She would fall back to her secondary position, review her intelligence, create a new approach.
The mate bond complicated things, but it was just another obstacle to overcome.
She refused to believe the universe would pair her with her father’s killer.The very idea was obscene.
More than that, she refused to be swayed by animal instinct, by the treacherous warmth that had flooded her system when she’d first scented Conall Stewart.By the electric shock of recognition when their eyes met.
It meant nothing.
Chemistry is not destiny.
Her mission remained unchanged: find her father’s killers and make them pay.
If the universe thought pairing her with one of those killers was some cosmic joke, she wasn’t laughing.
A coyote howled in the distance, and Nadine tensed, scanning her surroundings with dilated pupils.Normally, no desert predator would challenge a wolf shifter, but in her weakened state, she presented an opportunity too tempting to ignore.
Fuck.After hunting the men she believed had killed her father, she might die here in the desert—from a wound taken while protecting one of those very men.
He moved to shield me first.
The memory of Conall’s body instinctively pressing her behind him as the first dart fired replayed in her mind.He hadn’t hesitated.Hadn’t calculated.Just acted to protect.
Not the behavior of a cold-blooded killer.
Nadine shook her head, trying to clear the doubt.
Silver fever playing tricks on her mind.Nothing more.
But with each painful step, the question burned hotter than the silver in her blood: Why had she risked herself to protect Conall Stewart?
And what would it mean if he wasn’t what she’d believed him to be?
CHAPTER 2
CONALL’S VISION SWAM AShe fumbled with the key to the apartment.
The counteragent Nadine had administered was fighting a losing battle against the tranquilizer.His movements felt sluggish, disconnected, like he was trying to navigate underwater.
The walk from the edge of pack territory to downtown Sunburst had taken three times longer than usual.He’d barely managed to avoid being seen, sticking to shadows and back alleys, his body alternating between feverish heat and bone-deep chills.
Get inside.Alert Quinton.Secure the perimeter.
The checklist kept him moving when his body wanted nothing more than to collapse.One foot in front of the other.Focus on the mission parameters.
Finally, the key slid home.Conall practically fell through the doorway, catching himself against the wall as the apartment swung into view.
The familiar scent of home—their shared space above the bakery, just down the block from the Sunburst Diner—should have been comforting.
Instead, it collided with the lingering scent of mountain snow, wild honey, and pine forest that seemed to have embedded itself in his senses.
Nadine.
Even thinking her name sent an unwelcome pulse through the fledgling mate bond, like touching a bruise to see if it still hurt.
It did.
Con?Quinton’s voice cut through the haze.What the—
