Someone whose scent was everywhere.
My wolf went still.Not pacing.Not howling.Still and cold and certain, like a predator the instant before the strike.
The familiar scent.The one I had been smelling for months, dismissed as ambient background because it saturated every corridor, every room, every surface my wife touched.The scent I had filed away as just the hotel because it belonged to someone who was always here.Always close.Always watching.
Michael.
The name hit me like a blade between the ribs.
Michael, who knew the hotel’s maintenance systems better than anyone.Michael, who had access to every door, every code, every schedule.Michael, who had been at Lena’s side through every crisis, positioning himself as indispensable while I hunted the wrong prey.
Michael, who had just walked past me in the hallway, commenting on how relaxed my wife seemed.
I had been so focused on surveilling her, on memorizing her coffee schedule and her sleep patterns and every small habit that made her who she was, that I had failed to watch the man who was always there.The one I had dismissed as furniture.The one whose scent I had stopped noticing because it was everywhere, because he was everywhere, because I had let my territorial jealousy convince me that my wolf’s warnings were just possessiveness rather than instinct.
My wolf had growled at him from the beginning.And I had told myself it was jealousy.Told myself to be rational.Chose logic over instinct, and now my mate was in danger because I had been too arrogant to listen to the animal who had known all along.
“Sir?”Petrov was still waiting, tension radiating from his stance.“What do you need?”
“Michael.”The name came out as a growl.“The general manager.Where is he right now?”
Petrov’s brow furrowed.“I saw him heading toward the garage about twenty minutes ago.Sir, you cannot think?—”
“Get eyes on him.Now.Do not let him near my wife.”
I was already moving, the wolf surging toward the surface, claws pressing against my fingertips.Every protective instinct screamed at me to find Michael and tear out his throat.To end the threat the way I should have ended it months ago, before he got close enough to photograph my mate in her most private moments.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.Viktor’s name flashed on the screen.
Not now.I did not have time for pack politics when my mate was in danger.
I rejected the call.
It buzzed again.And again.On the fourth ring, a text came through.
The Pakhan summons you.
I stopped in the middle of the corridor.The wolf went feral, claws scratching against the inside of my skin, demanding I ignore the message and hunt.But the man understood what those words meant.A direct summons from the Alpha was not a request.It was a command.Ignoring it meant death.Or worse, exile.Cast out from the pack, stripped of protection, hunted by the very wolves who had been my brothers.
The phone rang again.This time I answered.
“Rafa.”Viktor’s voice was tight.Urgent.“Where are you?”
“The hotel.Viktor, I cannot?—”
“The Pakhan is not asking.He is demanding your presence.Now.Tonight.”A pause weighted with everything Viktor was not saying.“The consequences he promised at the gala.He has decided to collect.”
My jaw clenched so hard I heard my teeth creak.The midsummer gala.The confrontation in the corridor.I had refused to give the Pakhan access to Richard’s blackmail files.I had chosen my wife over pack interests.And Max Ivankov did not forget.Did not forgive.
“I cannot leave.”My voice came out raw.“My mate is in danger.The stalker?—”
“Is your mate in immediate danger?Right now, in this moment?”
I reached for her along our connection.Lena’s presence hummed back at me, warm and steady.She was in a meeting three floors up, surrounded by staff, discussing summer season projections with her department heads.Safe.For now.
“No,” I admitted.“But?—”
“Then you come.You answer the summons.You deal with whatever punishment he has decided, and then you return to your wife.”Viktor’s voice dropped lower.“Rafa, if you ignore this summons, you will not have a pack to return to.And neither will she.Whatever protection your status gives her disappears the moment you are declared rogue.”
