The Alpha King's Obsession

6. Sealed In Ink

Alexander’s POV

“Where do I sign?”

Four words. That was all it took to seal her fate…and mine.

I watched Lilian stand there, small but defiant in that coat of hers I despised because it couldn’t keep her body warm, her chest heaving with the decision she had just made. She looked terrified yes, but there was a steel spine beneath that fear. I knew she was viewing me not as a savior, but as a necessary evil.

Good, I thought, sliding the thick manila folder across the desk toward her. Fear keeps you sharp. Fear keeps you alive.

My Wolf, Titus, was less pragmatic. He was currently throwing himself against the bars of my subconscious, scratching and howling in triumph.

She accepted. Mate is ours. Claim her. Mark her.

I shoved the beast down with a mental snarl. Not yet. We have to do this right. She’s human. She’s fragile. If we scare her off now, she runs. And if she runs, she dies.

“Here,” I said, my voice coming out rougher than I intended. I pulled a fountain pen from my breast pocket, a heavy, gold-plated thing that cost more than the tuition she was worried about, and held it out to her.

She hesitated. Her blue eyes darted from the contract to my face, searching for a trap. She wouldn’t find one in the fine print. The trap was me. I was binding her to a world of monsters, and she didn’t even know it.

She reached for the pen, and her fingers were trembling. But the moment her skin brushed against mine to take it, the reaction was violent.

A spark of blue, visible and audible, cracked between us.

Lilian gasped, jerking her hand back, nearly dropping the pen. She stared at the space between us, her eyes wide and bewildered.

“What the hell?” she breathed, rubbing her delicate fingers. Fingers I imaged threading through my hair, pulling and tugging, as I drove my c**k inside her.

I stayed silent, fighting the urge to grab her hand and press it to my chest so she could feel the heart hammering there. She saw the spark. She felt it. But because she was human, I could see her mind rationalizing it away. She didn’t know it was her soul recognizing mine.

She is perfect, Titus purred, settling down just to watch her. Tiny. Soft. Ours.

“It’s the atmosphere in the office,” I lied smoothly and her human brain was more than happy to accept the deception than believe what had just happened couldn’t be explained by something rational. “Read the terms if you wish. But the summary is exactly what i told you.”

She didn’t even pretend to read it. I could smell the desperation coming off of her, acrid and sharp. She needed that money. She needed the safety I offered to provide her. And with one final, deep breath, she flipped to the last page, placed the contract on the edge of my desk, and signed her name.

Lilian Jones. Even though, the loop of the ‘L’ was shaky, but the rest was firm.

As soon as the ink touched paper, a wave of relief crashed over me so potent it nearly brought me to my knees. The scent of her, moonflowers and ozone, seemed to flare, filling the massive office and drowning out the sterile stench of the city below.

It was done. She was under my protection. Legally. Bound. To me.

“There,” she said as she straightened up and capped the pen. She slid it back to me, careful not to touch me again. “I signed my soul away. Now, where is my money?”

I suppressed a smirk as I tapped the keyboard on my sleek laptop, executing the command I had queued up ten minutes ago.

“Check your phone.”A frown marred her beautiful features, as she dug into her pocket and pulled out a cracked smartphone that had seen better days. A second later, it chimed.

It was getting harder and harder to suppress my smile as Lilian looked at her screen, then blinked, then brought the phone closer to her face, her jaw dropping.

“This…this is real,” her trembling words were barely above a whisper. “Three million dollars. It’s actually in there.”

“I don’t bounce checks, Lilian.” I leaned back against my desk and crossed my arms. “The money is yours. You can pay your tuition. You can pay your landlord. You can buy a coat that actually retains heat.”

She looked up at me, and for the first time, the anger in her eyes was dampened by shock. “Why?” she asked again, searching my face. “Why is this worth so much to you?”

“My reasons are my own,” I deflected. She would soon come to find out that she was worth more to me the money I’d given her. She’d realize how priceless she was to me. “All you need to know is that you’re an asset of the DeLuca corporation. And I protect my assets.” I stood up to my full height and buttoned my jacket. “River will drive you back to your apartment. You have two hours to pack.”

The way her head snapped up was almost comical. “Two hours? Wait, I can’t just leave today. I have classes. I have a roommate. I have shifts at the bar!”

“You quit the bar,” I ordered, the Alpha command slipping into my tone before I could stop it. “You don’t need the money any more. As for classes, you will continue them, but you’ll be driven there and back by a member of my security team.”

“And Kelly?” she asked after a minute of just silently glaring at me. “My roommate. I’m not leaving her high and dry. She relies on my half of the rent.”

I paused. I remembered the file on Kelly Richards. A human. Loyal, loud, but ultimately a liability.

“Pay her rent for the year,” I shrugged indifferently. “You can afford it now. Tell her whatever you want. Tell her you got a live-in job, that you won the lottery. But you cannot tell her the truth about the arrangement. And you cannot bring her with you.”

“That’s harsh,” Lilian muttered, but she surprisingly didn’t argue. She looked at her phone again, realizing I was right. She was rich. She could solve all of Kelly’s problems with a single transfer.

“Fine.” She tightly clutched her bag. “Two hours. But I’m taking my books and my plants.”

“Take whatever fits in the car,” I waved a hand dismissively. “River is waiting.”

She hesitated one last time, looking at me with those piercing blue eyes that saw too much and yet knew so little. “You’re a strange man, Alexander DeLuca.”

“You have no idea.”

She turned and walked toward the elevator. I watched her go, my eyes tracing the curve of her spine, the sway of her full hips. My Wolf was pacing, agitated that she was moving away from us.

Follow her, Titus demanded. Don’t let her out of sight. The world is dangerous. She is too small.

River is with her, I reminded him. He’d die before letting a scratch land on her.

As the elevator doors slid shut, cutting off her scent, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I slumped slightly against the desk, the tension in my shoulders screaming.

I looked down at the contract, where her signature was still wet, and I reached out and traced the letters with my thumb.

She was mine. Finally.

But a cold knot of dread tightened in my gut. I had secured her, yes. But I had also just painted a target on her back.

I walked to the window, looking over the sprawling gray jungle of New York. Somewhere out there the rogues were circling. The Council was watching. The Vampires were waiting for a sign of weakness despite our alliance.

And I had just brought a fragile, breakable human right into the center of a brewing war.

I clenched my fist against the glass, my knuckles turning white.

I will burn this city to ash before I let them touch her, I vowed silently.

Deep down, though, I wondered if my strength would be enough. She was so soft. So painfully human. One wrong move, one slip of my control, and I could break her myself.