Far below, wolves howled—not in warning, but in welcome.
“The Elders can go to hell.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “It’s our pack now. Our rules.”
Kira Vance hadn’t slept in forty-eight hours. Her fingers flew across three keyboards, lines of encrypted code reflecting in her haunted, silver-flecked eyes. She was a phantom—a data runner who didn’t officially exist, hunted by a rogue faction of the government that had created her. lora leigh books
“Because you cracked the wrong file,” he said, tilting her chin up with one calloused finger. “The one about the ‘Genesis Protocol.’ They know you’re alive. And they’ve sent a cleaner team. We have twelve minutes to run.”
He glanced back, blood streaking his cheek, eyes blazing with something that wasn’t rage. “Later, when we’re safe, I’m going to spend about a week proving to you exactly what ‘mate’ means. Every. Single. Way.” Far below, wolves howled—not in warning, but in welcome
He leaned closer, his lips brushing the shell of her ear. “But the wolf inside me has a different name for it, mala . Mate.”
“You can now,” he said, turning to face her fully. The predator was gone. In his eyes was a raw, vulnerable need that matched her own. “I’ve spent my whole life as a weapon. But for you, Kira, I’ll learn to be a man. Just… don’t ask me to be gentle. I don’t know how.” Our rules
In the garage, as they peeled away in a stolen SUV with sirens wailing behind them, Kira finally let herself breathe. Her hands shook. Dane covered one with his own, his thumb tracing her pulse point.
“I couldn’t trust anyone. Not even you.”
“You’re bleeding,” she said.