My father walks to the door, then pauses with his hand on the knob. “The gala is next weekend. In Florida. Three days.”
I wait, sensing there’s more.
“I want you to take Violet with you. Expose her to other packs. Her mother wants her to find a mate.”
It take all my self-control not to roar in outrage. The idea of Violet finding a mate—of some other wolf touching her, claiming her—makes my vision tinge red.
But the thought of having her to myself for three days overrides the jealousy. Three days without the pack watching. Without Lillian’s disapproving glares. Without Zion’s sneering comments.
Just us.
“Fine,” I manage to utter.
My father studies me. “Don’t mention this to Lillian. She doesn’t like the idea of you spending time with Violet.”
I scoff. “Why? Does she think I’m a bad influence on her daughter?”
He shrugs. “You know how she is.” Then, he leaves, the door closing quietly behind him.
I sit back in my chair, letting the silence wash over me. My heart is hammering, adrenaline still coursing through my veins from the confrontation.
But beneath it all is a new feeling. A dark and possessive and entirely selfish one.
Three days. I’m going to have three days alone with Violet.
Not to prove anything. Not to make her believe in us. Just three days to pretend that she’s mine and the rest of the world doesn’t exist.
I look through the glass wall at her desk. She is still focused on her computer, completely unaware of what just transpired in here.
My wolf rumbles, already imagining having her in a hotel room where no one will interrupt us. Where I can touch her without worrying about the consequences.
It’s irresponsible. Reckless. Everything I shouldn’t want. But I can’t bring myself to care.
I pull up my calendar and scroll to next weekend. The Moonstone Gala. An annual event where representatives from different packs gather to discuss territory, alliances, and trade agreements. It’s usually boring as hell.
But this year, it might give me exactly what I need. A few stolen days before reality rears its ugly head.
Chapter Fifteen
Violet
I watch Cinnamon sniff around the base of an oak tree, her tail wagging lazily. The park is bathed in that blue-gray twilight I’ve always loved.
“Come on, girl,” I murmur, tugging gently on her leash. “Do your business so we can go home.”
She finally finds the perfect spot and squats near a cluster of saplings. I close my eyes and reach inward, searching for that presence I felt before. The wolf. My wolf. The one that stirred to life when Darius touched me, when his hands mapped my body like he was learning sacred territory.
Nothing.
Disappointed, I probe deeper, pushing past the familiar emptiness I’ve lived with my entire life. Still nothing. Just the hollow space where she should be.
Why can I only feel her when he’s touching me? When his mouth is on mine and his body is pressed against—
I pinch my arm hard enough to sting. “Stop it.” Cinnamon looks up at me, her head tilted. “Not you, girl. I’m talking to myself, like a crazy person.”
Despite the crisp evening air, heat crawls across my face. I am not going to think about Darius. I am not going to think about his hands, or his mouth, or the way he looks at me like he wants to devour me whole. I have plans tonight. Normal plans. Plans that don’t involve my stepbrother and this complicated mess we’ve tangled ourselves up in.
Anne and Sienna have invited me to dinner, and for the first time in my life, I actually have friends to go out with. Real friends, who showed up first at my party and were the last to leave. Who sit with me at lunch and make the office feel less like a battlefield and more like a place I actually want to be.
