LOGINBut the wolf is not impressed. A twig snaps, sharp as a gunshot. I whip around, every muscle strung, ready to fight or flee. For a second, I think I see movement—a flash of pale, a blur of blue—but it could be the afterimage of the moon on my retinas, nothing more. My pulse stutters, then races. I
I grab for the briefing packet, the one I prepped last night, and my hand trembles as I hold it up to the screen. Lucas’s eyes track the movement. I see him make a mental note, the kind he’ll bring up later, in private, like it’s a kindness to pretend he doesn’t know I’m falling apart. There’s anot
Lila is in before seven, as promised. She’s got a triple-shot for me, heavy on the syrup, and she sets it at the edge of my desk like she’s leaving an offering at the foot of a dangerous idol. “Thank you,” I say, careful not to look up for too long. She’s a smart one; she’d see what’s wrong in a he
By the time I return to the bedroom, the sky has gone a little less black. I stand by the window and watch the city ooze into consciousness, the river spooling steam above the bridges, the traffic lights flipping through colors for no one. I roll my sleeves down to the knuckles, double-check the col
I come awake in the dark, not because the alarm tells me, but because my body does: the itch under the skin, the pulse of blood just behind my ears. I lie still, hands above the covers, waiting for the throb in my jaw to fade. It never does. The clock reads 5:03, the hour when the world’s most dange
For half a second, my eyes burn. But I don’t cry. Crying is for after you’ve already lost. My hands find the edge of the sill, knuckles whitening. I don’t realize I’m shaking until I almost drop my phone trying to unlock it. I scroll to Lucas’s number, thumb hovering over the call button. There’s s
I let them watch me as I unfurl into motion, as I take my time, a tigress stretching beneath a lazy sun. The documents make a soft, lethal sound as they hit the glass, echoing back to fill the silence. These papers are my arsenal, my map to the battlefield I will carve from this sterile room. I ar
The air thrums with ambition, the kind that leaves marks like teeth on skin. I step into the boardroom, a half dozen pairs of eyes pulling toward me as if gravity's force has just shifted. The glass walls loom like a watchful sky, reflections doubling back on themselves, encasing us in a tower of ou
I gather the pieces of myself and leave the office. My own intentions are as fractured as his. I cannot think straight with the scent of him so fresh, so insistent, so much like a promise. The door swings shut behind me, cutting off the warmth and memory of Derek's presence with surgical precision
I stiffen, a snarl forming at the back of my throat, before I manage to smooth it into something more civil, more human. This is not what I expected, not what I am prepared for. I should have known. I should have known he'd come. "Mara," his voice drawls, easy and confident, but I hear the challeng







