Bridgett

Gianna POV:

For three years after taking my runaway cousin's place to marry the poisoned and blind Alpha, Ezequiel Henry, I had been secretly absorbing the deadly silver poison from his body.

But he had never touched me—until tonight, when something I did not yet understand drove him into a madness that pinned me fiercely beneath him.

"Take it off yourself."

Ezequiel's sightless eyes locked dead in my direction.

His heavy body pressing against me was scorching, yet his voice was as cold as the biting night wind outside the window.

I jolted, staring up into his dark, blindfolded face.

My heart began to pound wildly against my ribs, and a flush of heat crept up my neck.

"What... what's wrong with you?" I managed to ask, my voice trembling with a mix of fear and an undeniable sliver of anticipation.

We had been married for almost three years, and Ezequiel, the billionaire Alpha of the Henry Pack and CEO of Silvercrest Enterprises, had never laid a finger on me.

Now, with only one month left on the three-year marriage that was supposed to end in my divorce, why was he doing this?

Before I could move, he reached for his collar, tearing his custom shirt open with a sharp tug.

His broad, muscular chest heaved, slick with sweat.

His jaw was clenched tight, radiating a terrifying, suffocating Alpha aura heavily laced with the dominant scent of dark cedar.

Three years ago, a silver bullet assassination had stolen his sight.

At that time, my family was facing bankruptcy and begged him to honor an old marriage pact. To everyone else, I was just a greedy, wolfless parasite who married a crippled Alpha for his wealth.

But every single night, I secretly used my hidden Healer bloodline, absorbing his deadly silver poison into my own body to save his life.

This process forced my wolf core into a deep dormancy, entirely severing my mental link to the pack.

I had no idea that the extreme jealousy of learning his beloved was pregnant had prematurely triggered his Heat.

His inner Dire Wolf, driven mindless by frustrated possessiveness, was thrashing wildly beneath his ribs.

He didn't care who was beneath him; he just needed a body to bite, to vent, to prove his Alpha dominance.

I looked up at his handsome, sculptured features.

I foolishly thought that after three years of silent devotion, he finally wanted me.

"Ezequiel..." I hesitantly reached out, my trembling fingers grazing his burning chest. "For the sake of how much I truly love you... please be gentle."

His dark brows drew together beneath the blindfold as if he had just heard a hilarious joke.

He looked down at me, a cruel smirk twisting his lips.

"Stop pretending."

"Or do you think I haven't paid you enough?" he sneered.

The next second, he reached into the pocket of his discarded coat.

He pulled out a heavy, solid gold signet—the master key to the Henry family's endless treasury—and threw it hard against my collarbone.

Smack.

I froze, a wave of suffocating sourness washing over my heart.

"You've stayed in my territory for three years just to suck my pack dry, haven't you?" His voice was dripping with venom. "Take the gold, and take off your clothes."

The cold metal striking my skin felt like a blunt knife hacking open my chest, shredding whatever was left of my pride.

I had forced my wolf core into dormancy to purge his toxins, enduring a weakened and bloated body. Yet, in his eyes, I was nothing but a manipulative gold-digger.

By throwing this signet at me, he reduced my three years of devotion and dignity to a cheap, transactional night of venting.

Tears of absolute humiliation pricked my eyes as a surge of indignation overwhelmed my fear.

"Let me go! Don't touch me!" I sobbed.

I struggled frantically, pressing my hands hard against his broad, heavy chest to push him away.

But the moment my palms met his scorching muscles, I froze again.

His heartbeat was terrifyingly fast, his body temperature unnaturally high.

If he exerted himself too violently in this manic state of The Heat, the blood congestion would permanently ruin his optic nerves! He was scheduled to regain his sight this very month.

He instantly pinned my wrists above my head, his calloused hands clamping like iron tongs around my waist.

Suddenly, his body stiffened.

I sucked in a breath, desperately trying to hide my thick waistline, staring at him in sheer panic.

I was 5'5", yet severely bloated. I didn't want him to feel how twisted and ugly my body had become from absorbing his deadly toxins!

"You've gotten fat?" his thin lips parted, mocking me with cold disgust.

My heart leaped into my throat, and I bit my pale lower lip hard, too humiliated to utter a single word.

The air in the room turned suffocatingly silent.

I could see the disdain written all over his face. He must be mocking my bloated figure, finding me utterly repulsive, which made me want to sink into the floor out of shame.

Yet, surprisingly, his disgust didn't make him pull away.

The softness of my skin seemed to ignite some primal instinct within him. I watched his heavy Adam's apple bob.

His breathing turned ragged, and a low, feral growl rumbled deep in his chest as his inner beast demanded to devour me entirely.

Beneath the heavy cedar scent, my original scent—a faint trace of white lilies—was struggling to break through the toxin barrier in my blood.

There was no gentleness, no coaxing.

Driven by the primal rage and the suffocating Heat, he forced his way in.

A sharp, tearing agony ripped through my lower body.

I gasped, tears finally spilling over. My damaged, wolfless body was far too fragile to withstand the brutal, unbridled strength of an Alpha.

I felt myself bleeding, my internal organs cramping painfully under the crushing pressure.

But the scent of my blood only seemed to drive his inner beast wilder.

He moved with punishing force, his hot breath brushing against my neck. His fangs elongated, scraping against the delicate skin over my pulse point.

He was going to claim me. He was going to bite down and complete the Marking.

Just as his jaws opened, ready to sink into my flesh and bind our souls forever—

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Alpha!" Beta Vance's urgent voice came through the thick oak door.

"It's Miss Clarissa! She just arrived at the estate. She's crying, saying she missed you and wants to see you right now!"