DANIEL'S POV
Twenty minutes before the girl walked through my door, I was standing under the spray of the shower in the private bathroom attached to my office.
I turned the handle all the way to the left. The water came out cold. It hit my skin with a shock that usually helped clear my head, but tonight, nothing was working. My wolf, Apollo, was pacing inside my chest. I could feel him scratching at the back of my ribcage, restless and irritated. He hated being this high up. He hated the steel and glass and the recycled air of the fiftieth floor. He wanted dirt. He wanted to run until my lungs burned and my legs gave out.
"Settle down," I muttered to the empty room.
I turned off the water and grabbed a towel. I dried myself aggressively, rubbing the rough cotton over my arms and chest. I looked at the mirror. My eyes were already flashing that bright, unnatural silver. I blinked hard, forcing my human mask back into place. I couldn't let the board members see me like this. They feared me enough as it was.
I walked out into the main suite, wrapping the towel around my waist. My office was massive, more of a penthouse apartment than a place of business. I had a kitchen, a bedroom, and a living area all connected to the main workspace.
Marcus was sitting on one of the leather sofas, eating a container of takeout noodles. He didn't even look up when I walked in. That was the benefit of having a Beta who had known you since you were in diapers. He wasn't impressed by the money or the power.
"You look terrible," Marcus said, stabbing a piece of beef with his plastic fork. "There is a container of spicy chicken here for you. Eat it. Your blood sugar is low, and you're growling at the furniture."
"I'm not hungry," I said, walking past him to the closet. I pulled out a fresh white shirt and a pair of charcoal trousers.
"You have to eat, Daniel. The acquisition meeting is tomorrow morning. If you go in there running on empty, you might accidentally rip someone's throat out for clicking their pen too loudly. And the legal fees for murder are astronomical."
I pulled the shirt on and started buttoning it. My fingers felt clumsy. "I just feel... off. Something is wrong with the perimeter. I can feel it."
"The perimeter is fine," Marcus said, chewing loudly. "I checked the security logs myself. No breaches. No rogue scents. You're just bored. You need a vacation. Go to the cabin. Run in the woods for a week. Kill a deer."
"I can't leave. The merger..."
"The merger will happen whether you are here staring at spreadsheets or not," Marcus interrupted. "Sit down. Eat the chicken."
I sighed and sat down opposite him. I picked up the container. The smell of the food was strong, garlic, chili oil, soy sauce. Usually, I loved this place. But tonight, the smell made my stomach turn. I put the container back down on the coffee table.
"I can't," I said. "Apollo is waiting for something. He won't let me eat."
Marcus rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to argue, but then he stopped. He tilted his head to the side. His phone buzzed on the table.
"That's the front desk," Marcus said, glancing at the screen. "Your analyst is on her way up. Emma Carter. The one with the risk assessment files."
"Send her away," I said immediately. "I don't want to see anyone."
"Too late. She's already in the elevator."
I stood up and walked to my desk. I needed to look busy. I needed to look like the CEO of Blackwell Global, not a werewolf on the verge of a breakdown. I sat down and pulled a random file toward me. I stared at the words, but they didn't make sense.
Then it hit me.
It was a scent that felt foreign.
It started faint, drifting through the ventilation system. At first, I thought it was just the rain outside. But then it grew stronger. It smelled like ozone. Like the air right before a rainfall. Beneath that, there was something sweeter. Vanilla? No, wildflowers. Night-blooming jasmine.
Apollo didn't just stand up. He slammed into the front of my mind.
MATE.
The word wasn't a thought but a roar that vibrated through my entire skeleton.
I gripped the edge of my mahogany desk. The wood creaked under my fingers. "Marcus," I choked out.
"What?" Marcus asked, standing up. "What is it? Are we under attack?"
"Get out," I said. My voice sounded wrecked. "Get out of the office. Now."
"Daniel, talk to me. What's happening?"
"I said get out!" I roared, my control snapping.
Marcus didn't argue. He knew that tone. He grabbed his jacket and bolted for the side exit that led to the private stairwell. The door clicked shut behind him just as the main elevator chimed in the hallway.
I couldn't breathe. My heart was hammering against my ribs so hard I thought it would crack them. I stood up, then sat back down. I couldn't stand when she walked in. If I was standing, I would run to her. I would grab her. I would claim her right there on the rug.
