CHAPTER 5

Torin POV

"Hello, ma'am. Torin Westlake, it's nice to meet you," Torin said, extending his hand with crisp military precision.

Maddy Richards blinked, her gaze sweeping over his broad shoulders before she took his hand. "Nice to meet you too, enforcer. The Alpha is expecting you in his study right now," she said briskly, reaching for her desk phone. After a brief murmur into the receiver, she nodded toward the heavy mahogany door on the right. "Go right on in."

Torin swallowed a sudden surge of tension, knowing he was stepping into the inner sanctum of the most powerful pack leader in the region. He opened the door and walked inside. Montgomery Ashbourne sat behind an imposing oak desk, while a stunning woman with dark brown hair tied in a neat bun sat nearby sipping tea, her brown eyes carrying a familiar sorrow.

Montgomery rose to his feet immediately, his tall frame radiating authoritative dominance. He crossed the room and extended a strong hand. "Welcome to the estate, Westlake. Glad you made the flight."

Torin gripped his hand firmly. "Thank you, Alpha. It's an honor to be here."

"And this is my mate, Georgina," Montgomery added, gesturing toward the woman on the couch.

Torin nodded respectfully toward the Luna. "Ma'am."

Georgina offered a tight, melancholic smile. "It's good to have you here, Torin. Let us just pray you last longer than the twenty-three enforcers who came before you. Bexley needs someone who won't break under pressure."

Montgomery cleared his throat, directing Torin toward a leather armchair across from the desk. "You've gone over your briefing documents, I take it?"

"Cover to cover, Alpha," Torin replied, taking a seat and keeping his posture rigid.

"Any questions before my daughter arrives?" Montgomery asked, his jaw tightening slightly.

Torin leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "Just one, sir. If the rogue threats from Dashiell Blackthorn are escalating, why keep the truth from Bexley? If she knew the full scope of the danger, wouldn't she be more cooperative with her security detail?"

Georgina let out a sharp gasp, and Montgomery slammed a heavy palm onto the surface of his desk. "My daughter is hanging on by a razor-thin thread," Montgomery growled, his voice vibrating with suppressed agony. "She is still drowning in grief over Alden, and the lingering terror of what that rogue monster did to her body and soul. Telling her about active death threats right now would completely break her."

Torin held the Alpha's furious gaze, instantly understanding the heavy protective instinct driving the father. "Understood, sir. I won't mention the threats."

Montgomery took a deep, shuddering breath, visibly reigning in his wolf's fury. He reached over and keyed his intercom. "Maddy, send Bexley down to the study immediately, please."

"Right away, Alpha," Maddy's voice crackled back through the speaker.

The heavy silence in the room stretched like a taut wire. Torin's heart hammered against his ribs, an unfamiliar spike of anticipation mixing with deep protective urgency. His wolf stirred restlessly inside his chest, pacing the perimeter of his mind, sensing the impending arrival of the she-wolf he was sworn to guard.

The door clicked open a moment later, and Bexley stepped across the threshold.

Torin's breath caught instantly in his throat. The photographs in the dossier hadn't done her justice. Her dark hair fell in messy waves around a face of striking, heart-stopping beauty, but it was her eyes that arrested him completely. They were dark, glacial, and haunted by an abyss of unspeakable pain. She looked so fragile, so dangerously close to shattering into dust, yet she carried herself with the lethal grace of a cornered predator.

Her cold gaze flicked over Torin for a fraction of a second, registering zero emotion before shifting directly to her father.

Torin felt a violent lurch in his gut. His wolf let out a deep, possessive rumble, clawing at his consciousness with an overwhelming urge to cross the room, pull her against his chest, and shield her from every demon that haunted her nights.

Oh, goddess, Torin thought frantically. I am in way over my head.

Bexley POV

My cell phone buzzed violently against the bedside table, shattering the agonizing silence of my room. I squeezed my eyes shut, groaning as I rolled over and stretched a sore arm across the mattress. Every single muscle in my body screamed in protest. I had pushed myself way too hard on the training mats this morning, running on the treadmill until my lungs burned and my stomach heaved with nausea, all to burn away the furious anxiety my father had injected into my veins at dawn.

I finally managed to snag the phone with my fingertips and dragged it to my ear. "What?" I snapped into the speaker, already knowing what kind of misery awaited me.

Maddy’s overly bright, cautious voice chirped through the line. "Bexley, could you please come down to your father’s study? The new enforcer is here, and they want you to meet him."

I let out a long, ragged sigh, dropping my arm back against the pillow. "Fine. I'll be there in thirty seconds." I hung up without waiting for a response, hauling my heavy legs over the edge of the bed.

Walking down the grand hallways of the Ashbourne estate, I kept my eyes locked firmly on the polished wooden floorboards. I wanted no part of this circus. My father kept forcing protective details on me as if armed guards could magically erase the nightmares carved into my skin. Every single enforcer before had either packed their bags in frustration or treated me like broken glass, and I despised both reactions equally.

When I reached Maddy’s office area, she looked up from her desk with an expression that was half-apologetic, half-excited. "You might actually tolerate this one, Bexley. He's remarkably easy on the eyes," she whispered, raising an eyebrow with a knowing smirk.

I rolled my eyes and let out a harsh, bitter scoff. "Looks don't mean a damn thing when they're just glorified babysitters," I muttered, shoving my hands into the pockets of my oversized hoodie.

I didn't bother knocking on my father's study door. I simply shoved it open and marched inside, the heavy thud of my boots echoing off the walls. The room went dead silent. My gaze immediately locked onto the stranger standing in the center of the rug.

