Guron Grefo did not flinch, though the force of his son’s roaring refusal caused the ancient window panes of the library to hum dangerously in their iron frames. The older Alpha anchored his shoes to the polished floorboards, his face twisting into a mask of cold, unyielding authority as he absorbed the shockwave of Dorrent’s S-tier fury. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Why are you so eager to say no to me, Dorrent?" Guron demanded. He took an imposing step forward, his eyes narrowing into twin slits of irritation. "You react as if I am asking you to surrender your corporate title rather than secure the very foundation of this family’s empire. Give me a logical reason for this defiance."

Dorrent’s broad chest heaved beneath his tailored shirt, his knuckles whitening as he fought to keep his primal combat instincts from completely decimating the library. He turned his head, his silver eyes flashing with a dangerous crimson light.

"Because doing that right now will be actively risking the secret being found, Father!" Dorrent snarled, his voice a low vibration that carried a heavy weight of suppressed panic. He paced the floorboards like a caged predator, his shoes striking the wood with a hard, rhythmic snap. "You are looking at this from a purely financial perspective, completely blind to the biological reality. Marking Joanne right now, while my system is still completely dead to her frequency, will force me to get married to her in the immediate future. The public eye will be locked onto us, the media will be tracking our every breath, and the expectations will be absolute."

Guron let out a low scoff, completely dismissive of his son’s hesitation. "And that is exactly what is better, isn’t it, Dorrent? Isn’t that precisely what is most important here? The official union of Gammar Technology and their company ensures our supremacy over the upper districts for the next three generations. Everything else is a minor variable."

"A minor variable?!" Dorrent fired right back, stopping dead in his tracks and turning his massive torso to face his father. He leaned down, his winter-frost pheromones exploding into the space between them, thick with an aggressive, defensive edge. "Let’s speak about the variable you refuse to acknowledge, Sir. In case I don’t get cured by that slum rat... in case her specialized herbs fails entirely and my impotence continues forever... what do you think will happen the moment Joanne is legally marked as my mate?"

Dorrent’s jaw clenched so tightly that a muscle twitched against his cheek, his voice dropping into a whisper that exposed the deepest wound to his S-tier pride. "I won’t be able to hide the truth from her for a single week, Father. We will be forced by tradition to share a bed every single night. She will be sitting in that bedroom, expecting me to drive my body into hers. She will be expecting her Alpha husband to fuck her, to claim her biology, and to maybe give her some babies to secure the lineage and her pride. And when I fail day after day... when my manhood remains completely limp and unresponsive to her... I will only cause her an absolute, unmanageable heartbreak. She will realize her husband is nothing but a broken shell."

Guron stared at his son for a long beat, his expression entirely unreadable. Then, a slow, deeply cynical smile crept across the older man’s stern features—a look of pure, cold-blooded pragmatism that had long since discarded the concept of emotional vulnerability.

"Since when has Dorrent Grefo ever cared about how others felt about how he treats them?" Guron asked, his tone dripping with a harsh, mocking condescension. He waved his hand dismissively, turning his back on his son’s emotional argument. "You are the most ruthless CEO in the corporate sector. You dismantle international boards without a shred of empathy, yet you stand here weeping over the potential heartbreak of a company heiress. We should only hope that Jannah Nenth manages to treat your system soon to avoid all those domestic complications entirely. Your primary focus should be keeping that girl alive so she can perform her duties."

Guron walked toward the desk, his voice remaining flat and dictatorial. "And besides... you should care significantly less about the secret of your impotence being known by Joanne if the worst should happen. She is a highly classy, exceptionally educated woman from a prominent family. She is not that heartless or foolish that she will go around gossiping, telling everyone about her husband’s biological flaws. She understands the weight of our shared stocks. She will keep her mouth shut to protect her own family’s wealth."

"You say that because you are looking at it like an old accountant, father!" Dorrent roared, his mask shattering entirely as he took three massive, predatory strides, pinning his father against the edge of the desk. He bared his teeth, his silver eyes completely swamped by a burning crimson fire. "You are saying that because you have never in your entire life faced the absolute, soul-crushing blow of desperately wanting to fuck a beautiful woman but being completely unable to raise it up! You have never felt the humiliation of your biology refusing to command a single drop of blood to your groin while a woman sits waiting for you!"

Dorrent leaned down until his lips were mere inches from his father’s ear, his voice a gravelly, demonic rasp that vibrated with years of hidden agony. "And the worst of it... the absolute worst part of this curse... is the woman finding out the truth. Joanne might not tell the public, she might not tell the media to protect the shares, but she will feel entirely different inside this house. She will look at me and think that maybe she isn’t beautiful enough to command her Alpha’s desire. She will think her body is a failure. And then, how exactly will she be pleasured under my roof, Father? Am I expected to spend the rest of our marriage using my fingers and my tongue only to satisfy her biology? That will only be incredibly boring and completely pathetic for an S-tier Alpha! I refuse to live like a castrated dog in my own matrimonial bedroom!"

The absolute fury of his son’s confession filled the library with a suffocating static, but Guron’s expression didn’t even flicker. He slowly reached up, adjust his expensive silk collar, and looked directly into Dorrent’s wild eyes with a cold, absolute finality that proved he was entirely done with the conversation.

Guron checked his digital watch, his voice dropping into a flat command as he prepared to exit the room.

"I have far more important things to do this evening than debate the psychology of your bedroom, Dorrent," Guron stated coldly, his golden eyes locking onto his son’s tensed jaw with a chilling leverage. "I expect you to see to it that the herbalist gets better soon, because your time is rapidly running out."