Chapter Thirteen
“You have full authority over the network infrastructure.”
Adrian watched Harper’s face carefully as he told her, but she only nodded, no hint of smugness on her face.
The meeting with the elders had been a disaster.
Three hours of arguments, accusations, and thinly veiled insults. Elder Howard had questioned Harper’s competence, her loyalties, her very presence in pack territory. Elder Jeremiah had demanded to know why traditional security measures, measures that had protected the Moonstone Pack for generations, were suddenly insufficient. Only Irene, sitting quietly at the table, had offered any support, her sharp eyes cataloguing every word for later analysis.
Harper had held her ground.
He had watched her present evidence of the breach with clinical precision, deflecting questions with facts, refusing to be intimidated by the growls and posturing that would have sent most humans fleeing. She’d stood in a room full of dominant werewolves and made them look like fools, exposingevery weakness in their precious traditional protocols with the merciless efficiency of a surgeon cutting out diseased tissue.
His wolf had wanted to drag her out of that room and claim her on the spot. His rational mind had recognized something equally compelling—she was exactly what his pack needed.
“Full authority,” she repeated slowly, like she was testing the words for hidden traps. “Meaning I can implement whatever security measures I deem necessary without running them through the council first?”
“Within reason.” He leaned back against his desk, arms crossed over his chest. “Major structural changes still require pack approval. But operational decisions—access protocols, monitoring systems, threat responses—those are yours.”
“And the ghost account? The backdoor?”
“Trace it. Find whoever planted it. I want answers.”
She nodded, her mind clearly already spinning behind those intelligent grey eyes. He could practically see the plans forming, the strategies coalescing. She was brilliant, this small human woman who’d invaded his territory and turned his carefully ordered world upside down.
She was also watching him with an expression that made his blood heat.
“Why?” she asked.
“Why what?”
“Why give me this authority? The elders were furious. Howard practically accused you of betraying pack traditions by trusting an outsider. This is going to cause problems for you.”
Because you’re right,he thought.Because my pack is vulnerable and I’m too damn proud to admit I can’t protect them alone. Because every time you challenge me, I want to either strangle you or kiss you senseless.
“Because practicality outweighs tradition when the pack’s survival is at stake,” he said roughly. “You have expertise I don’t possess. My job is to use every available resource to protect my people, even if that resource comes in an… unexpected package.”
Her lips quirked. “Unexpected package?”
“You’re five foot nothing with pink hair and you dress like a teenager at a comic convention. You’re not exactly what most people envision as a brilliant security expert.”
“And yet here I am, saving your pack’s ass.”
“Language.”
“Sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry at all. “Here I am, saving your pack’s posterior.”
He felt his lips twitch despite himself. The woman was impossible. Infuriating. Utterly incapable of showing proper respect for his position or acknowledging the social dynamics she was trampling through like a bull in a china shop.
He wanted her with a desperation that bordered on physical pain.
“There will be resistance,” he warned, pushing away from the desk. “Not everyone will accept your authority. Some of the wolves will test you, try to undermine your decisions, go around you to the elders or to me.”
“And when they do?”
“Come to me. I’ll handle it.”
“Or,” she countered, “I could handle it myself. I’m not helpless, Adrian. I’ve been dealing with difficult personalities my whole career. “
