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00:00I came downstairs to hand my husband divorce papers.
00:06I tripped.
00:10He caught me.
00:17And suddenly, I could hear every filthy thought in his head.
00:21She touched me. God, she touched me.
00:24Two years of keeping my hands off her and she falls into my arms, smell like vanilla in trouble.
00:28Don't pull her closer.
00:30Don't. You're scared.
00:32I froze against Damien Blackwood's chest, staring up at the most expressionless face in Manhattan.
00:37His mouth hadn't moved, not even a twitch.
00:40But that voice, low, rough, starving, was unmistakably his.
00:44You okay?
00:45He asked. Flat, polite. The same tone he used with his driver.
00:49I'm fine.
00:51I squeaked, snatching back the folder before he could see the word divorce printed across the front.
00:56And my eyes betrayed me, snagging on the outline of his abs through his half-buttoned shirt.
01:03She's staring at my chest. Is she staring at my chest?
01:06Stay still. Do not flex.
01:09Okay. Flex a little.
01:40I choked on air.
01:41Blackwood. Wall Street's coldest husband. Manhattan's hottest cheetah.
01:45So, yes. Divorce papers.
01:55So, yes. Divorce papers.
01:58A girl has her pride.
01:59Except now, my untouchable husband was toweling his damp hair, walking away from me, and his head was screaming.
02:06Cain Foster asked her to drinks again. I saw the message on her lock screen.
02:10If that smug little analyst puts one hand on my wife, I'll bury him in the huts.
02:14Calm down. No.
02:16She can choose her friends.
02:17She doesn't belong to you.
02:19I chugged a glass of ice water. It did nothing.
02:21He paused at his study door. He's back to me.
02:24There's a gala tonight.
02:25The Blackwood Foundation.
02:27Spouses are expected.
02:28Pass, I said automatically.
02:30I needed to lie down, possibly forever.
02:31He turned, crossed the room, sat beside me on the couch, close enough that I could smell cedar and something
02:37darker underneath.
02:38Something almost wild.
02:39Come with me.
02:40Please.
02:41His face. A glacier.
02:44Say yes. Say yes.
02:46Cain will be there.
02:48I am not letting her stand in a room full of men of backless dress while I smile at investors.
02:53I'll carry her there if I have to.
02:56Why is she hesitating?
02:58Is it him?
02:59Is it...
03:00Fine.
03:01I shot to my feet.
03:03I'll go.
03:04Stop looking at me like that.
03:07Like what?
03:08He asked.
03:09Perfectly blank.
03:10It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
03:13And she's leaving me.
03:15The paper's in her bag.
03:16I saw them three days ago.
03:18Divorce.
03:18She's divorcing me.
03:19And I have eleven hours to change her mind.
03:23My stomach dropped through the floor.
03:25He knew.
03:27He'd known for three days and he'd said nothing.
03:30And inside that beautiful frozen scalp of his, my husband was quietly falling apart.
04:03I should have felt guilty.
04:05One thought, soft as a confession.
04:07If she finds out what I really am, she'll run.
04:11They always run.
04:19What he really is.
04:21I yanked my hand back like his abs were a stovetop.
04:23Damien's jaw tightened.
04:24Outside nothing.
04:25Inside a wounded howl.
04:26Too fast.
04:27You scared her.
04:28Idiot.
04:28I have calls.
04:30He said.
04:30Standing.
04:31Armor back in place.
04:32The car comes at seven.
04:34Wear whatever you like.
04:35Wear the green one.
04:35The green one ruins me.
04:38He disappeared into his studio.
04:40I sat there clutching a couch cushion like a life raft, running diagnostics on my own sanity.
04:45Option one, I was having a very specific stroke.
04:47Option two, I had genuinely, inexplicably started hearing my husband's thoughts the moment I touched him.
04:52I tested it through the door.
04:54Nothing.
04:54Apparently there was a range.
04:56I crept closer to the study, pressed my ear near the wood, and got hit with.
05:00Can't postpone the board meeting again.
05:02Marcus is circling.
05:03If he finds out about the condition before the shareholder vote.
05:06A pause, then helplessly derailed.
05:08Vanilla.
05:09Her shampoo is vanilla.
05:11Folks, you're pathetic.
05:12I backed away, cheeks flaming.
05:15Here was the thing nobody knew about my marriage.
05:17I could have lived with platonic.
05:19Honestly, having a six foot three work of art wander the penthouse shirtless every morning was its own kind of
05:24compensation package.
05:25What I couldn't live with was the humiliation, the headlines, the pitying looks at brunch.
05:29My mother forwarding me articles with the subject line.
05:32Sweetheart, blink twice if you need a lawyer.
05:34But cheaters didn't recoil from their wives like nervous altar boys.
05:38Cheaters didn't memorize their wives' shampoo.
05:41Something didn't add up.
05:43And now I had a cheat code.
05:51At seven, I came downstairs in the green dress.
05:54Damien, adjusting his cufflicks, looked up and short-circuited.
05:58His face stayed carved from stone.
06:00His brain made a sound I can only describe as a dial tube, followed by...
06:03I'm going to die at this gala.
06:05Cause of death.
06:06My own wife.
06:07The obituary will be embarrassing.
06:09You look adequate.
06:11Adequate?
06:12You look like the reason men start wars.
06:16Adequate.
06:17And open the car door for me.
06:19And I spent the entire ride watching the most composed man in New York stare out the window,
06:24while internally composing what I swear was poetry about my collarbone.
06:29His phone buzzed.
06:31He glanced at it.
06:32His thoughts went sharp and cold as a blade.
06:35Marcus moved the vote up.
06:37He knows.
06:39Somebody told him about the condition.
06:40If I lose control in front of the board.
06:43If it happens in public.
06:45Everything Grandfather built goes to that vulture.
06:48Bad news?
06:49I asked innocently.
06:52Nothing important.
06:53His voice was smooth as poured concrete.
06:56If Marcus exposes me, the company is the least of it.
06:58They'll come for her too.
06:59They'll use her.
07:00I should have let her divorce me a year ago.
07:02I should let her go now.
07:03I can't.
07:04God help me, I can't.
07:05One more month.
07:05Just give me one more month of her.
07:07I looked at my husband.
07:08At his perfect profile, the streetlight sliding across it,
07:10and felt the divorce papers in my bag turn to lead.
07:13What condition?
07:14What could a billionaire with a face like that possibly be hiding
07:18that was worse than the tabloids already printed?
07:20The car stopped.
07:22He came around and offered me his hand.
07:24And when I took it, warmth shot up my arm and his eyes did the thing again.
07:29A flash of gold, like an animal's eyes, hatching headlights.
07:32Stay close to me tonight.
07:34He said quietly.
07:35It didn't sound like a request.
07:37It sounded like a warning.
07:45The gala never happened.
07:47At least not for me.
07:49Because at 9 a.m. the next morning,
07:52my mother called while I was still tangled in my blankets.
07:57Alone, in my separate life.
08:03Sweetheart, the photos from last night are everywhere.
08:07You two looked radiant.
08:09So when am I getting grandchildren?
08:13Mom.
08:14I'm just saying, a man who looks at you like that?
08:17Like what?
08:18He looks at me like I'm a quarterly report.
