LOGIN“We need to verify the shell’s registration,” I say, already thinking ahead. “If the agent is real, we subpoena. If not—” “—we go to the judge with what we have,” he finishes. He’s already reaching for his phone, thumb flying over the keys. I watch him for a second—his focus, his certainty, the co
I don’t have to look at the clock to know that sunrise is hours away. I just keep working, following the kill trail, and let Lucas match my pace, column for column, word for word. We don’t talk about anything that isn’t the case. We don’t talk about what happened in the corridor, or in the conferen
At this hour, the war room is stripped to its brutal minimums: every light off but the single desk lamp throwing amber like stage blood across a waste of files. The table stretches the length of the glass wall, bare except for what I need: environmental audits fanned out in wind-rose patterns, shipm
Let them come. The sun’s gone predatory by the time I hit my office. It edges past the neighboring tower, scrapes a single beam through the half-closed blinds, and paints the carpet with the kind of hard shadow that only happens when the day is almost over. My chair is turned slightly from the desk
But between my eyes, fractured by the spiderweb in the table’s finish, there is the faintest hint of something wild. The pupil is still a circle, but the color around it is wrong: darker, thicker, almost gold. I watch myself for ten full seconds. I hold the gaze. I do not blink. Then I square my s
When the door finally seals behind the last suit, the hush is absolute. I count three, then five, then seven heartbeats before the footsteps fade down the corridor. Just as quickly as it arrived, the pressure bleeds from the room, and I am alone with the mess that nearly undid me. The conference ta
The lock clicks behind me as I slip into the office. I am the wolf, even in tailored business attire. Even with it all wrapped up so tight. The edge of my existence cuts deep. The aftertaste of the night clings to my senses, a raw, metallic tang that I cannot swallow away. My steps falter, then re
There is a freedom in it, a temptation that digs claws deep into my resolve and leaves it ragged and bleeding. I have spent a lifetime restraining the urge, tightening the leash until it bites into my own flesh. But the promise of release is a seductive whisper, its breath warm against my neck, its
The crosswalk sign flashes red as I approach, an unwavering command to stop, to wait, to hold. I heed it, just this once. There is no harm in pausing when I know what lies ahead. The penthouse is a world apart from the one I now move through, but I carry pieces of it with me, fragments of luxury an
The lock clicks behind me, each sound an echoing note of freedom. I inhale the promise of the morning and the heavy shroud of Derek’s latest message unfurls in the back of my mind. I will not think about it, about him, until I must. The weight of obligation falls away as I step forward, closing the







