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Chapter Fifteen

L ina

Adrenaline spiked through my veins. The bookcase door to our secret office was wide open. I hurried down the corridor, fervently hoping I wasn’t too late. Maybe Stephen hadn’t discovered anything substantial. Maybe he’d simply come across locked computers.

Emily was quirky. She and Matt had more money than sense. There was nothing incriminating about a hidden office. Emily had just watched too many superhero movies and was eccentric.

My heart plummeted as I rounded the corner to see the six screens displaying text: doorways into my hidden world.

Stephen turned at the sound of my footsteps, and my two worlds collided.

I froze, feeling the weight of the truth throbbing between us. His expression went rigid. “Lina.” His voice was tight. “So, this is what you’ve been hiding.”

“What are you talking about?” My voice sounded tense even to my own ears.

“You’ve been sabotaging Blackthorn Corporation,” he accused.

I frowned, trying to present a calm that my hurried heartbeat didn’t help with. “Sabotaging?” I echoed, playing for time and trying to garner how much he’d discovered.

He continued, his green stare merciless. “You’ve been here, sabotaging Blackthorn Corporation for the last five years.” His gaze swept over our secret office, setting alarm bells blaring through me.

He knows.

How long would it be before a team of Magnus’s men descended on this place?

God, how have I let this happen?

But every fiber in my being shrieked at me to find out exactly what he knew. So, once again, I feigned confusion.

“Stephen, this is Emily’s office. She works for all sorts of companies. She’s a contractor. If she’s working for Blackthorn competitors, that’s hardly anything to get upset about.”

Stephen’s nostrils flared, and his voice dropped low.

“Cut the act, Lina. I know you weren’t abducted and held prisoner.

You’ve been here instead, picking away at Magnus’s empire.

The network of umbrella companies in these encrypted files all track to Luna Remedies, registered under the name Betty White. ”

As he exposed my secret identity, I knew my charade was up.

“That’s the alias you disappeared with and registered your new company under—through it, you’ve made it your mission to destroy Magnus and Blackthorn Corporation.”

He’d moved toward me, towering over me where I stood beside my desk.

Fuck.

He knows everything.

I fumbled for something to save me. “And I suppose I organized the attack on us on the way to the airport? The one I almost died in.”

“Damn right, you did,” Stephen said, fire blazing through his eyes as he stared me down.

“The day of the attack, Magnus informed me the van our attackers used was leased through Boden, a company we’ve linked to the shadow company before, one I just saw listed in these files.

So, yes, you organized that attack to divert suspicion from you,” he said unquestionably.

Shit. I’m completely exposed .

He ran a hand through his jet-black hair so that it looked distractingly tousled. I thought bitterly that even now when all my instincts should be on my survival, he still managed to get under my skin.

“So that’s it, is it? Now, you sell me out to Magnus?” I blurted out.

He flinched, his looming figure suddenly deflating. “Of course not,” he said as if he’d never put his father’s interests above mine.

Anger flared through me, and I laughed bitterly. “Sure. After all, you don’t have a track record for putting your father’s needs above mine.”

Urgency pounded through me. I needed to alert Emily and Matthew to take Betty and escape before Stephen could sound the alarm.

But as I began to move, he quickly blocked my path, his arms boxing me in.

He’d rolled up his shirt sleeves earlier when cooking, and his muscular arms, covered with black hair, had me as distracted as I’d been at the dinner table.

“Wait. You don’t need to run again,” His voice was firm yet pained, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed hard. “You never need to run from me. I couldn’t intervene between you and Magnus years ago because—”

“Because your duty to your father, despite the bastard he is, won over me,” I interrupted, my voice rising as I buried the pain behind fury.

Stephen’s green gaze flashed with fire. “I stayed by his side because he killed my mother, Lina.”

The weight of his words slammed into me like an avalanche, burying my thoughts and leaving me dizzy. Whatever I’d anticipated, it wasn’t this. “What?”

