Prologue

The stench of sex and sweat hangs in the air as I push open the door. A fucking symphony of moans echoes all around me. Something slams against the wall again and again and again. Thump. Thump. Thump.

The loudness of it drills into me, punching holes into my body. My heart aches, because it knows. It fucking knows. How could I not know?

I’ve heard every sound he’s ever made.

Each step I take towards that stupid room is a dagger stabbing me in the chest. Each thump against the wall. Each moan. Each growl. Each grunt. Each piece of clothing I spot thrown across the floor screams ‘you stupid girl’. Every fucking inch of my body begs me to run… to escape from the hell waiting for me beyond that door.

But I’m a fucking sadist.

I have to be.

Because I already know and I still tiptoe to the open doorway of that bedroom. I need to see it with my eyes. I need to burn the image of his betrayal as a fucking reminder that I can’t trust anybody.

When my eyes discovers what my ears and my imagination brutally warn me about, it still destroys me. The love of my life rails into a female like he wants to own her… claim her as his own.

Maybe he always had, because familiar dark waves spill over that satin pillow. I see her familiar posh nails piercing into his back marking him back. Her voice moans out his name like she owns it… like it always belonged to her.

Maybe it always did.

Maybe he had never been mine, because he lied. He lied and said she didn’t meant anything. But here he was fucking the soul of her.

* * *

I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember running out of that suite and out of that aparthotel back to our shitty motel room. Maybe if I hadn’t demanded that we stay there instead of that suite in his family’s owned luxury casino and aparhotel complex that things would’ve been differently.

Maybe if I had made sure there was no fucking way he could use that bed to fuck her in… that he’d still be mine. But I always knew he would never truly be mine. Somehow fate would bring them together.

I’m not stupid. I’m not stupid to believe that anyone would ever stay. Nobody ever did. Not my parents. Certainly not him. I always doubted it when he told me he loved me, but fuck, I so wanted to believe him.

I didn’t think I could break anymore, but I did. He knew more ways to screw me up more than just seeing him fuck someone else. He knew how to destroy me.

That motel room was my coffin. It was my fucking tombstone. Here lies the stupid bitch who loved someone she didn’t deserve. Here lies that pathetic lovesick fool that thought she could compete with his first love.

I still have the letter that waited for me to drive that dagger deeper and twist. Can’t forget that twist. He didn’t think I was worth breaking up with in person. I was just a second thought.

Here, Vixi, you stupid fox, this is a briefcase of money to pick up the pieces I left you in. Here is money to start a new life that I want nothing to do with. That was basically what he said in a more polite way, but it still hurt just the same.

“Vixen Tempest,” Darius calls out my name, breaking into my thoughts. “Are you even listening to me?”

Nope. Absolutely not.

See, this is what happens when I see Maverick Warrick’s face plastered all over the fucking internet again. The news and media are going on and on about the scandal in Silver City involving his brother, Alpha Idris Warrick, Catherine Divine, and some psycho shewolf trying to get between them. There is a picture of Maverick standing tall with his brother and his father.

“Of course not,” I huff as I glance over him, catching his eye roll.   

Darius Shapiro, my business partner in our thriving private investigation company, was a walking sin. Killer smile. Mischievous glint in his eyes. A smirk that got your panties in a twist when you know he was thinking dirty, naughty thoughts. Lean type of muscular with the sculpted abs. I knew he was trouble the moment I laid eyes on him. He reminds me a lot of someone else, but I’d rather not admit to anything.

He shakes his head. “We just finished a case. How about we celebrate?” His eyes slowly drift down my body and my body buzzes at the attention. “Let loose. Let your hair down with me.”

“I’m not some flavor of the week,” I remind him, fully aware his eyes are in a staring contest with my boobs. I think I’m winning. I may have worn a low cut shirt, but nobody can prove anything. “Go frolicking with your--”

He grabs my hips, pulling me close. My breath catches in my throat. His gorgeous slate eyes burn into mine. A slow smirk settles lazily on his tempting mouth. I want him. He knows it. I know he wants me.

He leans down so his mouth is centimeters from mine. “Say the word, Tempest.”

And then Maverick ruins everything yet again. It started off just like this. Playful banter. Lustful looks. Sexually charged. My heart wants nothing to deal with that shitty fallout I know will come, because someone loving me is impossible and ends in distaster… so I have to love myself the most.

My eyes flick to his mouth then to his eyes before I shift backwards. He sighs, letting my body slip away from his grasp. He shakes his head. His eyes still on mine, observing me like I’m his case to solve.

“Whoever fucked you up this bad I want a one-on-one session with,” he grumbles, turning away from just as our secretary waltzes in with a tray of drinks.

Maggie Quinn looks like sunflowers and sunshine. She’s bright and happy — a nice contrast to my gloomy and cynical.   Her eyes land on me then Darius, bouncing back and forth between us.

“Trouble in paradise?” she hazards a guess.

He smirks, eyeing her. “Can’t have trouble in paradise when we never reached paradise.”

Her eyes widen at that comment. Her eyes dart towards me and I just roll my eyes at that. Darius plucks his drink from the tray and goes to sit at his desk. I walk over to her and she pries my drink from the tray to hand to me. I take the offered drink with a small smile.

“Don’t mind him,” I tell our secretary. “He’ll find a little bunny to fuck like rabbits tonight and he’ll forget all about me.”

Darius scowls at me from his seat behind his desk. I give him a flippant smile before I take my drink to my own desk. I scoot out my chair with my free hand. As I sit down, I take a sip from my toffee nut latte and moan at the taste.

“Really?” he growls at me.

I shrug. “I can’t help that it tastes so damn good.”

His eyes darken at that, but before he hits back against me, Maggie gasps in surprise. We both look over at her as the bouncy blond with glasses perched on her nose. Her eyes flick excitedly to mine then Darius.

“We may have a new case!” she gasps. A smile brightens her pretty face.

I catch the slight genuine smile that crosses Darius’ face and a sliver of envy burns through me until even I’m drawn into her rainbows and sunshine. How did I not see the way Darius looks at Maggie? He probably doesn’t even realize it either.

But I do.

Maggie might think she’s being secretive when she sneaks peeks at him, but I’ve caught her more times than not. Darius would eat her alive and spit her out, just like Maverick had done. It is their way of doing things. Once they had their fill, they’d kick you the curb.

Nothing good will come out of it.

“We are being hired on behalf of Alpha Idris Warrick of Silver City Moon pack,” she gasps. My heart literally stops. I forgot to breathe. I choke on my latte then cough violently. Her eyes widen at my reaction. “Are-Are you okay?”

I don’t miss the suspiciously curious gleam in Darius’ eyes, but I don’t truly have enough time to dig into his brain at the moment. I cough, trying desperately to clear the liquid from lungs. Silver City Moon pack? Did she really just say that?

“I’m sorry. Did you just say Silver--”

“Mhm, hired on behalf of Alpha Idris Warrick by…” Maggie’s eyes quickly dart to the screen. Her eyes swing back and forth as she reads. “Looks like his brother, Maverick Warrick.”