08:21Honey.
08:22He looked at you like a starving man looks at a steak.
08:26The post ran it with the caption.
08:29I've had it framed.
08:33I hung up on her, which is our family's love language,
08:36and stared at the ceiling.
08:37The truth was, the gala had rattled me.
08:40Every time another man so much as greeted me,
08:42Damien's thoughts went from chamber music to war drums.
08:45When Cain Foster, the new star analyst at Blackwood Capital,
08:49all dimbles and zero boundaries, kissed my hand hello,
08:52my husband smiled politely while his brain produced
08:55a detailed, itemized plan for relocating.
08:58Paying to the company's office in Antarctica.
09:00We don't have an office in Antarctica,
09:03his own mind countered.
09:04We'll open one, he replied to himself.
09:07And yet at the end of the night,
09:08he'd walked me to my bedroom door,
09:11said,
09:11Good night, Sienna.
09:12and retreated to his own room,
09:14like a knight honoring some vow I'd never asked for.
09:17Don't look at her lips.
09:18Door.
09:19Close the door.
09:20Two years of discipline, don't you dare!
09:23The man was a fortress,
09:24and I was beginning to suspect I'd been the one who built the walls.
09:27I just couldn't remember how.
09:33So today, I was going to his office.
09:36Officially, to discuss investments,
09:37a word I planned to say while holding a folder.
09:40Unofficially, to stake my claim,
09:41test my range,
09:42and figure out what condition and what Marcus
09:44and what they always run meant
09:46before I signed away the strangest,
09:48most promising marriage in Manhattan.
09:50I picked my most devastating skirt
09:52for research purposes.
09:55Blackwood Capital's lobby was a cathedral of glass and ego.
09:58The receptionist's eyes went wide.
10:00Mrs. Blackwood!
10:01And I sailed toward the private elevator like I owned it,
10:04which, technically,
10:05in the event of a divorce settlement,
10:06I partially would.
10:08The elevator climbed.
10:10Somewhere around the 40th floor,
10:12the radio in my head cracked into life,
10:15which meant my husband was close.
10:17Third coffee today,
10:18and it tastes wrong.
10:19Bitter.
10:20Metallic.
10:21Why is it so hot in here?
10:22Focus.
10:23The Hendrix Mernger.
10:25His thoughts staggered,
10:27blurred,
10:27like a record skipping.
10:30Something's wrong.
10:32My skin is burning.
10:35It's three weeks early.
10:36It can't be happening now.
10:37Not here.
10:38Not here.
10:40The elevator doors opened on the executive floor.
10:43His assistant,
10:44a nervous young man named William,
10:46materialized in front of me like a goalkeeper.
10:48Mrs. Blackwood.
10:50What a...
10:51What an unexpected...
10:52Mr. Blackwood is extremely indisposed.
10:55I mean, occupied.
10:56I'll wait inside.
10:57I said,
10:58stepping left.
10:59He stepped left.
11:01The lounge has excellent pastries.
11:04William.
11:06He gave strict orders.
11:07No one enters.
11:09Especially...
11:09Especially me.
11:10Through the heavy office door,
11:11I heard a woman's voice.
11:12Syrup sweet.
11:13Mr. Blackwood,
11:14you're burning up.
11:16Let me help you out of that shirt.
11:19And then my husband's thoughts hit me like a freight train,
11:22raged and desperate.
11:24Get her away from me.
11:26Her hands.
11:27Wrong.
11:28Wrong.
11:28Everything's wrong.
11:30Coffee.
11:30Someone put something in the coffee.
11:32I can't hold it back.
11:34Sienna.
11:34Sienna.
11:35I need Sienna.
11:38No, she can't see me like this.
11:41She can never see me like this.
11:44I shoved past William and threw open the door.
11:51My husband was on his knees.
11:53Damien Blackwood,
11:54the Ice King,
11:55the man who hadn't touched me in two years,
11:57knelt in the wreckage of his own office,
11:59shirt torn open,
12:00chest heaving,
12:01gripping the edge of his desk so hard the mahogany had cracked under his fingers.
12:05His eyes found mine across the room.
12:07They were gold.
12:08Molten,
12:09inhuman,
12:10wolf-bright gold.
12:11Sienna.
12:13Run.
12:14His thoughts hit me at the same instant,
12:16deafening.
12:16Mate.
12:17Mate.
12:18She's here.
12:19She's here.
12:19No.
12:20Get her out.
12:21If I touch her now,
12:23I'll never let her go.
12:24I did not run.
12:25The syrup-voiced intern,
12:26Lacey,
12:27according to her badge,
12:28stood frozen with a coffee cup in her hand
12:30and zero plausible explanations on her face.
12:34He spilled his drink.
12:35I was only trying to help out,
12:36I said.
12:37Mrs. Blackwood,
12:38I really think out.
12:39I didn't recognize my own voice.
12:41Neither did she.
12:41She fled,
12:42heels clattering,
12:43and William hauled the door shut behind her
12:45with the expression of a man updating his resume in real time.
12:48I crossed the room slowly.
12:49The way you approached something wild.
12:51Up close,
12:53Damien was furnace hot,
12:54sweat at his temples,
12:56every muscle locked.
12:57The veins in his forearms stood out like cables,
12:59and I stared.
13:00Were those fangs pressing against his lower lip?
13:03Don't come closer.
13:04Come closer.
13:05Please.
13:06Her sense is the only thing that doesn't hurt.
13:10You are the worst liar on the inside.
13:13His gold eyes flickered with confusion,
13:15but he was too far gone to chase it.
13:18I knelt in front of him,
13:20reached out.
13:21The second my palm touched his jaw,
13:24he shoved a full-body tremor
13:25and turned his face into my hand,
13:27like a dying man finding water.
13:30Drugged.
13:31The coffee.
13:32Wolfbath and silver nitrate
13:33has to be forced to shift early.
13:35Marcus.
13:36Marcus did this.
13:40He wants me to turn in front of the cameras
13:42at the board meeting.
13:44The strategy dissolved into something rarer.
13:47She's touching me.
13:48She's not running.
13:49Why isn't she running?
13:50She's so soft.
13:52Two years.
13:53Two years I've slept one wall away from her and...
13:55Damien,
13:56I said carefully,
13:57what are you?
14:03His human eye color fought back through the gold,
14:05gray storming through.
14:06When he spoke,
14:07it was barely a whisper.
14:08You already know what I am.
14:10You've known for 30 seconds.
14:11And you're still here.
14:13Why are you still here?
14:15Because I'm your wife.
14:17Apparently in sickness and in health
14:18covers whatever this is.
14:21A sound escaped him
14:22that was half laugh,
14:23half groan.
14:25Then his head snapped toward the window,
14:27nostrils flaring
14:28and his whole body coiled.
14:30It's coming.
14:31The shift.
14:3230 seconds.
14:33Get her out.
14:33Get her out.
14:34Sienna!
14:35He's my shoulders
14:36and his hands were shaking.
14:37Listen to me.
14:38There's a black card in my desk.
14:40Take it.
14:40Take the car.
14:41Go to the penthouse
14:41and lock the steel door
14:42in the wine cellar from the inside.
14:43The wine cellar has a steel door?
