play music. It just hummed. A low, bone-rattling vibrat

70.

he would see his reflection. She didn't look left. She focused on the illuminated red numbers

lel to the floor. Inside, she was frantically building walls. She needed to compartmentalize the last

planned, miserable future. She was standing in a metal box with a monster, wearing o

or

olite sound that felt entirely o

or-to-ceiling glass overlooking the glittering, ignorant city below

wasn't ste

anean cell, just dressed up in Italian leather and expensive bergamot. The scent was so heavy, so dominant, it coated the back of her throat

ic

hut behind her. The biometric l

he cage. Jus

t look back to see if she followe

k silk tie, pulling it free and dropping it onto a glass table. Then, he unbuttoned the bespok

a fraction, but it was enough to mak

oulders. He began rolling up his sleeves, exposing thick forearms roped with veins and faint, silvery scars

ail. Or ask for a glass of tap water. Something mundan

e guest room

tly flat. A mastercl

He didn't turn around. He just stood ther

s no gue

re am I s

tactician who had just bloodlessly conquered the pack at a dinner table was gone. The beast

't," he w

welcoming the sharp bite of pain. "I require a minimum of six hours of sleep to mai

her anchor firing under extreme pressur

nd. It wasn't a laugh. It was th

walking t

ore her survival instincts violently overrode he

r, his footsteps entirely silent on th

ed, tasting the words. "Is tha

She didn't look down. "You needed a treaty condition to legitimize yo

"Is that what you were doing in m

und of his teeth cracking her collarbone. The excruciating, tearing heat of hi

throb. A slick rush of heat pooled

ing. She focused intently on the geometric pa

ice dropped an octave, thinning out. "I nee

r step

blades hit co

-five floors down. She analyzed the structural integrity of the reinforced

room, blocking out the light, the air, the entire world. The heat radiating of

e didn't need to. His

next to her head. The other hovered near her throat. "You walked into a cag

fulfilled. We have no

d the shell of her ear. The heat of his breath made her shiver violently. "But do not ins

froze. Her clinical detachment sha

nd moved. His long, calloused fingers wrapped gently

It pressed down, finding the exact spot beneath the fabr

ockwave of dark, suffocating arousal straight down her spine. The fe

d, and just wash it off in the rain," Michael said. His voice

thumb harder ag

ed sound she couldn't swallow in ti

e ones. The predator had caught the pre

ed, his gaze dropping to her trembling