He rejected me five years ago. Now he owns every breath I take.
I ran from Alpha Michael Blackthorn the night he looked into my eyes and shattered our fated bond. The night he chose power over me. The night his rejection nearly killed us both.
I rebuilt myself in Philadelphia. Changed my name. Buried Clara Silvermoon and became someone else. Someone harder. Someone who'd never let an alpha break her again.
Then my mother's desperate call dragged me back to New York.
Magnus-the monster who murdered my father and seized control of the Silvermoon Pack-is holding her prisoner. To save her, I need to infiltrate Blackthorn Corporation. I need to get close to the enemy.
I just didn't know Michael would be there.
The dark alpha who haunts my nightmares is now my boss.
He doesn't recognize me at first. Five years changes a woman. Especially when she's spent every day learning how to destroy the men who hurt her.
But when our eyes meet across that conference room, the severed mate bond roars back to life. Vicious. Hungry. Demanding.
And Michael? He's not the boy who rejected me anymore.
He's something far more dangerous.
"You think you can walk back into my world and not pay the price?"
His words are a dark promise. His touch burns hotter than it should for a bond that's supposed to be dead. Every time he backs me against a wall, every time his scent drives my wolf wild with need, I remember why I ran.
Because Michael Blackthorn doesn't just want me.
He wants to own me.
But I have secrets that will destroy us both.
The night he rejected me, I left with more than a shattered heart. I'm carrying proof of the one time we gave in-one stolen night before he chose his father's legacy over our future.
My daughter. His heir. The secret that makes me the most dangerous weapon in this war.
Michael thinks he can force me into a contract. Make me his tool against Magnus. Tie me to him through business and revenge while he fights the bond we both feel.
He doesn't know I've been planning his downfall for five years.
"Sign the contract, Clara. Become mine."
The terms are brutal: I work for him. I submit to him. I let him use my body to satisfy the bond that's driving us both insane.
In exchange? He helps me save my mother.
But clause by clause, touch by touch, I'm falling back into his darkness. And Michael's obsession is growing into something feral. Possessive. Consuming.
When my heat hits-unexpected, devastating, triggered by our proximity-there's nowhere to hide. Michael's dominance strips away every defense. His knot claims me. His bite marks me. His seed fills me with a primal need to breed that terrifies us both.
And he still doesn't know about our daughter.
The lies are piling up. The danger is closing in.
Magnus is hunting for the woman sabotaging his empire. Michael is seconds from discovering my real identity. And the secret I've been hiding? It's about to blow up in our faces.
Because when Michael learns the truth-learns who I really am, what I took from him -the dark alpha will show me exactly how ruthless he can be.
He'll kill for me. He'll destroy for me.
But will he forgive me?
Or will he make me submit in ways that shatter us both?
