My knees had turned to water. The leather chair beneath me felt like a thousand needles prickling into my skin, tearing me apart, and making me lose my mind. My chest was heaving too fast, too shallow. The room blurred at the edges—glass walls, city skyline, Alistair's face—all of it swimming.
Nausea climbed hot and sour up my throat. I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth, swallowing hard.
Alistair started to rise, one hand reaching toward me.
I threw up my hand up, stopping him mid-air. Sharp, instinctive. "Don't." I say.
He froze mid-motion, then slowly lowered his arm. No offense taken. Just patience.
I forced three ragged breaths. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.
A laugh bubbled up. A dry, humourless laugh that sounded completely broken. The type you do when that's the only thing your body remembers to do. Laugh.
"Are you joking?" The words scraped out, my throat feeling parched. "This has to be some sick, twisted joke that's gone way too far. Right?"
Alistair didn't smile. "I have no reason to waste your time like that, Faye."
I stared at him.
"So you're telling me…" My voice cracked, then got higher. "You're a werewolf. Half-human. And you let me sign that contract before dropping this on me? This is exactly the kind of deceit that made humans hate you in the first place!"
He didn't even flinch.
I was on my feet now—shaky and unsteady, but standing. "Was it all planned? From the beginning? Did you know I'd be there last night? Was all of it just a carefully laid trap?"
He exhaled slowly through his nose. "It was purely coincidental. I drove past you without even noticing. I was… lost in thought. I only saved you because there was real danger in those woods—and you broke my rear window."
I searched his face for a lie. Found none.
"Then why was Benny—" My voice broke again. "Why was he so obsessed? You said it was forbidden. Wolves aren't supposed to fall in love with humans. So why was he allowed? Were you aware the whole time? Why couldn't you control him? You're supposed to be the Alpha!" I was starting to get stressed.
Alistair sighed—deep, weary—and sank back into his chair. For the first time he looked almost… tired.
"As Alpha, I'm responsible for every member of the pack. Including the rogues who break our laws." He folded his hands on the desk. "Benny's been... testing boundaries. Obsessing over a human, threatening violence in public—those are violations. I've been watching him for months, but I never suspected that he'd actually formed a relationship with a human. I've been waiting to see how far he'd go rogue… and how long he'd last before I had to intervene."
"You were waiting?" I laughed again—short, bitter. "So I'm what? Your test subject? Your way to rein him in?"
"No." His voice sharpened just enough to cut through my spiraling. "It's not just that."
I stared at him. "Then what is it? Why am I suddenly being force-fed the truth? Do you actually need a secretary, or am I just your pet project? Payroll to keep tabs on your insane pack member?"
He leaned forward, forearms resting on the desk. "I said it's not just that, Faye."
"My name is Chloe!" I shot back, irritated that he keeps using my middle name.
He sighs, ignores me, and continues. "There are… other reasons. I can't name them yet—not with certainty. But you are safer here, knowing everything, than out there blind to what Benny might do next. And without anyone to turn to."
"I could call the cops," I said without missing a beat.
He raised one brow, almost amused. "And tell them what? How many do you think would actually believe you? Hell, even you don't want to believe it."
The words landed heavy. He was right. God, he was right.
I landed back on the chair.
Even I didn't want to believe what I already knew.
This can't be real.
I'm hallucinating.
This has to be a nightmare.
I'll wake up any second in my apartment, coffee still brewing, phone buzzing with another text from Benny.
I wove my fingers through my hair, tugging hard enough to hurt. "You said there are other reasons. What other reasons? What else could there possibly be besides the fact that I dated a werewolf without knowing and now he's obsessed with me?"
Alistair tapped his long fingers along the edge of the desk—slow, elegant, deliberate.
Then, quietly: "Your mother."
I blinked, "What?"
"Your mother, the one who gave you the silver chain. You said she passed on?"
The question blindsided me.
I blinked. "Well, yes, she… died. Five years ago. I was twenty."
"Any other family?"
I shook my head slowly. "Just Lindsey. Mom's friend. I call her aunt, but we're not blood. Why is my family relevant?"
For a moment he didn't answer. His head tilted slightly to the side—not quite focused on me. Like he was listening to something far away. Or someone.
The rims of his deep blue eyes flickered. Just for a heartbeat—golden light rimming the edges like frost catching fire.
What the hell?
"That's right," he murmured, almost to himself.
"What's right?"
Then his gaze snapped back to me. "You need to take a step back, Faye. And realize a few things."
That name again. He doesn't listen.
I didn't want to realize anything. I wanted to scream. Or run. Or disappear.
A soft knock broke the silence.
Lena stepped in with stacks of files in her arms. She flashed me that same warm smile, but this time her curiosity was painfully obvious. She was practically staring.
Then she flinched, like someone had snapped their fingers in her face, and quickly looked away, cheeks flushing faintly.
"Sorry," she said quickly to me. "I didn't mean to stare."
She placed the files on Alistair's desk, murmured a few quick updates about a meeting, then slipped out as quietly as she'd come.
The door clicked shut.
I whispered, "She's one too?"
Alistair nodded once. "Most people on this floor and above are pack. Not all of them, some are trusted humans who know the truth, but the majority are shifters."
Another sigh tore out of me, sounded more like a groan—long, helpless.
I'm surrounded.
Every day.
In an office full of werewolves.
Alistair glanced at the clock on the wall. "I have a meeting in ten minutes. You can stay here if you want. Or you can go. Take the time you need."
"No." The word came out fast. "I need to go. I need… I need to process. All of this. In the last two hours, I think my entire reality broke."
He stood. Offered his hand to help me up.
I stared at it for a long second, then took it anyway. His grip was warm. Steady. I hated how safe it felt.
"Your first day starts tomorrow," he said. "Nine sharp. I need your address so I'll have a car pick you up."
"You don't have to—"
"I insist, it's safer that way."
I didn't argue. "I'll text you the address."
He nodded.
I stood on legs that still felt like they might give out. Turned toward the massive window. The city sprawled below—endless, indifferent. Jenny's Diner looked like a dollhouse from up here.
You could run, Chloe.
Block his number.
Move cities.
Change your name.
Disappear.
But then I remembered the look on Benny's face when he saw Alistair. The instant fear. The way he'd backed down without a fight.
I turned back.
Alistair was already watching me.
"If I walk out now…" My voice cracked. "He'll come for me again. Won't he?"
Alistair tilted his head—a habit of his I noticed.
"He shouldn't, if he knows what's best for him." A pause. "Yet he will."
Great.
"But I won't let him harm you." His voice was certain.
Something in the way he said it—low, absolute—cut through the fog of panic. Fear receded, just a fraction. Just enough to breathe.
I nodded once. Exhausted.
"Okay."
And just like that, I'd agreed to show up tomorrow. I walked toward the elevator, heart still hammering, wondering if I'd just signed away my freedom. To work in a building full of monsters. To trust a man I barely knew. The leader.
What choice did I have?