Page 8 of Billionaire Wolf Needs a Maid (My Grumpy Werewolf Boss #6)

DEAN

Red warning messages flooded my screens, the harsh glowing letters burning my retinas. Every shrill alert, every digital alarm screaming that Sean was inside our systems pierced my ears like ice picks. The bastard's code slithered across my systems like poisonous snakes, each line a potential death strike to everything I'd built. Rage burned in my chest as I watched him methodically dismantle our outer defenses.

"Come on, come on," I muttered, as my fingers flew across the keyboards. The mechanical clicks echoed my racing heartbeat. Lines of my own code flowed back, digital walls rising to meet his attack. But for every breach I patched, three more appeared. Sean had definitely upgraded his team of hackers. The thought made my wolf snarl, territorial anger bleeding into my technical focus.

Jenkins's warning indicators pulsed an angry crimson. "Sir, unauthorized access detected in the client database."

"Not happening." I bared my teeth at the screen, feeling fangs start to descend. "Not my clients, you bastard."

My vision blurred at the edges, dark spots dancing across the screens as I deployed defense after defense. Every muscle trembled with the suppressed urge to shift. The familiar ache started in my joints, as my bones threatened to reshape themselves. Sweat soaked through my designer T-shirt, the fabric clinging uncomfortably as my temperature spiked.

"Sir." Jenkins's voice cut through my concentration. "Your blood pressure is rising to dangerous levels."

I growled, eyes scanning endless streams of data. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I typed. I heard her familiar footsteps as she approached my office. Nina's scent drifted through the closed door. My wolf surged, recognizing our mate. The beast's energy exploded beneath my skin, eager to end this so I could get to her.

Breathing deeply, I let her scent fill my nose. Beneath the floral shampoo she used, her own essence, fresh lemons and strawberries, was like a drug to the wolf. The steady rhythm of her heartbeat echoed in my enhanced hearing, slightly elevated with concern. Even through the closed door, I could detect the subtle changes in her breathing that indicated worry.

"Dean?" Her voice was soft with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Not now." The words came out harsh, almost a snarl. My hands shook violently as I tried to type. "Please."

She hesitated. The scent of her worry made my wolf whine. Every instinct screamed to comfort her, to bury my face in her neck and breathe in her calming presence. But I couldn't risk losing control. Not with her so close. Not with the beast so near the surface. The cyber attack had triggered something primal, bringing the wolf too close to the surface. "Damn it." This couldn't go on any longer.

An hour later, I sat in Dr. Sabrina Wu's private office, still trembling with unreleased energy. The sterile examination room reeked of antiseptic and anxiety of each patient in the building, including myself. I recoiled at the stench, wishing that I had a normal human's dull sense of smell.

The room's stark white walls seemed to close in, made worse by the harsh fluorescent lighting that highlighted every shadow. All around me, medical equipment hummed at frequencies that set my teeth on edge. Down the hall, there was a high-pitched whine from an ultrasound machine. In the room next door, a patient's monitors beeped steadily. Up overhead, the air filtration system whooshed as it sucked out the stale air inside. Chrome and steel surfaces reflected my agitation back at me, while the leather exam table creaked ominously under my restless movements. Sabrina's office felt too small.

"Sit down before you wear a hole in my floor." Sabrina didn't look up from her tablet, but her voice held that familiar mix of concern and exasperation

"I'm fine." The words came out as a growl.

"Really?" Now she did look up, one elegant eyebrow arched. "Because your blood pressure disagrees. 190 over 120, Dean. You're a wolf shifter in peak condition. You shouldn't be anywhere near these numbers."

I ran a hand through my hair. It's just stress. I just fended off another cyber attack from Sean."

"Don't." She held up a hand, her rings catching the fluorescent light. "I've known you too long for that bullshit. Look at these readings." She thrust the tablet at me. Cortisol is through the roof. Hormone levels are so out of balance, I haven't seen something like this since Will rejected his mate bond."

Her words were like a bucket of ice water doused on my head. "This isn't the same thing."

"No?" She stepped closer, her lab coat rustling. "The aggression, the loss of control, the physical symptoms, all of these are signs your wolf is literally tearing you apart, trying to get to her. To your mate."

"I can't." My voice cracked. "Sabrina, you know what the Nightfang pack would do to her."

"I know what denying this bond will do to you. And that might be worse." Her expression softened. "I've been your doctor since you first shifted. These readings are textbook mate bond rejection. It's killing you, Dean."

Each mention of the mate bond sent electric jolts through my body, like lightning seeking ground. My skin felt too tight, my chest hollow and aching where the mate bond should have been.

"I can't have a mate." The words tasted like ash on my tongue. "Not with my family, not with their threats."

"Your wolf has already chosen." Sabrina's voice softened with understanding. "You can't fight biology. The longer you deny the bond, the worse your symptoms will become."

I paced the length of her office, unable to stay still. The wolf's energy thrummed through my veins like rushing water seeking release. "What symptoms?"

"You're already experiencing most of them. Insomnia. Mood swings. Difficulty maintaining control during stress." She listed them clinically. "But it will progress. Organ damage from prolonged heightened stress levels. Mental deterioration. In extreme cases, complete loss of ability to maintain human form."

My stomach lurched. "There has to be a way to suppress it."

"There isn't." She stepped into my path, forcing me to stop. "The mate bond exists for a reason. It's not just about reproduction, it's about balance. Your wolf has recognized something in her that you need. Something that completes both sides of your nature."

"What I need is to keep her safe." The words came out raw, scraping my throat. "You don't know what my family is capable of. What they'd do to her."

