“I’m being responsible.”
“Same thing.” But she didn’t push further, and something in her expression suggested she understood. “Fine. Tomorrow. But Adrian?”
“Yes?”
She rose onto her toes, pressing a brief, devastating kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Don’t think I’m going to forget what you admitted tonight. You said I matter to you. That’s not the kind of thing you can take back.”
Then she gathered her laptop and her glasses and walked past him towards the door, leaving him standing in the middle of his office with his heart pounding and his wolf howling and the taste of her still burning on his lips.
At the door, she paused.
“And for the record? You matter to me too. Probably more than is smart.”
She was gone before he could respond.
Dangerous,the cautious part of his mind warned. She’s getting too close. Remember Vivienne. Remember what happens when you trust. But his wolf had gone quiet, satisfied in a way it hadn’t been in years. Like he’d found something he’d been searching for for a very long time.
He walked to the window, staring out at the nearly-full moon hanging heavy over his territory. Two days until it reached its peak. Two days of heightened instincts and fraying controland the constant pull towards a pink-haired human who had somehow become the center of his world.
He pressed his palm against the cool glass and made a decision. No more pretending the pull didn’t exist, that his wolf’s obsession was just lunar madness, that what he felt for Harper was anything less than profound and terrifying and real.
He would protect her. He would care for her. He would show her that not everyone left, that some connections were worth the risk.
Then he would figure out how to convince her to stay.
Chapter Twelve
Harper didn’t sleep.
She spent the night pacing her room, her body thrumming with an energy that had nothing to do with caffeine. Every nerve ending felt alive, sensitized to the memory of Adrian’s hands on her waist, his mouth claiming hers, the possessive growl that vibrated through her entire being.
She’d meant what she said. She wasn’t good at people, at connections, at relationships. Her life was a series of carefully constructed walls designed to keep everyone at a safe distance. But Adrian had somehow slipped past those defenses, had found the vulnerable woman hiding behind sarcastic remarks and technological fortresses.
And she wanted him. Wanted him with an intensity that scared her, that made her question everything she thought she knew about herself.
At dawn, she gave up on rest, changed into jeans and a comfortable sweater, and made her way down to the office. The main lodge was quiet, the pack members still sleeping off the night’s activities. She let herself into the office, pausing asthe scent of him, still lingering from the night before, washed over her. Her nipples immediately tightened into two hard little peaks and she fought back the urge to turn around and flee back to the safety of her room. She couldn’t keep reacting like this. She had work to do.
She was deep in the middle of a particularly stubborn piece of code, trying to create a custom encryption algorithm that would work seamlessly with the pack’s primitive communication systems, when Irene found her.
“I thought I might find you here.” The older woman set a plate of eggs and toast on the corner of her desk, along with a steaming mug of coffee. “You missed breakfast. Eat.”
“I didn’t miss breakfast. I skipped it.” She didn’t look up from her screen, but she could feel Irene’s knowing gaze on her.
“It wasn’t a suggestion,” Irene said firmly. “Eat something before you collapse. Adrian’s been in a mood all morning, and I don’t need you adding to the chaos.”
Adrian’s been in a mood.
She took a piece of toast because arguing with Irene seemed unwise, and ate it while her mind spun through possibilities. What kind of mood? Good? Bad? Regretful?
Stop,she ordered herself.You need to focus on work.
She finished her toast, downed half the coffee in one go—blessedly the good stuff—and turned back to her computer, pulling up the security protocols she’d been working on the night before. Irene shook her head but didn’t argue, quietly exiting the room.
Okay. The vulnerability in the new financial records system. That’s the priority.
Derek had sent over the initial framework for the pack’s new financial infrastructure—a system designed to integrate their traditional cash-heavy economy with modern digital banking. Her job was to make sure that integration didn’t create exploitable weaknesses.
Last night, before Adrian had interrupted her, she’d identified several suspicious probing attempts against the pack’s existing network. Someone was testing their defenses, looking for entry points. The attacks were sophisticated enough to suggest professional involvement, which was concerning.
