The champagne glass shattered against the marble floor of the penthouse suite, and I watched the golden liquid spread across the white stone like spilled dreams. "I, Marcus Blackwood, reject you, Ethan Cole, as my mate and refuse this bond." Those words, spoken five years ago in front of two hundred wedding guests, still echoed in my mind every single day. They were the fuel that built my empire, the fire that forged me from a broken omega into something harder, sharper, untouchable. Now, standing in my corner office on the fifty-seventh floor of Cole Industries, I was worth three billion dollars. My company had just been named one of the fastest-growing tech firms in the country. I wore Tom Ford suits, drove a Bugatti, and had more zeros in my bank account than most people would see in ten lifetimes. And none of it filled the hollow space in my chest where my wolf used to live. "Mr. Cole?" My assistant's voice crackled through the intercom. "The acquisition team is ready for you in Conference Room A." I straightened my tie—silver, like my wolf's fur used to be before I'd suppressed him so deeply he barely whispered anymore. "I'll be right there, Sophie." Today was supposed to be my victory lap. Six months of corporate warfare, hostile takeover attempts, and strategic maneuvering had led to this moment: the acquisition of Lunar Dynamics, a failing tech company with patents I needed. Their board had finally agreed to sell. What they didn't know was that Lunar Dynamics had once been backed by Blackwood Enterprises. Marcus's company. This acquisition would hurt him, even if only tangentially. Every victory against anything connected to him was sweet. Petty? Maybe. But I'd built my entire empire on spite, and spite was a surprisingly effective motivator. I gathered my files and headed down the hall. The floor-to-ceiling windows offered a stunning view of Seattle's skyline, gray clouds rolling in from the Sound. My wolf stirred slightly at the sight of the storm—he'd always loved the rain—but I pushed him back down. Emotions were liabilities. I'd learned that lesson the hard way. The conference room was already full when I arrived. My legal team sat on one side of the massive glass table, Lunar Dynamics' representatives on the other. I took my seat at the head, radiating the cold confidence that had become my trademark. "Gentlemen, shall we begin?" I opened my folder without waiting for an answer. "I believe we've reached agreeable terms. The paperwork should be straightforward—" The door opened. Every molecule in my body went rigid. My wolf, dormant for so long, suddenly slammed against my consciousness like a tidal wave. The scent hit me first—pine and midnight, alpha musk, achingly familiar. No. No, this couldn't be happening. Marcus Blackwood walked into my conference room like he owned it, wearing a charcoal suit that probably cost more than most people's cars. He'd always been handsome—tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair and eyes like a winter storm. Five years had only refined him, adding sharp angles to his jaw and a cruel edge to his smile. Our eyes met. The bond, dormant and rejected but never truly broken, roared to life between us. My wolf howled in recognition and longing. Every suppressed instinct screamed at me to go to him, to submit, to bare my throat like the omega I'd spent five years trying to stop being. I gripped the edge of the table so hard my knuckles went white. "What the hell are you doing here?" The words came out colder than I'd intended, which was saying something. Marcus's expression was unreadable. "Lunar Dynamics is now a subsidiary of Blackwood Enterprises. As of three days ago. I'm here to finalize the merger—with my company, not yours." The room went silent. My lead attorney, James, looked at me with barely concealed panic. "Mr. Cole, I... we weren't informed of any change in ownership." "Because it wasn't public yet." Marcus moved to the opposite end of the table, maintaining eye contact with me the entire time. Predatory. Challenging. "I heard through certain channels that Cole Industries was circling. I couldn't let that happen. Lunar Dynamics' patents are too valuable." "To lose to me, you mean." I kept my voice level, but my wolf was thrashing now, confused and angry and desperate. The rejection had severed our bond, but proximity was awakening something I'd thought was dead. "To lose at all." Marcus sat down, spreading his hands on the table. His left ring finger was bare. I hated that I noticed. "But yes, Ethan. Especially to you." The way he said my name—like a caress and a threat—sent electricity down my spine. This was a setup. It had to be. Somehow, he'd known I was pursuing this acquisition and had swooped in first. But why? Blackwood