14:45It's not a wine cellar.
14:48Out.
14:49Sienna.
14:50Out!
14:54Please.
14:58One's cracked.
14:59He doubled over with a snarl
15:01that no human throat could make
15:03and silver black fur
15:05rippled up his forearms
15:06like spilled ink.
15:08His last human thought reached me,
15:10anguished and crystal clear.
15:11Don't let her see the monster.
15:13Anything but that.
15:14She'll look at me the way she did,
15:16the way everyone did.
15:17And then my husband was gone.
15:18In his place,
15:19filling half the office,
15:20stood an enormous black wolf
15:21with my husband's strong grey eyes,
15:23staring at me in absolute terror.
15:29Here is what they don't tell you
15:31about discovering your husband
15:32as a werewolf.
15:33The paperwork doesn't cover it.
15:35There's no claws.
15:36I checked our pre-new later.
15:37Nothing.
15:38The wolf, Damien,
15:39backed away from me
15:41until he hit the bookshelf,
15:43knocking down a framed photo
15:44of our wedding day.
15:45He was enormous,
15:47shoulders level with my libs,
15:48fur so black it ate the light.
15:51A creature built to be feared.
15:54He was trying to make himself smaller.
15:56Don't scream.
15:57Please don't scream.
15:59His thoughts still came through,
16:01rougher now,
16:02simpler,
16:03like a voice through deep water.
16:05Window.
16:05I'll go through the window.
16:07Forty floors.
16:08I'll survive it.
16:10Probably worth it.
16:11If you jump out that window,
16:13I said,
16:14I am divorcing you.
16:16The wolf froze mid-slink.
16:19That's right.
16:20I pointed at him
16:21with all the authority
16:22of a woman
16:23who had completely
16:23lost control of her life.
16:26I know about the papers.
16:28You know about the papers.
16:30And I am telling you,
16:32the only thing
16:33that gets signed today
16:34is your apology for hiding.
16:41Two hundred pounds of this
16:43from your own wife
16:44for two years.
16:46I gestured at all of him.
16:47She's scolding me.
16:48I'm a 900-year-old
16:49bloodline apex predator
16:51and she's scolding me.
16:52A pause.
16:53Why do I like it?
16:54I sat down on the ruined carpet
16:55right in the middle of the wreckage
16:56and pad the floor next to me.
16:58He didn't move for a long moment.
17:00Then, slowly,
17:02one massive paw at a time
17:03with the dignity of a CEO
17:05and the guilt of a dog
17:06who ate the couch,
17:07my husband crossed the office
17:08and lay down beside me,
17:10leaving six careful inches
17:11between us.
17:12I closed the gap.
17:13I buried my hand
17:15in the fur of his neck
17:16and the sound he made,
17:17a low, broken rumble,
17:19vibrated through my whole body.
17:21Two years.
17:22Two years I dreamed
17:23about her hands.
17:24Came the thought,
17:25almost too quiet to catch.
17:27I said,
17:28my throat's suddenly tight.
17:30Okay.
17:31Talk.
17:32Well, think.
17:34Loudly.
17:35Start with who drugged you.
17:41Start with who drugged you.
17:43And in the strange grammar
17:44of a wolf's mind,
17:45images,
17:46scents,
17:47flashes,
17:47he showed me
17:48the bitter coffee.
17:50His cousin Marcus's smile
17:51at last month's board dinner,
17:53too wide.
17:54An old law of their world,
17:55a shifter exposed before humans,
17:57fulfeits everything,
17:58his seat,
17:59his territory,
18:00his pack's protection.
18:02Marcus didn't need
18:03to beat Damien in a vote.
18:04He just needed him
18:05to turn into a monster
18:06on camera,
18:07three days from now,
18:08at the shareholder meeting
18:09under the full moon.
18:10And the condition?
18:12I asked,
18:13you keep thinking about a condition.
18:14The wolf's ears flattened.
18:16The images that came next
18:17were older.
18:18A girl,
18:19years ago,
18:19before me.
18:20Gold eyes glimpsed in the dark.
18:22A scream,
18:23the word monster
18:24echoing down a marble hallway.
18:26And a boy of 17
18:27learning to build walls
18:28no one would ever climb again.
18:30They always run,
18:31he thought.
18:32I'm sitting in the splash zone
18:34of a literal werewolf.
18:35I said,
18:36in a skirt that costs
18:38more than William's salary.
18:39Do I look like I'm running?
18:46Grey wolf's eyes
18:47studded me sidelined.
18:49No.
18:50He admitted.
18:51You look adequate.
18:52I knew that was a compliment.
18:54A sound came out of the wolf
18:55that I realized,
18:56with wonder,
18:57was laughter.
18:58And there,
18:59on the floor of a destroyed
19:00corner office,
19:01leaning against my husband's
19:02heartbeat,
19:03I made a decision
19:04that was probably insane.
19:05I wasn't signing anything.
19:07Not until I dealt with Marcus.
19:09The tabloids,
19:10the intern with the convenient coffee.
19:12And the small matter
19:13of falling for my own husband
19:14two years late.
19:16My phone buzzed.
19:18Then again.
19:19Then six more times.
19:21Kane Foster,
19:22the boundary and views analyst.
19:24Mrs. Blackwood,
19:25you left the gala early.
19:26Everything okay?
19:26I have something special for you.
19:28Trust me,
19:28you'll love it.
19:29It'll fix your marriage problem.
19:30The wolf read it over my shoulder.
19:32The temperature in the room
19:33dropped 10 degrees.
19:35Antarctica.
19:35We open the office Monday.
19:37My husband thought,
19:38with terrifying calm.
19:45By the next morning,
19:46Damien was human again,
19:48suited again,
19:49and pretending none of it
19:50had happened.
19:51Except now,
19:52every time he passed me
19:53in the kitchen.
19:54She stayed.
19:55She stayed.
19:56She stayed.
19:58I was on my way
19:59to deal with Kane
20:00and his something special
20:01when a girl ambushed me
20:03outside the building.
20:04Mrs. Blackwood,
20:05two minutes,
20:06please.
20:07Lacey,
20:08the coffee intern,
20:09the audacity of her,
20:11standing on the sidewalk
20:12in a trench coat
20:12with the haunted expression
20:13of a Victorian ghost.
20:15You have negative minutes.
20:17You drugged my husband.
20:18I know.
20:19I mean,
20:19I didn't know what it was.
20:20A man gave me the vial
20:21and the words just...
20:24She squeezed her eyes shut,
20:26took a breath,
20:27and then her whole
20:28demomina changed,
20:29like an actor
20:29stepping into the light.
20:31Her chin lifted,
20:32her voice turned poisonous.
20:33You think marrying Damien
20:35makes you somebody?
20:35He's never even touched you.
20:36The whole city knows.
20:37Be smart,
20:38sign the divorce,
20:39and clear the way
20:40for a woman
20:41who can actually...
20:42What?
20:43A bolt of lightning
20:44came out of the cloud
20:45of the sky
20:45and struck her.
20:50I'm going to repeat that
20:51because I needed a moment too.
20:53A bolt of lightning
20:54out of a clear blue sky
20:55struck the Tide Rock girl,
20:57leaving her smoking gently,
20:58hair standing in all directions,
21:00otherwise unharmed.
