LOGINWhen Darcy woke, the searing pain in her left shoulder was gone.
Gone so completely that the skin against the sheets felt cold, almost numb. The air still held a faint, damp trace of fir. The room was quiet, the only sound the soft hum of the air conditioning.
She tried to move her right index finger. Her joints ached with the dull stiffness of poor circulation. Following her wrist, she saw her fingers still locked in a tight grip. The cuff of a dark gray cashmere sleeve crumple
7:58 p.m. Someone had actually come looking for Darcy's so-called "fourth box."Darcy sat in the back of a black SUV with its lights off, watching the street through the frosted one-way window. Across the way, a thin man in a blue maintenance jacket clutched two old audit drafts to his chest, glanced around nervously, and hurried away along the damp stone wall of the old apartment's back alley.Hyde, in the passenger seat, had already reached for the door handle. "I can have him pinned in three minutes."
The morning rush streamed through the automatic glass doors. Melting snow tracked in across the marble floor, leaving shallow gray watermarks.Chloe stood behind the front desk in a cream turtleneck, her hair pinned back with a simple wooden clip, small pearl studs in her ears. Two blue visitor logs lay open in front of her. A black fountain pen rested between her fingers.As Darcy passed through the security gate, Chloe's pen paused mid-stroke."Darcy."
3:40 p.m. Darcy watched Hyde sprint past her office door for the third time.The first time, he had been carrying a thick stack of border patrol records.The second time, he had a supplementary resolution from the Elders' Council tucked under his arm.The third time, he was holding the shift rotation sheet for a meeting Asher was supposed to chair himself at 4:30.Darcy finally stopped typing and looked up. "Is everyone leaving early today?"Hyde skidded to a halt, clutching the papers against his chest, his expression caught somewhere between exasperated and amused. "Not everyone."
The risk control office was quiet that afternoon.Sunlight slanted across the stacks of case files. Voices drifted in from the hallway, and a young patrol wolf knocked, carrying the shift schedule. He needed Darcy's sign-off on a few rotation details.He stood half a step from her desk, respectful and focused, leaning in to point at the map.Then, through the half-open window, a wave of fir scent rolled in.It wasn't the restrained warmth of the morning. This was heavier, almost territorial, pressing into the room and drowning out the smell of paper and ink.The young wolf was mid-sentence when the fine hairs on the back of hi
When Darcy woke up, her first thought was heat.It came from the body pressed against her back. Asher's arm was draped across her waist, his palm still resting loosely against her side, his breath falling in slow, steady rhythms against the back of her neck. Last night's new mark still felt warm, while a faint soreness lingered through her shoulders, neck, and waist.Darcy stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. Then the scattered fragments of last night started surfacing without warning. She remembered saying "Mark me." Everything after that became less suitable for early morning recollection.She closed her eyes. The more she tried not to think about it, the clearer the details became. Asher's barely contained gold bleeding through his eyes. The fir scent so thick it was almost suffocating. And the way he had leaned in, carrying an intensity that was nothing like the controlled Alpha she saw during the day.She even remembered, at some point, getting a
9:00 a.m.The small conference room on the top floor of the main building was full. Pack elders filled both sides of the long table, their faces calm but watchful. There was none of yesterday's arguing, none of the sharp confrontation. Morning light fell through the blinds across the carpet, and a few older wolves flipped through last night's supply records. The only sound was the soft rustle of paper.Darcy pulled out a chair near the door and sat, sliding a thick stack of documents toward the center of the table."Last night's medical shipment is accounted for here, along with the west side exchange follow up." Darcy pushed the file forward. "The leak through Chloe has been contained. It won't affect routine patrols."Tap.Evelyn pressed a hand flat on the file. She didn't open it. She pushed it aside half an inch."Not today." Evelyn took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Yesterday's accounts were settled last night when







