Chapter 48 Forty Eight

Chapter 48 Forty Eight
‎Zander
‎
‎The city blurred past the tinted windows of the car, but all I could see was the fight.
‎Iris and Celeste crashing into each other in my living room like two storms finally breaking. Fur flying, claws slashing, snarls and growls echoing off the walls. Celeste’s wolf was smaller, sleek and vicious lunging for Iris’s throat. Iris twisting like liquid fury, raking her claws down Celeste’s side, slamming her into the coffee table until wood cracked and splintered. The raw, animal sound of pain and rage.
‎Then Iris had shifted back, standing over Celeste bleeding, naked and completely in control. She had leaned down, whispered something in Celeste’s ear that made my fiancée’s face go deathly white, and walked out the door without looking back.
‎I still tasted her from earlier that morning. Still felt the tight, wet heat of her pussy clenching around my cock. Still heard her broken moans when she came the third time with me buried deep inside her.
‎And now my father wanted to see me urgently.
‎The message had come through while I was still cleaning blood off the floor.
‎Celeste must have run straight to him and told him everything. The fight and the sex.
‎My father would be furious not to talk of Dorian, he would absolutely be raving, while I have to stand there and pretend I wasn’t still half-hard thinking about the woman who had just torn my fiancée apart in wolf form.
‎The car pulled up in front of Ashveil Tower. I stepped out, my jaw tight, and rode the private elevator to the top floor in silence. My shirt was buttoned wrong. There were fresh scratch marks on my neck from Iris’s nails. I didn’t bother hiding them.
‎When the doors opened, my father’s study was waiting.
‎Aldric sat behind his desk like a king on a throne. Dorian stood off to the side, arms crossed, face already twisted with barely contained rage.
‎“Close the door,” my father said, voice like ice.
‎I did.
‎Aldric didn’t waste time.
‎“You fucked her this morning,” he said flatly. “In your own penthouse, while the entire pack is still talking about last night.”
‎I didn’t deny it. “Yes.”
‎Dorian exploded before I could say another word.
‎“You arrogant, selfish idiot!” he roared, stepping forward. His pale eyes were blazing. “Celeste came to us in tears, bleeding from claw marks, telling us how you stood there and watched that whore attack her! You let her walk out like some kind of victory lap! Have you lost your fucking mind?”
‎Aldric’s voice cut in, colder and sharper than Dorian’s. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Celeste is your fiancée. The future of two packs rests on this alliance and you throw it away for a cheap fuck with a woman who has been playing you from the moment she walked into that charity dinner.”
‎I felt my own anger rising hot and fast. “Playing me? You don’t know anything about her.”
‎Dorian laughed bitterly. “We know enough. How you grabbed her in the hallway last night, how you disappeared after her and this morning Celeste walked in on you still smelling like that bitch. You’re throwing away everything we built because your cock got hard for the wrong woman!”
‎I stepped forward, fists clenched. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
‎Aldric slammed his hand on the desk, the sound cracking through the room like a whip. “Enough! You will speak to us with respect, boy. I have protected you your entire life. I have guided every decision. And this is how you repay me? By spreading some random woman across your floor while your fiancée is on her way to remind you of your duty?”
‎I laughed, short and ugly. “Duty? You mean the duty you forced on me since I was old enough to stand? You want to talk about duty while you sit here judging me for wanting something real?”
‎Dorian’s face turned red with fury. “Real? She is using you, Zander! This is not real. This is a trap.”
‎I rounded on him. “You don’t know her! Neither of you do! You sit up here making plans and alliances and you have no idea what it feels like when someone looks at you and actually sees you!”
‎Aldric stood up slowly, eyes burning with cold rage. “We know exactly who she is, Zander. More than you ever will.”
‎The room went dead silent.
‎He slid a thick folder across the desk toward me. Old paper with yellowed edges. A single photograph clipped to the front.
‎“Open it,” he said.
‎I opened it.
‎My stomach dropped.
‎The photo was from that night I always dreamed about. It was the estate hall and there, on her knees in the center of the room, was a small girl with brown hair and amber eyes.
‎Iris.
‎No. Not Iris.
‎It all came back to me, that night, it wasn't a dream...this was the face of the girl I had rejected.
‎The girl I had called disgusting while the whole pack applauded.
‎I stared at the picture, blood roaring in my ears.
‎Aldric’s voice was calm and deadly. “That night, you did exactly what an alpha could do to an Omega. You stood in front of everyone and broke her, you made her kneel and walked away while she stayed on that floor.
‎ "Now she has come back wearing a new name and a new scent, and you have welcomed her into your bed like a starving man.”
‎I looked up at him slowly. My hands were shaking with rage.
‎“You knew,” I said, voice raw. “All this time. You knew who she was and you let me...”
‎“I let you do nothing,” Aldric snapped. “I protected you from the truth. She is the same omega you rejected that night. The same girl you destroyed and she has spent every day since then planning how to destroy us in return.”
‎The folder slipped from my fingers.
‎Dorian stepped closer, voice low and furious. “She is here for revenge, Zander. Every meeting, every time she let you touch her it was planned. She wants you to remember, she wants you to break the alliance. She wants you to choose her so she can watch this family burn.”
‎I slammed my fist on the desk, the sound cracking through the room. “You’re lying! You’re twisting this to keep me on your leash! She is not...”
‎Aldric’s eyes flashed with pure ice.
‎"Islode? That's her fucking real name and she came back for revenge, Zander. Pure and simple and with the way you’ve been acting… it looks like she’s already winning.”
‎My mind raced, heart pounding, the image of Iris on her knees that night burning behind my eyes.
‎And in that crushing quiet, one terrifying question refused to leave me
‎Why didn't I remember?
‎What if everything between us had been a lie from the very first moment she walked into that charity dinner?
‎And what if I had just handed her the knife to end us all?