My breath hitched in my chest. Maddy hadn't exaggerated. The man standing before me was striking, with messy dark hair cropped short at the sides and piercing emerald-green eyes that seemed to strip away my defenses with a single look. His broad shoulders strained against the fabric of a simple white t-shirt, and his stance was radiating lethal, coiled power. He looked less like a standard pack guard and more like a high-ranking military assassin.

His intense gaze raked slowly over my body, his pupils dilating with raw, unfiltered appreciation that made my skin tingle and my stomach knot with instant panic.

I forced my expression into a mask of cold indifference, tearing my eyes away from him to glare at my father. "So this is him, then? The new pretend mate?" I asked, spitting out the title with biting sarcasm.

My father let out a tight breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yes, Bexley. This is Torin Westlake. Torin, this is my daughter, Bexley Ashbourne."

Torin stepped forward smoothly, extending a large, calloused hand toward me. "Miss Ashbourne. It's a pleasure to meet you."

I flinched back instinctively, my pulse spiking into overdrive. Physical contact with strange men was a trigger I hadn't mastered yet. My eyes darted down to his outstretched hand, a cold sweat breaking out across my neck as the phantom memory of Dashiell Blackthorn's suffocating grip flashed behind my eyelids.

I forced myself to look back up into Torin's warm, emerald eyes. He wasn't sneering or pitying me. He was just waiting, patient and steady. I raised my trembling hand, sliding my fingers into his palm for a brief, agonizing second before yanking my hand back as if I’d touched open flame.

I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, lifting my chin in a desperate display of defiance. "Well, Torin, you certainly don't look like the usual rejects my father hires," I taunted, a wicked edge sharpening my voice. "I'll be generous and give you a week before you pack your bags and beg for a transfer."

Torin’s lips twitched into a slow, infuriating smirk, a dark amusement flashing in his green eyes. He crossed his massive arms over his chest, mirroring my posture perfectly. "Sorry to disappoint you, Luna, but I'm stationed here for eight full months, and I don't quit."

The sheer arrogance dripping from his tone made my blood boil. I narrowed my eyes, refusing to let him see how deeply his confidence rattled me. "We'll see about that," I snapped, turning my back on him.

My mother cleared her throat softly from the couch. "Why don't you show Torin to his guest suite, Bexley? And perhaps give him a proper tour of the estate grounds. Make sure he knows where the lake path is."

I let out an audible groan of disgust, my wolf scratching at the back of my mind in sheer irritation. "Fine. Follow me, enforcer, before I change my mind and let the pack hounds loose on you."

Torin didn't flinch. He just pushed off the study wall and fell into step right beside me, his long strides effortlessly matching my pace as we exited the study. The scent of pine and crisp rain rolled off his skin, entirely too intoxicating for someone I was supposed to despise.

"You know, hostility right out of the gate is a terrible way to treat your boyfriend," Torin murmured low enough that my parents wouldn't hear from inside the study.

I stopped dead in my tracks, spinning around to glare up at him. "Let's get one thing straight, Westlake. This little arrangement is nothing more than a glorified prison sentence for both of us. The moment you step out of line, I will make your life a living hell."

Torin leaned down slightly, his green eyes locking onto mine with a predatory intensity that made my breath catch in my throat. "Is that a promise, Luna?" he whispered, his voice dropping into a gravelly purr that vibrated straight down my spine.

I swallowed hard, suddenly acutely aware of how close he was standing. His chest was nearly brushing against mine, radiating a steady, overwhelming heat. My wolf gave a traitorous, approving yip inside my head, instantly recognizing the powerful Alpha aura radiating from him. I shoved my hands against his solid chest, pushing him back a step.

"Watch your step," I hissed, turning back down the hallway and marching toward the east wing.

We walked in tense silence past the heavy oak double doors leading to the grand ballroom and down the sunlit corridor until we reached the guest quarters. I shoved open the door to a spacious room overlooking the pine tree line and the shimmering waters of Moonwater Lake Retreat in the distance.

"Here is your room. Try not to get lost, and definitely don't go poking around my personal quarters," I barked, stepping aside to let him inspect the space.

Torin walked inside, tossing his duffel bag onto the oversized king bed before turning back to face me. "And where are your quarters relative to mine?" he asked, an innocent edge to his tone that I knew was entirely fake.

"Far enough away that you won't hear me locking every single deadbolt on my door," I retorted sharply.

Torin chuckled, a rich, deep sound that sent an unwanted shiver racing down my arms. He took a slow step toward me, closing the distance between us until I was trapped against the doorframe. "You think deadbolts are going to keep me out if there's an emergency?"

"I think if you cross the threshold of my room uninvited, you'll be missing fingers by morning," I shot back, though my heart was hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs.

He stared down at me for a long, agonizing moment, his gaze dropping to my lips before rising back to meet my eyes. The air between us crackled with a sudden, heavy tension, thick with unspoken desire and raw hostility.

Before I could form another cutting retort to push him away, my phone buzzed violently in my pocket again. I pulled it out, frowning as I saw an unknown number flashing across the screen with a single text message.

My fingers trembled as I unlocked the screen and read the words aloud before I could stop myself.

"He's watching through the north window."

Torin's expression hardened into instant, lethal granite. He snatched the phone from my hand, his green eyes scanning the screen as his wolf instantly took the wheel.

"Who sent this?" Torin demanded, his voice dropping an octave into a menacing Alpha snarl.

Before I could answer, the glass of the bedroom window exploded inward in a shower of deadly shards.