The office was too quiet.
In the heart of the Thorne syndicate tower — thirty floors above the sleeping city — silence simmered over polished steel and black marble. The lights were low, casting sharp shadows that cut across the glass-paneled walls. Every surface gleamed. Orderly. Controlled.
Except for the fractured whiskey glass on the floor.
Amber liquid spread to the edges of the rug, slowly sinking into the fibers like blood.
Lucian Thorne stood behind his desk, hand clenched so tightly that blood had begun to bead along his palm. His eyes—cold steel grey—were fixed on the crumpled document in front of him.
Jaxon Reed stood a few steps away, shoulders stiff. He watched Lucian with the caution of a man observing an active beast trap.
"Nobody told me the Omega was refusing," Lucian said, voice low and sharp. "Nobody thought that detail mattered?"
"We didn't know," Jaxon replied. "The communication was carefully managed. It seems… the Arden family deliberately kept this from you."
Lucian inhaled slowly through his nose.
That was dangerous.
"That's what you're telling me," he said quietly. "But what I hear is this: They lied."
He turned, eyes gleaming with a colder fury than any shouted rage could ever deliver.
"After everything I've done to stabilize this alliance," Lucian continued slowly, "after all the risks I took to keep the Arden family from ruin—your report tells me that the Omega refuses to marry me, and instead I'm being offered a Beta?"
He spat the last word like a curse.
Jaxon kept his gaze low. "Yes. They're sending the older brother. Caleb Arden."
Lucian's jaw flexed. "A Beta."
"Rowan's son. Hand-picked."
"Because he was the only option left," Lucian snapped. "They're sending scraps."
A tense quiet stretched between them. Jaxon dared speak again.
"I hear he's… capable," he offered, though even he didn't sound convinced.
Lucian's expression darkened. "He is not what I arranged. He is not what I chose."
The air tightened.
In that moment, the office door swung open.
And with it came the only person who ever entered Lucian's private space unannounced.
Darius Vale.
Tall, sharp-featured, dripping power and smugness like expensive cologne.
Lucian's rival. His equal. The one who never bowed.
And the closest thing he had to a friend.
"Hostile atmosphere," Darius commented lazily, stepping over the shattered glass without sparing it a glance. "Do I smell betrayal or just your usual morning mood?"
Lucian didn't smile.
Darius raised a brow and picked up the fallen document, skimming it with casual interest.
"Ah," he said after a beat, eyes flashing with satisfaction. "So the Omega bolted."
He looked up, one corner of his mouth lifting. "I'd like to say I didn't see this coming."
Lucian didn't respond.
Darius tapped the folder. "And they sent the Beta instead. Bold choice."
Lucian's hand curled into a fist.
"I agreed to an alliance. A promised bonding," Lucian said, voice frigid. "I do not accept substitutions."
Darius chuckled. "Be grateful, brother. Most families would sooner go to war than admit one of their own ran from you."
Lucian turned sharply.
"Do not mistake their desperation for goodwill," he said, tone razor sharp. "A Beta is not a substitute for an Omega. And I will not be treated as if I should be thankful they offered anything at all."
Darius lifted both hands in mock surrender. "Easy. I'm not the one marrying him."
Lucian inhaled sharply, trying to moderate the fury that threatened to spill from him.
He had prepared for this alliance. Had structured parts of his empire around it. Even convinced himself that an Omega — an Arden Omega — would be manageable. A powerful symbol, if nothing else.
He hadn't wanted romance.
But he had wanted control.
Now? All of it was torn apart at the seams. And he was expected to smile and accept it.
Jaxon broke the silence. "What do we do, sir?"
Lucian stared out the window, into a sea of city lights blurred by mist and rain.
His voice was quiet. "We do not negotiate with disrespect."
"And the Beta?"
Lucian's jaw tightened. "He is not mate material."
Darius laughed softly. "Are you sure? Not even the slightest curiosity?"
Lucian didn't speak.
Darius walked closer, tone shifting — playful now edged with something sharp.
"You could always reject him," he said. "Send him back in pieces. Set an example."
Lucian didn't answer immediately.
But the room darkened with a tension that had its own heartbeat.
Rejection. Public humiliation. Power assertion.
All entirely within his right.
Lucian tipped his head slightly.
"That is one option," he said.
Darius smiled, satisfied.
The sound of the rain deepened the silence.
Jaxon took a step forward. "The family lawyer arrived an hour ago. He's waiting in the reception lounge. The Beta is with him."
Lucian's eyes flicked up.
"Already here," he murmured. "Arden's wasting no time."
Jaxon nodded. "They want to avoid giving you time to pull out."
"And that should concern them more than me," Lucian said.
His hand pressed against the surface of the desk. The tension in the room seemed to coil, ready to strike.
Finally, after a long silence—Lucian spoke again.
His voice was ice.
"Bring him in."
Darius blinked.
Jaxon froze.
Lucian's eyes narrowed.
"I will reject him myself."