a P

food turned to ash in my mouth. All I could fee

"I'm taking you home," he sai

vy silence as we drove throug

, Kyla," Caleb finally said, his kn

nd, Caleb. He's an Alpha. The Alpha. And I'm his...

glect. The arranged bond I never wanted. The final humiliation at the funeral. And the

erruption, his jaw tighten

erted spot next to a city park. He killed the engine and turned to fac

rough with disbelief. "Kyla, you're being naive. An Alpha like that doesn

w, knocking the air from my lungs. A new, colder

t me help you. At Sterling Capital, you're my employee. He can't

wanted to touch my face. He seemed to think better of it, letting h

is voice dropping to a low, i

rely alone. But a part of me felt a deep unease. I didn't want to dra

and waited until he saw the lights of

iny flicker of warmth in my chest from Caleb's promise. It

e P

a

g at the bars of my control. I'd left the restaurant, dragging

of Kyla was burned into my mind. Her smile. The way she had looked at that man,

laughed

east

my house. A duty. A responsibility. I had thought her wea

ith a fire in her eyes, sitting across fr

control wa

the study door b

" I sn

. He didn't turn on the lights, just stood

d?" I demanded, my

of my desk. It was slightly creased, as if it had been retrieved from the bottom of a drawe

l. "Miss Dalton asked me to give this to you personally a week ago. I recovered it from

And he had chosen this moment, with my ra

e elegant French script on the front. Kyla's handwr

harp, cut through the haze of my

. My eyes scanned the text, catching on

and brutal in the moonlight

for Mate Bond R