Maya POV
The growl in the darkness freezes my blood.
It's not Dominic. I can hear him breathing next to me, fast and weak. Which means something else is in this elevator with us.
Something dangerous.
"Don't move," Dominic says. His hand finds mine in the dark, gripping tight. His skin is burning hot, almost heated. "Maya, whatever happens, stay behind me."
"What is it?" My voice barely works.
"Marcus Vale." Dominic spits the name like poison. "He must have followed you."
The growl comes again, closer now. I can smell something wild and wrong—wet fur and old blood.
"Who's Marcus Vale?"
"The alpha who killed my mother."
Oh God.
Emergency lights flash on, casting everything in red. And there, crouched in the corner of the elevator like a nightmare, is a man.
Except he's not fully a man anymore.
His face is stretched wrong, mouth too long, teeth too sharp. His hands have claws instead of fingers. His eyes glow yellow in the red light—not gold like Dominic's, but sick and hungry yellow.
"Found you, Kane," the thing rasps. "And you brought me a present."
His bright eyes lock on me.
Dominic moves so fast he blurs. One second he's next to me, the next he's between me and the monster, and his body is changing. Bones crack. Fur moves across his skin. His business suit tears as he gets bigger, taller, more wolf than man.
"Touch her and I'll rip your throat out," Dominic snarls. His voice is barely human.
Marcus laughs—a wet, ugly sound. "That's the trouble with mates, isn't it? Makes you weak. Predictable." He leaps forward with impossible speed.
Dominic meets him mid-air. They crash together with a sound like thunder, claws and fangs tearing. Blood splashes across the elevator walls. I scream and press myself into the corner, trying to make myself small.
This isn't real. This can't be real.
But it is. I'm watching my boss—my terrible, cruel, impossible boss—fighting a monster to protect me. And he's losing.
Marcus is bigger, meaner, more experienced. He gets Dominic by the throat and slams him against the wall hard enough to dent metal. Dominic chokes, grabbing at Marcus's arm.
"I'm going to enjoy this," Marcus whispers. "First I kill you. Then I take your little human mate. Maybe I'll keep her alive for a while. Make her watch what I do to your pack."
Something inside me snaps.
I don't think. I just move.
My hand closes around the emergency fire extinguisher placed on the wall. I rip it free, swing it with every ounce of power I have, and smash it into the back of Marcus's skull.
The impact jars my arms. Marcus roars and drops Dominic, spinning toward me with death in his yellow eyes.
"Bad move, human," he growls.
Then Dominic is on him again, and this time he's not holding back. His claws sink into Marcus's chest. His jaws close around Marcus's throat. There's a horrible wet crunch.
Marcus goes still.
Dominic drops the body and staggers backward, bleeding from a dozen cuts. His wolf form is terrifying—seven feet of muscle and fur and claws, more monster than anything I've ever imagined.
But when he looks at me, his eyes are Dominic's. Gold and frantic and afraid.
"Maya," he rasps. "Are you hurt?"
I shake my head. I can't move. Can't understand what just happened.
Dominic starts to shift back, his body shrinking, fur receding. In seconds he's human again—or mostly human. His shirt is torn. Blood covers his chest and arms. But he's alive.
"We need to get out of here," he says, hitting keys on the elevator panel with shaking hands. "Now. Before—"
My phone rings.
We both stare at it. Unknown number.
With shaky fingers, I answer. "Hello?"
"Very impressive, Miss Chen." The voice is smooth, male, foreign. "Not many humans could hit an alpha shifter with a fire extinguisher and live to tell about it."
"Who is this?"
"Someone who's been watching you very carefully. Tell Mr. Kane that Marcus was just the starting move. The real game starts now."
"What do you want?" Dominic asks, leaning close to hear.
"What I've always wanted. Your pack. Your company. Your power. And now, thanks to you both, I have the right leverage." The voice turns cold. "Check your email, Miss Chen. I've sent you a little preview of what happens if you don't participate."
The call stops.
My email notice pings. With numb fingers, I open it.
It's a movie file. I press play.
The screen shows a building. In the middle, tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth, is Sophie. My best friend. Her eyes are wide with fear.
A figure steps into frame—masked, voice warped. "You have 24 hours to bring me what I want, or your friend dies. And Miss Chen? Don't bother going to the cops. I have officers on my payroll who'll make sure you never see her again."
The video cuts to black.
I stare at the screen, my whole world tilted sideways.
This morning I was just an unhappy assistant with a terrible boss.
Now I'm caught in a war between shifters, my best friend is kidnapped, and the man I thought I hated just saved my life. " Maya." Dominic's hand is gentle on my shoulder. "Look at me."
I do. His eyes are back to their normal gray, but there's something fierce burning behind them.
"I will get Sophie back," he says. "I promise you. But I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"
Can I? Can I trust the man who's made my life hell? The monster who just killed another monster to protect me?
Before I can answer, the elevator lurches. The doors grind open.
Standing in the hallway is a woman I've never seen before. She's beautiful—ice-blonde hair, cold blue eyes, expensive suit. She looks at the dead body on the elevator floor, then at Dominic's blood-covered chest, then at me.
She smiles. It doesn't reach her eyes.
"Hello, Dominic darling," she purrs. "I see you've made quite a mess. And you must be the famous Maya Chen." Her eyes rake over me like I'm a bug. "My name is Victoria Cross. And I'm Dominic's fiancée."
The world stops.
Dominic's face goes white. "Ex-fiancée. Victoria, what are you—"
"Oh, didn't you tell her?" Victoria's smile widens. "How rude. Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll explain everything." She pulls out her phone and shows me the screen.
It's a picture of Dominic and Victoria together, his arm around her waist, both of them smiling. The date stamp says three months ago.
Three months. While he's been abusing me at work, he's had a fiancée?
"Now then," Victoria says sweetly. "Shall we talk how you're both going to do exactly what I say? Or should I send another little movie to Miss Chen's email? I have so many more friends I could steal."
My phone buzzes.
Another message. Another video.
This time it's not Sophie.
It's my father.