Page 2

Because I’m avoiding you.

“Come to dinner with me and I’ll fill you up… with pasta. I know they’re your favorite,” he said.

I faked a smile and laughed. “As great as that sounds, I can’t tonight.”

“Plans? Like what, a date?” His shoulders tensed as if he had a right to be jealous.

“Plans,” I said, dusting the snow off as a way to avoid eye contact. I glanced around at the people walking by and wished Klaus hadn’t left me.

“How about tomorrow?” he pushed. Our eyes met and anger bubbled hot in my chest.

“Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve,” I said pointedly.

“You don’t have any family out here.”

“… It’s a holiday, and I would prefer to spend it alone. Look, I have to go,” I said. If he was anyone else, I’d tell him to get a life, but I was afraid of him.

Pretending to check the time again, I waved and walked away.

“Hope you liked my gift,” Rhett called from behind me. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Ru.”

My pace quickened.

There was no way I was going to make time for him on Christmas Eve. OR I hope you fall into a ditch.

Chapter 2

Klaus

I’m always watching.

I’d been obsessed since the moment I saw her. I was in Thistle & Pine for a tie. I needed a bigger size, and she was the one who brought it to me in the fitting room. I saw her in the mirror before she turned around, and my Alpha rose before my mind caught up. Recognition, low and wordless, and in that moment, she mattered. Then she closed the distance as if she hadn’t been checking me out. I’d have sworn I caught her scent for half a second before I clocked the patch at her throat and realized that was impossible.

She took my breath away and I needed to know everything about her.

Now, I knew her schedule better than I knew what it took to make me come. At first, I only followed her home. Just to make sure she got there. Then I started learning the rest. Which coffee she ordered when she was tired. Which route she took when it rained. Which coworkers made her laugh for real and which ones she smiled at to be polite. My days were filled up with her until there was no room left for anything else, and following wasn’t enough anymore. So I put cameras in her apartment. For her protection. So I would know if she needed me.

When she went to that prick’s house—I saw red.

Hours. She’d been there hours and I was stuck outside. The windows were closed, blinds pulled, and whatever was on the TV was so loud I couldn’t hear anything else. She didn’t leave until morning. I wanted to drag her home and lock her there. She’d never see the light of day again. But when she came out, her cheeks were wet and she wouldn’t lift her eyes from the sidewalk. The jealousy drained out of me. Something had happened in that house.

After that night, I stopped pretending it was for emergencies. Her walk never took more than fifteen minutes, snow or not.

The front door closed, pulling me from my thoughts. She was late. Twelve minutes. My cock twitched as a delectable sigh fell from her lips. This Omega owned me body and soul and she didn’t even know it. The relief softened her features and her eyes fluttered shut. She had no idea how she looked right now—worn out, soft at the edges, made to be taken care of. It could be like this all the time if she stayed home. When I made her mine, she’d never have to work another day in her life. I could think of a million ways to make her make that sound again.

Ru made her way through the living room. She never knew how loud her own apartment was to me. Every sound came through the speakers like it was meant for my ears alone—keys hitting the counter, the fridge door, the small hum she made when she finally sat down. I could map her whole evening blind, just from what she let slip without knowing anyone was listening.

The best part of my day was watching her on the screens that lit up my wall. The room was dark except for them. No lamps, no art, nothing on the walls but monitors stacked three high, every one of them glowing with her. A desk, a chair, a keyboard. The mask lay face-up beside it, hollow eyes turned toward the screens like it was watching her with me. I didn’t need anything else in here. Everything I needed was on those screens. I could see her from almost every angle. I followed her from one to the next.

She kicked her shoes off by the door and left them where they fell, the way she always did. She shrugged out of her jacket on the way to the kitchen. Rose up on her toes to reach the mugs on the top shelf, sweater riding up to show a strip of skin at her back. Hummed off-key while the kettle heated. She laughed at something on her phone, a real laugh, the one I’d only ever heard through these speakers and never in person. I wanted to know what was so funny. I wanted it to be me. It sure as hell better not be him.

The asshole with a death wish was still sniffing around her. I’d made it clear he needed to stay the fuck away. The notes on his windshield. The door I’d left unlocked behind him. The way I let him catch my masked reflection in a shop window, just once. He still hadn’t learned. I’d left my scent on his car door, his mailbox, his pillow. Any Beta with a working nose knew what that meant. And yet, the fucking idiot persisted.

A smile pulled at the corner of my lips. I’d been dealing with him for months, but the game was almost over. His death was inevitable. I just hadn’t decided how. Maybe I’d bury him alive. Maybe I’d tie him up and leave him in the snow to freeze.

Or maybe I’d cut him into pieces and wrap him in a box with a pretty pink bow. Would she like it?

Or would she scream?