"Council business." He stepped around her, infuriatingly graceful for someone his size. "Varric wants me keeping an eye on shipments. Making sure nothing goes wrong."
"Nothing's going to go wrong."
"That's what you said about the last three deliveries." He grabbed a crate from Cash, muscles flexing under his jacket as he lifted. "Right before they got damaged."
Maeve's lioness snarled. "Those were accidents."
He carried the crate toward the storage shed, not even breathing hard. "Funny how accidents keep happening to your inventory."
"Funny how you keep showing up where you're not wanted."
"I've been told I have that talent." He set the crate down, turning to face her. "Among others."
Cash coughed, badly hiding a laugh. "Should I, uh, come back later?"
"No." Maeve grabbed a crate herself, proving she didn't need some arrogant lion's help. "Ignore him. He's leaving."
"I'm really not."
"Yes, you are."
"Make me, Cub."
She set the crate down with more force than necessary. "Call me that one more time and I'll show you exactly how much of a cub I'm not."
His mouth curved. Not quite a smirk. Something darker. "Promise?"
Heat flooded her cheeks. Her lioness awakened, gold bleeding into her vision. Around them, the air crackled with the kind of tension that made smart shifters back away slowly.
Cash cleared his throat. "I'll just, uh, finish unloading."
He disappeared into the truck, leaving Maeve and Dante staring at each other across ten feet of snow-covered pavement.
"You need to leave," she said quietly. "Before I do something we'll both regret."
"Like what?" He stepped closer. "Throw me out again? That worked so well last time."
"I could try harder."
"You could try." Another step. "But we both know how that ends."
With her wanting to claw him or kiss him or possibly both at once. With her walls cracking and her lioness purring and everything she'd built to protect herself crumbling under the weight of amber eyes and that insufferable confidence.
She held her ground. "What are you really doing here, Dante?"
"My job."
"Which is what? Babysitting me?"
"Protecting you." The words came out rougher than she expected. "Whether you appreciate it or not."
"I don't need protecting."
"Maybe not." He studied her face, something shifting behind his eyes. "But your shipments do. Someone's targeting the Silver Fang, Maeve. Someone with resources and knowledge of your routines. These aren't random accidents."
The words settled into her bones like ice. "You think someone's sabotaging me deliberately?"
"I know they are." He pulled out his phone, showing her photos. Claw marks. Barrel seals. Evidence she hadn't wanted to see. "Varric asked me to investigate quietly. Figure out who's behind it before they escalate."
