an Alpha's top-tier healing hadn't erased that mark overnight. I swallowed hard, digging my fingernails into my palms to force my voice steady. "Mr. Richardson, last night was an accident. I drank too much." He raised an eyebrow slightly and pulled a leather armchair closer, sitting down with his long legs crossed in total control. His gaze flicked down to my white knuckles before returning to my face. "An accident? Biting an Alpha King in his own territory isn't something you can brush off as an accident." I bit my lower lip, refusing to crumble completely under his gaze. "I'll pay for it. Medical bills, emotional damages, or I can buy you a new silk shirt?" Bennet let out a low, humorless chuckle, making the air vibrate as if a giant Dire Wolf were growling silently behind him. His long fingers tapped rhythmically against the armrest. "Do you really think the CEO of the Richardson Pack cares about a few human dollars, Miss Burns?" My throat tightened into silence. A billionaire who owned half the coast certainly didn't need my tiny savings from selling paintings. I took a deep breath, clinging to my last bit of pride. "Then what do you want? As long as it's within my power." Bennet stood up and walked slowly back to the bed, the crisp cedar scent growing thicker with every step. He dropped one knee onto the edge of the mattress and leaned over, caging me between his muscular arms as he braced his hands on either side of my hips. We were so close I could feel the scorching heat radiating from his bare skin, his gray-blue eyes dark enough to swallow me whole. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for him to use brutal Alpha force to punish my offense. No pain came. Instead, his hoarse, deep voice brushed against my ear with a dark, coaxing edge. "You can afford what I want. In fact, you're the only one who can give it to me." My eyes flew open, meeting a gaze so intense and suppressed that my heart hammered wildly against my ribs. His eyes dropped slowly to my tightly pressed lips, and his Adam's apple bobbed once more. He tilted his head, his warm breath fanning across my sensitive earlobe and sending shivers down my spine. "For example, paying me back with yourself?" His words exploded in my head like thunder. I shoved against his hard chest with both hands and scrambled backward until my spine hit the cold wooden headboard. "Please don't joke like that, Mr. Richardson," I said, my voice shaking. "I'm just a Wolfless. I'm nowhere near your league." The moment the word "Wolfless" left my mouth, the lazy teasing vanished from Bennet's eyes, replaced by a freezing, suffocating majesty. He straightened up and looked down at me, his tone leaving no room for argument. "In my dictionary, there is no such thing as out of my league. There is only what I want." Turning away, he walked to the minibar and poured a mug of warm pink liquid before handing it to me, his voice softening strangely. "Drink this. It'll calm your nerves." I stared at the sweet strawberry vanilla milk—something wildly out of place in a ruthless Alpha's penthouse—and took the bone china mug, my fingertips accidentally brushing the cold silver suppressor cuff on his wrist. Silver was the only fatal weakness to werewolves, capable of burning their flesh and suppressing their inner wolf, yet he wore a heavy cuff of it directly against his skin. He pulled his hand back quickly, his jaw tightening, and walked over to face the floor-to-ceiling window. Sipping the warm milk settled my churning stomach and brought back a sliver of my sanity. I stared at his broad back. "If money won't work, what exactly are you asking for?" Bennet turned around, the morning sun outlining his tall figure in gold, and picked up a thick, leather-bound folder from the coffee table. He tossed the folder onto the duvet in front of me. The dark gold Dire Wolf crest stamped on the cover stung my eyes. Sticking his hands into his trousers pockets, he watched me calmly as I opened the first page of the standard pack legal document. My eyes scanned the bold black letters at the top, and the air rushed out of my lungs. I jerked my head up, staring at him in pure disbelief. "A Blood Pact? You want to... marry me?" Bennet gave a slow nod, a dark, unstoppable glint flashing in the depths of his eyes. "That's right. That is my bill for damages."

