Joanna didn’t back down, her stance unyielding as she met their gazes head-on. “I’m here to see Marcus. Not that it’s any of your business, fleabag.”
Brian bristled, his body tensing as if ready to pounce. “I’ll show youwho’s—”
“Enough,” I snapped, silencing them. I stepped between Joanna and the two werewolves. “She’s with me. And she’s under my protection. Got that?”
Brian and Leo exchanged a glance, but they didn’t argue. With a last glare at Joanna, they retreated, disappearing into the compound.
I turned to Joanna, my expression stern. “Inside. Now.”
She followed me without a word as we made our way to my office. I shut the door behind us, the click of the latch cutting through the silence. I turned to face her, arms crossed over my chest. My face had grown hot.
“What the fuck were you thinking, Joanna?” I hissed. “Coming here alone, challenging the members of my pack? You’re outnumbered here. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
She met my gaze, frustration flashing in her eyes. “You ignored my calls, Marcus.”
I ran a hand down my face. She was right; I had ignored them, but that didn’t excuse her recklessness.
“You can’t just barge in here blindly. My pack is on edge as it is. You need to be more careful.”
She stepped closer. “And you need to trust that I can handle myself.”
I looked down at her, her brown eyes cutting through my defenses as she sang her incessant words.
No. I would not reach out. I would not brush my thumb down those luscious lips.
“We need to talk,” I said, my voice steady. “About last night… It was…”
“A mistake?” she finished with a chuckle. “Spare me, Alpha.”
Her words sliced through me, cold and vicious. I hesitated, the silence stretching between us like a chasm. “No, not a mistake, Joanna,” I finally said. “A complication.”
She nodded. “I know. And I’m game to ignore what happened if you are.”
My wolf gritted its teeth in disapproval.
She was ours.
But I nodded anyway. “…I think that’s best.”
Joanna took a deep breath, her eyes never leaving mine as she dropped onto the couch in themiddle of the room. “I came here because I have new information. James, my mentor, found something.” She paused as if she had to prepare herself. “There’s a mole in the Bureau, Marcus. They’re trying to leak the conditions of that fucking treaty.”
I stiffened, the severity of her words hitting me like a punch to the gut. “What do you mean, leak the treaty? That would be—”
“Exactly.” She nodded, her expression grave. “It would expose the supernatural world to humans and reveal just how complicit the government has been in keeping it hidden. They want to create chaos, Marcus. They want humans to fear… everything.”
The thought of the balance being shattered was blood-curdling. “This has to be stopped.”
“And to do that, we need to find out who the mole is. James has a lead, but he may need our help to follow it.”
The uprising was no longer just a whisper, a distant threat. This shit was a ticking bomb, and we were running out of time to defuse it.
“What do you need from me?”
She swept her braids from her shoulders. “As far as werewolves go, you are the only monster—” She paused and inhaled deeply. “The onlyoneI trust. So, I need you to trust that I’m on your side, that we’re fighting for the same thing. And I need your pack to trust me, too.”
I paled. That was easier said than done. I sighed, turning away from her to pace the length of my office. “My pack needs more than words, Joanna. They need action. They won’t just accept that a hunter is saying she’s with us.”
An idea took shape in my mind, a glimmer of a plan that could turn the tides in our favor. It was risky, but it was worth a shot.
