Kaelen POV

My usually calm and composed Beta looked like he could kill with a single glance.

He barely gave the old man enough time to recover or wipe the blood from his chin before pulling back his fist to deliver another heavy punch.

To think, Darius didn’t even know the full story of what Hawke had done. All he knew was that a maid had nearly been stripped and whipped, and that alone had pushed him into this state.

"Hold on," I said, raising a hand.

Darius’s bloodied fist froze in midair.

With a sigh, I turned my full attention to Hawke.

"You said she stole from me, is that right?" I asked, keeping my voice low and precise.

Hawke nodded frantically as he wiped away a fresh smear of blood from his mouth.

"We found a gold ring hidden beneath the mattress in her room. Remember, Alpha, she is a rogue and a thief. These are the petty, greedy things they do. Don’t let her sweet face deceive you."

Usually, I would have believed every word without a second thought.

I probably would have even apologized to Hawke for the inconvenience.

After all, the man had served this pack faithfully for years. He often went out of his way to track down and capture female criminals when we were desperately short-staffed.

For all of his hard work, I had always made sure he was rewarded generously for every rogue he brought in.

There had never been a reason to doubt him.

Except now.

Slowly, I stepped out from behind my desk and approached him until I was standing directly in front of his kneeling, trembling form.

"Are you talking about the heavy gold ring with the obsidian crescent stone set in the center?" I asked, describing my so-called family heirloom in detail.

Hawke nodded even harder, and a look of triumph flashed across his battered face.

"Yes! Yes, Alpha, that exact one!" he said eagerly. "I know it has been in your family for generations. A crime like that deserves the highest form of execution!"

And ordinarily, he would have been right.

An heirloom like that was both valuable and sacred to our bloodline. Stealing it would have been more than enough justification for severe punishment.

The only downside to Hawke’s perfect little story was one tiny, undeniable fact.

That specific ring had been locked securely inside my safe the morning Ella had run off after our night together. She had never been anywhere near it.

"Funny," I said slowly, leaning down just enough for him to see the complete lack of warmth in my eyes. "Because the last time I checked, I took that ring out of the safe and threw it away myself. So tell me, Hawke... how exactly was it stolen?"

Within seconds, all the color drained from his face.

The smug, self-assured confidence he had been carrying completely vanished, leaving him looking hollow and trapped.

"What... how... why would you throw something as precious as that, Alpha?" he asked, his voice cracking as he struggled to process the massive hole that had just been blown through his accusation.

I shrugged.

"I got tired of it," I said simply. "Can’t a man get tired of things?"

The truth was, I had always hated that piece of jewelry.

It had belonged to my father and was supposed to be passed down to my brother, Jacob.

The night I took the throne, I had personally cut that ring off my father’s hand, with his fingers still attached to it, purely out of spite.

But that morning, after waking up to an empty bed and the lingering scent of the woman I had slept with, I had simply gotten tired of looking at it.

It carried too much old blood and too many useless memories.

So I threw it away without a second thought.

Who would have guessed that one petty whim would end up getting an innocent woman punished?

"So why did you lie, Hawke?" I asked, my voice dropping into a dangerously quiet tone. "You know how much I despise liars."

Hawke stammered immediately. His bloody lips trembled as he swallowed hard, and his eyes darted around the room as if searching for an escape that didn’t exist.

"I didn’t... I thought..." he whispered, desperation creeping into his voice. "When I heard it was in her room, I just assumed. With her reputation, I thought she had stolen it. This was my mistake. I made a mistake. Please, Alpha. Spare me this once."

With that, he began repeatedly slamming his head against the floor.

His forehead cracked against the stone with sickening thuds, each impact harder than the last, until fresh blood smeared across the polished surface beneath him.

"Enough!" I barked.

He froze instantly, pressing his forehead flat against the floor as his entire body trembled like a leaf.

"You have served me well for years, so consider this a warning," I said, my amber eyes narrowing as I stared down at his broken posture. "If shit like this happens again, your head will be my next souvenir."

Hawke let out a choked sob of relief.

"Thank you, Alpha. Thank you. I won’t fail you again."

"Get out," I said, unable to hide the disgust in my voice. "And get a guard to clean up this mess."

"Yes, Alpha," he stammered.

He scrambled to his feet, his frail, battered body swaying slightly from the effort. Keeping his head lowered and refusing to meet my gaze, he turned and practically stumbled out of my office.

The second the door slammed shut behind him, Darius spoke.

"Why didn’t you let me kill him?"

His voice sounded calm enough, but I wasn’t stupid.

I could hear the restraint beneath it.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked, turning my head to stare at him coldly. "You and I both know this has very little to do with Hawke. Why? Because I slept with her?"

The words had barely left my mouth before his hands curled into tight fists at his sides until his knuckles turned white.

Seeing that reaction, I let out a low scoff.

"You said it yourself, Darius. You said she’s not the girl who saved you. So why the fuck are you being such a dick, huh?"

Darius exhaled heavily and forced his gaze away from me.

He dragged a hand through his hair and gripped the strands for a brief moment, as if he were trying to physically pull himself back under control.

"Fuck, I don’t know..." he muttered, his shoulders dropping slightly. "I don’t know why I’m this worked up."

"Bullshit." I snarled as I walked straight toward him until we were standing face-to-face.

Then I shoved him hard in the chest.

"You’ve been on edge since the exact second you walked in on us," I said. "Don’t stand there and tell me you don’t know why."

I shoved him again, my palm slamming into his chest hard enough to force him back a step.

"Do you have feelings for her?" I demanded before shoving him again. "Do you suddenly like her just because she looks like the girl who saved you?"

With every question, I drove another shove into his chest, pushing him farther and farther until Darius finally snapped.

"Fuck, I said I don’t know!" he growled, knocking my hands away as his own beast stirred beneath the surface. "And who the hell has sex in their office in the middle of the day with the door unlocked?"

"My office. My rules," I shot back smoothly, refusing to back down an inch.

"Your rules suck."

"You’re avoiding the question," I said, my voice dropping into a low rumble.

Darius dragged a hand through his hair again and let out a frustrated breath before turning away and pacing across the office.

A heavy silence stretched between us.

Then, finally, he stopped.

"I don’t know if I have feelings for her," he admitted, turning to look at me. "I don’t even know her. But every time I see her, I can’t help thinking... what if? What if she’s really the one, and I just stood there and watched her get screwed by a guy who can’t get over his ex?"

My expression darkened instantly.

My wolf surged forward, and a lethal wave of Alpha dominance flooded the room.

"Watch your mouth," I warned, my voice dropping into a deadly register that made the very air feel heavier.

The finality in my tone was impossible to miss, and Darius immediately clamped his jaw shut.

He knew exactly where the line was.

And he knew he had just crossed it.

With a frustrated exhale, he looked away and shoved his hands into his pockets, as if forcing himself not to curl them into fists again.

I turned my back to him and walked slowly toward my desk.

My gaze dropped to its surface, and despite myself, the explicit memory of what had happened there earlier flashed through my mind.

When I reached the edge of the desk, I stopped.

Then I turned back around to face him one last time, my eyes cold as they locked onto his.

"Well..." I drawled slowly. "This is going to be a problem."