FAZER LOGINwoke to the smell of coffee and the low murmur of Damian’s voice.
For a few disoriented seconds I forgot where I was. Then the events of the previous night crashed back— the attack, the blood, the kiss that still burned on my lips. I sat up in the massive bed. The sheets smelled like him. The armchair by the window was empty. Damian stood near the windows, now clear again, phone pressed to his ear. Morning light carved sharp lines across his face and the hard set of his shThe contract was thicker than I expected.Kane delivered it just after midday—crisp pages bound in black leather, the Voss crest embossed in silver on the cover. Damian sat across from me at the long dining table while I read every line under the cold afternoon light. Financial provisions. Protection clauses. An exit option after eighteen months if the bond somehow failed. A section that made me the legal beneficiary of a shocking percentage of his personal assets. Another that gave me authority over household and staff once the marriage was registered.I looked up. “You’re giving me too much.”“I’m giving you enough that no one can claim this is a temporary arrangement,” he answered without looking up from his own copy. “The purebloods respect strength and permanence. A weak contract would only invite more challenges.”My pen hovered over the final signature line. The weight of what I was about to do pressed against my ribs. Once I signed, I would be bound to him in
woke to the smell of coffee and the low murmur of Damian’s voice. For a few disoriented seconds I forgot where I was. Then the events of the previous night crashed back— the attack, the blood, the kiss that still burned on my lips. I sat up in the massive bed. The sheets smelled like him. The armchair by the window was empty. Damian stood near the windows, now clear again, phone pressed to his ear. Morning light carved sharp lines across his face and the hard set of his shoulders. He had changed into black trousers and a dark shirt, the picture of the cold CEO once more—except for the way his eyes immediately found mine the second I moved. He ended the call without looking away. “You’re awake.” “How long did I sleep?” “Six hours. Longer than I expected.” He walked over and set a steaming cup of coffee on the nightstand. “Kane reports the building is secure. The bodies have been removed. The Syndicate will know by now that t
Damian didn’t turn on the lights.He set me down on the edge of the massive bed and disappeared into the attached bathroom. Water ran. When he came back he had a damp cloth and a small first-aid kit. Without a word he knelt in front of me again and began cleaning a scrape on my knee I hadn’t even noticed.His hands were steady. Too steady for a man who had just torn through three armed humans like they were paper.“You killed them,” I said quietly.“Yes.”“You didn’t even hesitate.”He looked up. The silver had faded, but the intensity in his eyes had not. “They put their hands on you. Hesitation is for people who don’t understand what a mate is.”I watched him work in silence for a moment. The cloth moved to a bruise forming on my wrist where one of the men had grabbed me. His thumb brushed the mark with surprising gentleness.“I felt you,” I admitted. “During the council. I felt your anger. Then later… when they broke in… I think you felt me too.”
The silence after Damian left felt heavier than the argument that came before it.I paced the length of the penthouse living room, bare feet silent on the cold marble. The two guards Kane had left stationed near the elevator didn’t speak. They barely even looked at me. Their presence was supposed to make me feel safe. Instead it only reminded me that I was a prisoner in a gilded cage, waiting to find out whether an entire pack of werewolves would accept me or try to erase me.My phone sat on the kitchen counter like a live grenade. The Syndicate message still glowed on the screen every time I checked it. We know where you are. I had spent two years looking over my shoulder, changing cities, changing names, sleeping with one eye open. I thought the PA job at Voss Empire had finally given me a clean start. I had been wrong.A sharp pain suddenly bloomed behind my ribs—deep, foreign, and not entirely my own. I gasped and pressed a hand to my chest. The sensation wasn’t phys
The hours after Kane left stretched like a held breath.Damian spent most of the morning on calls—low, sharp conversations in a language I didn’t recognize, then clipped English orders about security and border patrols. Every time he looked at me, the silver in his eyes flickered like he was barely holding something back. I stayed on the opposite side of the open living space, arms crossed, pretending the distance made me safer.It didn’t.By early afternoon the tension in the penthouse had grown thick enough to choke on. I finally broke it.“I need clothes. Real clothes. And my phone. And I need to know what happens if you walk into that council tonight and they refuse to accept me.”Damian ended his current call and set the phone down with deliberate care. He turned fully toward me, leaning back against the kitchen island. The white T-shirt stretched across his chest. Even relaxed, he looked like a weapon.“Your phone is already here.” He nodded toward a bl
I didn’t sleep.The guest room was bigger than my entire apartment, with soft sheets that smelled like expensive detergent and a view of the city that should have been calming. Instead I lay awake staring at the ceiling, listening to the quiet hum of the penthouse and the low, restless feeling under my skin that refused to settle.Every time I closed my eyes I saw silver.When the first gray light of morning crept through the glass, I got up, washed my face, and tried to look less like a woman who had spent the night fighting the urge to walk down the hall and knock on his door. My dress from the gala was wrinkled. I found a plain black T-shirt and soft gray sweatpants folded on the chair—clearly left for me. They smelled faintly of him. I hated how much I liked it.I was in the kitchen trying to figure out the complicated coffee machine when the elevator doors opened with a soft chime.A man stepped out.Tall. Broad. Dark blond hair cut short, sharp blue eye