21:01I asked the sky,
21:02do terrible people
21:03actually get smeated now?
21:05Because I have a list.
21:08It's the contract,
21:09okay?
21:10I'm cursed.
21:11Last year I made a deal,
21:12a witch,
21:13a bar in Brooklyn.
21:14I was very drunk
21:15and very broke.
21:16I signed something called
21:16a narrative service agreement.
21:18Now I'm contractually obligated
21:19to play the other woman
21:20in three marriages
21:21or I forfeit my soul.
21:22Standard terms, apparently.
21:24Every time I go off script,
21:25that happens.
21:26The drugging wasn't in my script.
21:27Marcus Blackwood
21:28blackmailed me into that part.
21:29He knows about my contract.
21:30I'm sorry.
21:31I'm so sorry.
21:33Your husband fired me,
21:34slapped 12 NDAs on me,
21:36and honestly,
21:38fair.
21:38I stared at her.
21:40Smoke curled off her shoulders.
21:42Somewhere in my purse,
21:44my divorce papers sat unsigned.
21:46My husband was a wolf,
21:47and now witches were real
21:48and ran predatory gig ectomus schemes.
21:51How many scenes do you have left?
21:53Her eyes went huge and wet.
21:55Three.
21:56Just three scenes and I'm free.
21:58But they all require him
22:00or someone with his scent.
22:01And he'll literally throw me off the building
22:04and I can't blame him.
22:06She grabbed my hands.
22:08You smell like him.
22:10Wait.
22:15You smell like him.
22:17Wait.
22:17That's weird.
22:18What I mean is,
22:19the contract just needs the scent
22:21and the lines.
22:22It can't tell the difference.
22:23You could play his part.
22:25Three little scenes
22:26and I'm out of your marriage forever.
22:27I swear on my smoking trench coat.
22:30You want me to role play
22:31as my own husband
22:32while you seduce me?
22:34When you say it like that,
22:35it sounds insane.
22:36It is insane.
22:38Mrs. Blackwood.
22:39She bowed so low
22:40her singed hair flopped over.
22:42Please.
22:43You're married to a werewolf.
22:44Your bar for insane
22:45should be adjustable.
22:46She had me there.
22:48I sighed.
22:50Pulled out a card
22:51from my family's private clinic.
22:53Get the burns looked at first
22:54and watched her
22:55glitch it like a holy relic.
22:57Against every instinct
22:58of self-preservation,
22:59I said,
23:00Fine.
23:02Three scenes.
23:03But we do them
23:04where my husband will never see
23:05because if he catches me
23:06being seduced by the woman
23:07who drugged him,
23:10no contract in any realm
23:11will save either of us.
23:12Lacey beamed
23:13through the stunt.
23:14You won't regret this.
23:16Narrate a voice
23:16somewhere in the universe.
23:17She would regret this immediately.
23:19That night,
23:20Marcus Blackwood's name
23:22lit up Damien's phone at dinner.
23:24I watched my husband
23:25answer with perfect courtesy
23:27and underneath it,
23:28one thought,
23:29cold as a blade
23:30leaving its shoe.
23:31Full moon in two days, cousin.
23:32Let's see which of us
23:33is the monster.
23:39The Blackwood Foundation's
23:40pre-vote reception
23:41was a glittering circus.
23:42Two hundred shareholders,
23:44a string quartet,
23:45and enough champagne
23:45to float a yacht.
23:46I walked in scanning for threats
23:48and found the biggest one
23:49immediately.
23:49My mother, in red,
23:51telling a senator's wife
23:52about my wedding.
23:53She sees my arm.
23:55There you are.
23:56Why didn't you arrive
23:57with Damien?
23:57He's been here half an hour
23:58looking like a man
23:59whose wife is missing.
24:00It's wonderful for the photos.
24:03Across the ballroom,
24:04Damien stood surrounded
24:05by syphikants,
24:06nodding at intervals.
24:07The moment I entered,
24:09his head turned
24:09before he could have seen me
24:10before anyone could have.
24:12And his thoughts
24:13brushed against mine,
24:15like a hand
24:16at the small of my back.
24:17Vanilla.
24:18There she is.
24:20Now I can breathe.
24:21I was not going to survive
24:23this marriage.
24:23The divorce wouldn't kill me.
24:25Staying Wood.
24:26Mom, I need to...
24:27Black stockings?
24:29What?
24:29You heard me.
24:30Two years, no grandchildren.
24:32I did the math, sweetheart.
24:33The problem is strategy.
24:34Your grandmother always said
24:35a man is a fortress
24:35and a fortress falls to patience,
24:37siege, or black stockings.
24:38You sipped her champagne.
24:39We don't have time for patience.
24:41He's not a fortress, Mom.
24:42He's a werewolf
24:43with a tragic backstory
24:44and a homicidal cousin.
24:46Shy.
24:47Shy.
24:48She looked across the room
24:49at my husband.
24:56She looked across the room
24:57at my husband.
24:58Six foot three
24:58of bespoke menace
24:59who chose that exact moment
25:01to glare at a waiter
25:02standing too close to me.
25:04Yes.
25:04A timid little lamb.
25:06Stockings, Sienna.
25:07She drifted off
25:07toward the senator.
25:08I made it three steps
25:09toward the dessert table
25:10before someone
25:11barreled into me.
25:12Lazy.
25:12In Catingstaff disguise.
25:13Eyes wild.
25:14Mrs. Blackwood.
25:14Scene one is triggering now.
25:16I can feel it.
25:17It's like a sneeze.
25:17I can't hold it.
25:18The contract picked tonight.
25:19The garden.
25:20Five minutes, please.
25:21Here?
25:22Are you scared?
25:23His sense of smell is here.
25:25Do you know
25:25what a wolf's hearing range?
25:27It's the garden
25:27or the lightning
25:28and I am not getting struck
25:30twice in one week.
25:32I have a palm.
25:33Which is how I ended up
25:35in the hotel's back garden
25:36under a trellis
25:37of fairy lights
25:38preparing to impersonate
25:40my own husband
25:40while his actual voice
25:42drifted from the ballroom
25:43giving a toast
25:44about integrity
25:45and family legacy.
25:46Lazy shook out her arms
25:47like a boxer.
25:48Okay, the contractor
25:49feed me lines
25:49just respond to him.
25:50Be cold?
25:51Be devastating.
25:52We've lived with him
25:52two years.
25:53Channel it.
25:54Cold?
25:54Devastating?
25:55Got it.
25:56Her posture changed.
25:57The script took her.
25:58She swayed toward me.
26:00Voice honeyed.
26:01Mr. Blackwood.
26:06Mr. Blackwood.
26:08You shouldn't keep
26:09meeting like this.
26:10Your wife finds out.
26:12I said in my deepest register.
26:14My wife is the most
26:15beautiful woman in Manhattan
26:16and you smell like
26:17a coffee crime.
26:19Stay on script.
26:19Lazy hissed through her teeth
26:21then melted back into character
26:22clutching my lap.
26:23I know you feel it too.
26:24Leave her.
26:25Tell me you'll leave her.
26:26Every cell in my body objected.
26:28The contract apparently
26:29required audible dialogue
26:30so I gritted out.
