She stared at Adrian, her analytical mind cataloguing data points—the way his hands had clenched into fists, the gold flickering at the edges of his eyes, the heavy rise and fall of his chest as he breathed through whatever emotion had him so close to the edge.
“Was that necessary?”
“Yes.”
“He was just?—”
“I know what he was doing.” He strode into the office, and she was suddenly very aware of how small the space was, how thoroughly his presence filled it. “It won’t happen again.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’ve made it clear that anyone who approaches you without professional justification will answer to me.” His eyes locked onto hers with an intensity that stole her breath, still glowing gold. “You’re under my protection, kitten. My pack will respect that, or they’ll face the consequences.”
“I don’t need?—”
“I know you don’t need protection.” He moved closer still, close enough that his scent wrapped around her like a physical embrace. “You’ve made that abundantly clear. You’re independent, capable, not intimidated by wolves or elders or any other obstacle.”
“Then why?—”
His jaw tightened. “Because I can’t help it.”
“There’s something about you,” he continued, his voice dropped to something barely above a whisper. “Something my wolf recognizes. It’s… inconvenient.”
“Inconvenient?” she whispered, shrinking into herself. How many times had she heard that before? Except that despite his words, his eyes were still fastened on her mouth, hot and hungry.
“Very.” His gaze snapped back to her eyes with visible effort. “I’m trying to maintain professional boundaries. I’m trying to remember that you’re here temporarily, that involvement would be complicated, that I have very good reasons not to trust?—”
He cut himself off, shaking his head sharply.
“The point is,” he said, stepping back with obvious difficulty, “Jared will not bother you again. Nor will any other wolf.You’re here to do a job, and I’ll ensure you can do it without… interference.”
Her heart was pounding, her body flushed with a heat that had nothing to do with the office temperature. Her mind screamed warnings about professional boundaries and power imbalances and the thousand ways this could go wrong.
Her body didn’t seem to care about any of those things.
“What if I don’t mind the interference?” The words escaped before she could stop them, and his eyes flared gold.
“Don’t say things like that. Not with the moon so close to full. Not when I’m already—” He broke off again, running a hand through his dark hair in a gesture of pure frustration. “Just… focus on your work. I’ll be on patrol.”
He was gone before she could respond, leaving her alone with a racing pulse and far too many questions.
What is happening to me?
She turned back to her laptop, staring at the code on screen without seeing it. Her skin felt too tight, her senses too sharp—she could still smell him, that forest and spice scent, lingering in the air like a promise.
This is insane,she told herself firmly.He’s a werewolf Alpha with obvious trust issues. I’m a human consultant who’s leaving in two months. There’s no logical scenario where this ends well.
But logic had never made her pulse race. Logic had never made her want to run from someone just to see what would happen if he caught her.
She pulled her laptop closer and tried to focus on network architecture. Phase One implementation. Security protocols. Things that made sense, things she could control.
Two months,she thought.Survive two months. Stay professional. Don’t do anything stupid.
The memory of Adrian’s golden eyes made the last promise feel very, very difficult to keep.
Three hours later, she finally emerged from her work trance, driven out by hunger and a pressing need to find Irene.
The older woman was in the kitchen, supervising dinner preparations with the same capable efficiency she seemed to bring to everything. She looked up as Harper approached, her sharp eyes knowing.
