His cabin soon welcomed them with warmth and solid walls, but Winslet stood in the center of his living room like she was bracing for execution. Her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides, her breathing shallow and controlled in a way that spoke of long practice managing fear. Then the words spilled out of her like water through a broken dam.
“This all has to do with my ex-fiancé Bracken,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
The words continued to rush out after that. How her ex-fiancé seemed like a dream until she’d glimpsed the nightmare beneath his polished surface. Documents that proved his connection to organized crime. Six months of running, of looking over her shoulder, of never sleeping deeply. Seattle, where she’d thought she was safe until Viktor found her at the country club she’d worked at. Her desperate phone call to her uncle Sergei. Gerri’s impossible promise of sanctuary in the last place on earth anyone would think to look.
“Viktor is his right hand,” she finished, her voice breaking on the words. “His fixer. The man who makes Bracken’s problems disappear. And I’m his biggest problem.”
Korrak listened without interruption, raw fury building in his chest like pressure in a volcano. Not at her—never at her—but at the bastard who’d put those shadows in her eyes, who’d made her flinch at unexpected sounds, who’d stolen her ability to trust the safety of sleep.
When she finished telling the full truth, trembling with the effort of holding herself together, his cabin felt too small to contain the frustration pressing against his ribs. Gerri had known. Of course she had. The matchmaker had orchestrated this entire scenario, placed his mate directly in his path because she knew—with that supernatural certainty she possessed—that he would protect Winslet with his life.
The manipulation should have infuriated him. Instead, he felt only grim gratitude that fate had been clever enough to bring her here before it was too late.
“I’m sorry,” Winslet whispered, her voice fracturing. “I never meant to endanger anyone. I know I should leave, find somewhere else?—“
“This isn’t your fault.” The words cut through her apology like steel. “Not even a little.”
He turned to face her fully, letting her see the intensity in his eyes, the promise of violence that lived just beneath his controlled surface. “You’ll stay with me from now on. You’ll be protected. And anyone who tries to touch you will pay a price I’ll gladly collect.”
The vow settled between them, heavy and irrevocable as a blood oath. Winslet looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time—not just as the controlled Alpha who’d fed her dinner and taught her to read ice, but as something far more dangerous. Something that would tear the world apart to keep her safe.
The mate bond between them tightened, electric and fierce, straining against every boundary he’d built to survive alone. He stood on the edge of something that would change everything, and for the first time in eighteen years of careful isolation, stepping back felt impossible.
NINE
WINSLET
The truth hung between them like smoke in the still air of Korrak’s cabin. She stood near the massive stone fireplace, its warmth doing nothing to chase away the chill that had settled into her bones knowing that Viktor was here in Northland Bay.
I had to tell Korrak everything. He’d insisted after encountering Viktor on that ridge, and I knew for days that he’d deserved the truth.
She should feel more exposed and terrified right now—she’d spent six months guarding her secrets like precious jewels, and now she’d scattered them at the feet of a man she’d known less than a week. But instead of the expected panic, something inside her chest finally loosened.
She’d expected immediate rejection. Expected Korrak to weigh the danger she brought against the peace of his territory and tell her to contact Gerri immediately to come get her. Expected to be politely but firmly escorted to the nearest airport with a pat on the head and wishes for better luck elsewhere.
Instead, he’d looked at her with those ice-blue eyes blazing with something that made her knees weak and declared herunder his protection with the kind of absolute conviction that stole the breath out of her lungs.
“You’ll stay with me from now on,” he’d said, and the words had hit her like a freight train. Not a request. Not a suggestion. A decree from an Alpha who’d apparently decided her safety was now his personal responsibility and top priority.
This wasn’t the polite offer of sanctuary he’d extended when she first arrived. This was different—primal and fierce and utterly uncompromising. Like a man ready to lay down his life to keep any harm from reaching her.
She should have been concerned about being a burden, about putting this powerful, controlled man at risk because of her own poor choices in ex-fiancés. Viktor and Bracken weren’t just dangerous—they were lethal, and they wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate anyone who stood between them and their objective.
But something about Korrak’s vow, about the way his presence seemed to fill every corner of the cabin with unshakeable strength, felt like a pressure valve finally releasing.
Maybe I can stop running.
The thought was dangerous, seductive in its promise of peace. She’d been in motion for so long that the idea of stillness felt foreign, almost impossible to believe.
Fear still coursed through her veins like ice water—now that Bracken knew where she was, she didn’t know what his next move might be. But the storm building outside offered a thin thread of hope. If Bracken was still in California or Seattle, the weather might buy her time. And maybe, just maybe, Viktor had been spooked enough by his encounter with Korrak to retreat and regroup rather than press forward immediately.
She didn’t want to put her trust in anything—trust had nearly gotten her consumed before. But something about the way Korrak had looked at her when he made his promise, theabsolute certainty in his voice, whispered that she could trust him with her life.
This man will do anything for me.
That knowledge settled deep in her chest, warm and startling. She didn’t understand why—they barely knew each other, and she’d brought nothing but trouble to his doorstep. But the conviction in his eyes had been unmistakable.
The pull she’d been fighting since the moment they met suddenly felt less like weakness and more like inevitability. The careful distance she’d maintained, the walls she’d built around her heart—all of it crumbled in the face of his unwavering protection.
