LOGINRowan's Pov I'm not leaving today."The arms went back. "Rowan—""Tomorrow morning…I need tonight."He looked at me for a long time with those eyes that saw through everything and said nothing for a moment, and then he said, "The girl is going to be your undoing.""I know," I said."She's also your—""I know, Neon."He pressed his lips together and picked up his own phone and started making the calls that needed to be made, because that was what he did, he adapted to what was and worked with it, and I turned back to the window.My phone buzzed on the desk. A text from one of the government contacts confirming the restaurant lockdown was underway. I read it, set the phone back down, and allowed myself one moment of pure, uncomplicated satisfaction about the manager who had picked my sister's card up with two fingers and smiled with only her mouth.It will be locked for Four years.I hoped she had enjoyed running her establishment.
Rowan's Pov She called me a black-hearted demon.I set the phone down on the desk and the words were still sitting in the air, worse than the lycans on that island, and I was grinning like an absolute idiot, which was a problem, because Neon was standing three feet away from me with a face that had given up on patience entirely and moved somewhere past it into something that looked a lot like the expression my mother used to make right before she threw something."Are you done?" Neon said."Almost.""Rowan.""Give me a second."He made a sound through her nose that was not a sigh and not a growl but somewhere deeply unpleasant in between, and I turned from the window to look at him properly. Neon Graves. My beta, my second, the only person in my immediate circle who had ever looked me in the eye and told me I was wrong without flinching when I looked back. He was shorter than me by almost a foot, which had never once made her seem smaller, in dark f
Kaireen's Pov I look forward to it," he said, and I could hear the smile in it, that infuriating, warm, completely genuine smile that he only let out when he thought I wasn't paying attention. "Don't worry about Kade. I'll fix what I broke." Then, slightly away from the phone, directed at someone else: "I know, Neon, give me two seconds—""You let Neon know you're an asshole?""He's my beta," he said back into the phone, and I heard footsteps somewhere on his end, the sound of a door, a shift in the acoustic. "He's been standing here for twenty minutes looking at me like the pack is on fire, which it might be, so I actually have to go.""You're insane?""Sharp as ever." He sounded amused. "Tonight, Reen. Don't make me come and collect you."The call ended.I stood there with the dead phone at my ear for two more seconds before I lowered it, and then I stood on the pavement and breathed and tried to organize the specific feeling of having just agreed
Kaireen's Pov I pressed the phone harder against my ear."I want you to do something for me," I said. "What kind of something?""Kade is being held at a police station right now." I kept my voice flat and steady because steady was the only thing that worked with him, anything else and he would find the crack in it and pull. "For a meal he couldn't pay for because his funds are frozen. His hospital is behind federal tape. His accounts are dead. And I want you to fix it. Right now."He said nothing for a moment."Is that all?" His voice was easy, unbothered, the tone of a man being asked something he had already decided the answer to."No." I looked back at the restaurant door, at the warm amber light visible through the glass, at the manager still visible behind the counter talking to one of the officers, and something cold and clear settled in my chest. "I also want this restaurant seized. Every activity in this place shut down for a week. Doo
Kaireen's Pov "Do not touch him."My voice came out like a whip crack, sharp and loud enough that the whole restaurant flinched, and both officers stopped for exactly one second before the taller one reached for Kade's arm again with that practiced, expressionless authority of someone who had decided the outcome before he walked in the door."Ma'am, step back.""I said do not touch him." I moved between them and the officer looked at me with that particular male patience that was not patience at all, the kind that said you have approximately five more seconds before I stop being polite about this. I didn't care. "He is trying to resolve a payment issue, not rob your establishment. There is a difference between a criminal and a man whose card isn't working, and if you cannot tell those two things apart then I genuinely do not know how you passed your exam.""Kaireen," Kade said quietly behind me."No." I wasn't moving. "They are not taking you anywh
Kaireen's Pov I knew it sitting heavy in my chest like a stone, knew it the way I had known about the hospital, knew it the way I had known every single thing today from the moment it started falling apart, because there was only one person in this city whose reach was that long and whose motivation was that specific and whose ability to operate quietly in the background while standing in front of you with a straight face was that good.But I did not say it.Because Kade was already sitting across from me looking like a man being dismantled piece by piece and I could not hand him that truth in a restaurant with half the room watching.The security guard appeared.There were two of them, both in black uniforms with the restaurant logo on the chest, both with the particular posture of men who had been given a small amount of authority and had decided to use all of it. The taller one stepped forward, and his voice was not low, was not considerate, was not making any effort at all to be
Rowan's Pov This wasn't good.This was bad as fuck.But my wolf didn't seem to give a single shit about good or bad. It had other plans. Plans that involved claiming, marking, fucking until she couldn't walk straight.My cock moved before I could think. My hands worked without permission, like the
Kaireen's PovI screamed so hard my throat felt like it was being ripped apart, but Rowan held me tightly even as we both fell into the water. The impact separated us instantly, the current yanking us in different directions, and the fear that gripped me was worse than the cold, worse than the pain
Kaireen's Pov The next morning I got ready for my interview, putting on my best professional clothes and trying to cover the dark circles under my eyes with makeup. Rhia was already downstairs making breakfast when I came down, and she gave me an encouraging smile. "You're going to do great," sh
Kaireen's Pov The hospital was massive, all glass and steel and modern architecture that screamed money and prestige. Kingspins Medical Hospital. One of the best in the entire city, and I was about to interview for a position here. I should have been nervous, but I wasn't. I was confident. I'd w







