Conrad’s eyes flashed in realization, his lips flattening into a thin, pained line. Nick blinked, confusion twisting his face as he stared at the ground. But Deslen looked like someone had kicked the ground out from under him. He grabbed her shoulders, turning her toward him.
“You tried to block me?Block us?” His voice cracked, raw and bleeding. “Why, Nova?Why?”
Guilt churned low in my gut at the hurt lacing his words, the truth settling in hard. I was the reason she’d chosen that path.
Her eyes, glassy but unbroken, locked on mine. The unspoken truth passed between us, heavy and choking. We knew the price of what we’d done.
Before she could speak, a voice from the hall shattered the tension.
“Hey! Look! Someone broke the third-floor window!”
“Do you think there was a fight?”
“Where is the body?”
We all froze, glancing at Frank’s mangled form. That would be a problem if someone came by this. Especially a human.
Nova inhaled once, and everything about her shifted. The tears vanished, swallowed back. Her posture straightened, her shoulders squared. In the span of a heartbeat, the vulnerable woman before us disappeared, replaced by the boss. ByNova Rossey.
“We don’t have time for this,” she said, her flat tone cleanly cutting through the air. “If my actions hurt you, I’m sorry, but right now, I have something more pressing to handle. A poison has infiltrated my territory, and I need to handle it.”
When no one said anything, she sighed. “We can talk later about,” she waved her hands around all of us, “all of this, but not before this is resolved.” Her last words were exacting and final.
Her gaze swept over us, sharp and commanding, her unsaid words part question, part decree.Agree or get out of my way.
And really, what choice did we have? She wasn’t just our mate right now; she was ourboss.Well, technically mine, Nick’s, and now Deslen’s.
Her voice sliced through the silence. “Nick, Zeth, what happened to the man you were chasing?”
Nick jumped in fast, words tumbling over each other. “His natural scent was faint, almost gone, but his fear—yeah, that reeked. We tracked that all the way to a canyon.”
I clasped my hands behind my back, giving her my report. “While following him, we saw him pass through a rock illusion. That’s probably why none of our men spotted the place before as it looks like a regular rock face.”
Nick rolled his eyes and covered his face with his hands, though that failed to muffle his words. “Told you we should’ve gone after him.”
“I didn’t want to follow because I knew Nova would want to handle this situation herself,” I said.
“Zeth’s right.”
Nova’s words landed like a pat on the shoulder and a victory horn at once. I couldn’t resist the smirk I shot at Nick. He growled under his breath, lip curling. Yep. He was definitely starting to get in tune with his wolf side.
Nova turned back to business. “I want to be there when we catch these bastards, and I want to see if that substance shows up again. If that cave is a base, we need to know. It’s smarter, and safer, when more eyes are on the area.”
The air in the room shifted, becoming focused. No more emotions clawing through the space, just her clarity, her command. The Nova I knew best. The one who made chaos look like structure. For the first time in days, I felt… useful again, like I was doing what I was meant to do.
“Timing is everything,” she continued. “He thinks he got away, so we still have the element of surprise on our side.” Her gaze circled the room, locking with each of ours in turn. “Five of us should be able to handle whatever’s waiting.”
I gave a curt nod, filling my role as her second, her enforcer, the one who always had her back, then threw a look at the others that said, ‘fall in line.’
“Then it’s settled.” Nova clapped her hands. “You two lead the way.”
She glanced at Frank before pulling out her phone and lifting it to her ear, mumbling to herself. “Please have someone nearby, Riot. Plea—Oh, hey, Ri! Is there any chance you have someone free… like, now, near my location?”
While she finished setting up a clean-up crew for Frank, I picked up her clothes and helped her put them on while she talked. Just like normal.
She looked at the skirt and sliced it with her claws, making it into strips of fabric from the thigh down, ensuring she could move.
Once she was done, she turned, then paused, eyes sliding toward Deslen. The corner of her mouth twitched as her gaze dipped lower.