26:31Sure.
26:32Whatever you say.
26:33Say you like me.
26:36I like you
26:37with the warmth
26:38of a tax notice.
26:40Is that so hard?
26:41Lazy whispered
26:42off script
26:42eyes shining.
26:44One down?
26:45Two to go.
26:46You're a natural.
26:46You sounded just like
26:47the garden lights flickered.
26:49Every bird went silent
26:50at once.
26:50And from the ballroom doors
26:52behind me
26:52a voice
26:53his real one
26:54velvet over steel.
26:56Sienna.
26:57I looked up.
26:58Damien stood at the top
26:59of the garden steps
27:00champagne flute in hand
27:01face perfectly calm.
27:03His eyes were gold.
27:13Lazy vanished.
27:14I want it noted
27:15for the record.
27:16The woman who begged me
27:17for help evaporated
27:18like steam
27:19leaving me alone
27:20in a fairy lit garden
27:21with a jealous apex predator
27:23in black tie.
27:24Damien descended
27:25the steps
27:26slowly
27:26behind him.
27:27The party
27:28glittered on
27:29oblivious.
27:30His thoughts arrived
27:30before he did
27:31and they were not
27:32calm at all.
27:34I like you.
27:35She said I like you.
27:36To the woman
27:37who poisoned me
27:38in the dark
27:39in the garden
27:40in that dress.
27:41Is my wife
27:42being seduced
27:42by my would-be assassin?
27:44Is this happening?
27:45Is this my life?
27:46This can't be happening.
27:50Honey,
27:51I said brightly.
27:52Great toast.
27:53Very moving.
27:55The part about integrity.
27:57What?
27:58He said,
27:59Are you doing out here?
28:01Networking.
28:02With Lacey Monroe.
28:03His voice could have
28:03frosted a champagne.
28:05Who drugged me.
28:06Funny story.
28:13You told her you'd leave me.
28:14The gold in his eyes
28:15flared and underneath
28:16the controlled fury
28:17his thoughts cracked open.
28:19Wrong.
28:19First the divorce papers.
28:21Now this.
28:22She's leaving
28:23and I can't even be angry.
28:24I have no right.
28:26I gave her two years
28:27of closed doors
28:27but not for her.
28:28Not for the woman who-
28:29She's cursed.
28:30He blinked.
28:31It's a witch contract.
28:33Brooklyn Bar.
28:34Narrative service agreement.
28:35It's a whole predatory
28:37gig economies thing.
28:38She has to act out
28:38home wrecker scenes
28:39or she gets struck
28:40by lightning.
28:41Actual lighting, Damien.
28:43It was honestly
28:44a little cathartic.
28:45Marcus found out
28:46about her contract
28:46and blackmailed her
28:47into dosing your coffee.
28:48She's a victim
28:49with great line delivery.
28:53I was playing you
28:54so she could finish her scenes
28:56and get out of our lives forever.
28:58Silence above us.
28:59The fairy lights buzzed.
29:01Witches.
29:02He finally thought
29:03with the weariness of a man
29:05adding a line item
29:06to a long list.
29:07Of course.
29:08Marcus always did like
29:10using other people's hands.
29:12Wait.
29:12Our lives?
29:19He'd caught it.
29:21Of course he'd caught it.
29:22The man could hear
29:23a heartbeat
29:24across a ballroom.
29:25Slep of the tongue.
29:26I said.
29:26He stepped closer.
29:27You said our lives.
29:28The garden suddenly felt
29:30very small.
29:31You carry divorce papers
29:32in your bag, Sienna.
29:34Three weeks now.
29:35The folder's worn at the corner
29:36from how often you take it out.
29:38But you don't sign it.
29:40You came to my office
29:41in your most dangerous skirt.
29:45You sat with the wolf.
29:46You're out here doing favors
29:48for cursed strangers
29:49to protect a marriage
29:50you claim you want to end.
29:53Say it.
29:54His mind begged
29:55even as his face
29:57stayed composed.
29:58Please.
29:59I've been reading
30:00every signal
30:00and I can't trust
30:02my own hope anymore.
30:03Just say it out loud.
30:06And I almost did.
30:08The words were right there.
30:09I...
30:09Then a cheerful voice
30:10shattered the garden.
30:12Mrs. Blackwood!
30:19There you are.
30:20I've been looking everywhere.
30:21Kane Foster jogged
30:22down the steps
30:23dimples blazing
30:24holding a gift box
30:25with a ribbon on it
30:26radiating the survival instincts
30:28of a golden retriever
30:29in traffic.
30:30Kane, I said
30:31threw a smile.
30:32This is really not...
30:33It'll only take a second.
30:34He thrust the box at me
30:35beaming directly
30:36in front of my husband.
30:37Remember at the office party
30:38when you'd had the wine
30:39and you said your husband
30:40was a total did in the bedroom?
30:42The fairy lights flickered again.
30:43So I designed something!
30:45Kane barreled on.
30:46A dead man
30:46narrating his own funeral.
30:48It's from my side business.
30:50Exclusive line.
30:51Very tasteful.
30:53Guaranteed to wake up
30:54even the coldest husband.
30:55And if this doesn't work
30:56I've got spicier.
30:58He finally registered
30:59the six foot three silence
31:01beside me.
31:02Looked up.
31:03Met a pair of molten gold eyes.
31:06Damien smiled.
31:07It was the single
31:08most frightening thing
31:09I had ever seen.
31:11And I had watched this man
31:12turn into a wolf.
31:14A dud.
31:15My husband
31:16repeated softly.
31:18Tonight
31:20we're settling this.
31:40Cain fled.
31:41Smart man.
31:42Wrong continent
31:43but smart man.
31:44Which left me alone
31:45in the garden
31:46holding a ribbon box
31:47of incriminating injury
31:48with a husband
31:50whose composure
31:50was a paper screen
31:51over a forest fire.
31:53Damien, I began.
31:54Context is important.
31:55You told your co-worker.
31:57He said
31:58taking the box
31:59from my hands
32:00and setting it
32:01on a stone bench
32:02with unsettling gentleness.
32:04That I'm a dud.
32:05I'd had wine.
32:06It was months ago.
32:07And in my defense
32:08you hadn't touched me
32:09in two years.
32:10What was I supposed
32:11to tell people?
32:12that my husband
32:13is a perfect gentleman
32:15with the self-control
32:17of a marble saint.
32:18Nobody believes that, Damien.
32:20It's not a real personality.
32:22A dud.
32:24Eyes never leaving mine
32:26and his thoughts
32:27had gone from thunder
32:28to something darker
32:29and warmer.
32:31Two years of cold showers.
32:33Two years of sleeping
32:34one wall away
32:35listening to her heartbeat
32:36through the drywall
32:37like a lovesick teenager.
32:39And she thinks...
32:41Wait, you can hear
32:42my heartbeat through the...
32:43He went very still.
32:44What did you say?
32:45Oh, no.
32:46He stepped closer.
32:47What did you just say, Sienna?
32:49Head tilting.
32:50That wolf tilt.
32:51I didn't say that out loud.
32:53Oh, no.
32:59Oh, no.
33:01You implied it.
33:02I tried.
33:03With your face.
