Chapter 1

"Elena, the north-line surveillance upgrade has to be delivered tonight." The project coordinator set an encrypted laptop on my desk without quite meeting my eyes. "Kiara only just took over, and she doesn't know the core architecture yet. I'm afraid you'll have to wrap it up for her."

The entire floor went quiet. Sentinel Dynamics was owned by Blackwood Pack, and nearly every employee on this floor answered to Rowan twice—once as CEO and once as Alpha. Everyone knew I'd designed the system from the first line of code to the final field test. It had landed Sentinel the largest inter-Pack border-security contract in company history.

A month ago, Kiara had overwritten critical test data hours before a client demonstration. Rowan had protected her promotion by wiping the activity logs, then put me under investigation for "failure to supervise." After that, he'd announced that Kiara was the real project lead and reduced me to her technical support.

I closed the handover checklist on my screen and nodded. "Sure. I'll take care of it."

Across the room, Kiara leaned against the glass conference-room door, looking like the cat that had gotten the cream. She waited until the coordinator left, then sauntered over and dropped an access card beside my keyboard.

"One more thing. Alpha's taking me to the partner celebration tonight, so be a doll and reset the demo environment when you're done. I'm presenting first thing tomorrow, and I don't want your name showing up anywhere."

"Got it."

She'd clearly expected a fight. When I didn't give her one, she studied me for a beat, then turned on her heel and walked away in a pair of ankle boots that clicked like a countdown.

Maya waited until Kiara was out of earshot before wheeling her chair closer. "You're seriously handing her the whole thing? In the internal vote, everyone except Rowan backed you. Now she gets to erase your name from the code too?"

"Just this once," I said.

The surveillance system protected thousands of wolves along the northern border. I wouldn't leave a security failure behind just to punish Rowan and Kiara. Maya thought I meant this would be the last time I cleaned up Kiara's mess. I didn't correct her. In three days, my resignation and transfer out of Blackwood Pack would become final. After that, their company would have to survive without me.

Footsteps sounded on the mezzanine. Rowan stepped out of the Alpha's private elevator in a black button-down with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. A matte-black titanium band circled his wrist.

Kiara had given it to him.

The first time I saw it, I'd pointed out that jewelry was a personal gift and people might get the wrong idea. The very next afternoon, Rowan wore it to an all-hands meeting. Then, as if that wasn't enough, he had Kiara adjust the clasp in front of me.

That was how it always went. When I said his assistant had no business sitting in the future Luna's place at Pack functions, he seated her at his right hand at the next full-moon banquet. Every boundary I named became the next one he crossed.

After every fight, Rowan accused me of being controlling. His friends took turns telling me an Alpha needed unquestioned authority and a future Luna had to learn trust, grace, and obedience. Somehow, no matter what Rowan or Kiara did, I was always the one who needed fixing.

I finally saw the game for what it was one month ago. On the third day of our latest cold war, I was still feverish after being injured on patrol. Rowan packed his bags in front of me anyway and left with Kiara for a three-state inspection tour.

He hadn't been drawing boundaries. He'd been knocking mine down one by one, waiting for me to stop protesting.

As Rowan passed my desk, he lifted his wrist and made a show of checking the time. When I didn't stare at Kiara's gift or ask where they'd been, some of the tension left his shoulders.

"Don't stay too late," he said. "Kiara needs the project in the morning."

Not one word about my injury. Not one question about how I'd managed while he was gone.

"I'll have it ready."

He gave an approving nod, then opened the glass door for Kiara. As they left side by side, she looked back and waved her phone at me.

Two hours later, her social feed filled with photos from a rooftop restaurant. In one, Rowan pushed his caramel mousse across the table to her. In another, he wiped a streak of cream from the corner of her mouth.

[Alpha says good girls get rewarded.]

Someone commented, [Are you two finally making the mate thing official?]

Rowan didn't correct them. He replied with a single crescent-moon emoji.

The old me would've called him on the spot. He would've accused me of ruining the evening, Kiara would've sweetly defended me, and everyone would have landed on the same conclusion: Elena was too sensitive again.

This time, I closed the app and finished the last section of code.

At one in the morning, I emailed Kiara the completed proposal, removed my administrator credentials, and drove back to the townhouse Rowan and I shared.

Two pairs of my shoes were missing from the entryway. Half the walk-in closet was empty. Rowan hadn't noticed.

I went into the study and opened the Pack registry. The transfer document approved with the Alpha's electronic key waited in the finalization queue.

[TIME REMAINING: 72 HOURS]

I stared at the countdown for a long moment. [Who knew a clock could sound so much like freedom?]