The elevator dings. The doors slide open.
I hear Violet’s footsteps resume. Measured. Controlled.
I turn just in time to see her step inside the elevator without a word, without a backward glance. Her expression is blank, but just before the doors start to close, I catch it. That same tired, resigned look. Like she expected this. Like she has already accepted it.
The doors close, and the volcano erupts.
I grab Rachel’s wrist, my grip tight enough that she gasps. Dominance rolls off me in waves, and I watch with cold satisfaction as her knees start to buckle. She tries to hold eye contact, herwolf rising to meet the challenge, but I squeeze harder. And harder. Until her eyes drop and her body trembles.
“Let me make one thing clear,” I say, my voice dropping to a growl that makes every shifter within hearing distance freeze.
I release her wrist, and Rachel stumbles backward, barely catching herself on her desk. Her coffee mug tips over and spills across her keyboard. Papers scatter around her feet.
The entire floor is still silent.
“Violet is here because of the Alpha’s direct orders. Anyone who makes her life difficult will answer to me personally. Understood?”
Rachel stares up at me, her face white with shock and fear. “Wha–What?”
I take a threatening step toward her, letting her see the wolf in my eyes, and she immediately cowers, dropping her gaze completely.
“I don’t like repeating myself. She is not to be touched.”
Rachel nods, trembling.
“Good.” I lift my gaze to address the rest of the office, making sure every single person hears this. “That goes for everyone. Violet is under my protection. Touch her, harass her, or interfere with her work in any way, and you’ll wish you were never born.”
I don’t wait for a response. I turn and stride toward the elevators, where I punch the button. The doors open immediately. Different elevator. Empty.
I step inside and hit the button for the lobby. My heart is pounding. I need to find her, make sure she’s okay, protect what’s mine.
As the elevator descends, I know what they’re all thinking up there. Know the rumors that will spread like wildfire through the building. Darius Moonvale, cold and controlled second-in-command, losing his shit over the weird, new girl who can’t even shift. The truth will come out that she’s related to me. Will that change how they treat her? I can protect her better if people know she’s my stepsister.
The word makes me sick, though. I wish she were anything but that.
The elevator reaches the lobby, and I step out, scanning the space.
There.
Violet is walking out the front entrance. I hurry in that direction, not knowing what I’m going to say, just needing to make sure she’s okay. Before I can reach her, I hear someone call her name, and a man rushes past me. She looks back into the building, toward the sound, and her eyes meet mine for a second before focusing on the person heading toward her.
I recognize Julian immediately. One of the junior staff in my division. Young, eager, competent enough. Harmless.
Julian catches up to Violet just outside the main entrance. I’m still inside, close enough to see but not to hear. He smiles at her, gesturing down the street. Probably offering to help with the coffee run. Then, Violet does something that makes the pressure build in my chest again.
She smiles back.
It’s hesitant. Small. Nothing like the bright, genuine smiles I remember from years ago. But it’s there. A crack in that carefully controlled mask she’s been wearing around me since she arrived.
The smile is for him. Not for me.
My hands curl into fists at my sides. Every instinct is screaming at me to close the distance between us, to drag Violet away from him, to make it clear that she’s…
That she’s what? Mine?
My fists slowly relax, fingers uncurling in defeat. In agony.
Because she’s not mine.