33:04You have a very loud face.
33:06I have the least loud face
33:07on the Eastern Suborta.
33:08It's my entire brand.
33:10His eyes narrowed.
33:11I watched the deduction
33:12assemble itself behind them
33:14with terrifying speed.
33:15The same mind
33:16that ate hostile takeovers
33:18for breakfast.
33:20The office.
33:21She answered things
33:22I never said.
33:23The garden just now.
33:25She reacted before I spoke.
33:28She looks at me
33:29when I think about her.
33:30Every single time
33:32for the past three days
33:33since...
33:34since she fell into my arms.
33:38Damien.
33:40Can you hear me right now?
33:41His mouth hadn't moved.
33:43We stared at each other
33:44in the fairy-lit dark
33:45in his heart.
33:46I could see it in his throat.
33:48He was pounding.
33:51Yes.
33:52I whispered.
33:53The fortress of his face
33:54came down all at once.
33:55Not anger.
33:56Not the horror I braced for.
33:58Something almost unbearable.
33:59Wonder.
34:00Do you know what that means?
34:01Sienna.
34:02Do you know what it means
34:03when a human
34:04starts hearing a wolf's mind?
34:06That your security clearance situation
34:08is a disaster.
34:09It's the bond.
34:10He took my face in both hands.
34:12Careful.
34:13Reverent.
34:14Like I was made of something
34:15that might dissolve.
34:17The mate bond.
34:17It only opens in one direction.
34:20First.
34:20From the wolf
34:21to his fated mate.
34:22I thought.
34:23A disbelieving laugh
34:24broke out of him.
34:26Two years I thought
34:26the marriage was a cage.
34:28I trapped you in.
34:29An arrangement.
34:30I never let myself check.
34:32Never let myself hope.
34:34Because if I courted you
34:35and you ran.
34:37They always run.
34:38I quoted softly.
34:40You heard that too.
34:45His thumbs brushed
34:46my cheekbones.
34:47She heard everything.
34:49The poetry about her colisbone.
34:50Oh God.
34:51The collarbone poetry.
34:54It was a good poem.
34:55I said.
34:56Strong imagery.
34:57I'm going to throw myself
34:58off the trellis.
34:59You're going to do
34:59no such thing.
35:00I grabbed his lapels.
35:02You're going to explain
35:03why if I'm your fated
35:04cosmic destiny wife.
35:06You spent two years
35:08treating me like
35:08I was radioactive.
35:10Because I've heard
35:10your thoughts?
35:11Damien Blackwood.
35:12I know what you wanted.
35:14So why?
35:15The wonder in his face
35:16flickered.
35:17Guilt moved in behind it.
35:19Old and worn.
35:20Like furniture
35:20he'd lived with a long time.
35:22Because of the contract.
35:24He said quietly.
35:25Sienna.
35:26Haven't you ever read
35:27our prenup?
35:27All of it.
35:29Clause 47.
35:31Nobody reads
35:32Clause 47
35:33of anything.
35:34Your side added it.
35:36Before the wedding.
35:38I assumed you knew.
35:39I assumed it was yours.
35:41Clause 47.
35:44At the bride's request.
35:46The garden tilted.
35:47I said slowly.
35:48Damien, I never requested that.
35:50His face went white.
35:51And then both of us.
35:53The same heartbeat.
35:54The same dawning horror.
35:56We said one name together.
35:58Marcus.
36:04We read Clause 47
36:05in his study
36:06at one in the morning.
36:08Both of us
36:09still in formal wear.
36:10The prenup spread
36:11across his desk
36:11like a crime scene.
36:14There it was.
36:15Page 31.
36:16Cold legal language
36:17dressed as my wish.
36:18Without physical intimacy
36:19in perpetuity.
36:21At the bride's request.
36:22Initialed by the lawyers.
36:23Hundred page document
36:24during a chaotic week
36:26of merger negotiations
36:27and wedding planning.
36:30When both families
36:31had teams of attorneys
36:32passing drafts
36:33like hot potaties.
36:34Marcus handled
36:35the final consolidation
36:36of documents.
36:38Damien said
36:39his voice was flat
36:40in the way that meant
36:41the wolf was very close
36:42to the surface.
36:44As family counsel.
36:45He stood at our wedding,
36:47Sienna.
36:48He toasted us.
36:49I thought about it.
36:50Really thought about it.
36:51And the whole rotten architecture
36:53came into view.
36:54He couldn't stop the marriage.
36:56I said slowly.
36:57The merger was too valuable.
36:58The families wanted it.
37:00So he made sure
37:01it would fail.
37:02A bonded wolf
37:03is stronger.
37:04You told me that
37:05in the office.
37:06In the wolf mind
37:07the images.
37:08A wolf with a mate
37:09with a pack
37:10is untouchable.
37:15So he kept you alone.
37:18He kept us
37:19my throat closed.
37:20One wall apart.
37:21For two years.
37:23Two years of him
37:23recoiling from my touch
37:25not revulsion.
37:26Honor.
37:27The man had fangs
37:28and claws
37:28and a 900 year bloodline.
37:30And he'd flinched away
37:31from his own wife
37:32because he believed
37:32a contract clause
37:33was my boundary.
37:34And he would have
37:35rather lost me
37:36entirely than cross it.
37:37And then the tabloids.
37:41The headlines
37:42were very specific.
37:43Fabricated.
37:44All of it.
37:45I had legal
37:46traced the source
37:47last year.
37:48Shell companies.
37:49He pulled up a folder
37:50turned the screen
37:51toward me.
37:52The trail of payments
37:53ended at a familiar name.
37:55He couldn't make me cheat
37:56so he printed it.
37:57He needed you to file.
37:59The bond severs clearly
38:00if the human
38:01walks away
38:01of her own will.
38:02No bond.
38:03No claim.
38:04And a divorced
38:05scandal-soaked
38:06unbonded alpha
38:07loses the family vote.
38:08And when the divorce
38:10was taking too long
38:11he moved to the endgame.
38:13The wolf's bane
38:14forced me to turn
38:16at the shareholder meeting
38:16under the full moon
38:17in front of 200 cameras.
38:19Which is tomorrow night?
38:21Which is tomorrow night.
38:27Which is tomorrow night?
38:29Which is tomorrow night.
38:30The clock ticked.
38:32Somewhere below us
38:33Manhattan glittered.
38:34Full of people
38:35who didn't know
38:36that the city's
38:36most boring marriage
38:37was actually
38:38a two-year siege.
38:40Okay.
38:41I said
38:41and stood up
38:42and started pacing
38:43because that is
38:44what my mother does
38:45when she is about
38:46to ruin someone's life.
38:47And I am her daughter.
38:48He's built everything
38:49on three pillars.
38:50The claws?
38:51We just found it.
38:52That's evidence of fraud.
38:55The tabloids?
38:56You've got the payment trail
38:57and the public shift.
38:59I stopped.
38:59He'll dose you again.
39:01He has to.
39:03He can't count
39:04on the full moon alone,
39:05can he?
39:06No.
39:07I have decades of control.
39:09He needs the wolf's bane.
39:11Damien's eyes lifted to mine,
39:13gold flickering at the edges,
39:14and his thoughts came through,
39:16no longer hidden,
39:17offered up freely now
39:18like an open palm.