“The last nine years, I’ve been gaining his trust, all so that I can pull his world apart like he did mine when he killed Charlotte Blackthorn, my mother and our pack’s alpha.”

I saw it then, the flicker of grief mixed with righteous fire in his gaze as the past descended. The urge to soothe that pain was all-consuming and I reached out, my hand going to his arm, which brought him back to me.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know.”

I knew his mother had passed away. Given my extensive research on everything Magnus related, Charlotte Blackthorn’s death was just a fact like any other, and it was easy to find out online. But I hadn’t known she’d been murdered by Magnus, her own husband.

“Lina, I should have told you back then. But…” his expression softened as he frowned, the lines of worry now tracing his handsome face, “I was so consumed by vengeance that I…hurt you. I’m sorry. So sorry.”

In that moment, as he gazed down at me with such heartfelt longing, I felt myself melting under his honesty. My breath caught in my throat. Could it really be true? The years I had believed he’d chosen an allegiance with Magnus over my safety weren’t true.

I knew something of being consumed by vengeance. Hadn’t that been my driving motivation against Magnus these last five years, too? To enact revenge for my parents’ murders, just as my motivation was to rescue my mother from Magnus now that I knew she was alive.

At the thought of my mom, I needed to be sure that Stephen hadn’t been keeping that from me. The worry that he had been aware of that had gnawed at me over the last month and secured the belief that he was just like his father.

I ventured my own truth, “Emily, Matthew, and I hacked Blackthorn Corporation network and found footage of my mother. Magnus has been keeping her prisoner since the attack at the mate ceremony. That’s why I came back to New York. I need to save her.”

I watched shock flicker over his face. He hadn’t known.

No one was that good a liar. I knew we were both skilled at harboring secrets, but the look of astonishment, swiftly followed by an intense look, told me he hadn’t known.

The certainty that he wasn’t his father’s son had the rush of warmth and attraction filling me again.

“We’ll find her, Lina, I promise,” Stephen vowed. That vengeful light in his eyes returned, and yet the warmth remained as that word “we” resonated between us.

Stephen’s own path of vengeance wasn’t so different than mine.

Unknowingly, we’d been sharing that path.

I felt as if my mission was reflected in the fire burning in his gaze, tightening his taut shoulders, and threading through his arms. My body pounded with adrenaline, and there was a rush of blood in my ears as I finally realized we had been united in our goal from the very beginning .

As I allowed the thought to fill me, I whispered, “So, we both want revenge?”

His green gaze smoldered with an intensity that sent shivers down my spine, the heat pooling deep in my lower belly. “I want revenge, Darlin’, but for a long time now, I’ve wanted you even more.”

The confession made my heart gallop. A blush crept across my cheeks as my hands slid up his strong arms, tracing the taut muscles beneath his shirt. The memories of our shared moments flooded back, and I was swept up in the realization that he was choosing me over everything else.

The look of hunger on his face made my knees feel weak.

I felt the warmth radiating from his body as desire hung heavy and thick between us. “I’ve never stopped wanting you,” I admitted, allowing myself to be exposed beneath his searching gaze.

His response was immediate and devastating—a kiss that ignited every nerve ending in my body. It was hot and wet and savagely consuming. His scent of spice and earthiness enveloped me as he picked me up, my legs wrapping around his waist.

He pushed me back against my desk, looking down at me as if he were feasting on the sight of me. “God, I’m glad there are no goddamn plants,” he growled, a smoldering look in his eyes as he positioned me against the cool surface, his body caging me in.

I smiled as he confessed he’d had the same fantasy I had about him laying me out like this in our office.

The thrill that we could now be honest about how much we’d been repressing had me sharing things, too. As we surfaced for air, I told him with a mischievous grin, “I watched our elevator kiss back.”

Stephen’s hungry gaze raked over me. “What did you do while you watched, Darlin’?” His voice was thick, a throaty rasp as delicious as his stubble against my cheek.

