MasukCLAIRE~ The doorknob turned just then.I shoved the phone into my jeans pocket so fast the edge of the case scraped my thumb. My palm smoothed the fabric twice like that would erase the message still burning behind my eyes. Tyler’s words sat in my chest like swallowed glass. Packless. Surprise. Inter-Alpha meeting. Heat. I didn’t have time to fall apart. Not here. Not with Connor walking back through the door.He stepped in and shut it behind him. The cold air moved with him as his eyes went straight to the open file in my hands.“You done going through that?”“No.”His frown was immediate, small but sharp. The same look he got when something didn’t line up the way he expected. I forced my eyes back down to the pages even though my heart was still slamming against my ribs from the text. The typed lines swam for a second before they settled.Severe Crohn’s disease. Recurrent surgical complications. Multiple admissions. The language was clinical and dry, the kind of notes that tried t
CLAIRE~My face went hot the second Anastasia’s sentence hit the air. Heat crawled straight up my neck and into my cheeks like the universe had decided public humiliation was the theme of the day. Of course she had to remind me that she’d walked in on me in the bathroom earlier with my hand between my own legs because my damn wolf had decided to wreck my self-control from the other side of a closed door. I could still feel the phantom press of my own fingers and the way I’d nearly died of shame. Perfect. Just perfect.We stopped in front of a set of glass doors. Anastasia pushed one open without looking back at me. Cold air slammed into my face so hard I almost stepped back. It smelled antiseptic and metallic, the kind of clean that made your lungs feel scrubbed. I followed her in slowly, arms crossed tight against the chill.The room we entered was bigger than I expected and mostly empty. Two people stood near a long counter—a man in scrubs maybe ten years older than me and a girl
CLAIRE~ I blinked hard at the question and shook my head before I could stop myself.Damien’s mouth curved into something that was not really a smile. He glanced at Anastasia, then back at me like he was filing my face away for later.“You can ask Anastasia to brief you on what happened to the last staff,” he said. “So you do not get unlucky real quick, young lady.”Then he turned and left.I clutched to my chest and instantly turned to Anastasia who was already moving, she knew I was going to fire at her.“Hey, where the hell did you disappear to? Are you fucking kidding me right now? What if—”“What if what, Claire?” She caught me short and kept walking. Her voice stayed low which made me want to scream just to break it. “If he had seen both of us walk in together, it would have looked more suspicious. I noticed him on time and hid. You’re welcome.”I pressed my lips shut because she was already three steps ahead and the only thing worse than getting caught by Connor’s father was l
CLAIRE~Okay. What the hell was going on right now.Where the fuck was Anastasia?I did not understand how a person could vanish that fast in a lobby full of staff and patients. One second she was beside me. The next second I was standing in front of Connor’s father like an unpaid extra who had wandered onto fucking the wrong set.“Sorry, sir,” I muttered again, already trying to sidestep him and leave before this became a real conversation I had no strength for. I almost made it clear off his shoulder but anyways, the universe has always been against me when it came to that thing called ‘luck.’“Stop.” He dropped.The word was not loud. It did not need to be. My body froze on pure instinct, like the command had gone straight past my brain and into my spine. I swallowed hard.“Turn around.” He added again and I turned slowly. He closed the space between us until I had to tip my chin up to meet his face. Damien looked even colder up close. Not theatrical. Just empty in a way that made
CLAIRE ~“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked her again.I was still half turned in the seat, confused as hell by how hard she had hit the brakes over one stupid pairing joke. A thought flickered through my head before I could stop it. Did she actually have something for Mason? That would be crazy. Like, genuinely unhinged levels of crazy. Anastasia and Mason. I could not picture it and somehow could not fully unpicture it either.She ignored me completely.The car started moving again. She kept her eyes on the road and her hands tight on the wheel like the conversation had never happened. Fine. Great. Perfect.*Okay, Claire,* I told myself. *Your mouth has officially pissed someone off and ruined the mood. Congratulations. Outstanding work you've done right there.*We drove the rest of the way in silence. Not the comfortable kind. The kind where every turn signal felt louder than it needed to be. I watched buildings pass and tried not to replay the Mason comment for the tenth time. A
CLAIRE~We finished eating without turning the heat conversation into a full second fight, which felt like progress.I stood up and fixed the hem of the t-shirt Anastasia had given me, then smoothed the front of the jeans like that would make me look more like a person with a plan and less like someone who had already survived three crises before breakfast. Anastasia stacked the plates with the same neat efficiency she did everything else.“I will wash them when we get back,” she said. “Do not touch my sponge arrangement. I have a system.”“I would never threaten your sponge system,” I said. “I have boundaries.”Gus had been waiting near the door like he already knew we were leaving. I dropped to a crouch and put both arms around his thick neck. He immediately leaned his whole weight into me, which was rude and perfect.“Listen,” I told him softly, scratching behind his ears. “I have to go be a functional adult for a few hours. That means you stay here and guard the couch. When we get
Claire~I didn’t wait. I turned around and ran down the hallway. Tyler yelled my name behind me, but I didn’t stop or look back.Tears ran down my face as I pushed open the front doors and stepped outside into the cool night air. I had never felt so humiliated. My chest hurt from everything that ju
I yelled, “YOU MONSTER!”The words came out raw and loud. My throat hurt. For a second, I thought my heart might stop from how much this hurt.I clenched my fists hard. My nails dug into my palms, but the pain kept me grounded while everything else fell apart.Tyler stood there looking shocked. Beh
Claire's POV There was only one person I knew that bear that name.I should have turned around right then. Instead, I stepped closer and looked through the narrow opening like I wanted to destroy myself.And the image I saw burned into me instantly.Tyler bent over the edge of our bed, sheets tang
Claire's POVI watched Connor stride out of my office, his broad shoulders rigid beneath that crisp white coat he wore. He didn’t glance back as he left and the door clicked shut.I stared at the closed door longer than I meant to.Connor had always unsettled me in ways I didn’t like thinking too m







