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Chapter One

Jade

Jade caught a scent of a human as she entered the fourteen-story building in downtown Snowfall.It wasn’t just any human scent, but something that made all of her instincts flare.She knew that she’d never caught this particular scent before, but something told her that this human might be important to her.She tried to brush it off as quickly as the thought came, but she couldn’t find it coincidental she smelled it in the same steel building owned by Ghost and housed the headquarters of Dark Company.

As she dismissed the fleeting thought of searching for the scent, her heart thumped once, hard, in her chest at the thought of not finding its owner.She forced herself to walk toward the elevator bank, ignoring the unwanted perusals she received from the men in the lobby.Even in an unassuming hoodie and black yoga pants, she drew unwanted attention.A side effect of being an immortal.

The elevator opened as soon as she pressed the up-button and she kept her gaze down as she walked into the elevator.She entered the code to get to Ghost’s private floor, her movements too quick to be caught by the human eye, before she squeezed into the corner.Jade used her other senses as three men in suits and two women entered the enclosed space with her.There was no need to glance at the glass interior that covered the back wall to see what she looked like.

She sensed eyes on her.Instead of searching out the gaze, she whipped her long, straight dyed black hair into a bun on the back of her head with quick movements before sneaking her hands into the front pockets of her hoodie.

Jade waited patiently as the car traveled toward the penthouse, her ultimate destination, but she couldn’t help but try to find the intriguing scent from earlier.

After my meeting.

All she knew was he hadn’t used the particular elevator she was in and the higher the lift took her in the building, the more his scent dissipated.

In her entire existence, or what she remembered of it, she’d never been attracted to…anyone.She’d never felt the pull to find someone either.But lately, she’d felt increasingly restless whenever she had any downtime and her skin tingled in a way that had nothing to do with signaling immediate danger.It was as though her body tried to convey something she didn’t understand.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a man who had gotten into the elevator with her on the first floor stepped into her personal space.

“Hey, beautiful?”

Jade rolled her eyes and raised her head to glare at the man.Of course, he wouldn’t take the hint that she wanted to be left alone.To emphasize the point, she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, moving away from his intrusion.

The man decided to take this as an invitation and moved to wrap his arm around her waist.The move gave her a clear shot to his ribs and she took it, gently moving her elbow back and making contact.She flinched when she heard a distinctive crack, realizing she hadn’t been careful enough.Before she could apologize, the elevator door opened and he ran off without looking back, holding onto his side.

She sighed.

Jade had never told anyone, not even Liv, who knew more about her than anyone else.But she hated being the center of attention.She’d gotten so desperate to avoid it that she dyed her hair black in order to detract from her naturally soft ginger hair, green eyes, and freckles that made her look young.But instead of diverting attention, she somehow drew more.

She wanted to be known for her fierce fighting and being a good friend.She couldn’t care less what she looked like and even less if she had a mate.Xander had wondered about Frost for decades before meeting her, thinking he’d missed her.Reaper hadn’t discounted his own mate, especially after Kai found Liv, but the moment he laid eyes on Ara, he knew she was for him.It had taken Kai almost losing Liv to recognize what he knew all along.And their Seth had grown up and married Aubrey, the sweetest vampire and woman Jade had ever known.

She enjoyed her life with her family, and loved her job because she believed that she made a difference.But each time another assassin met their mate, their mates took one look at her and expected Jade to be the competition.She never blamed them, but it hurt her a little each time it happened.

Gunnar was right when he described her to Liv as needing a lot of contact and that she loved touch.But it wasn’t because she was seeking sexual pleasure.Being physically close to her family, being able to hold Silas and hug those close to her, made her red fox relax in contentment.It was why she loved it when Silas sought her out and they talked for hours about everything and nothing.

But being sexually intimate with someone required trust.She had ways to pleasure herself that didn’t make her vulnerable to anyone.

Jade shook off her thoughts as the elevator car came to a stop on her floor.She would find out what Ghost wanted and then head to Xander’s.She promised Silas that they could shift and run through the woods to Kai’s, where they would have dinner with the rest of the family.

As soon as the doors opened, she caught the scent again, only concentrated on this floor.

Well…shit.

Whatever Ghost wanted, he had a human in his office, most likely her mate.

How had Ghost known who the man was?

Jade schooled her features and turned toward his office before he came to find her.He would have scented her as soon as the elevator doors opened.

As she stepped out, her eyes locked on a tall man moving toward her from the direction she wanted to go.He felt familiar to her, but his eyes were locked on the floor as he strode down the hall toward the elevator bank.She was stunned when he turned his green eyes on her.Something fluttered in her chest and for a long moment, she couldn’t help but stare at him.All she knew was that this wasn’t the man who she’d scented earlier.

While she was five two, this man towered over her at close to six four, almost as tall as Reaper.When he smiled a wicked smile at her, images flashed in front of her but she couldn’t capture them fast enough to remember what they had shown her.

Were they memories or had he been the one who had shown her?

He was a shifter, she could tell that much, but which animal, she couldn’t narrow down while she had other things on her mind.