“I’ll show you,” I teased, my heart racing at the electric tension sparking between us.

My hands fell from my collarbone down to my breast, and Stephen’s gaze grew darker until he groaned with want. “I need a better view.” In the blink of an eye, I heard the rip of fabric. My T-shirt fell away, discarded in an instant .

As I continued to tease, I caught Stephen’s arm near his waist. Every breath I took was heavy with anticipation, desire coiling around us like a heady perfume. He groaned, fire igniting in his eyes as he palmed himself through his pants. The sight of his need had heat pooling between my legs.

“I went back to get that footage,” he growled, desperation harsh in his voice. “I can’t believe you kept it all to yourself. I think you need to be punished.”

As he rasped the last word against my lips, the heat we’d been repressing for weeks broke free.

We were once more kissing and licking each other—every bit of exposed skin was fair game, as if we were in competition with one another, trying to see who could drive the other one out of their mind first.

I pulled at Stephen’s bottom lip, then sucked on his ear, my kisses trailing down the spicy earthiness of his neck. Although, suddenly, I was a lot barer than him as his deft fingers undid my clasp, and my bra fell to the floor.

He cupped one of my tits, and I gasped as my nipple hardened beneath his teasing stroke. Then his mouth came to my other one, sucking it until I moaned.

Stephen stripped off my jeans, but just like last night in our office, he shoved aside the fabric of my knickers as he thrust a finger between the wetness pooling between my legs.

I arched up, a greedy moan escaping me as he stroked me. “That’s it, Darlin’. This is what’s been keeping me awake.”

Soon, he stroked me with two fingers, his thumb making slow, luxurious sweeps of my clit, and his mouth sucking my tits. I was almost delirious with need.

“Please,” I implored, urgency tinging my voice. “I need you.”

“Not so fast,” he ordered. “I need you on my tongue,” he said, his breath hot against my skin as he sank to the floor.

He pulled my knickers off, easing my legs over his shoulders as he sank his tongue between my folds. Soon, he was teasing and sucking my clit until I was a quivering mess. I moaned as shivers cascaded down my spine, a primal want thrumming in my core as I begged, “Fuck me, Stephen. ”

I felt him go still at my words, and as I gazed up from beneath my lashes, his powerful body suddenly looked like it was under my complete control.

His own claws shredded his shirt, and he shucked off his pants, his boxer briefs releasing his thick cock.

I shivered in anticipation as wetness pooled between my legs even more, heady anticipation thrumming through me as he looked at me with such devastating hunger.

Oh god, how have we wasted years without this?

He pulled my hips to the edge of my desk, his knees pushing my legs open wider. I gasped as I felt his cock against my entrance, then the most blissful sense of fullness as I cried out with relief and pleasure.

He groaned out his own exhale of satisfaction as I took each inch of him, the blissful stretch around him making me quiver. His hands moved from my hips, cupping my ass as he brought me even closer to him, thrusting as deep as he could.

I held onto his shoulders, my nails digging into his skin as I pulled him closer, relishing in the closeness with him I’d ached for so long. A sigh escaped my lips, longing mixed with need as every thrust brought us closer and closer.

“Move,” I whispered, echoing the command I’d given him once before, reveling in the memory of our first night—a reminder that this was a continuation of everything that we hadn’t gotten the first time. But this time was different: he knew exactly who I was, and I him.

My wolf whimpered as she sang with pleasure that our mate was once more ours.

“Harder,” I insisted, the urgency of pleasure tightening within me. “Faster.”

“That’s right,” he growled, his voice thick with passion, each of his hard muscles slamming against me as I began to shudder, a familiar warmth pooling in my core. “Come for me, Darlin’. Come on my cock.”

With each command we gave each other, bliss crashed over me, driving me over the edge again and filling me with joy as I surrendered to him in a way I hadn’t ever imagined I could again.