FAZER LOGINShe leans back, studies the ceiling for a long moment, then snaps her attention to me. “So give them what they want. But on your terms.” I cock my head, curious. “Go on.” She taps the table, one finger at a time, a sound like slow applause. “Draft a retention package. Outgun Reynolds on the stabil
He flips the folder open, skims the first page. I watch his eyes flick from number to number. “You built this yourself?” I nod. “No one else cares enough to do the math.” He closes the folder. “I’m not the final say. But I appreciate the clarity.” I lean in, voice low. “Here’s what will happen if
As I work, the rain blurs the city into a watercolor of secrets. I bare my teeth at the night, and the night bares them back. Let them come. Let them all come. The restaurant is one of those shrines to excess, a velvet-cushioned crypt where every meal is a ritual and every client a lamb led to sl
He was here. Not long ago. Back in my office, I force myself to sit. My pulse is a drumbeat in my throat. I flatten my hands on the desk, line up the files with a precision that would make a drill sergeant weep, and stare at the Blackstone folder until the name blurs. There are three things I can
The rain slides down the window in thin, lucid sheets, every droplet stretching the city into slow dissolution. At this hour, the office is a ship at sea—empty corridors, the fluorescent hum, the blue-glow pulse of screens left on to guard against the dark. I’ve long since kicked off my shoes; the c
I drop into the brush, crouch low. I don’t need to see faces to know the rhythm: the truckers keep their eyes down, don’t speak unless addressed; the supervisor is nervous, constantly scanning the yard. I angle for a better view and pull my phone, camera lens set to max. The wolf in me zeros in on t
The wolf dominates with relentless force. The moon dictates. The moon owns. My body sings with strength. I don’t know how to be Mara in this primal melody. I don’t know how to be Mara at all. Power surges in unfamiliar rhythms. The forest yields to my strength. I don’t want to yield. It is wild. It
The sounds are a violent rush. The cracking of branches. The scurry of prey. The sounds of my life. The sound of my bones. They are more than I can take, more than I am, more than I want. The violent and primal edge of it, and the quickness of it, the quickness and the loudness and the brightness
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
Crystal shivers on the edges of the too-long silence between us. I search Derek’s face as we eat, my eyes skipping over his proud nose and chiseled jaw, noting every flicker of emotion that might tell me why this evening feels different. He smiles, but it’s an empty gesture that doesn’t reach his ey







