Nicholas’s POV

I stood completely alone in the center of my massive, dark office.

The heavy oak doors were shut tight. The thick velvet curtains were violently drawn, blocking out the fading afternoon sun. I took a deep, brutal drag of my cigarette. The bitter, toxic smoke burned the back of my throat. I needed the harsh burn. I absolutely craved it. I needed something physical to distract me from the violent, chaotic beast raging inside my chest.

*So my going to school...*

Her broken, desperate voice violently echoed in my skull. It scraped relentlessly against my brain.

I aggressively crushed the half-smoked cigarette into the heavy crystal ashtray on my desk. Sparks flew onto the polished mahogany. I didn’t care. I forcefully dragged both of my massive hands through my messy dark hair. My chest heaved with heavy, ragged breaths.

She was pregnant.

My incredibly fragile, beautiful mate was carrying my pup again. She was carrying the future heir to the absolute werewolf empire. I should be howling fiercely at the moon. My inner wolf should be tearing through the forest in pure, unfiltered triumph.

But I felt absolutely sick.

All I could see was the sheer, undeniable terror in her huge, tear-filled eyes. When I told her she was pregnant, she didn’t smile. She didn’t cry tears of joy. She looked completely devastated. She only wanted out. She only wanted her damn freedom.

My heavy jaw clenched so tightly my teeth actually ached. The brutal truth tasted like pure acid on my tongue.

I actually wanted her to go to school.

I really, truly did.

I stared blankly at the dark stone wall. My golden Alpha eyes dimmed with heavy, suffocating guilt. I knew exactly what she had survived before I violently dragged her into my world. I knew about the dark, damp cellars of her old pack. I knew how Maxim and her twisted, pathetic family treated her. They stripped her of her Beta status. They forced her into those shapeless, drab gray dresses. They treated her like a completely worthless Omega slave. She was beaten. She was severely starved. She was locked away in the shadows, constantly waiting for the next physical blow.

And now?

Now I was doing the exact same fucking thing.

I built her a massive, beautiful golden cage, but it was still a fucking cage. My wolf violently snarled in pure agony. I wanted to give her the entire world. I wanted to lay my absolute empire completely at her bare feet. But the very thought of her out there, vulnerable, away from my heavy protection... it completely paralyzed me. She had no wolf. She had no fast healing. A single stray bullet in this violent city could take her away from me forever.

The heavy office door suddenly clicked open.

I didn’t turn around. The sharp, familiar scent of ozone and cold steel instantly hit my nose. Andrei.

"I didn’t call for you," I growled darkly. My voice was a lethal, warning rumble that visibly shook the expensive liquor bottles on the shelf.

"I know," Andrei replied easily.

He walked completely into the dark room. He didn’t flinch at my crushing, suffocating Alpha aura. The Royal Gamma casually walked over to the side table. He poured himself a glass of expensive amber whiskey. The ice clinked loudly in the quiet, tense room. He took a slow sip. He looked directly at my rigid, tense back.

"You need to let her go, Nicholas," Andrei said quietly.

I violently spun around.

My golden eyes blazed with sudden, lethal fury. "Mind your own fucking business, Gamma."

Andrei didn’t back down. He set the heavy glass down. His usually smiling face was completely serious. "She is my Queen. It is my business. You are completely suffocating her, Nicholas. You know that, right?"

I stepped aggressively forward. The heavy hardwood floorboards violently groaned under my combat boots.

"She is pregnant!" I roared. The sheer volume of my voice bounced harshly off the walls. "She is carrying my heir! The outside world is completely lethal! Her body is too fragile!"

"And the inside of this house is slowly killing her soul," Andrei shot back.

His tone was perfectly calm, but the words hit me like a brutal, physical blow to the stomach.

"Look at her, Alpha," Andrei pleaded softly. "Truly look at her. She isn’t trying to completely run away from the pack. She isn’t trying to take Luka away from you. She is just trying to find herself. She was completely stripped of everything before she met you. Her dignity. Her wolf. Her entire life."

I forcefully grabbed the edge of my desk. My massive knuckles turned completely white. I glared at him, but the lethal fire in my eyes was rapidly dying out.

"If you keep locking her in that dark bedroom," Andrei warned darkly, taking a slow step toward me. "She won’t just fear you. She will completely, utterly hate you. She will wither away into an empty shell. Is that what you want? A fated mate who silently wishes she was dead?"

The word *hate* violently pierced my chest.

It felt like a jagged, rusty blade twisting brutally right into my heart. I violently flinched. The untouchable Alpha King actually stumbled back half a step.

No. I couldn’t survive her hatred. I could handle the entire world pointing their guns at my head, but I could not survive Irina looking at me with pure hatred. I absolutely needed her. I needed her soft voice. I needed her to smile again.

I closed my eyes tightly. A heavy, exhausted sigh violently ripped from my throat.

The raging, possessive beast inside me slowly stopped fighting. It whined pitifully. Andrei was right. He was absolutely right. I was acting like a terrified, controlling monster.

I had to let her breathe. I had to give her the damn school.

I could compromise. I would send ten heavily armed, undercover guards to follow her every move. I would personally buy the entire fucking university and fire anyone who even looked at her wrong. I would bulletproof her car. I would track her phone. But I had to let her out of these walls. I had to let her sit in a real classroom and pretend to be normal. For her sanity. For our pup.

I opened my eyes. The heavy, suffocating tension slightly lifted from my broad shoulders.

I opened my mouth to speak. I was ready to tell Andrei to make the security arrangements. I was ready to give my mate her freedom.

*BANG.*

The massive oak double doors were violently shoved open.

They slammed brutally against the thick stone walls. The deafening, explosive crash violently shook the entire room. Dust fell lightly from the ceiling.

I violently tensed. My sharp fangs instantly elongated. My Alpha aura completely exploded into the room.

Roman stood in the doorway.

The immaculate, always-composed Royal Beta looked entirely wrecked. His expensive, dark tailored suit jacket was completely missing. His crisp white dress shirt was violently ripped open at the collar. He was completely, utterly out of breath. His broad chest heaved with harsh, ragged gasps. He leaned heavily against the wooden doorframe just to keep himself standing.

The sharp, bitter, completely overwhelming scent of absolute panic rolled off his body in thick, suffocating waves.

Andrei blinked in pure surprise. The Gamma let out a short, completely confused laugh. He leaned casually against my heavy desk.

"Well," Andrei joked lightly, raising an eyebrow at his breathless friend. "Look who finally decided to run. Are you here to talk to us about Irina too, Roman?"

Roman didn’t laugh. He didn’t even look at Andrei.

His dark, cold eyes locked entirely onto mine. They were completely wide. They were entirely filled with sheer, undeniable terror. The kind of raw terror I had never, ever seen on the Royal Beta’s face in my entire life.

Roman swallowed incredibly hard. His voice cracked with pure dread.

"Something happened."