The Non-Disclosure Agreement

​The heat radiating off Kaelen Vance wasn't normal human warmth. It was a muggy, suffocating fever that felt like standing in front of an open blast furnace.

​My back pressed flat against the cold mahogany door of his inner office. My heart hammered wildly against my ribs, each thud ringing loud in my ears. In the dark, his amber eyes burned into mine, tracking the rapid pulse beating at the base of my throat.

​"I asked you a question," Kaelen growled, his voice dropping so low it rattled the glass panes in the windows behind us. "Who sent you?"

​"N-nobody," I managed to choked out, my fingers tightening around the canister of pepper spray inside my coat pocket. "I’m an independent auditor. I’m looking into the offshore transfers from Ironbound Freight. The ones flagged three years ago."

​Kaelen’s eyes narrowed. The golden glow flickered, shifting back toward a turbulent, steel grey as he took half a breath, his lungs expanding under his torn shirt. "The Vane case."

​"My father," I corrected, finding a sliver of my spine despite the terror pinning me to the wood. "Arthur Vane. He didn't embezzle eight million dollars. Your company framed him, and I’m going to prove it."

​A sound escaped him, a sharp, mirthless bark of laughter that sounded almost animalistic. He shifted his stance, stepping into the dim moonlight filtering through the blinds. Up close, the raw size of him was terrifying. Tailored suits usually disguised an executive's physique, but without the jacket, his shoulders looked wide enough to block out the room, wrapped in dense, corded muscle that seemed too large for a standard frame.

​"Your father was a bad accountant who stumbled across transactions meant for private distribution," Kaelen said coldly. "He poked his nose into territory that didn't belong to him, and it broke him."

​"It killed him!" I snapped, the sudden surge of grief overriding my fear. "He died in a hospital room with a ruined name because of Vance Global!"

​Kaelen didn't flinch. Instead, he took another slow, deliberate step forward until his chest was inches from mine. The scent of him hit me all at once, dark cedar, ozone, and something raw and metallic that made my skin prickle with an absurd, electric awareness.

​He leaned down, his mouth brushing the curve of my ear. "You think you came here for justice, Miss Vane. But you walked straight into an execution ground."

​My breath hitched. "Are you going to kill me?"

​"An hour ago? Without hesitation," he murmured, his voice laced with a lethal, quiet certainty. "Human intruders who breach Ironbound security don't leave this building on two feet."

​He reached out. I flinched, expecting violence, but his long, calloused fingers merely caught a lock of my hair, trailing it slowly back over my shoulder. His hand brushed the bare skin of my collarbone, and a sharp, physical shock went straight down my spine, asudden, dizzying heat that made my knees wobble.

​Kaelen froze, his eyes flaring gold once more. A low rumble built deep within his chest, vibration I could feel against my own sternum.

​"What... what is that?" I whispered, struggling to pull back, but my body refused to cooperate. "What's wrong with your eyes?"

​"You're unshifted," Kaelen said, ignoring my question entirely. He sounded almost angry, his jaw working as if he were trying to grind through steel. "A fragile, human auditor carrying a flash drive full of pack ledgers... and you smell like a tether."

​"I don't know what you're talking about," I rasped, trying to push against his chest. It was like shoving against a solid brick wall. "Let me go, or I’ll trigger the alarm."

​"Trigger it," he said softly. "The guards on this floor belong to me. The board belongs to me. The city belongs to me. You have no leverage here, Calla."

​Hearing my name on his lips sent a shiver down my spine.

​Kaelen turned, stepping away from me and pulling a dark leather folder from the top of his desk. He threw it onto the coffee table, the one he had splintered only moments ago, and pulled a heavy gold pen from his pocket.

​"You have two choices," Kaelen said, his voice instantly dropping back into the smooth one he has been portrayed to have. "Option one: You leave this room, and by morning, the evidence on that flash drive is wiped, your bank accounts are seized, and you spend the rest of your life in a state penitentiary for corporate espionage."

​"And option two?" I demanded, my hands trembling as I pulled my arm back inside my coat.

​Kaelen turned back to face me, the moonlight catching the harsh, sharp angles of his face.

​"Option two: You sign a non-disclosure agreement. An exclusive, full-time contract as Vance Global’s lead forensic auditor. You move into my private estate tonight, under my personal supervision. You will fix the discrepancies in the Ironbound accounts from the inside, and in return, I clear your father's name."

​I stared at him, stunned. "Move into your estate? That's kidnapping!"

​"That is custody," Kaelen corrected smoothly, holding out the pen. "You saw things in this room tonight that human eyes aren't supposed to witness. I am offering you your father's legacy and your life. Choose."