LOGINNicole pov He smiled at that, a small, genuine smile, and pushed himself up from the wheeled stool. "I will let you finish your work. The afternoon report from Parkville's team finally came in — I left the physical folder right on your desk.""Thank you," I murmured, reaching for the folder.He walked toward the exit, but he was almost out of the lab doorway when I spoke again."Marlon," I said.He stopped, turning around to look back at me. "Yeah?""Add today's entire timeline to the master file," I said. "The original request from her, my formal denial, her escalation to the directorship, and Reyes' final ruling. Make sure everything is precisely timestamped.""Already done," he said, giving me a quick nod. "I put it in the digital vault twenty minutes ago.""And add the broken glass incident report too," I called out before he could leave. "I want the board to see her behavioral patterns if she tries to claim the environment is causing her stress."Marlon chuckled, leaning against
Nicole's POVMy desk phone buzzed, cutting through the silence of the room. I glanced at the display and saw Marlon's extension flashing.I picked up the receiver and pressed it to my ear. "Nicole speaking.""Tracy went above your office," Marlon said, his voice coming through the line without any greeting."I know," I said. "I expected it.""Reyes is reviewing the contract now. She'll want your documentation.""I've already forwarded it to her assistant," I said. "The original signed agreement, the role specifications, and the clinical justification for maintaining Dr. Carter as the primary contact throughout the trial duration."There was a brief pause. "Nicole," Marlon said, in the voice he used when he was genuinely impressed but was trying to frame it as mild approval. "You had the documentation ready before she filed the escalation.""I had the documentation ready the day I saw her accept my apology too easily," I said.He laughed — a short, warm sound. "The directorship is goin
Nicole's POVThe red light on my desk terminal blinked three times. It was the specific slow flash that meant an official, logged petition had entered my queue. I clicked the mouse, opened the internal mail app, and a document with the official institute crest filled the screen.The text on the screen read:FORMAL PETITION FOR ROLE MODIFICATIONDate: June 24, 2026To: The Office of the Lead Researcher, Federal Research Institute From: Patient Tracy CaesarRequest: The patient requests an immediate change to her current care team assignment. Citing personal preference and daily comfort, the patient requests that her daily care be provided in an attendant capacity rather than a medical capacity.Proposed Assignment Change: The patient requests that Dr. Nicole Carter be removed from the medical file. The patient further requests that the former attendant known as Lea return to her previous role of personal attendant for the duration of the clinical trial.What Tracy was asking, transla
Sophia pov "If he ever discovers that I am the leak, Sophia... he will take away my beta rank," Jonathan said, his eyes wild with fear in the dark. "He might execute me for treason. He is unstable right now. His wolf is completely ruling his choices.""Then we will make sure he never discovers it," I murmured with sweet certainty. "You are doing perfectly, Jonathan. You are his most trusted advisor. As long as you keep bringing me his security updates and telling him the stories I make up for him, he will never suspect a thing. He thinks you are his loyal shadow. Now, look at the time. You really should go. Lily will wonder where you are, and we cannot have her asking questions."Something moved across his face—not exactly guilt, but something close to it. I always found that interesting about him. He was completely loyal to Tate and to his pack role, yet for years, he had found reasons to spend his late evenings with me. He didn't seem to think he was being a hypocrite. He just saw
Sophia pov "And did his mind start to spin?" I asked, a cold smile on my lips."Immediately," Jonathan said, looking up to meet my eyes. "I could see the exact moment his alpha foresight started giving him trouble. He thinks there is a massive plot happening right under his nose. He looked right at me and ordered me to track their license plates, check the outside cameras, and find out exactly where those two men go the second they drive away from this building."I laughed, a sharp, clear sound. "He is so delightfully easy to manipulate when he thinks his precious little family is in danger. He has no idea those two men are just independent text managers I hired from the city to organize my old pack files. They don't know anything about Nicole, they don't know anything about the twins, and they don't care. They are just two regular humans doing a data job for cash.""He is going to waste forty-eight hours of valuable time tracking innocent data workers," Jonathan muttered, shaking hi
Sophia's POVJonathan held me with warm, steady hands. I lay against his shoulder in the dim bedroom, but my mind was somewhere else entirely. The sheets were tangled around us, and the air was still warm from what we had just done. The silence felt comfortable to me, but it felt heavy for him. I could hear his heart beating steadily against my cheek. It reminded me how easy he was to read."I love you," he said.He said it the same way every time—quietly and seriously, as if repeating the words often enough would finally convince me.I made a soft sound and reached for the glass of water on the nightstand. The cold glass felt good against my skin, washing away the warmth he had left behind."Sophia." His voice shook slightly, losing its usual calm composure. He pulled the heavy blanket up over his bare chest and looked down at me with desperate hope. "You always do this. You drift away the very moment we are finished. You look at the walls, you look at the window, but you never look
Nicole's POVI wake up with a clear head. The heat is gone, and my mind is sharp. I lie still for a moment, taking in the room and the warmth beside me, before sitting up.Tate is already awake, lying on his back. When he looks at me, he doesn't look like he's trying to control me; he just looks wa
Tate's POVI wake before dawn and she is there.I wake before dawn and she is there, her head resting on my chest.Her breathing is slow and even—the deep rhythm of real sleep. For one moment, this is everything. She is here. She is warm. She is real in a way she hasn’t been for years, except for t
Nicole pov Only then did he lift his head, lips and chin glistening with my arousal, eyes burning with pure alpha hunger. He was still fully dressed, shirt rumpled, the fabric stretched across his broad shoulders. The contrast of him — completely clothed while I lay naked and shaking beneath him s
Nicole pov He nods slowly. He doesn’t try to fix it for me. He just stands there, holding the weight of both versions of himself without flinching. The man I left wouldn’t have known how to do that."The rejection papers," I say."Nicole""I’m not asking you to sign them tonight. I just need you t







