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There was no denying I’d brought my current situation on myself. I could’ve made other career choices. Maybe it had only been a matter of time before I was caught. Ironic, considering I’d been about to disappear before this mess. I finally had enough money to support myself for the rest of my life. Then I could turn my skills to something more… moral.
How had Magnus breached my defenses so quickly? So thoroughly? It didn’t make sense. I didn’t understand the physical connection we shared. It was like an invisible tether, even now tugging at me, urging me to return to him.
I stepped out of the shower and dried off, pulling on one of the oversized T-shirts I slept in and heading to the kitchen to make a cup of tea.
Wrapping my hands around the hot cup, I headed to my bedroom and climbed under the covers. I tugged my weighted blanket over me—it always helped to calm my anxiety, but it didn’t seem to be working tonight. My body still burned for Magnus, for his solid strength and his unique scent. Our connection tugged at me. I wanted…needed to be near him. I was like I was climbing out of my skin.
It was a long time before sleep finally claimed me.
Chapter 4
Magnus
I spent the night pacing, figuring out my next move.
I hadn’t planned what had happened in the elevator, but my bear had taken over. I prided myself on my control, but Mila Matthews had snuck beneath my defenses the second I saw her in the elevator this morning. Of course, I’d been waiting for her, wanting to lay eyes on the woman who’d stolen from my company.
But nothing could’ve prepared me for the sight of her.
Hair the color of spun silver and eyes as blue as a summer sky. She was tall for a woman, her body trim yet with curves in all the right places. And Jesus, her scent. It had hit me like a punch to the gut, morphing from pleasant to bewitching in a split second, her blood singing to me.
Mate.
My bear had recognized her the second he scented her, while my inner male had roared and beat his chest. I’d had my share of women, but none had affected me like Mila. Finding a mate among my kind was rare. The female bear population was dwindling, and with it, the ability to procreate. Discovering my mate was human had floored me. It was unusual for bear shifters to mate with humans, so I’d never expected it to happen to me. It was an unknown quantity. And I didn’t like unknowns. I dealt with facts and solid evidence. But I couldn’t deny what was in front of me. She was my mate. The woman who’d betrayed my company. Betrayed me.
Yet when she’d clenched around my fingers, I’d known I would never get enough of her. She wanted me as much as I wanted her. She’d felt our connection but would have no idea what it meant as a human.
I needed to tread carefully. My original plan had been to expose the thief and hand them over to the authorities, but it was no longer that simple. Mila was in a dangerous situation, at the mercy of an unknown foe, and it was my duty to protect her despite what she’d done. But I needed answers. I needed to know everything to ensure her safety.
My background checks had revealed little. She was good, and she’d covered her tracks well. But Emmett was better because he had all my resources at his fingertips. Mila Matthews was twenty-three. She was an orphan, abandoned on the steps outside a police station as a baby. She’d become a ward of the state and bounced around various foster homes before aging out of the system at eighteen. Then she’d simply… disappeared.
But Emmett had tracked her movements over the last five years—different aliases, new identities, new locations. She’d moved around a lot before securing a position at Grizzly Guardians in Colorado. She’d come in under the radar, blending into the fabric of the building. But someone had discovered her identity and forced her hand, making her their puppet and sending her into my territory. I intended to find out who.
Life had forced certain choices on her. She’d used her skills to filter money from multi-billion-dollar companies, but according to the transactions Emmett had found in her bank accounts, she’d only taken enough to secure her future and sent anonymous donations to children’s charities. Yeah, my girl wasn’t the cold-hearted hacker she’d first appeared.
I sensed her presence before a knock sounded at my office door. I checked my watch. Nine AM sharp. She’d come as instructed. Part of me had expected her to flee, which is why I’d tasked two of my best men to tail her. They’d discreetly followed her back to her small apartment. Odd that she would choose to live there when her bank accounts would afford her far greater luxury. She lived a modest lifestyle—no flashy cars or designer clothing. Mila Mathews was low-maintenance. She had secrets, and I planned to uncover every one of them.
And to do that, I needed to claim her. Because whatever else she was, she was my mate. She was destined to be by my side. We would figure out the rest along the way.
The knowledge that she was mine sent heat through my veins and hardened my cock. Jesus, the way she’d come apart on my fingers yesterday almost had me spilling in my pants like a teenager. I knew the mating bond was strong; had seen it in action with my parents and my aunt and uncle. But experiencing it for myself? Game over. Mila Matthews might be human, but she was mine. Mine to claim. Mine to possess. Mine to mark and bite.
She’d left the building upset and confused yesterday. I’d still been able to smell her arousal hours later, permeating the air and infiltrating my lungs. It had slammed into my loins with the force of a tsunami and hadn’t let up since. Wouldn’t let up until I made her mine in every way.
“Enter,” I called, leaning back in my leather chair behind my desk.
Mila walked in, dressed in another of those tight skirts that highlighted her long legs and rounded hips and a cream blouse that clung to her breasts. My cock hardened as I remembered having those creamy mounds in my mouth yesterday, sucking on her velvet nipples, my fingers deep inside her slick sheath.
When her blue eyes met mine, they were rimmed with exhaustion, the shadows beneath them marring her flawless skin. Seemed I wasn’t the only one who’d experienced a sleepless night. She looked vulnerable, and it took all my willpower not to stand and wrap her in my arms, to reassure her that everything would be okay. My bear growled, fighting to get out.
Soon, I appeased him. We need answers first.
Mila tipped her chin up in a habit I was beginning to recognize. She did it when she was uncertain, trying to hide her unease with a shield of confidence. But there was fragility beneath her assumed nonchalance. What had her life been like that she’d learned to conceal her true emotions?
“Reporting for duty, as requested,” she stated, her eyes holding mine unflinchingly. I almost expected her to salute.
“Did you sleep last night?” As much as my bear demanded I complete the mating bond, he recognized that our mate wasn’t taking care of herself. I cursed myself for not noticing it yesterday, too blinded by lust and the newness of my discovery.
But once we’d sealed our bond, I would be more attuned to her and her to me: her moods, her needs, the nuances of her emotions. After the passion I’d elicited from her untried body yesterday, I hoped she would accept what she would soon learn.