39:20She's pacing my study
39:21at 1 a.m.,
39:22planning a counter coup
39:23in a ball gown.
39:25I have never wanted anyone
39:27so much in my entire life.
39:30Focus, I said,
39:32my face on fire.
39:33I'm extremely focused.
39:35I continued.
39:36Lacey,
39:37he blackmailed her once,
39:38he'll use her again.
39:41But she owes me
39:42two more scenes
39:42and her soul,
39:43and she'd flip on him
39:44for a sandwich.
39:46Kane,
39:46I paused.
39:47Kane has cameras
39:48in everything.
39:48We need eyes
39:49on the catering line tomorrow.
39:51You want to run
39:52a counterintelligence
39:53operation?
39:54My husband said slowly.
39:55Using a cursed homewrecker
39:57and a lingerie analyst.
39:59I want to win, Damien.
40:01He lifted my hand
40:02and pressed his lips
40:04to my knuckles.
40:05The first kiss
40:06of our entire marriage.
40:07Two years late,
40:09soft as a vow.
40:11My mate,
40:12my Luna.
40:13Tomorrow we take back
40:14the company,
40:15Sienna,
40:16about Clause 47.
40:18Yes?
40:19I'm having it strucken.
40:26The morning of the full moon,
40:28my war council convened
40:29in the penthouse kitchen.
40:30One alpha werewolf
40:31making espresso.
40:32One cursed homewrecker
40:33eating all our croissants.
40:35One lingerie analyst
40:36with a pelican case
40:37of surveillance gear.
40:38And me,
40:39the only unemployed
40:40mind reader in the room.
40:42Okay, so first...
40:43Kane said,
40:44raising a hand.
40:44Am I forgiven?
40:45Because the Antarctica memo
40:46was on my desk this morning
40:48and I just want to say
40:49I checked,
40:49we don't have an office in...
40:51We will.
40:51Said Damien,
40:52without turning around.
40:54He's forgiven,
40:54I said,
40:55probationally.
40:56Kane,
40:56the cameras.
40:57Right.
40:58He popped the case.
40:59Button cams,
41:00pen cams,
41:01one camera that looks
41:02like a croissant.
41:03Lacey,
41:03that's a camera.
41:04Lacey put it down,
41:05chewing slowly.
41:07The catering kitchen
41:08is covered.
41:09Kane went on.
41:10If anyone goes near
41:11Mr. Blackwood's
41:12water glass tonight,
41:13we'll have it in 4K.
41:15And Marcus contacted me
41:16at 6am.
41:17Burner number,
41:18wants me on the waitstaff again.
41:19Same vial,
41:19double the dose,
41:20it's in my coat.
41:21She slid a small dark bottle
41:22across the marble.
41:23He also itemized my blackmail.
41:25Which,
41:25rude.
41:26So yes,
41:26I'm flipping.
41:27I'd flip for free.
41:28I'd flip for these croissants.
41:30Damien picked up the vial
41:31and his nostrils flared.
41:33Wolf's base,
41:33silver nitrate,
41:35and something else.
41:36Stronger.
41:37He's not trying to embarrass me anymore.
41:38A dose like this could kill.
41:44His thoughts went arctic,
41:46out loud,
41:46mildly.
41:47Lacey,
41:48you'll wear a wire.
41:49Sir,
41:49I'm cursed,
41:50not stupid.
41:51I've been wearing a wire.
41:53I record everything
41:54since the Brooklyn bar incident.
41:56I have Marcus on tape
41:57from the first dosing.
41:58Make him drink it
41:59before the board meeting
42:00or your contract details
42:01go public.
42:03Time stashed.
42:04The kitchen went quiet.
42:05Damien looked at me.
42:06I looked at him.
42:07We have him.
42:08His mind said,
42:09we have him.
42:09I said out loud
42:11and Kane glanced
42:12between us
42:12deeply unsettled.
42:14They do that,
42:15Lacey told him.
42:16Married telepathy.
42:17Don't think about
42:18anything embarrassing.
42:19Why would you say that?
42:20Now it's all I can...
42:22Okay.
42:23I said,
42:23tonight,
42:24the shareholder meeting
42:25starts at eight.
42:26Moonrise is 8.40.
42:28Lacey takes the vial assignment,
42:30dumps it swaps
42:30in colored water
42:31and stays wired.
42:33Kane runs cameras.
42:34Marcus thinks his plan
42:35is live,
42:36so he'll have prepared
42:37his big moment,
42:38the moment he's planning
42:39to expose
42:40a transformed wolf
42:41to 200 witnesses.
42:43Except.
42:44Except there'll be no wolf.
42:45Kane said.
42:46Oh no.
42:46I said,
42:47there'll be a wolf.
42:48Everyone looked at me,
42:49including my husband,
42:50whose eyebrows
42:50did a thing I'd never seen before.
42:52Marcus' whole play
42:53depends on the world
42:54finding out what Damien
42:55is against as well.
42:56Exposure as a weapon.
42:58But weapons only work
42:59if you're afraid of them.
43:00I turn to Damien.
43:01What happens
43:01under PAC law
43:02if a wolf reveals
43:03himself?
43:09Freely.
43:10On his own terms?
43:12Then it isn't exposure.
43:13Came his thought.
43:14Slow and stunned.
43:15He is turning.
43:16It's a claiming.
43:18Territory declared
43:19in the open.
43:19It hasn't been done
43:20in a century.
43:22The old families
43:23would have to acknowledge it.
43:24And Marcus' leverage
43:25turns to ash.
43:26But Sienna,
43:27the human world,
43:28the board,
43:29the cameras,
43:30there's no walking it back.
43:32Everyone will know
43:32what I am.
43:34What are children?
43:35He stopped himself.
43:36Ears actually going red.
43:39Presumptuous.
43:41Presumptuous.
43:42Children,
43:42plural,
43:43will circle back.
43:44I said,
43:45and his blush deepened.
43:46And lacy mouth,
43:47wow,
43:48it came.
43:48I took my husband's hand
43:50across the marble island.
43:53You spent your whole life hiding
43:54because one person screamed.
43:56And then you spent two years
43:57one wall away from me
43:58because a piece of paper
43:59told you I didn't want you.
44:00Hiding hasn't protected you,
44:02Damien.
44:02It just made you easy to hunt.
44:05I squeezed.
44:06So tonight,
44:07we stop hiding.
44:09All of it.
44:10The wolf,
44:12the marriage,
44:12everything.
44:14Let Marcus light his match
44:15and find out.
44:16The house is already on fire.
44:18For a long moment,
44:19he just looked at me.
44:20Then he lifted my hand
44:22and kissed it.
44:23And his thoughts arrived steady
44:24and bright as moonrise.
44:26Forget the boardroom.
44:27I'd follow this woman
44:28into the sun.
44:30Eight o'clock,
44:31the alpha of Blackwood said,
44:33wear the green dress.
44:39The shareholder meeting
44:40smelled like money and ambition.
44:42Two hundred of New York's
44:43sharpest people
44:43arranged in a glass atrium
44:45with the full moon
44:46rising over the skyline
44:47like a stage light
44:48somebody had queued on purpose.