"And you don't know what denying your nature will do to you. You're literally tearing yourself apart."

My phone buzzed. I glanced at the screen, it was Levi. I ignored it.

"The attack today?" Sabrina continued. "That loss of control wasn't just about stress. Your wolf is fighting harder because it senses its mate is near. The closer she is, the harder it becomes to maintain distance."

As if summoned by her words, Nina's scent drifted through my memory. I snarled, my fangs puncturing my gums before I could stop them.

"Exactly." Sabrina noted my reaction. "You can't keep fighting this, Dean. Either accept the bond or—"

"Or what? Send her away?" The thought made me want to rip the room apart. "I won't put her in danger."

"She's already in danger." Sabrina's voice was gentle but firm. "The longer you fight this, the more unstable you'll become. And an unstable wolf is a threat to everyone, including her."

I stumbled into my penthouse, fingers fumbling with the biometric lock three times before Jenkins finally overrode it. The tremors started in my hands first, then seized my entire body. My bones burned like molten metal trying to reshape themselves.

"Sir, shall I call Dr. Wu?" Jenkins's voice held an edge of concern I hadn't programmed into him.

"No." I gritted through clenched teeth, staggering to my office. Even the sight of my normally chaotic desk, now arranged in neat stacks with color-coded sticky notes, made my chest ache. She'd organized my chaos, brought light into my darkness. Another tremor ripped through me. The wolf thrashed against my control, desperate to track her scent, to find its mate."

My phone buzzed again. Levi.

This time I answered.

"You sound like shit," he said by way of greeting.

"Thanks." I slumped in my chair, running a shaking hand across my face. "Always good to hear from you too."

"Jenkins called. Said you're having control issues." A pause filled with understanding. "It's the mate bond, isn't it?"

I didn't answer. Didn't need to.

"You can't fight it forever, man." His voice softened with memory. "Trust me, I tried with Krista. Nearly drove myself insane before I accepted it. The wolf knows what we need, even when we're too stubborn to admit it."

"This is different." But even as I said it, my wolf stirred at Nina's approaching footsteps. "You don't have a psycho family that wants to kill you."

"They will always be a threat." Levi cut me off. "But you're stronger with her than without her. That's the whole point of mate bonds. They complete us, balance us. Make us better than we are alone."

"How can I risk it?"

"You can't risk not accepting it." His tone grew serious. "You remember what happened to Mark? The alpha who rejected his mate?"

I did. The story was infamous in shifter circles. It was a cautionary tale of a wolf driven mad by denying the mate bond. He'd lost control completely, shifted in public, exposed our kind to humans. The cleanup had taken years.

"Just think about it," Levi said softly. "Before you destroy yourself trying to protect her."

Nina's knock came just as I hung up. "Dean?" She opened the door cautiously, and my breath caught. She looked soft in the fading daylight, all gentle curves and worried eyes. A strand of hair had escaped her ponytail, and my fingers ached to tuck it back. "I brought dinner. Jenkins said you missed lunch again."

Every cell in my body yearned toward her, like a plant seeking sunlight. The beast whined, desperate to close the distance between us, to touch and claim and protect.

"You should go." My voice came out rough, almost pleading. "It's late."

"Not until you eat something." She set a plate on my desk, grilled chicken and roasted vegetables. It was exactly what I needed but hadn't asked for. The simple gesture of care hit me like a punch. "Doctor's orders, remember?"

My wolf whined, desperate to accept what she offered, not just food, but compassion. Connection. Pack. The mate bond hummed between us, a silent song of belonging that grew harder to ignore with each passing day. "Nina," I began.

"You don't have to explain." She smiled, gentle and understanding in a way that made my chest ache. "Just take care of yourself, okay? There are people who," She hesitated, then finished softly, "Who care about you."

She left before I could respond, but her words echoed in my mind. People who care. When was the last time someone had genuinely cared about my well-being? Not my company, not my power or position, just me?

My wolf knew. It had recognized in Nina what I'd been trying so hard to deny. She offered the possibility of connection. Of healing. Of pack. Of home.

Another tremor wracked my body. Sabrina's warnings echoed in my mind, mixing with Levi's advice and the wolf's constant howl of need.

But as my family and Sean's earlier attack proved, danger lurked everywhere. My enemies would use any weakness, any connection, to destroy what I'd built. And I wouldn't forgive myself if my world destroyed her light.

Even if denying our bond destroyed me first.

The food she'd brought sat untouched, her lingering scent a sweet torture. I pressed my forehead against the cool glass of my window and watched her small figure exit the building far below. Even from this height, my enhanced vision caught every detail, the way she hugged her coat tighter against the evening chill, how she glanced back up toward my window, the slight drag in her steps that spoke of reluctance to leave.

"She deserves better," I whispered to my reflection, watching my eyes flash between hazel and gold. "Better than a monster who can't control his shift. Better than living in fear of assassins and mafia enforcers. Better than waiting up nights wondering if I'll come home alive."

I pictured Nina's smile lighting up my dark world, her gentle hands smoothing my fur after a shift, our pups running through moonlit fields. It was the future my wolf desperately wanted, the happiness I couldn't risk destroying with the violence that followed the Nightfang name.

I clenched my eyes and forced myself to picture instead what could happen, Nina's blood staining her wedding planner sketches, her green eyes wide with terror as Rafe used her against me, her light dimming as she was dragged into my darkness. The mate bond throbbed like an open wound, punishment for even imagining such horrors.

"I won't be the reason her light goes out," I growled, even as my wolf's anguish threatened to tear me apart. "I won't."