Mine, Apollo snarled. She is here. She is finally here.
The heavy oak doors opened.
And there she was.
She was small. That was my first thought. She was small, and she looked terrified. She was clutching a black binder to her chest like it could save her from me. Her skin was a rich, warm caramel color that made my hands itch to touch it. Her hair was pulled back, but a few curls had escaped, framing a face that I knew I would be looking at for the rest of my life.
But as she stepped into the room, the scent changed.
The wildflowers were there. The ozone was there. But underneath it, wrapped around the sweetness, was something else. Something sharp, metallic and chemical.
She smelled like a laboratory.
She smelled like the thing my father had spent twenty years trying to wipe off the face of the earth.
Apollo faltered. Wrong, he whined. Mate. But... wrong.
She dropped the binder, as it hit the floor with a loud thud. She looked at me, and I saw her eyes. They were brown, but for a split second, I saw a flash of violet in the irises.
She wasn't human.
But she wasn't a wolf either.
She was a Hybrid.
The realization hit me harder than the mate bond. Hybrids were illegal. They were considered abominations by the Council. There was a kill-on-sight order for any creature carrying mixed DNA. If the Council found out she existed, they wouldn't just kill her. They would torture her to find out where she came from.
And she was my mate.
I had to get her out of here. I had to get her away from me before I lost control and marked her. If I marked her, her scent would change. Every wolf in the city would know she belonged to the Alpha. And then they would look closer. They would smell the metal in her blood.
I stood up because I..I couldn't help it. I walked around the desk. I needed to scare her. I needed to make her run away from me so fast she never looked back. It was the only way to keep her safe.
I stopped three feet away from her. I could see the pulse jumping in her throat. She was terrified. Good. Fear would make her run.
"Who are you?" I asked. My voice was a low growl.
"I'm... I'm Emma," she whispered. Her voice shook. "The junior analyst."
I took a step closer. I leaned down, invading her space. I let my eyes flash silver. I wanted her to see the monster.
"No," I said softly. "That's not what I asked."
I inhaled deeply, letting her see me smell her. I saw her shiver. "You smell like a science experiment, Emma. You smell like something that shouldn't exist."
She blinked, confusion washing over her fear. "I... I don't know what you're talking about. I just brought the files."
"Do you know what we do to things that don't belong, Emma?" I asked, my voice dripping with a cruelty I didn't feel. I forced myself to reach out. I grabbed her chin, my fingers digging into her skin just hard enough to be uncomfortable. Her skin was burning hot.
Mate, Apollo cried out. Don't hurt her. Protect her.
I am protecting her, I told him.
"We destroy them," I whispered. I let go of her face and shoved her backward. Not hard enough to knock her over, but hard enough to make her stumble. "Get out of my office. Leave the files. If I see you on this floor again, I'll have security throw you out the window."
She stared at me, her mouth opening and closing. Tears welled up in her eyes. The sight of them felt like a knife in my gut.
"Go!" I shouted.
She turned and ran. She scrambled for the door, fumbling with the handle before throwing it open and disappearing into the hallway.
I waited until I heard the elevator doors close. Then I collapsed back against my desk. I put my head in my hands. The scent of her was everywhere. It was on the carpet. It was in the air. It was on my fingers where I had touched her.
The side door opened. Marcus walked back in. He looked at me, then he looked at the empty hallway. He sniffed the air. His face went pale.
"Daniel," Marcus said, his voice very quiet. "That wasn't a human."
"I know," I said, not looking up.
"And she wasn't just a wolf," Marcus continued, walking closer. "I smelled the metal. Daniel... that was a Hybrid."
I looked up at him. "She's my mate, Marcus."
Marcus froze. He stared at me for a long, silent minute. Then he walked over to the window and looked out at the city.
"If the Council finds out the Alpha of the Blackwell Pack is mated to a Hybrid abomination," Marcus said, turning back to me, "they won't just kill her. They'll declare war on us. We have to kill her, Daniel. Before anyone else smells her."
I stood up slowly. I let the silver take over my eyes completely. I let my claws extend, sharp points tearing through the expensive fabric of the chair.
"If you touch her," I said, my voice vibrating with the full power of the Alpha command, "I will rip your head off and mount it on the wall. Do you understand me?"
