nore

ring through the blinds felt like an assault. My body ached, and the phantom scen

ssage from Jodi Pollard, my best fri

, the kind that sells five-hundred-dollar candles. A sales associate was holding up a plush cashmere blanket for his inspection

ughtful? Picking out gifts for his little Omega

face as he considered the soft fabric. He had neve

ht, his voice sliced into m

in the manor study. Get them. I need t

me. I wanted to scream, to

est edge of an Alpha's command, pressed against my mind. "And sta

after what I'd seen last night, after the picture on my phone, w

tal voice clipped and sharp, and

s family's ancestral home, a sprawling stone monument to Dixon power. I

the box of files tucked away in a corner, just as he'd said.

go to his off

my apartment.

he scent of him, the feel of him. I dressed carefully, choosing a pair of tailored black trouse

nally pulled up to the gleaming

separate. I had never been invited into this one, never introduced to his staff, never so much as photographed beside him at a company

p makeup and a name tag that read 'Ashley Whi

er tone implying I was somethi

or Cristian Dixon,"

ment?" she asked, her l

N

eting." She dismissed me with a wave of her hand, alre

I could have announced myself as the Luna and watched her gr

marble countertop. "Just tell

y as the connection clicked in her brain. Sargent

a, his second-in-command, rushed out. He saw me and immedi

d with surprise. "We weren't exp

to chalk white. I could feel her

p the box and walked past her toward the priv

ened, I stepped into a corridor of hushed gray carpet a

the hall, the large oak doors slight

femini

and familiar, coiled in my gut. Against

and soothing. "It's okay. Do

r burning in my lungs. No mo

d the d

ade the blood in m

f it was Angelena. She was leaning forward, one hand resting on his shoulder, the

evastating. It looked like he was holding her, sheltering her between his body and the desk. It w

entered, their private

shattered