LOGINHe hesitates, professional discretion warring with the desire to assist someone he perceives as a flustered colleague in trouble. I maintain eye contact, my expression a careful blend of embarrassment and hope. Finally, he nods slightly. "One moment, please." He returns with a folded receipt, cris
Derek sits at a corner table, his back to the wall, his position offering him a view of the entrance—the instinctive seating choice of someone with secrets to protect. Olivia sits beside him rather than across, her chair angled toward his with an intimacy that confirms what I already know. Her hair
"Just focused," I finish for her, offering a reassuring smile that feels like stretching an unused muscle. "The Hargrove case requires particular attention." She nods, not entirely convinced but too professional to press further. When the door closes behind her, I allow my facade to drop, the smile
My fingers trail across the polished surface of my desk as I circle to my chair, feeling the cool wood ground me in the present moment. The computer wakes at my touch, the screen illuminating with a blue glow that paints my skin in artificial moonlight. I enter my password, then a secondary authenti
Derek's smile contained a predatory satisfaction I recognized all too well. "And Mara still has no idea?" "None." Olivia's laugh was soft, conspiratorial. "She's too busy with the Westmoreland case to notice what's happening right under her nose. By the time she realizes anything's wrong, the trans
The financial statements spread before me like a map of betrayal, each page a territory Derek has claimed in his campaign against me. The desk lamp casts harsh shadows across columns of numbers, illuminating discrepancies my human clients would miss but my wolf eyes detect with predatory precision.
We stand there, stand there and wait, stand there and want, stand there and be, be there and not be there, be there and somewhere else, somewhere we aren’t supposed to be. It’s never too late. The elevator reaches the lobby, and I hesitate, and Lucas doesn’t, and I follow, and he leads, and I fol
My body trembles, but not with the change, not with the heat of the change, not with the force of the change. It trembles with the force of the night, the force of the storm, the force of my heart. “Game on.” The memory is there, the memory of his betrayal, of his betrayal and my knowledge of
Lucas smiles, the expression almost teasing. “Sometimes it pays to take risks, Mara.” The use of my name is deliberate, intentional, and I feel my resistance falter, my defenses crumble. I don’t respond. I can’t respond. Not with words, not yet. I reach for a file, anything to keep the conversatio
The lies are sweet, are beautiful, are mine. Derek doesn’t know how far I’ll go, doesn’t know how far he’ll go, doesn’t know what he’ll risk, doesn’t know, doesn’t know, doesn’t know. The office is empty when I leave, empty and silent and full of plans, of plans and danger and me. The client is m







