“I need to hide,” I say, gathering my clothes.
“Hide?” Percy says, surprised, tossing me my bra. I catch it just before it hits my face. “You’re not some dirty secret, Ruby.”
The irony that I am his dirty secret is not lost on me. But self-awareness takes a backseat to indignation when you're a naked wolf scrambling for dignity.
“Percy, please,” I whisper urgently as heavy footsteps echo down the hall. “Hamilton will literally kill me if he finds me here. And probably you, too.”
He knows I'm right.
During a heated debate about the Wolfstone development project, Hamilton Porkwell once threatened to turn me into a fur coat.
Public record.
Multiple witnesses.
He gestures toward his massive walk-in closet, and with a growl of relief, I dart inside, pulling the door shut just as the bedroom door swings open.
“Percy? You in here?” Hamilton’s voice is closer now, laced with that signature Porkwell condescension.
Through the slats in the closet door, I watch Percy yank on a pair of silk boxers—monogrammed, naturally—before his brother’s hulking silhouette appears in the doorway.
“Hey, Ham!” Percy’s voice is an octave too high. “Thought you were in Boarstone until tomorrow.”
“Meeting got canceled.” Hamilton sniffs the air suspiciously, and my heart nearly stops. Pigs might have poor eyesight, but their sense of smell rivals even wolves’. “What’s that scent?”
Percy coughs. “Probably my new cologne. Timber and Wild Berries. Just trying it out.”
I roll my eyes so hard I’m surprised they don’t make a noise.Timber and Wild Berries? Really?
Hamilton grunts, unconvinced. “Smells more like a kennel.”
I bite my tongue to keep from snarling.A kennel?
Fucking asshole.
“Anyway,” Hamilton continues. “We need to discuss the Wolfstone project before tomorrow’s board meeting. The zoning commissioner’s being difficult.”
Of course he is.
Commissioner Vance is a bobcat shifter—and one of the few left in the city government who hasn’t sold out to the Porkwell’s. He’s also a longtime friend of my cousin’s mate, which means he actually listens when we raise environmental concerns.
They’re planning on bulldozing the last protected wolf habitat in the county. It’s literally why I confronted Percy tonight before things got… complicated.
Crouched in Percy’s closet among tailored suits that probably cost more than my apartment, naked except for my hastily donned panties, I’m struck by the absurdity of my situation.
How the hell did I end up here?
It wasn’t supposed to go like this.
I came to argue, threaten, negotiate—anything to save Wolfstone. Not to end up nearly fucking the enemy.
But the truth is, the moment I caught his scent, I was already losing.
My heat didn’t just make me want—it made meburn. And the only thing that could put out the fire was Percy’s hands, Percy’s mouth, Percy inside me.
It didn’t matter that he was the enemy.
Maybe that made it worse.