Hadley Burns POV: I stared at the Blood Pact contract stamped with the dark gold Dire Wolf crest, my fingertips trembling as I shoved the heavy folder back toward the edge of the bed. "Mr. Richardson, this joke has gone way too far," I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. "I can't possibly agree to this." Bennet walked calmly to the bar, poured himself a glass of ice water, and took a slow sip, his throat moving smoothly. Setting the glass down, he looked at me as if delivering a quarterly financial report. "It's not a joke, Hadley. It's a business deal that benefits us both." I puffed out my cheeks slightly and met his gaze head-on. "A deal? What value could an orphan Wolfless living off the Glover and Mcdowell families possibly offer the strongest Alpha in the country?" Bennet stepped closer and gripped the footboard with both hands, his tall frame radiating pressure. "I need a stable, controllable mate image to shut the Elders up." He paused, his gray-blue eyes darkening. "The Richardson Pack is finalizing a massive cross-border corporate merger. The board and the Elders are demanding I establish a Luna first to guarantee the stability of my bloodline and leadership." My brows knitted together. In the modern werewolf world, packs operated like giant corporations where the Elders acted as conservative board advisors, so his logic made sense on paper. "Then you could easily pick a noble pureblood Omega. Why me?" Bennet let out a cold scoff. "Those high-ranked women only bring endless political schemes and spying from their home packs. I don't need a mole in my bed." He pointed a long finger at me. "You have a clean background, no messy pack alliances, and most importantly, you know how to keep boundaries." I bit my lower lip hard. His blunt words laid my lack of family backing bare on the table. Jackson's mocking laugh from last night echoed in my head, squeezing my heart like an invisible fist and sparking a desperate urge to escape my old life. Still, I couldn't jump into a fire blindly. I reached to the nightstand, picked up my phone with shaking fingers, and tried to dial my adoptive mother, Katherine Sweeney. "I need to discuss this with my family first." Bennet moved with blinding Alpha speed. Before I could tap the screen, his large hand covered my phone, the cold silver cuff on his wrist grazing my knuckles and making me shiver. He didn't snatch the phone away, just pressed it down firmly. "Are you sure you want to call Katherine Sweeney? From what my people tell me, her ex-husband Schmidt is currently shorting all her company stocks to bankrupt her. She can barely save herself." I stared up at him in shock. Katherine always acted cold and unstable at the Mcdowell manor, never telling me anything, yet this Alpha King knew our family's secret financial crisis down to the last detail. Bennet released my hand and stepped back half a pace to give me breathing room. "If you go back now, not only can you not help her, you'll just become a bargaining chip for the Glover Pack to use against her." My shoulders slumped as I lowered the phone onto my lap, a heavy sense of helplessness washing over me. Watching my head droop, Bennet's outer eye corners turned faintly red, and his fingers twitched at his side before curling into a tight fist. He turned back to the window overlooking the steel city skyline, his voice turning cold and hard again. "Jackson Glover is a fool. He thinks cutting off your allowance and studio resources will force you to crawl back to him." Hearing Jackson's name made my chest ache, and I gripped the edge of the cotton quilt tightly. Bennet looked back over his shoulder, his gaze sharp as a blade. "Sign this Blood Pact, and you instantly become the supreme Luna of the Richardson Pack. The Glovers won't dare touch a single hair on your head." The temptation was overwhelming, but I forced myself to ask the most crucial question. "If we're just acting for the Elders, why a Blood Pact? A Blood Pact is witnessed by the Moon Goddess and bound by pack law. It can't be broken easily." Walking back to the bed, Bennet flipped the contract to the last page and tapped the blank signature line. "Because I want everyone in this city to know you are my legal wife," he said, his low, raspy voice carrying a strange, hypnotic pull. "No one will ever have the right to question your status." My heart thudded wildly against my ribs. Even knowing it was just a corporate transaction, the absolute protection in his tone shook me deeply. "Then... how long is the contract term?" I whispered. His eyes darkened, his throat bobbing slightly. "Until you no longer need me." Flustered by that ambiguous answer, I dropped my gaze to the fine print on the page and froze at a bolded clause—No Obligation for The Marking. I blinked and looked up at him in confusion. "No Marking?" Among werewolves, a male biting a female's neck left a permanent scar that locked their souls together forever. Bennet turned his face slightly away, hiding the fierce glint in his eyes. "I told you, this is a transaction. I won't force you into anything." He walked to the bedroom door and gripped the handle, pausing to look back at me. "You have ten minutes to decide. Sign it, or go back to being the worthless defect in Jackson's eyes."