The transport glided onto the elevated highway. Outside, the downpour had intensified into a blinding grey sheet, but inside the pressurized cabin, the only sound was the sharp, rapid clicking of Jannah’s teeth.

The premium climate control was blasting dry, high-grade warmth into the space, but it was useless against the deep, systemic chill that had settled into Jannah’s bones. Her sweater and skirt were completely waterlogged, holding the freezing moisture of the Forest directly against her skin like a second coat of ice. She curled her knees tightly toward her chest, pressing her spine harder against the passenger door, her entire frame shivering so violently that her shoulders jumped with every breath.

As the violent trembling racked her body, her jaw clamped down involuntarily, her teeth catching the raw, swollen edge of the internal neuro-vascular wound she had inflicted upon herself the night before to escape his touch. A sharp, metallic sting of blood burst across her palate. She sucked in a ragged breath, her knuckles turning translucent white as she clutched her arms, desperately trying to friction-rub some semblance of heat into her skin.

Dorrent watched her from the periphery of his vision. His hands rested lazily on the leather-wrapped steering wheel, his eyes tracking the erratic, pathetic bouncing of her silhouette against the dark window glass. Just an inch away from his left thigh, draped casually over the center armrest, sat his executive overcoat—a thick, premium cashmere garment that radiated the heavy, comforting scent of his personal wardrobe.

He didn’t offer it to her. He didn’t move a single finger to slide the fabric across the gap. His S-tier pride, still burning from the humiliating rejection in her bedroom wanted her to break. He wanted this stubborn, defiant little omega to turn her head, look him in the eyes, and beg him for the warmth he controlled.

But Jannah didn’t look. She refused to give the executioner of her lineage the satisfaction of her voice. She kept her eyes locked on the blurred highway lines, her mind fiercely repeating the medical properties of the Somnus Root resting in her pocket, anchoring her sanity in her planned vengeance.

When the shivering grew so severe that her vision began to blur and her breaths turned into short, dazed gasps, her survival instinct finally bypassed her resolve. Without speaking a word, her trembling left hand reached across the center console, her fingers clawing at the soft cashmere of the extra coat to pull it over her frozen chest.

Before her fingertips could secure the hem, Dorrent’s large hand shot out, snatching the coat completely off the armrest and tossing it into the vacant rear seats of the transport with a reckless, dismissive flick of his wrist.

"What are you doing?!" Jannah choked out, her voice cracking as she finally snapped her head around to glare at him, her eyes flashing with pure fury through the damp strands of her hair. "Give it to me! I am freezing!" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"If you are freezing, little physician, you are using the wrong resource," Dorrent purred, his deep voice dropping into a thick, lazy register that instantly crowded the warm air of the cabin. He didn’t look at her; his gaze remained fixed on the dark road ahead, but his Alpha pheromones expanded aggressively, filling her senses with his scent. "You don’t need a piece of fabric. You can simply use my body heat to warm yourself."

Jannah’s spine locked into a rigid line of absolute panic. She violently pressed herself further back against the passenger door panel, her hand instinctively shielding her sweater pocket. "I don’t need your body heat, Alpha Grefo. I don’t want you anywhere near me."

Dorrent let out a low, rumbling chuckle. He slowed the transport down, switching the vehicle into autonomous cruise mode before turning his towering physique fully toward her side of the cabin. He leaned across the console, his broad shoulders blocking out the ambient light of the dashboard, looming over her trapped form.

"Don’t be dramatic," Dorrent whispered, his eyes flaring with a dangerous, untamed crimson light as his gaze traced the wet cotton clinging to the swell of her breasts. "All you need to do is remove those filthy, waterlogged clothes of yours... strip yourself bare, and cling directly to me. My S-tier core will dry your skin within ten minutes if you simply submit to the friction."

Jannah’s mind reeled in absolute horror, her heart hammering a frantic, chaotic rhythm against her ribs. The graphic scripts from the ancient historical ledger she had read hours ago in the library flashed behind her eyelids like a neon warning. An absolute monopoly of the flesh. The book had been clear: her virginity had initialized a biological lock within his neural system. Every inch of her skin he saw, every intimate contact they shared, would only deepen his pathological madness for her frequency. If she stripped off her clothes right now, if she allowed his radiating chest to press against her bare, wet skin, her own weak, compromised omega biology would betray her logic within seconds. They would end up completely pinned in each other’s sweat, fucking furiously against the leather seats of the transport while he tore away her remaining defenses. She couldn’t let him get close. She couldn’t let him establish any more intimate data.

Gathering every ounce of defensive venom she possessed, Jannah retaliated, her voice cutting through the warm air of the cabin.

"Do not dare behave this way with me, Dorrent!" she hissed, her pupils unblinking, her jaw set in absolute defiance as she weaponized the ultimate lie to force a boundary between them. "You have no right to command my nakedness. I told you before—I have a boyfriend. I belong to a man from the lower sectors, and I will not allow another Alpha to touch my body this way."

The mention of the boyfriend hit the cabin like a block of solid ice. Dorrent’s entire frame went completely stone-still, his jaw clenching with such sudden, violent force that the muscles along his cheekbones stood out. The lingering, arrogant amusement completely vanished from his handsome features, replaced by a dark, suffocating wave of toxic jealousy that turned his S-tier aura entirely lethal.

He leaned closer, his chest mere millimeters from her knees, his gaze dropping to her parted lips.

"A boyfriend," Dorrent repeated, his voice dropping into a flat, freezing rasp. He offered a thin, mocking smile that didn’t reach his burning silver eyes. "How touching. And as it happens... I also have a girlfriend, Jannah."

He paused, his fingers reaching out to grip the leather edge of her headrest, trapping her head between his arm and the glass door panel. He tilted his face down, his hot breath brushing against her shivering ear as he delivered the final, devastating question.

"But tell me, my filthy little physician... does your pathetic body get soaking wet by that boyfriend’s touch... the exact same way it does for mine?"