Enterprises was massive, focused on real estate and investment. Tech patents weren't his usual game. Unless this wasn't about business at all. "Everyone out." I didn't take my eyes off Marcus. "Sir?" James stood uncertainly. "Out. Now. This meeting is over." My team filed out quickly, accustomed to my mercurial moods. Marcus's people—two lawyers and an accountant I didn't recognize—looked to him for direction. He nodded, and they left too. The door clicked shut. We were alone. The bond pulsed between us like a living thing, painful and electric. Five years of distance evaporated in seconds. My wolf was practically whimpering, torn between the instinct to submit to our alpha and the memory of our rejection. "You look good," Marcus said quietly. "Success suits you." "Don't." I stood abruptly. "Don't you dare make small talk with me. What do you want?" He rose too, and suddenly the massive conference room felt tiny. "What I want? That's a complicated question, Ethan." "Then simplify it." "I want to know why you've spent five years building an empire specifically designed to compete with mine. I want to know why every business move you make seems calculated to hurt me." He took a step closer. "I want to know if you hate me as much as your eyes say you do." I laughed, sharp and bitter. "You rejected me at our wedding, Marcus. In front of everyone we knew. You said I was too weak, too soft, not worthy of being a Blackwood. Then you walked away and married someone else six months later. What exactly did you expect?" Something flickered across his face—pain, maybe, or regret—but it was gone too quickly to identify. "Victoria and I are divorced. Have been for three years." "Congratulations. I'll send a card." "Ethan—" "No." I held up a hand. "You don't get to say my name like that. You don't get to walk back into my life and pretend there's anything between us but business. You made your choice. I made mine. I built myself into someone who doesn't need you, doesn't need anyone. So take your company, take your patents, and get the hell out of my building." I turned to leave. "I made a mistake." I froze, hand on the door handle. "The biggest mistake of my life," Marcus continued, his voice rough. "I was young and stupid and scared, and I listened to my father when he said an omega couldn't be the partner an alpha like me needed. I thought I was protecting the pack, the family legacy. I thought I was doing the right thing." Slowly, I turned back to face him. "And now?" "Now my father's dead, Victoria took half my assets in the divorce, and I've spent three years realizing that I threw away the only person who ever actually mattered." He met my eyes, and for the first time, I saw genuine emotion there. Vulnerability. "I didn't buy Lunar Dynamics to hurt you, Ethan. I bought it hoping you'd come to this meeting. Because I needed to see you." My heart was hammering. "Why?" "Because I want to fix this. I want—" "To what? Un-reject me?" I shook my head. "That's not how it works, Marcus. The bond is broken. You made sure of that." "Bonds can be re-forged." "Not this one." "Let me try." The pleading in his voice nearly undid me. My wolf was howling, begging me to listen, to give our alpha another chance. But the human part of me—the part that had been shattered and rebuilt into something harder—refused. "You want to try?" I moved closer to him, close enough to feel his heat, to smell his scent, to remember everything I'd lost. "Fine. Here's your chance, Marcus. Compete with me." His brow furrowed. "What?" "Business. That's the only language I speak now. You want me back? Prove you're worthy of me. Because I'm not that weak omega anymore. I'm a billionaire CEO, and I don't settle for anything less than the best." I smiled, cold and sharp. "So compete with me. Beat me. Show me you're strong enough to stand beside me as an equal, not just an alpha who wants his rejected mate back because he's lonely." Marcus stared at me for a long moment. Then, slowly, he smiled—a real smile, fierce and hungry. "You want a corporate war, Ethan?" "I want you to earn what you threw away." "Fine." He extended his hand. "May the best company win." I looked at his hand, then back at his face. This was insane. Dangerous. Everything I'd built was designed to avoid this exact situation—proximity to Marcus, to feelings, to the bond that could still destroy me. But I'd spent five years running and building walls. Maybe it was time to stop running and start fighting. I took his hand. The contact sent sparks through my entire body, the bond recognizing and reaching despite the rejection. Marcus felt it too—I saw his pupils dilate, heard his breath catch. "May the best company win," I agreed. I had no idea I'd just agreed to my own destruction. ---