LOGINSophie Steele swore she would never come back.Seven years ago, she walked away from the Steele family, from the man who was her mate, from a bond she refused to accept. She built a new life, far from everything that once had the power to break her.Now she is back for one reason only. A funeral.One night. One goodbye. Then she leaves again.That was the plan.Until Dominic Steele walks back into her life like those seven years never happened.He is stronger and colder now. And the moment he looks at her, her wolf knows what she has been trying to forget.The bond is not dead.It never was.The silence becomes uncontrollable as old feelings return. Old wounds open. And the pull between them burns hotter than before.Sophie wants to leave.Dominic is not letting her go.Because there is one truth she has hidden for seven years.A truth that will change everything.He looks at her and asks the one question she cannot run away ftom.Where is my son?
View MoreDominic Steele"Everything's here," Lena said quietly, sliding the final folder into her bag as we walked toward the council hall. "Payment records, dates, cross-referenced with Mrs. Harrow's access logs, plus the two additional staff members. It's airtight.""You're certain about the second names.""Confirmed yesterday. One in housekeeping, one in groundskeeping. Both receiving secondary payments from the same property management shell Gerald used for Harrow." She matched my pace. "Three people inside this household, on his payroll, feeding him information for years."I nodded once, pushed open the heavy doors.The council hall was the oldest formal room in the villa, dark wood, high windows, a long table that had hosted every significant pack decision for four generations. Seven chairs around it, six already filled. Gerald sat near the centre, composed, a folder of his own in front of him, looking like a man entirely at ease with whatever was about to happen.Aldric sa
Lena"You're back," I said, not looking up from the file I was organising. "I thought you were in the building until further notice.""I left it with two of Dominic's vetted people," Rowan said, setting his bag down inside the small office off the main hallway. "Council vote is coming faster than expected. He wants me here for that, not standing outside an apartment building watching a car that's already been identified.""Helena Voss's car.""That one." He pulled the second chair around to my side of the desk, which he had no reason to do, which he did anyway, the way he always positioned himself when we worked, close enough to see the documents, not close enough to be accused of anything. "Brief me. Everything you've got on Aldric's contacts, the two undecided council members, Erik's standing."I pulled three folders toward me, opened the first. "Aldric has thirty years on the council, strong relationships with both undecided members, Castellan and Brooke.
Dominic Steele"You need to hear all of it," I said, closing the study door behind her. "Not the version that makes it easier to sit with. All of it."Sophie stood near the desk, arms crossed, already braced for something. She had that stillness she wore when she was preparing to absorb a blow without letting it show. I had learned to recognise it over the past three days. I hated that I had learned to recognise it."Tell me," she said.So I did."Gerald is going to take the question of Ethan's standing to a full council vote. Not the informal version from yesterday's meeting. A formal motion, on record, requiring documentation and proof of the bond." I kept my voice level, factual, the way I delivered anything that needed to be heard clearly rather than softened. "Aldric will support it. Two more council members are already leaning his way. If it passes, you'll be required to appear before the council, prove the bond publicly, and Ethan's status becomes a matter of
Vivienne Steele"Close the door, Gerald."He did, then turned from the door with the ease of a man who had never once in his life walked into a room and felt unwelcome in it. He looked at me across Richard's study, took in the fact that I was seated behind Richard's desk, not in front of it, assessed this, adjusted."Vivienne." He settled into the chair across from me, crossed one leg over the other, relaxed. "You look like you haven't slept.""I haven't," I said. "Sit properly, please. This isn't a social visit."Something shifted in his expression, and I could easily tell it was not an alarm. Gerald did not alarm easily. A recalibration, the adjustment of a man who had expected a different kind of room, a different Vivienne, the one he had been managing successfully for thirty-four years."You called Helena Voss," I said.He didn't flinch. "I reached out to someone who has an interest in how this situation resolves. That's not unusual.""Helena Voss," I repeated, "aba
Sophie Steele"You don't have to say anything," Dominic told me outside the meeting room door. "You just have to be in the room.""Why?" I asked."Because Gerald wants you absent," he replied. "So you're going to be present."He opened the door.I walked in.The room held eight peo
Gerald Steele"She's gone," my assistant confirmed over the phone. "Left before five this morning, and took one bag.""Did she speak to anyone before leaving?""Not that we observed.""Thank you." I ended the call, set the phone face down on the breakfast table, and picked up
Sophie Steele. "Who was that man?" I asked, reaching the bottom of the staircase.Dominic turned from the closed front door, phone still in his hand. The stranger was gone. The entrance hall was empty except for the two of us, the morning light coming through the tall windows, fla
Sophie Steele"I'm not going to knock twice."I pulled the door open. Vivienne stood in the corridor with a white envelope in her hand, dressed already, composed already, the kind of woman who was never caught between states.She looked at me for exactly one second. Then she hel
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