Chapter 1

Every head in the hallway turned.

I froze for a moment.

The tall man standing in front of me looked past me with a flat gaze, nodding toward what was behind me.

"Sorry, could you move?"

Only then did I realize I was blocking half the doorway. My face went hot. I stepped aside quickly.

Cain Thorne gave me a polite nod, his expression perfectly calm, and walked into the Alpha's office.

I went to the break room and made myself a coffee.

Did he recognize me? Didn't he?

That line he said...

Was it on purpose? Or just coincidence?

I turned and looked at the glass cabinet door beside me.

It reflected back a blurry woman of thirty-three.

Short hair to the jaw, pale makeup, dark-framed glasses. Sleeve covers on both arms, worn to fuzz, because I'd been pulled away mid-task from checking financial records.

Nothing like the girl from that wild journey five years ago. The one who laughed too loud and took up too much space.

Two completely different people.

...

It was coincidence.

That was my conclusion.

Back in the office, two of my younger subordinates were chattering about the new boss.

"He's insanely good-looking. If I didn't know better I'd think he was some celebrity. If I'd known the new Alpha was this level, I wouldn't have fought the takeover at all. I'd have welcomed it!"

"They say he's only twenty-eight. Built his own company from nothing, then took over the family Pack. This is what a real Alpha looks like. I have to post something."

"Don't be so dramatic..."

"Even our serious, uptight Wren blocked his door. If she can lose it, why can't I? Hey, why are you kicking me—"

I walked to my desk without changing my expression.

"No gossip during work hours."

The two of them went instantly silent and nearly buried their heads in their desks.

Heels clicked sharply in the hallway, growing closer.

Vivienne Hartley walked in, immaculate as always, tight-fitted blazer, full makeup.

She dropped a stack of expense reports on my subordinate's desk.

"Why were the Operations Division claims sent back?"

The young girl who had just started flinched and stumbled through her explanation. "Ms. Hartley, these don't meet the new expense policy. Anything over fifty percent needs the Pack Manager's signature—"

Vivienne cut her off, impatient. "The Operations team is out there fighting for this Pack, and you people sit in your office all day looking for ways to slow us down?"

I looked up.

"Ms. Hartley," I said, my voice flat. "The new finance policy was issued weeks ago, and we ran a dedicated training session for it. If you don't understand it, go back and study it. If you disagree with it, take it to leadership. Shouting in here doesn't prove anything except your lung capacity."

Vivienne turned to look at me, blinked, and put on a slow expression of dawning realization.

"Wren, you wouldn't be settling a personal score here, would you?"

I adjusted my glasses and met her eyes.

"What personal score could we possibly have?"

She laughed, light and dismissive.

"Looks like we'll have to let Declan come talk to you himself. You two were Bonded, after all."

Declan came quickly.

Vivienne greeted him with a low "hey" and then dropped her eyes, biting her lip, playing the part of someone hurt by an unfair boss.

"No need to make things hard for a junior staff member." Declan glanced at me with a faint frown, his tone as casual as if he were commenting on the weather.

I knew this scene well.

Back when I was still Bonded to Declan.

He'd said things like that to me many times.

We'd been together three years.

After he was promoted to Operations Director, things between him and Vivienne had started to blur.

I asked him to transfer her to a different division.

He thought I was being paranoid and ridiculous.

"You sit in your office all day. It's normal for the Operations team to look out for each other when they're out networking. Don't tell me you're seriously threatened by a junior staff member."

One night he came back drunk from a client dinner. I drove to get him. Vivienne was in the backseat, helping him. Somewhere along the way she let out a short, sharp sound, and when she got out of the car I noticed her skirt had ridden up, showing a flash of pale skin.

I was a low-energy person.

I couldn't be bothered catching anyone in the act, couldn't be bothered fighting. I just requested the Bond be severed.

Declan's reaction was contemptuous.

"Wren, if you're trying to manipulate me by pulling away, you're using the wrong approach. I don't respond to that kind of pressure."

"You're a divorced She-Wolf pushing thirty-three with a rigid personality. If you can find someone half as good as me, I'll get down on my knees in front of the Pack House."

We severed the Bond quickly.

But we were still in the same Pack.

We saw each other every day.

He and Vivienne walked in and out together. He made a point of fussing over her in front of me, always stepping in to defend her, always with the same line: "My team, my responsibility."

People whispered that I had real patience, staying in the Pack like that.

Before, I would have found it humiliating. Quit and disappeared.

But I was thirty-three now.

Age had given me something. Backbone.

I'd fought hard to reach Finance Director. Why should I be the one to leave?

And besides, they were the ones who should be embarrassed.

Not me.

Right now.

Declan tilted his head and looked at me, wearing that familiar half-smirk.

"There's no point dragging a junior member into whatever's going on between us. You'd agree, wouldn't you?"

I kept my expression blank. "Following protocol is dragging her into it? Was the Pack's financial policy written specifically to inconvenience her?