I loved her.
Man and wolf, we loved her.Finally, both sides of me wanted the same thing.We wanted to protect her, to keep her, to make her happy, to earn the gift she had given me when she fastened that collar around her own throat.
The ring was forced on me.This is my choice.
I pressed my face into her hair and breathed deep.Her scent filled my lungs, and I let myself imagine a future I had never believed I deserved.Mornings like this one, with her body tangled with mine and the collar at her throat, the ring on her finger.Both meaning the same thing now.
She stirred, stretching against me, and her awareness returned.The bond between us hummed, not yet complete, but growing stronger every day.Her contentment, her peace, hummed through the nascent bond.
“You’re staring,” she murmured without opening her eyes.
“You’re beautiful.”
She laughed, soft and sleepy.“I’m a mess.”
“My mess.”I pulled her closer, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.My wolf purred at the contact.“My wife.My mate.”
She turned in my arms, her eyes finding mine.The morning light caught the collar at her throat, and my heart cracked open at the sight of it.
“What are you thinking?”she asked.
That I love you.That I would burn the world to keep you safe.That I am terrified of how much I need you.
“That we should discuss a honeymoon,” I said instead.“Somewhere warm.Somewhere I can keep you in bed for a week.”
Her smile was everything.“I have a hotel to run.”
“Michael can handle it.”
My phone buzzed on the nightstand.
Lena groaned.“Ignore it.”
I wanted to.But I was Vor, and the world did not stop because I had found happiness.I reached for the phone, scanning the message from Petrov.
My blood went cold.
“What is it?”Lena asked, reading my face.
“Nothing for you to worry about.”I kissed her forehead, already calculating.“I need to handle something.Stay here.Rest.”
“Raphael.”
“It’s business.”I slid out of bed, reaching for my clothes.“I’ll be back soon.”
She watched me dress, her eyes sharp despite the early hour.She knew I was keeping secrets.But she did not push.She trusted me to handle it.
That trust made what I was about to do easier.
I drove to the hotel with my hands tight on the wheel and murder in my heart.
Petrov’s message had been brief:Caught him.Basement.Waiting for your orders.
Joe.
The pathetic ex-boyfriend who could not accept that she had chosen someone else.I had been tracking his escalation for weeks.First it was the angry confrontation at the hotel, the one where he had stormed in demanding to know why she married me instead of him.
Then my men started reporting sightings.They saw Joe lingering near the hotel entrance, loitering without purpose.They spotted him parked across the street, watching the lobby for hours at a time.They caught him attempting to access restricted floors with a stolen keycard.
