WHEN AN ALPHA KNEELS

LET HIM MARK US

WHEN AN ALPHA KNEELS

CHAPTER FOUR

The driver cleared his throat.

"Sir... should we leave?"

The stranger closed his eyes.

His pulse refused to settle.

His instincts refused to be silent.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked at the bookstore one last time.

"...Drive."

The sedan pulled away.

But long after the bookstore had vanished from sight...

The voice remained.

Find him.

The driver glanced into the rearview mirror.

"Sir... are you alright?"

Ramil didn't answer.

His gaze remained locked on the bookstore disappearing behind the curtain of rain.

His heartbeat refused to slow.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

For three years...

There had been nothing.

No instinct.

No Alpha.

Only silence.

Now...

Something ancient had awakened.

It wasn't asking.

It was commanding.

Go back.

His fingers trembled.

Protect him.

His hand shot toward the door handle before he could stop himself.

The driver frowned.

"Sir?"

Ramil stared at his own hand in disbelief.

He had lost control.

His Alpha had never disobeyed him before.

It never could.

So why...

Why was every instinct inside him willing to abandon everything...

For a man he had met less than an hour ago?

His grip tightened.

Then the voice came again.

This time, louder than his own thoughts.

He is yours to protect.

Ramil's eyes widened.

"You have to let him mark us"

The words refused to leave him.

Let him mark us.

Ramil stood alone in his office, the city stretching endlessly beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. Below him, thousands of people hurried through their lives, unaware that the man who controlled one of the world's largest corporations was losing a battle inside his own mind.

His breathing was steady.

His thoughts were not.

"Enough."

The command echoed through the empty office.

Silence answered him.

For a fleeting moment, he allowed himself to believe the voice had finally disappeared.

Then—

You are lying to yourself.

Ramil closed his eyes.

His jaw tightened.

"I said enough."

You have ignored me for three years.

"I didn't ignore you."

You buried me.

His chest tightened painfully.

Three years ago, his Alpha had vanished without warning. No instincts. No inner voice. No bond. Specialists from every corner of the world had examined him.

None could explain it.

Eventually, Ramil accepted the silence.

He built an empire instead.

Work became his instinct.

Discipline became his nature.

Control became his identity.

Now, everything he had spent years building was beginning to c***k.

All because of one man.

One quiet bookseller with warm hazel eyes.

"I won't go back."

The response came instantly.

You already want to.

"I don't."

Then why are you still holding his umbrella?

Ramil looked down.

His hand tightened around the black umbrella leaning against his desk.

He hadn't even realized he'd picked it up.

Annoyed, he tossed it onto the leather sofa across the room.

"There."

"I don't need it."

The Alpha almost sounded amused.

Watch.

Ramil turned away and reached for the report lying on his desk.

Quarterly earnings.

Normally, he could review fifty pages in less than twenty minutes.

Today...

He read the first paragraph four times.

The words blurred together.

His thoughts drifted elsewhere.

Cream sweater.

Gentle smile.

The smell of coffee.

"...Impossible."

His phone buzzed.

His assistant's voice came through the intercom.

"Sir, the directors have arrived for your eleven o'clock meeting."

Ramil inhaled slowly.

"I'll be there."

He straightened his tie, adjusted his cufflinks, and walked toward the door.

Professional.

Calm.

Untouchable.

Exactly as he had always been.

---

The executive boardroom fell silent the moment he entered.

Every director rose to greet him.

"Good morning, Mr. Alvarez."

Ramil acknowledged them with a brief nod before taking his seat at the head of the table.

"Let's begin."

The presentation started immediately.

Sales projections.

International acquisitions.

Shareholder reports.

His eyes remained fixed on the screen.

His mind did not.

He is waiting.

Ramil ignored it.

The Chief Financial Officer continued speaking.

"...our expansion into Europe has exceeded expectations—"

Return to him.

Ramil picked up his pen.

He signed the first document without looking.

Another executive began discussing a merger.

You are leaving him alone.

His grip tightened until the expensive fountain pen snapped in half.

Ink spilled across the papers.

The room froze.

No one dared speak.

Ramil stared at the broken pen in his hand.

He had never broken his composure during a meeting.

Not once.

His assistant cautiously stepped forward.

"Sir... shall I bring another pen?"

Ramil didn't answer.

The Alpha's voice had become stronger.

Closer.

Almost deafening.

He doesn't understand what's happening.

He's frightened.

Go to him.

Ramil shot to his feet so abruptly that his chair rolled backward.

Every executive stood as well.

Concern spread across the room.

"Mr. Alvarez?"

"I..."

For the first time in years...

He didn't know what to say.

His Alpha spoke one final sentence.

Not as an order.

As a promise.

You will kneel before him.

A chill raced down Ramil's spine.

He had never knelt before anyone.

Never.

Yet somewhere deep inside...

A part of him no longer feared the idea.

It longed for it.

Ramil grabbed his coat.

"Cancel everything."

"Sir?"

"Every meeting."

"But today's schedule—"

"I said..."

His silver-gray eyes swept across the room.

"...cancel everything."

No one argued.

They had never seen their CEO look so shaken.

Ramil strode out of the boardroom without another word.

Behind him, twenty executives remained standing in stunned silence.

None of them knew where he was going.

Only Ramil's Alpha did.

And for the first time...

Ramil wasn't sure he had the strength to resist.