He spread photographs across the desk.Security footage captures, time-stamped and annotated, showed men I recognized from our dealings with the vampires.They lingered in the lobby, tested service entrances, watched the parking structure.The scent of the undead would be easy to track if I let myself shift, but I had been so focused on the hotel’s interior that I hadn’t bothered to hunt the perimeter.
A mistake, perhaps.One I wouldn’t repeat.
“They’re interested in something,” Viktor continued.“The question is what.The Hughes hotel has never been a target before.”
Because it had never been mine before.The marriage announcement had changed everything.Made Lena’s domain part of my territory.Made her enemies my enemies, and apparently made my enemies hers.
The guilt settled heavy in my chest.Another consequence of my choices falling on her shoulders.
“Focus resources there,” I said.“Full surveillance on Diamantis movements.I want to know every walking corpse who comes within a mile of this building.”
Viktor nodded and gathered the photographs.He paused at the door.“Rafa.The Pakhan is still watching.”
“I know.”
“Tread carefully.”
I didn’t answer.Viktor’s loyalty was torn between me and the pack, and I couldn’t blame him for the warning.Couldn’t blame him for reporting my attachment to the Alpha in the first place.He had done his duty.The ultimatum that followed had been the Pakhan’s choice, not Viktor’s.
But Viktor had his own stake in this now.He had stood beside me for fifteen years, vouched for my judgment, covered for my absences when I should have been at pack meetings.If I fell, Viktor’s reputation fell with me.The wolf who had backed the Vor’s disastrous obsession with a human woman.The Pakhan did not forget those who enabled failure.
I had chosen marriage.And I would keep choosing her, no matter how many times the pack demanded otherwise.
A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts.Michael appeared in the frame.His cologne preceded him into the room, something bland and professional that my wolf dismissed as unremarkable.
“Mr.Antonov.I pulled the access logs you asked for.”He crossed the room and set the tablet on my desk.“Everyone with security clearance, their login history, and badge swipe data for the past two weeks.I also flagged the employees who were working during the periods the cameras were disabled.”
“Thank you.”
He lingered, his expression troubled.“How’s Lena?I saw her this morning.She looks exhausted.”
“She’s managing.”
“Good.That’s good.”Michael ran a hand through his hair, the gesture nervous, agitated.“I keep thinking about Stephanie.What I should have noticed.What I should have done differently.”
“You couldn’t have known,” I said.“None of us could.”
He nodded.“Let me know if there’s anything else you need.I want to help find whoever did this.”
“I appreciate that.”
After he left, Petrov ended his call and crossed to my desk.His expression was grim, the set of his jaw telling me the news wasn’t good.
“The Joe Bishop report.”
My wolf stirred.The rival male.I had been tracking him since the wedding announcement sent him into a spiral of wounded pride and dangerous obsession.
“Tell me.”
Petrov pulled out his phone, scrolling through notes.“In the past forty-eight hours, he’s been photographed the hotel’s service exits three times.Attempted entry through the staff entrance twice, turned away by security both times.Left a note at Mrs.Antonov’s office door yesterday afternoon, which we intercepted before she could see it.”
“What did the note say?”
“‘I know you’re being controlled.Let me help you.’”Petrov’s lip curled with contempt.“The man thinks he’s a savior.”
“What else?”
“He was spotted in the restricted parking structure twice, once at two AM and once at four.He was taking photographs of the security positions and the vehicle entrances.Classic surveillance behavior.”
