Images from yesterday popped back into my mind. Lucy’s hands on Zeth, the way she’d laughed for him. I cracked my neck and moved past him, teeth bared in a smile that didn’t reach my eyes. “Sure. Yeah. Whatever. It's up to you.”
Gideon followed, hot and loud. “I’m serious. She’s my only daughter.” He planted himself in front of my office door and threw his hands up. “I don’t want her with some thug.” With a nod, I maneuvered around him to open the door and head to my desk, but he just followed me in. “She deserves some idiot in a high-rise who can give her pretty things and have a nice, easy office job. Something that won't put her in danger.”
I sat down, folded my hands on the desk, and kept my voice level. “What do you want me to do, G? Set her up with someone? It sounds like those are the types Ezra knows. They’ll still be tiedto the Syndicate one way or another. I can steer her toward the legit side of the business if that’s what you want.”
The fight in his shoulders softened for a second, then hardened again. “I just want your second to keep his dick away from my daughter.”
I almost blurted out—his dick was inside of me last night—but a growl from my wolf rumbled in my chest, staying the words. Instead, I let my silence be the answer. I didn’t even know what I or Zeth meant to each other yet, and I had no right to police anyone’s heart, even if it made me want to break something.
Before I could say more, a Zeth-sized shadow filled the doorway. “No disrespect, G, but I don’t want Lucy. Never have, never will.” His voice was calm, though that last part sounded like it was meant just for me to hear. Gideon grabbed his collar and slammed him into the wall, raw fury in his face.
“What the fuck is wrong with my Lucy, you prick?!” he spat.
Zeth didn’t fight back, raising his hands like a man who had learned how to be careful. “She’s not my type,” he said, eyes flicking to me with something unnameable that made my chest bruise and swell at once. “I’ve always seen her like a little sister, not a woman.”
I could hear Gideon’s teeth rattle, and I moved between them without thinking, my palm landing on Gideon’s arm. “You can’t have it both ways,” I said. “You can’t crucify him for not wanting her, especially when you didn’t want him to begin with.”
Gideon shoved him against the wall again, a warning, before he slowly let go, his face collapsing into a tired kind of defeat.
“You're right, Nova,” he whispered. “I know you are, but…” He swallowed hard before facing me. “I don't want to be the one to see her eyes go dim when her little crush on this asshole,” he threw his thumb at Zeth, “goes fucking south.”
Gideon rubbed his hands over his face again and took a long, deep breath before asking me, “Can you tell her? She respects you.”
My jaw ticked as I went back to my desk. Several emotions flooded me at the thought of telling her to back off Zeth, including my wolf itching to tell her to back off her mate, and that worried me. In the state I was in, I could do more damage than good, and Lucy was still Syndicate. Still family.
Zeth answered for me. “I’ll tell her. I’ll be firm but gentle.” His voice was low and calm, trying to put Gideon at ease. Gideon’s glare softened into a warning, the kind parents felt before storms. “You better not hurt her,” he snapped, then he stomped out, leaving us with the echo of his anger.
For a second, the room hung between us, words unsaid, the clench of something dangerous and tender. I watched Zeth’s hands, the slow tug of his sleeves, the way his jaw tightened as if chewing on regret. My fingers found each other under the desk because they needed something to do.
“Thanks,” I said, but the word felt thin. We stood there, two people with more between them than either wanted to name, the air tasting of restraint and longing.
?*“Where did you go this morning?”
His voice was smooth,toosmooth. It held the kind of calm that was as peaceful as a blade pressed against the skin. I didn’t needto look up to feel the heat of his gaze drilling into the side of my face.
“For a run,” I said, keeping my tone flat. “Letting my wolf out.”
The sound of my voice felt foreign, too controlled, too casual. My fingers twitched as I clicked through my emails, forcing my eyes to stay on the screen instead of him. The soft hum of the computer was safer than the silence between us.
He didn’t answer. I could feel the shift of air as he walked away. Zeth was too quiet when he wanted to be, too deliberate.
The door clicked shut.
I froze.
When I finally looked up, he was leaning against the door like he owned the room. His eyes were darker than I remembered, the kind of dark that swallowed everything in its reach.
“Finally,” he murmured, “you’re looking at me.”
I forced a tight smile, folding my hands on the desk to keep them from fidgeting. “Is there something you need, Zeth?”
For a second, he just stood there, lips pressed into a thin, angry line, then he took a step closer. “Yeah. I want to talk about last night.”
My throat tightened, and I looked away. The cursor blinked on my screen, mocking, steady, waiting.
“We fucked,” I said, pretending to type. “Got it out of our system. Let’s move on.”
The lie tasted like acid.
