#Chapter 4#::The street

Rain was falling when I saw him.

I’d just finished dropping the twins at daycare. Was walking back to my car with my hood up, thinking about the training session Victor had scheduled for later.

Then I caught the scent.

Pine and earth. Exactly the way I remembered.

My whole body froze. My wolf, who’d been quiet for three years, suddenly woke up. Alert. Aware.

The mate bond tried to snap back into place.

Pain exploded in my chest. Sharp and terrible. Like someone shoved a hot knife between my ribs.

I looked up through the rain.

He was across the street. Maybe fifty feet away. Standing outside a coffee shop with two other wolves I didn’t recognise.

Chase Black.

He looked different. Older. His face was harder. Dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept well in years. His hair was longer than I remembered. His suit was expensive but rumpled.

He looked miserable.

Good.

Our eyes met across the busy street.

The bond pulled tight. Tried to reform. My wolf howled inside me, reaching for her mate.

Chase’s face went white. Then red. His hand shot to his chest, clawing at his shirt like he couldn’t breathe.

He stumbled backward. Hit the coffee shop window. His legs gave out, and he fell to his knees right there on the sidewalk.

The two wolves with him grabbed his arms, trying to hold him up. Asking him what was wrong. But Chase wasn’t looking at them.

He was staring at me.

His mouth moved. I was too far away to hear, but I could read his lips.

“Mira.”

The bond screamed at me to go to him. To run across the street and help my mate. Three years apart, and it still recognised him. Still wanted him.

I felt nothing.

Well, that wasn’t true. I felt satisfaction. Cold and sharp.

This was what he’d done to me three years ago. The pain. The agony. The feeling like your chest was being ripped open.

Now he got to feel it too.

Chase tried to stand, but his legs wouldn’t hold him. He fell again, this time onto his hands and knees. Right there in the rain in the middle of a busy street. People were staring. Some pulled out phones.

One of the wolves with him was trying to help him up. The other was looking around frantically, trying to figure out what was happening.

Then that wolf’s eyes found me across the street.

He said something to Chase. Pointed at me.

Chase’s head snapped up. His eyes locked on mine again. The gold in them was brighter than I remembered. Wild. Desperate.

He started crawling toward the street. Actually crawling on his hands and knees like he was going to cross four lanes of traffic to get to me.

“Mira!” This time I heard him scream it. “Mira, please!”

Cars honked as he stumbled into the road. His wolves grabbed him, physically dragging him back before he got hit.

I watched it all with a blank face. Felt the bond pulling at me. Begging me to go to him. To help him. To forgive him.

I turned around and walked away.

“MIRA!” His voice cracked. “MIRA, PLEASE! I’M SORRY! I’M SO SORRY!”

I kept walking. Didn’t look back. Pulled my hood up higher and headed toward my car.

Behind me, I could still hear him screaming my name. Could feel the bond trying desperately to reconnect. Could sense his agony through whatever connection still existed between us.

I felt nothing but cold satisfaction.

My hands were steady as I unlocked my car. No shaking. No tears. Just be calm.

I got in and drove away.

In my rearview mirror, I could see Chase still on the street. His wolves were trying to get him into a car, but he was fighting them. Trying to run after me.

Too late.

Three years too late.

I drove for twenty minutes before I pulled over in an empty parking lot. Turned off the engine. Sat there in silence.

The bond was still trying to reform. I could feel it pulling at the broken pieces inside me. Trying to stitch them back together.

I closed my eyes and focused. Pushed it away. Rejected it the way he’d rejected me.

The pulling stopped. The bond went quiet.

When I opened my eyes, my hands were shaking.

Not from fear. From rage.

How dare he. How dare he look at me with those desperate eyes after what he did. After he humiliated me. After he threw me away like garbage.

My phone rang. Victor.

“Where are you?” he asked. “You missed the morning briefing.”

“I saw him.”

Silence on the other end. Then, “Chase?”

“Yes.”

“Are you okay?”

Was I okay? I looked at my hands. Still shaking. Looked at my face in the rearview mirror. My eyes were bright. Too bright. My wolf was awake and angry.

“I’m fine,” I said. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Mira, if you need time…”

“I said I’m fine.”

I hung up and started the car again.

By the time I got to Victor’s building, I had myself under control. Face blank. Hands steady. The shaking had stopped.

Victor was waiting in his office. He looked at me carefully when I walked in.

“What happened?”

“I was walking to my car. He was across the street. Our eyes met.” I sat down in the chair across from his desk. “The bond tried to snap back. He collapsed. Started screaming my name in the middle of the street.”

“Jesus.”

“I walked away.”

Victor leaned back in his chair. “How do you feel?”

“Like I want to rip his throat out.”

“That’s not healthy.”

“I don’t care.”

We sat in silence for a minute. Then Victor pulled out a file and slid it across the desk to me.

“This came in an hour ago. Emergency request. High-profile client needs personal security starting tomorrow. Three-week contract. Pays double our normal rate.”

I opened the file. My blood went cold.

The client was Seraphina Drake.

Chase’s mate. The woman he chose over me. She was requesting personal security during the summit preparations.

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was.” Victor watched my face. “I can assign someone else.”

I stared at the photo of Seraphina. She was even more beautiful than I remembered. Perfect skin. Perfect hair. Perfect smile.

She was everything I wasn’t.

“No,” I said slowly. “I’ll do it.”

“Mira…”

“I said I’ll do it.” I closed the file. “When do I start?”

Victor looked like he wanted to argue. Then he sighed. “Tomorrow morning. Seven AM. She’s staying at the Riverside Hotel downtown. Presidential suite.”

I stood up. “I’ll be there.”

“Mira, wait.” Victor stood too. “I know you want revenge. But getting close to her, working for her… That’s playing with fire. You could get hurt.”

“I won’t get hurt.”

“You don’t know that.”

I met his eyes. “Three years ago, Chase Black destroyed me in front of thousands of people. Marked her while I bled on that platform. Now I get to be in the same room as her. Get to see what he chose over me. Get to figure out what made me so worthless that he threw me away.”

“You’re not worthless.”

“Then why did he choose her?”

Victor didn’t have an answer for that.

I left his office and went to the training room. Taped up my hands and went to work on a fresh punching bag.

Hit after hit after hit. Until my knuckles bled through the tape. Until sweat poured down my face. Until I couldn’t lift my arms anymore.

But I could still see Chase’s face. Could still hear him screaming my name in the rain.

Could still feel the satisfaction of walking away.

My phone buzzed. Text from an unknown number.

“Please. We need to talk. I can explain everything. Please give me a chance.”

Chase. He’d somehow gotten my number.

I stared at the message for a long time. Then I blocked the number and deleted the text.

He had three years to explain. Three years to find me if he wanted to.

He didn’t.

So now he could suffer the way I suffered.

I hit the bag one more time. It split open. Stuffing exploded everywhere.

Victor was right. I was going to break my hands before the Summit.

But I didn’t care.

Tomorrow I’d meet Seraphina Drake. The woman who stole my life. And I’d smile and be professional and protect her like she was the most important person in the world.

And the whole time, I’d be planning exactly how to destroy her.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​