Chapter 190
HUNTER
Tanner’s report flew over my head. My muscles were coiled tightly as I sat behind my desk, waiting
She was already here–I could feel her.
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Something had shifted last night. In that dream, in the way I took her, something in our connection had changed. Every now and again. In the way she shattered around me.
Her anxiety bled through as if the mate bond had never broken
“Sir?”
I looked up at Tanner, who stood in front of my desk with a table in his hand. Since we’d both been away, too many issues demanded our attention. Reports, disputes, budgets, personnel, nd new cases. But none of it mattered.
Would Kitty accept the job?
“Handle the urgent files first,” I said. “Everyone’s maintained our standards. We’ll catch up quickly.”
“Yes, sir,” Tanner said, and then turned to leave.
“Tanner.”
He stopped immediately, his head lowered.
“With Elijah gone and everything that followed, you’ve more than proved your worth.” I folded my hands on my desk, studying him. “Keeping the Bureau separate from our kingdom allowed my uncle to build leverage. That ends now.”
Tanner’s jaw tightened. He’d had to bring Ryker’s body back to his family.
“I’m offering you the position of pack beta. My right hand here and at home.”
I’d sworn I wouldn’t trust so easily again, but I couldn’t be everywhere at once, not while fighting for Kitty.
“You can select two trusted, fully vetted people to support you,” added.
Tanner’s emotions flickered through him even though his face mained neutral.
“It would be my honour, Your Majesty,” he said.
He paused briefly before he asked, “Should I file the report about what happened during the full moon?”
I knew what he was asking. Should he report Kitty? Or the fact that I’d somehow morphed into something completely different.
“No.”
I’d throw all our resources to protect Kitty from what exposure would bring.
When he left, I still sat there. Could she feel me near, too? Kitty had sealed herself away from me the moment she left the Lycan kingdom. She was masking her emotions. But last night was different. She’d opened up to me. She’d shown me all her pain. I had a lot of work to do before I could even begin to beg for her forgiveness.
The elevator door down the hall opened. I straightened, switching on my computer to refocus. I’d take this slow. Show her with actions, not words.
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17:03 Tue, Mar 3 M
Chapter 190
58%
56 Vouchers
My heart thudded once, hard, before I locked everything down. Masking had always come easily to me, but Kitty was better. In moments, even the pain in my chest dulled. Like I’d borrowed her ability again.
Was that what still bound us then? Our shared abilities?
A knock sounded on my door, and Kitty’s scent flooded my office. Vanilla, amber and peppermint chocolate wrapped in something colder.
“Come in.”
Carl Stevens entered first, a folder in his hand, but my gaze went straight to the woman behind him. Her head was down, her face expressionless, but her shoulders were rigid.
“Director, your assistant is here,” Steven said smoothly, placing the folder on my desk. “All the relevant details have been emailed.”
I appreciated his professionalism and efficiency. He hadn’t questioned why I needed an assistant after all these years, and why I specifically chose the new hire who’d absconded from work.
“Thank you, Mr Stevens. You can show her to her office.”
Kitty didn’t even look at me.
I glanced back at my screen, dismissing them both. The second the door closed, I let out a breath. The Executive Assistant’s office was adjoined to mine, but had always been empty. Now I heard the scrape of a chair, the murmur of Stevens’s low voice as he gave her my schedule and outlined her benefits.
Flexible hours. Study accommodations. Generous bonuses and vacations. Security clearances. I already had a car ready for her in the basement parking lot. The only clause that mattered to me was that she had to do as I asked.
She’d signed that contract in HR before coming up here. Would he see through it? I’d do anything to keep her close.
Once Stevens left, the office beside mine became silent. All I heard was her steady heartbeat and breathing. No leaked emotions, no fluctuations.
An hour later, she finally moved. I heard the quiet whir of the coffee machine, a spoon against porcelain, and then her footsteps as she approached the adjoining door. I looked back at the screen I hadn’t paid any attention to as it opened, and didn’t look up when she stopped in front of my desk.
“I’ve made your coffee, Mr Sterling,” she said. Her voice was cool and impersonal. Chilly air followed her from her office.
This was our first real conversation since she overheard me in the tavern. If last night hadn’t happened, I might have believed this mask completely.
“Thank you.”
“May I ask why I was moved from the Legal department?” she asked. “I have no interest in being an assistant.”
Because I was selfish. Because I didn’t want her to disappear again before I’d had a chance to speak.
“Your position was filled while you were away. This was the only opening available.”
I wouldn’t lie to her anymore. I already had too much to make up for.
“I know this is uncomfortable,” I continued. “You can walk away it’s too much.”
The words scraped my throat on their way out.
“Or wait until there’s another opening in Legal. I won’t stop you.
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17:03 Tue, Mar 3 M
Chapter 190
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55 Vouchers
The temperature dropped a fraction, but there wasn’t even a ripple in my magic or the threads that connected us.
“You know this trick won’t work.” Her tone didn’t rise, but the air shifted subtly. She finally lifted her head and stood straight, chin high, her eyes meeting mine at last.
There was no softness there. No warmth. Just a distance greater than the widest canyon.
“This isn’t a trick,” I said quietly. “I would have worried if you hadn’t come back.”
Something flickered across her face, but it was gone in an instant
“You didn’t need to worry,” she replied. “I didn’t come back for you.”
The words should have cut. Instead, I searched deeper, past heron control.
And then I felt it. A tremor. Not in her voice, but in the threads. pulse, faint but unmistakable, snapped between us. Her breath hitched, and her pupils dilated. Her scent in the room intensified, almost as intoxicating as it had been with the mate bond.
Then she stepped back immediately as if she’d been burned. The pulse stopped, and the scent in the air vanished.
“Is there anything else you require, Director?” she asked, deliberately using my title.
Before I could answer her, the lights flickered. My screen glitched, and the temperature plunged violently. Shadows appeared on the walls, as they had in the dream. The air thickened with power.
Kitty looked around the room, her eyes wide with shock. And the fear bled through. I saw it in her eyes and felt it in the air.
The threads pulsed again, stronger this time. I felt everything.
Then she exhaled slowly, her eyes closed, and her emotions bled out of me. The shadows evaporated. The temperature returned to normal.
But that pulse in the threads, as faint as it was, remained.
“I’ll be in my office if you need me,” she said, her voice still steady.
When she was gone, I stared at the closed door, wondering if I was still dreaming. Kitty’s power wasn’t stabilising. It was evolving.
And that pulse-the mate bond wasn’t dead. It was rebuilding itself, whether she wanted it or not.
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