Way Too Hot

His thumb traced along my jaw like he had every right to touch me. The heat coming off his skin was insane — way too hot, like this bastard was straight-up branding me with molten iron.

That Lycan energy prickled across my nerves, making my pulse stutter while something between my thighs tightened up at the same damn time. Super embarrassing. I cursed myself out. My body had no fucking business reacting like this to the clan leader with my dad’s blood all over his hands.

Before I knew it, my hand shot up and slapped Kieran’s away like a mosquito.

“Don’t touch me, asshole,” I snapped, stepping back with a sharp glare. “If you’re gonna make an offer, at least drop the cheap romance novel drama.”

The corner of his mouth curved into that slow, arrogant smirk. He shoved his hand back in his pocket, totally unfazed. Those ice-cold gray eyes raked over me like I was something he’d already decided to devour.

“I have a name, Leah.” He nodded at the gold nameplate on his desk that said KIERAN DRAVEN.

“I don’t give a fuck what your name is,” I shot back.

The guy actually looked even more entertained by my attitude.

“You want Ironveil bleeding out in the dirt, Leah. But you showed up at my door with nothing but a cute temper and a bunch of daddy issues. I’m a businessman. I don’t waste Vorreth resources on damaged goods unless there’s a solid payoff.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Then why drag me in here, hotshot? If I’m such a worthless investment, open the door and I’ll happily disappear from your fancy overpriced life.”

He moved like a blur. One second he was across the room, the next he had me cornered, leaning down until his face was inches from mine. Cedar, frost, and pure smug masculinity filled my lungs.

My traitorous body reacted right away — nipples hard, heat pooling between my legs, heart trying to punch its way out of my chest.

“You’re nowhere near worthless,” he whispered, voice low and rough. His gaze dropped to my lips and stayed there, like he was picturing every dirty thing he could do to them.

“You’re holding the one thing that can burn your ex-husband’s empire to the ground. You just don’t know how to use it because that coward spent eight years convincing you that you’re nothing.”

“There’s actually something I want more than Ironveil getting wrecked,” I hissed right in his face, not backing down one bit. I didn’t even care if I died today.

He stepped closer until his broad chest almost brushed mine. “What is it?” Those gray eyes drilled into mine, making it hard to breathe.

“Your death.” In one fast move I smashed the crystal wine glass and went for his throat. Death for death. But he caught my wrist before I could slash him.

His hand clamped around the shard. Blood started pouring down his palm.

“You need to fucking die!” I shouted.

The sound of glass cutting into flesh was gross as hell, but his face didn’t change. Still cold. Still sharp. Still hungry.

I flinched at the blood, but he just yanked me closer.

Then, because Kieran makes zero sense, he just dropped the shard and used his clean hand, which was warm and weirdly gentle — to tuck the strand of hair behind my ear.

And suddenly his eyes softened a little.

“One day, Leah,” he murmured, voice dropping into this velvet growl that hit me right between the thighs, “when it’s all over and you’ve watched Cain’s empire collapse, I’ll hand you my life. Every heartbeat. Every drop of blood.”

He ignored the blood still dripping from his other hand.

“But there’s one condition.” His eyes darkened with that dangerous hunger. “You must help me find my brother. Because he’s the only thing that matters more to me than my own life.”

“And what if I tell you to shove your generous offer up your perfectly tailored ass?” I asked, hating how breathless I sounded.

Kieran smiled — that slow, wicked, deadly smile that made me want to slap him and climb him like a tree at the same time.

“You’re not gonna say no,” he whispered against my ear, lips brushing just enough to make me shiver, “because deep down you’re tired of losing… and you’re dying to know what it feels like to finally win big. Especially when it means killing me.”

“How pathetic. A Lycan leader needing help from a lowly omega after killing her father." I laughed. Pain, anger, and every other emotion twisted together, fueling one overwhelming urge, to tear the life out of the man standing in front of me.

“Because your father knew the coordinates where my brother has been hidden all this time. Because...." he paused.

"Before he died, he said you were the key.”

My chest tightened. “So because he wouldn’t tell you, you killed him?” Images of my dad’s last moments hit me hard and I could barely breathe.

“Things got out of hand.”

“You’re a shameless bastard who deserves to die.”

“Save that anger,” Kieran said with a faint smirk. “Keep it for the day you actually kill me.”

“I don’t want your pity deal. I want to earn the right to kill you. Let me go.”

Kieran chuckled. “Why haven’t you figured it out yet? You’ve got nowhere left in this territory. Cain’s hunting you down. He’ll either kill you or turn you into his slave… unless you take my offer.”

His voice dropped back into that smooth growl that did stupid shit to my body. “And what makes you think you have any other choice, Leah Callahan?”

“Sign the partnership. You get lawyers, muscle, the full power of Vorreth. We split the profits. And as a very personal bonus…”

His eyes gleamed with hunger.

“…you get to watch Cain on his knees, begging the wife he treated like garbage to spare his dying empire.”

I swallowed hard, fighting the dark rush of satisfaction from that image and the even darker heat Kieran was stirring up inside me. My body was throbbing in places that had zero business reacting to an arrogant Lycan prick like him.