Bound To Alpha Costello

Chapter 6

Natasha’s point of view

As soon as I stepped out of the plane into the burstling airport, a feeling of despair crashed over me. I felt completely lost like a stranger in an unfamiliar land. It was as if I had no one to turn to and nowhere to go. My pockets were empty, my debit card left behind in my rush to escape. I had nothing. Absolutely nothing.

With my heart pounding harder, I hurried through the exit, trying to appear well composed despite the fact that panic still clawed at my chest.

Then it happened, and I collided with someone. A sickening c***k echoed, followed by a heavy silence. My breath caught.

On the floor lay a phone, shattered.

I slowly lifted my gaze, and my knees nearly buckled. The man standing before me radiated authority and danger, his cold, piercing eyes locking on mine.

“Do you have any idea how expensive that phone is?!” he thundered, his voice like a whip.

My hands trembled as I stooped to pick it up. The screen was a web of cracks, mocking me.

“Th-that phone…” I stammered, but he cut me off sharply.

“That phone,” he hissed, “is worth your entire lineage.”

My breath hitched. My lineage? What kind of madness was that?

As if hearing my thoughts, he said with venomous pride, “That’s a Goldstriker iPhone 3GS Supreme.”

My eyes widened. My mind blanked.

What in the bloody hell had I just gotten myself into?

“I’m… I’m so sorry…”

I barely got the words out before his voice sliced through mine like a whip.

“Don’t!” he barked, eyes blazing. “Don’t say that. I won’t accept your sorry. You definitely pay for it.”

His chest rose and fell, fury simmering in every breath. Then, coldly, he turned to the man standing beside him, probably his guard.

“Reschedule my flight,” he ordered, his tone sharp enough to draw blood.

He faced me again, his gaze locking onto mine, fierce and unrelenting. “Move.”

I wanted to stand my ground, but my body betrayed me; trembling, useless, obeying before my mind could protest. My legs carried me forward, driven by fear I couldn’t swallow.

Pressed against the cold metal of the SUV, I could feel my heart hammering, wild, desperate, pleading to escape the cage of my chest.

The engine roared to life. Silence settled between us, heavy and suffocating.

Then...

After what felt like an eternity of tense, wordless driving, a massive sign loomed ahead through the misty night…

WELCOME TO COLDSTONE PACK.

We drove into a gigantic building, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he’s...

“Holy s**t!” I gasped the moment my eyes caught his face.

It’s him.

The mighty Alpha Costello.

How on earth did I ever cross paths with this man? This cold, ruthless Alpha I’d only ever heard about in whispered stories…the one whose mother took her own life and whose father died under strange, sudden circumstances, leaving him to rule the feared ColdStone Pack.

My heart pounded so hard it hurt.

Then, to my utter disbelief, he stepped out of the SUV and came around to open the door for me.

Why would someone like him do that?

I hesitated, trembling, every nerve screaming at me to run. But my legs betrayed me, and somehow I stepped out, forcing myself to stay composed.

We walked into the palace, its towering golden walls and flawless décor screaming power, dominance, and wealth.

And then he turned to the gathered crowd, his voice deep and commanding as it echoed through the hall.

“Here’s my bride,” he announced. “We’ll be tying the knot tomorrow.”

The world around me blurred. My breath caught in my throat.

His bride?

For a heartbeat, it felt like the earth itself had stopped spinning.

Without even sparing me a glance, he turned to his guard and said coldly, “Show her to my room.”

His room?

My heart lurched. Did I hear that right? His room? What on earth was happening? How could he possibly expect me to stay there with him? We had no formal arrangement, nothing! I hadn’t even accepted to be his Luna. All he’d said was that I had to pay for his damned phone.

If anything, I expected him to make me his maid. Yes, that would have made sense. I was homeless, desperate, and in need of a place to stay. But his Luna? That was far too much, too sudden, too dangerous.

I wasn’t even divorced from Lorenzo yet. Wouldn’t that make me guilty of bigamy?

Did this man, this terrifying, unreadable Alpha—have any idea what he was trying to do? Or was he simply used to getting his way, no matter who got destroyed in the process?

They led me through long hallways into a beautifully furnished room, one that screamed of power and dominance. My pulse quickened as the guard stepped out, closing the door quietly behind him.

A young woman entered almost immediately, bowing slightly. “Hi, ma’am. What do you care for?”

I turned to her sharply. “Where’s your Alpha?”

I needed to find him. I needed to tell him the truth that I was married. That this couldn’t happen.

She blinked as though my question had startled her. “He’s in the Judgment Room,” she said lightly, as if it were the most ordinary place in the world.

Judgment Room?

The words made my blood run cold.

“Take me there,” I demanded.

She stiffened, fear flickering in her eyes. “No, ma’am… I—I’ll just direct you there.”

Her tone said it all. Whatever happened in that Judgment Room… it wasn’t a place anyone wanted to go.

She pointed toward a dimly lit hallway, and my heart skipped as I moved in that direction.

The silence around me was heavy, the air thick with tension. Each step echoed softly until I stopped before a gigantic black door carved with golden letters: JUDGEMENT ROOM.

My pulse quickened. Even before I touched the handle, I heard muffled voices seeping through the cracks.

“Still pretending?”

A cold male voice followed, smooth yet deadly. “No worries, Your Majesty. I did some background checks on him, and here’s what I found.”

I froze. Your Majesty?

Before I could piece it together, a man’s desperate scream cut through the air.

“Your Majesty, it’s not what you think!”

Then came Costello’s deep, threatening voice, calm but laced with fury.

“Everyone gets to taste his own medicine.”

A deafening sound followed, a machine saw, the kind used to cut down trees.

“AHHH!” The man’s cry tore through me, raw and broken, before fading into a chilling silence.

My body trembled. Against every instinct, I pushed the door open.

And what I saw... froze my blood.

Costello stood there, his hands, his face, his entire frame splattered with blood.

In front of him was a man tied to a chair, limbless… his hands and legs lying lifelessly on the floor beside him.

I gasped, stumbling back, terror clawing at my chest.

Costello turned sharply, his piercing eyes locking on mine.

“Thank goodness you’re here,” he said, wiping his hand on a blood-stained cloth.

He picked up a paper from the table, walked toward me, and extended it.

“Sign this. It’s a marriage contract—valid for one year.”

I stared at him, my throat tightening.

A contract marriage?

No. Not at all. "Hell no!" I didn't know when I began to scream my heart out.