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Of course he did. The wolf is clearly still in love with you.

“I imagine you had to get creative?” I teased, lips lifted.

Her answering smile eased the coil in my stomach—the one that had been there ever since I knew Phillip planned to return.

“He’s salty, but he gets it,” she said, laughing again in a way that always got my blood pumping.

I was so far gone in my captivation that I no longer tried to hide it. I couldn’t. Every moment with her put a smile on my face, and concealing them was next to impossible as time went on. It bore repeating, but I was wholly besotted. I could no longer taunt Phillip for his overwhelming attraction anymore, because I’d fallen into the same trap. And now we were two poor sods pining after the same young Hunter.

What a tragically poetic story this is turning out to be…

And then Phillip was beside her, his intelligent eyes already depicting the struggle inside my heart.

I might be clever enough to hide my intentions from V, but Phillip was nearly impossible to fool. It was likely he knew well before I did. As infuriating as it was to admit, Phillip was a proficient Hunter and very little got past him. I took solace in the fact that he seemed completely inept in love. And because I revered him, it was all the more reason not to surrender without a fight.

Phillip may be who stole her heart first, but he didn’t deserve her, not the way he was right now. It was my sole objective to prove he needed to be more or piss off. I would win her heart by any means necessary.

Phillip being the clever man he was knew what was coming. It was the entire reason the Austrian was at such odds with himself. If he didn’t fight for her, he’d lose her. His present self would never win against me. And while I never intended to lose a fight, if he fought at his best and I at mine, then I’d never second-guess her choice.

Whoever she chose.

“You seem a little out of it today. Are you really okay?” V asked, surprising me stupid for a second.

She seemed to pick up on my emotions better than anyone else did sometimes. I’d even argue before I knew them myself. Always far more in tune with others than she was with herself.

The tragedy of life.

Phillip scoffed and eyed me quietly. “He may put on a good show, but Sloan’s a lot more absentminded than you’d believe.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “That would be the pot calling the kettle black, aye, Phillip?”

V seemed incredibly amused by our banter, but to my eternal glory, she fitted her arm through mine and escorted me to the front door ahead of Phillip. I didn’t need to look back at the other man to know it’d gutted him. The heat of his anger was practically in the air around us.

“I’m driving,” she announced, snatching the keys right from my hand. “I’m tired of feeling like you guys are chauffeuring me around. I’m a goddamn Hunter, too.”

Sassy little bird.

I pivoted just in time to see Phillip’s happy grin, and it struck me again how much the other man genuinely worshipped her. Guilt panged in my chest, but I had already decided to see this through because my feelings were just as strong as his.

V deserved someone at their best. Someone who was ready to surrender their entire self to be with her. Someone who would support and encourage her to keep that spark and bite. Nothing less would suffice, not with what resided in her blood.

She’s the future.

After Phillip explained what he learned from Cassius and what the Organization toyed with in their genetic trials, the stakes were beyond what any of us imagined. Risking our place in the Organization was essential to getting what we needed, but it couldn’t be done without Phillip’s assistance. It was risky. We’d be up against our own, but we had something they didn’t.

V.

Before I was given a chance to ponder where to sit, Phillip stole the front seat and offered me a smug grin when V sighed loudly, not at all happy.

“Backseat, perv. I don’t want to be this close to you for the drive,” V complained when I walked over to the car.

The feeling in my chest intensified, but I ignored it.

I’d absently wondered how the top-level Hunter might address the tension between them, or how he might remove himself emotionally, but Phillip seemed more inclined to get as close as possible and antagonize her at every opportunity. Quite the paradox, seeing how the Austrian hadn’t intended to return in the first place.

Falling in love turned him into quite the child.

Phillip carded through his luscious dark hair, then swiped his lower lip with his thumb, idly fingering his snake-bite piercings. “Thought you were a professional, lass, or is all that equipment for show?”