LOGINWho's that's?
Connor was still looking at me like I had just handed him something he did not know how to hold.I used the silence before he could dig deeper into what I had accidentally said. My mouth had already gotten me in enough trouble for one night.“What are your brothers going to do to Tyler?” I aske, changing the topic at once.His expression shifted. The softness from a second ago cooled into something sharper.“Why are you asking me that?”“Because I want to know.” I kept my hands in Gus’s fur so I had somewhere to put them. “You sent them in there. Hudson walked in talking about packless Alpha and death. So what happens to him?”Connor studied my face for a long moment.“Why does it matter to you what happens to him?”“I do not want him dead.”The words came out plain. No decoration. No careful soft version.Connor’s brows pulled together. “Why.”“Because just because you are in a position where you can kill someone and walk away without consequences does not make murder okay,” I said.
CLAIRE~I almost asked him to repeat it.Golden-surgeon Connor. Lycan King of the Midwest. The man who could shut down a room with one look. And he had just apologized like it was a normal sentence and not a minor miracle. Pride flickered through me before I could stop it. I kept my face straight anyway. He would not get to see me go soft that easily.He ran a hand through his hair and kept going.“I want you to live a normal life. That is why I asked Anastasia to bring you here. You can go to work. You can be comfortable. I will rarely see you, so it keeps eyes off this place. If you need anything, you ask Anastasia to tell me. And I am leaving Gus with you.”I looked down at the dog.Gus was the only part of that speech I liked.The rest of it landed wrong. Rarely see him? Distance on purpose. A whole plan built around me existing in the background of his life like a problem that had been successfully relocated. I did not like that development. Not even a little.“So let me get this
CLAIRE~Gus hit me like a golden wrecking ball.I went down on my knees just to keep myself from getting flattened and wrapped both arms around him as hard as I could. He shoved his big head into my shoulder and made that low, happy sound that felt more honest than half the conversations I had survived tonight.“Yes,” I muttered into his fur. “I missed you too. Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to protect.”Anastasia cleared her throat behind me.“Well,” she said, already turning toward the hallway. “I told Connor Gus liked you at first sight. I did not think he would actually bring him here. I will be in my room. If you need anything, let me know.”I looked up, ready to ask why she was suddenly fleeing her own apartment, but she was already gone. The bedroom door shut with the kind of speed that said she had decided this was no longer her problem.The silence she left behind was immediately worse.Connor was standing just inside the doorway. I could feel him there without lookin
Claire~The words dropped heavily between us and I gulped hard. My hand was still against the side of her neck, gauze half-taped, and for a second I just stayed there like an idiot. First person after Connor. That was a heavy thing to drop on someone standing in a stranger’s kitchen in a ruined dress.But I have never been good at leaving a door closed once it opens.“What about your mom?” I asked. “You said she was Connor’s dad’s mistress. That make you his stepsister, or is that one of those messy pack technicalities nobody wants to explain out loud?”Anastasia actually laughed. She rolled her eyes like I had just told the worst joke in the building.“Mom?” she said. “She’s there, anyway. That is the nicest version I can give you without lying.”I swallowed. Something in the way she said it made my stomach tighten.“How do you mean?”“She does not deserve to be called a Mom, that is what I mean,” Anastasia said, there was no heat in it, which somehow made it worse. “She is just som
Claire~Anastasia pulled up in front of a modern high-rise that looked more like a quiet statement than a home. Glass, clean lines, warm lobby light leaking out onto the sidewalk. She parked, got out, and waited like she already knew I was going to have opinions.I climbed out after her and looked around. The street was too calm. No compound walls. No frozen guards. Just a regular expensive building.“Where is this?” I asked.“My place,” Anastasia said.I blinked. “Wait. What? Why would you bring me to your place?”She rolled her eyes and started walking toward the entrance. “Because it is the least obvious location anyone would check. I do not like sharing my apartment with people, Claire. I really do not. But I also do not have a choice, since this is Connor’s order.”“That is a terrible sales pitch,” I said, following her. “You just told me you don’t want me here and that I’m only here because your boss texted you through his brain. Super comforting.”“It is not supposed to be comf
CLAIRE~Before I could blink, Anastasia was already pulling me out of the room.Her hand closed around my upper arm—not hard enough to bruise, but firm enough that I didn’t get a vote. I stumbled once in the torn dress, caught myself, and tried to look back over my shoulder. The door was already swinging shut behind us.“Waiy, why—” I started.“You don’t want to see what happens in there,” Anastasia said without looking at me. Her voice was still rough, still carrying whatever fight she’d been through to reach me. “It’s better that way.”“And who says I don’t want to see it?” I shot back.She didn’t answer. She just kept walking, half-guiding, half-towing me down the corridor like the decision was already decided. My bare feet made soft sounds against the polished floor. The air outside the room felt colder. Like the building itself was trying to pretend the last hour hadn’t happened.We turned a corner and the main entrance hall opened up in front of us.I stopped walking so hard An
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
Claire's POV"I have a problem” Connor said “I have not been able to reach climax for five years," he dropped to me.I almost stabbed myself in the hand with my pen in shock. "I am sorry, what did you just say," I asked him.Connor sat across from my desk in the leather chair and he put one ankle o







