LOGINChapter 19 Jordan POVRoger Teller's voice was calm even when the world was on fire. It used to annoy me. Now it was one of my favorite survival tools.My phone buzzed just after sunrise—too early for good news, too early for anyone to be calling unless they had a problem they couldn’t fit into a text.I was already awake. Of course I was. Sleep had become a rumor.I answered on the first ring. “Tell me you’re calling to say you found a ledger, not a corpse.”Roger exhaled. “No corpses. Yet.”“Great,” I said. “That’s the most comforting ‘yet’ I’ve ever heard.”“Jordan,” he warned, and I could hear the edge under his calm. “I pulled the pharmacy chain like you asked.”My throat tightened. “And?”“I’ve got names,” he said. “Old prescribing doc. The refill authorizations. It’s… weird.”“Define weird,” I said, already reaching for my notebook.Roger hesitated. “It’s clean on paper. Too clean. Like someone’s been maintaining it on purpose.”My stomach dipped—not with acid, with instinct.
Chapter 18Jordan POVI stood outside my own door for a full ten seconds before I went in.Not because I was afraid of what might be inside—Rowan had already proven he could materialize out of thin air and tackle a threat before I could finish forming a swear word.I hesitated because I could still hear Maddox’s voice in my head.You’re my mate.And the worst part wasn’t the word.The worst part was that my body had reacted like it already knew.I unlocked the door, slipped into my suite, and shut it behind me with the quiet care of someone trying not to spook their own thoughts. Then I leaned my forehead against the wood for a moment, eyes closed, breathing slow.This should have been simple.In my world, bonds were contracts. Decisions were made on evidence. Anything that looked like fate was usually just pattern recognition with a better marketing team.But this?This felt like something I couldn’t cross-examine without it staring back and asking me why my pulse was doing backflips
Chapter 17Maddox POVJordan’s voice didn’t rise when she said it.That was the part that hit hardest.“No,” she said, flat as a verdict. “That’s not real.”Rowan went so still I could hear the joints in his hands tighten against his knees. The white noise machine in her suite hummed like it had no idea it was failing at its job. The air in the room felt too sharp, like everything had edges now.My wolf slammed against my ribs.Not to fight.To close distance.To correct.To claim.Mine.I stayed where I was.Because claiming her in front of Rowan—claiming her in front of anyone—would turn her into a weapon on day one. Council would smell it. Tessa would use it. And Jordan… Jordan would hear it as possession, not truth.So I did the only thing I could do without making it worse.I controlled the room.“Rowan,” I said, voice even.His gaze snapped to mine. He didn’t blink. He looked like a man trying not to explode.“Out,” I ordered.Rowan’s jaw flexed. “Alpha Maddox—”I didn’t raise
Chapter 16Jordan POVI waited until the house settled into that late-night hush it loved to pretend was peace.It wasn’t peace. It was containment. A thousand little rules holding back a thousand big instincts. Doors closing softly. Footsteps that stopped when someone else entered a hall. The kind of quiet that meant everyone was listening for trouble and calling it “rest.”I sat on the edge of my bed with my laptop open and my legal pad in my lap, not because I planned to sleep, but because if I didn’t keep my hands busy, I’d start shaking.The bar counsel warning played on a loop in my head.Someone is steering this through you.The attempted break-in played right behind it.You should’ve stayed on your pills.And the third loop—my least favorite—was Maddox on the balcony, sparks under my skin, his breath on my mouth, stopping like the kiss would have cost blood.Not yet.I’d tried to be reasonable all day. I’d tried to be patient. I’d tried to make do with “tomorrow.”But the gran
Chapter 15Jordan POVMy case board looked like a conspiracy wall built by a woman who’d lost access to sunshine and normal friendships.Strings, sticky notes, printouts, timelines. The service road turnout circled in red. Kline’s autopsy request highlighted like Silvia would magically produce it faster if I bullied the paper. A separate column for things Silvia says out loud and things Silvia clearly believes but can’t prove yet.The problem wasn’t that I didn’t have a theory.The problem was I had three.And if I didn’t split them cleanly, Silvia would blend them into one ugly narrative and feed it to a grand jury like it was gospel.I stood in the Mercer library—again—because apparently this room had become my second office and my first therapist. The table was covered in evidence audit sheets and drafts of motions, and I’d already rewritten my opening paragraph twice because the word panic looked weak on paper, even though panic was the most honest word we had.Kane sat off to the
Chapter 14Maddox POVThe library light was low when I stepped in, the kind of soft glow people chose when they didn’t want to be seen doing something they knew might start a fire.Jordan sat at the long table with a stack of books in front of her like she’d built a wall out of paper. Her hair was loose, damp at the ends, like she’d showered and then decided sleep wasn’t worth the effort. Her shoulders were wrapped in a blanket she probably stole from the sitting room because she hadn’t learned yet that every object in this house belonged to someone’s routine.Rowan was in the chair near the doorway, elbows on his knees, posture loose but eyes sharp. He’d been “perimeter,” but he’d also been a shadow for days now. Watching her. Watching me. Saying nothing and thinking everything.Jordan looked up when I entered.Not startled. She never startled anymore. She just lifted her chin like she’d been expecting me and wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed or relieved when I actually showed.Her g
Chapter 12Jordan POVDinner at seven was not a suggestion.It was announced the way some families announced prayer—quietly, firmly, with the expectation that you either complied or you became the story everyone told later.Rowan appeared outside my suite door at six fifty-eight like he’d been stan
Chapter 10Jordan POVRowan walked me through the packhouse like he was escorting a witness to court and didn’t want her to trip on the carpet and sue.He stayed half a step behind and to my left—close enough to grab, far enough to pretend he wasn’t hovering. He didn’t speak unless he had to. He di
Chapter 13Jordan POVBy the time I got back to my suite, I’d learned three useful things over dinner:One, Maddox Mercer ran the table without raising his voice.Two, Tessa Rhodes could smile like a beauty queen while sharpening a knife under the napkin.Three, Elaina watched people the way I watc
Chapter 11Maddox POVI didn’t like being challenged in front of my people.Not because my pride couldn’t take it—I’d had pride beaten out of me by responsibility years ago—but because leadership optics mattered. They mattered the way locks mattered. You didn’t notice them when they worked, and you







