Chapter 39

Kingston

Cora looked like hell.

I’d been watching her all morning from my office door, pretending to read over quarterly forecasts while she typed at her desk.

She wasn’t herself.

Her posture was tense, and she hadn’t made eye contact with anyone. Not even with me.

And that worried me.

It wasn’t just because I relied on her more than I cared to admit, or because her absence made everything feel off-kilter—which had been more than proven true recently. It was because I knew something was wrong. I could sense it in her scent, the stress, anxiety, grief all tangled together under her skin.

I gave it until lunch before I acted.

“Cora,” I said softly, appearing at her side without warning. She startled a little, then looked up at me with wide, tired eyes. “Come with me. Please.”

She didn’t ask questions. Loyal as always, she dutifully stood and followed me to my office.

I closed the door quietly behind us and gestured toward the chair opposite my desk. She sat slowly, as if every movement weighed twice as much today.

“Tell me what’s going on,” I said gently.

Cora gave a hollow laugh and rubbed her hands together. “It’s nothing.”

I raised a brow. “You’re a terrible liar.”

She looked away, jaw tight. “I didn’t want to bring it here. This place is the only space where I feel like I’m not suffocating.”

I waited. Silence was a tool, and I used it strategically now. It gave her the space she needed while putting slight pressure on her to answer.

Finally, she spoke. “Zach showed up at my house last night.”

My blood immediately simmered.

She kept her voice low, controlled. “He lost his wolf.”

I blinked. “What?”

“In a black market bet. Something illegal, I assume. I didn’t get all the details, and I didn’t want them.”

She shook her head. I could see her warring emotions. Her frustration at his idiocy. Her fear that he might realliate if she didn’t help.

“He blamed me,” she continued. “Said it was my fault, because of Riley. Called him… a bastard human child.”

A growl built low in my chest before I could stop it. “He said that to you?”

She nodded, eyes glassy but defiant. “He wants me to help him get his wolf back. He said I owe him.”

I paced to the window, rage creeping beneath my skin like wildfire. “You don’t owe him a damn thing.”

“That’s what I told him.”

“Did he touch you?”

“No,” she said quickly. “Not physically. But it was… well, I’ll be honest. It was a lot.”

I turned back to her, jaw tight. “You should’ve called me.”

“I can handle him.”

“Cora,” I said, walking closer. “You shouldn’t have to. Not alone.”

She looked up at me then, all the walls around her crumbling. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t want Riley anywhere near him, and I’m not sure how he is going to get back at me if I don’t help him out.”

“You won’t have to worry about any of that,” I said, crouching slightly so we were eye-level.

“I’ll get you the best divorce attorney in the state,” I continued. “And we’ll get you a restraining order, too, if you want it. Whatever it takes, we’ll put legal walls between that man and your son so high he won’t see daylight again.”

A tear slipped down her cheek. She wiped it quickly.

“I mean it,” I said. “He’s done harassing you. I’ll make sure of it.”

She opened her mouth like she might argue, then closed it. Instead, she just nodded solemnly.

I saw the flicker of relief in her eyes, and I held onto that for dear life.

That night, I didn’t wait.

Finding Zach wasn’t difficult. Men like him left trails wherever they went. Burnt bridges, unpaid debts, ruined lives.

I followed his scent—desperation, sweat, and shame—to a dingy motel off the highway.

Room 206. I didn’t bother to knock.

The door splintered under my hand as I shoved it open with all of my Alpha King strength. Zach stumbled up from a stained couch, wild-eyed, already looking guilty.

“A-Alpha King Kingston—”

“Sit back down,” I snarled.

He sat.

I stepped inside and shut the broken door behind me. The room reeked of whiskey and dirty laundry.

“You know why I’m here,” I said, voice like iron.

“I didn’t touch her,” he said immediately, hands up. “I swear—”

“You spoke to her,” I growled. “That’s enough.”

“She’s my wife.”

“She’s your ex-wife. And you gave up the right to call her anything when you threatened her and insulted her child.”

Zach stood then, suddenly emboldened like he had something to prove, puffing out his chest. “You won’t scare me away from her.”

I didn’t say a word. I just let it happen; I let the Alpha rise in me like a tidal wave. My eyes burned gold, my power rolling off of me in thick, choking waves of dominance.

Zach dropped to his knees, immediately cowering. No one stood a chance against my wolf.

“You listen to me, and you listen well,” I said, voice low and lethal. “You will never speak to her again. You will never come near her house, her child, or her workplace. If I even sense your scent within a mile of them, you’ll wish losing your wolf was the worst thing that ever happened to you.”

He trembled. “I— I just want my life back.”

“You had a life,” I snapped. “And you ruined it. Cora isn’t your lifeline. She’s not your doormat. She’s not your anything anymore.”

Zach swallowed hard, eyes full of fear. “I didn’t know she got so… close to you. So what, you’re her knight in shining armor now?”

“No,” I said. “Cora can take care of herself. But I am going to make sure people know the Alpha King is standing behind her.”

I reached into my coat and pulled out a thick envelope. I tossed it onto the table.

“Money,” I said. “Enough to leave town. Start over somewhere far away. That’s the last thing you’ll get from either of us.”

He looked at it like it might bite him. “What’s the catch?”

“You disappear. Quietly. Forever.”

Zach picked up the envelope with shaking hands. He didn’t thank me. I didn’t expect him to.

As I turned to go, I paused in the doorway.

“If you ever come back… I won’t be this merciful again.”

Then I left.

Back at the manor, I couldn’t sleep.

I stood on the balcony, looking out over the trees, the moon casting long shadows across the lawn. My wolf was restless inside me, pacing, protective, and angry.

Not because I’d had to deal with Zach, but because I couldn’t erase the look in Cora’s eyes. She was carrying too much. Always had been.

I’d seen it from the beginning, how she stood straight even when the weight of the world tried to crush her. How she loved fiercely and quietly, how she kept her wounds hidden behind soft smiles and late nights.

And now? She was tired. Breaking.

And part of me—hell, most of me—knew that I would do anything and everything to keep her from shattering.