They could take down the entire shifter community in a single coordinated strike,she breathed.
Which is why we have to stop them.Conall’s determination bled through the mate bond, mixing with her own resolve.All of them.Chimera, whoever’s behind the pack disappearances, whoever killed your father.
Through the mate bond, he felt her wolf’s insistence:He’s not the enemy.I’ve been trying to tell you that from the beginning.
Whatever was happening between them personally, whatever complicated emotions the mate bond was stirring up, they were aligned on this mission.
Okay,she said quietly.Alliance.Temporary, strategic cooperation.
Alliance,he agreed, and the mate bond fluttered with satisfaction.
She held out her hand—a formal gesture, professional despite the circumstances.He took it without hesitation.
The contact sent electricity straight through both their nervous systems.The mate bond flared so bright it was almost painful, and Conall had to bite back a groan at the intensity of the sensation.
Just a handshake.Nothing more.
But the way her thumb brushed across his knuckles suggested otherwise.The way her breathing changed, became more deliberate.The way her scent seemed to intensify.
He should pull away.Should maintain professional distance.
Instead, Conall found himself cataloging details he had no business noticing.The calluses on her palm from weapons training.The strength in her grip, precise and disciplined.The way her pulse jumped at her wrist, matching the rhythm of his own accelerated heartbeat.
Through the bond, he felt her thought:Dangerous.This is dangerous.
She pulled her hand back, unwilling to allow the mate bond to fully settle in.
We should—she started to say, then stopped as footsteps echoed in the corridor again.
Their hour was up.
Without a word, Conall and Nadine stood again, this time facing the doorway shoulder to shoulder.
Alliance.Partnership.
Definitely not anything more.
But as the door opened and their captors returned, Conall couldn’t ignore the way his wolf settled contentedly at Nadine’s proximity.Couldn’t deny the sense of rightness that flooded through him despite every logical reason to resist.
The mate bond—even a partial one that hadn’t been completely accepted yet, like theirs—didn’t lie.And right now, it was telling him that Nadine Torrance might be the key to everything—solving her father’s murder, stopping Chimera’s plans, saving the shifter community.
Whether or not she wanted to believe it.
CHAPTER 9
THE CELL DOOR OPENEDwith a groan of protesting metal, and three guards stepped inside.Professional.Armed.
Underestimating them completely.
Nadine’s silver wound throbbed as she shifted position, but she pushed the pain aside.Weakness got you killed.Got your father killed.Got your mate—
No.Not her mate.
Time to go,the lead guard said, his voice carrying the casual authority of someone who’d done this too many times before.Boss wants to see you both.
Something passed between Conall and Nadine—not the mate bond, she told herself,just awareness.Two predators recognizing opportunity.
He gave the slightest nod.