44:50Marcus Blackwood
44:51worked the room
44:51in a steel grey suit,
44:53silver tie pin.
44:54Smile wide as a bear trap.
44:57When he reached us,
44:58he kissed my hand.
45:02Sienna,
45:03radiant as ever.
45:04His eyes flicked to Damien.
45:05Cousin,
45:06big night.
45:06Feeling well?
45:07You look warm.
45:09He's checking for symptoms.
45:10Damien's mind noted,
45:11even as he smiled blandly.
45:13He thinks the dose is in me.
45:14Lacey swapped it 90 minutes ago.
45:15Steady,
45:16never better.
45:16Damien said,
45:17wonderful.
45:18Marcus checked his watch,
45:19not for the time.
45:20I realized,
45:21for the moon.
45:22Then I'll see you on stage.
45:23I prepared a little surprise
45:24for the shareholders.
45:25A presentation about
45:26transparency and leadership.
45:28He glided away.
45:30Across the room,
45:31Lacey,
45:32in catering black,
45:33gave me a thumbs up
45:34with a tray of canapes.
45:36Somewhere above us,
45:37one of Kane's croissants
45:38was filming everything.
45:40At 8.30,
45:41Damien took the stage.
45:42At 8.30,
45:43Marcus made his move.
45:45Before the vote.
45:46Marcus said smoothly,
45:48stepping to the second microphone.
45:49I believe the shareholders
45:51deserve the whole truth
45:52about this company's leadership.
45:54He clicked a remote.
45:55The screen behind them
45:57bloomed with grainy security footage.
46:02A destroyed office.
46:04A blurred, dark shape.
46:06A shattered desk.
46:07Three nights ago,
46:08in the CEO's office,
46:09I have enhanced footage.
46:10I have testimony.
46:12The man asking for your votes tonight
46:13has been hiding something
46:15from every person in this room.
46:17And I suspect...
46:18He glanced at his watch again,
46:20at the moon swelling over the sky,
46:21waiting for a transformation
46:22that wasn't coming.
46:23The truth is about to make itself
46:25very visible.
46:26Murmurs.
46:27Cameras rising.
46:30200 faces turning to my husband,
46:31waiting for him to deny it.
46:33Damien looked out at them.
46:34Then he found me in the front row.
46:36Last chance to run?
46:37He thought at me,
46:38with a smile in it.
46:40They always run.
46:42I mowed back and shook my head,
46:43and sat down deliberately in my chair
46:45like a woman settling in
46:46for her favorite show.
46:47Marcus is right.
46:48Damien said,
46:49the room went dead silent.
46:51I have been hiding something
46:53from my shareholders,
46:54from my city,
46:56from my own wife,
46:58for two years.
46:59Because I was taught
47:00that what I am
47:01is a thing to be ashamed of.
47:07My cousin is counting
47:09on that shame tonight.
47:10He unbuttoned his cuffs,
47:12calm as a man
47:13at his own kitchen table.
47:14He drugged my coffee
47:16three days ago
47:17to force this truth
47:18out of me on his schedule.
47:19We have the footage,
47:22the chemist report,
47:24and a recording of him
47:26arranging a second lethal dose
47:27for tonight.
47:28My attorneys are handling copies
47:30to the SEC and the board.
47:31As I speak,
47:32you'll find it riveting.
47:34Marcus' smile died.
47:35At the back of the room,
47:37two security officers
47:38quietly repositioned themselves
47:40by the exits.
47:42Lacey waggled her phone
47:43at him cheerfully.
47:44But he's right about one thing.
47:46Damien continued,
47:47you deserve transparency
47:48and leadership.
47:49So here it is,
47:50freely given,
47:51on my terms.
47:52He looked up at the full moon
47:53through the glass.
47:55My family has guarded
47:56this city's harbors.
47:57Since before it had streetlights,
47:59we've signed its charters,
48:01funded its hospitals,
48:03kept certain things
48:04out of its nights
48:05that you've never had
48:06to learn the names of.
48:07We are wolves.
48:14We are wolves.
48:37His weapon detonated
48:39by its own target.
48:40Damien raised one hand
48:41and the room,
48:42impossibly,
48:43hushed.
48:44The vote is still
48:45on the agenda.
48:46But first,
48:48my cousin appears
48:49to need an escort out.
48:50Gentlemen?
48:51As security closed in,
48:53Marcus wrenched free
48:54and his composure
48:55finally cracked
48:56into something ugly.
48:57He spun toward the front row,
48:59toward me.
49:00You think this saves you?
49:01He slurked.
49:02The old families
49:03will never accept
49:04a human Luna!
49:05A bolt of lightning
49:06hit him through
49:07the open skylight.
49:07The entire room
49:08turned to stare at Lazy,
49:09who lowered her canapé tray
49:10and shrugged.
49:11That one wasn't me.
49:12Sometimes the universe
49:13just gets it.
49:18They led Marcus out,
49:20smoking gently,
49:21alive,
49:22lawyered,
49:22and finished.
49:23The vote,
49:24held 40 minutes late
49:25in a state of collective shock,
49:27came back 91%
49:28in Damien's favor,
49:30which proved
49:30what I'd always suspected
49:32about shareholders.
49:32They can forgive anything
49:34that makes the stock
49:34go up and
49:35our CEO
49:37is an immortal
49:38blood-lined guardian wolf,
49:39had sent it up
49:4011 points
49:41in after-hours trading.
49:42I found my mother
49:43by the bar,
49:44watching the chaos
49:45with deep satisfaction.
49:46Mom,
49:47you're taking this well.
49:49Sweetheart.
49:49She sipped her martini.
49:51Your great-grandmother
49:52used to leave
49:52a saucer of milk out
49:54for the harbor wolves
49:55every new moon.
49:56Did you think
49:57I picked your husband
49:57off a spreadsheet?
49:58She patted my cheek.
50:00Strong bloodline?
50:01Excellent bones.
50:03Grandchildren by spring.
50:04Mom!
50:06I escaped to the terrace
50:08where the man of the hour
50:09stood alone
50:10in the moonlight.
50:12Jacket gone,
50:13sleeves rolled,
50:15the city glittering
50:16below him
50:16like spilled treasure.
50:18He didn't turn around.
50:19He didn't need to.
50:21Vanilla.
50:21His mind said,
50:22warm.
50:23There she is.
50:24You did it.
50:25I said,
50:26joining him at the rail.
50:27You're out.
50:28You're free.
50:29And you're tregging.
50:30Wolf Street is the
50:31number one hashtag
50:32in 11 countries.
50:33Kane says the croissant
50:34footage is,
50:35quote,
50:35cinema.
50:36We did it.
50:38He turned to me.
50:43And the moonlight
50:44loved him,
50:45silvering his edges.
50:46The gold sat openly
50:47in his eyes now.
50:48No flitch,
50:49no hiding.
50:50Sienna,
50:51there's one thing left
50:52I haven't told you.
50:53Damien,
50:54if you have a second tale,
50:55I swear.
50:56Wolves don't.
50:57It's one tale
50:57and it's dignified.
50:59He caught himself,
51:01exhaled,
51:02and took both my hands.
51:04The bond,
51:05the reason you hear me.
51:06His thumbs traced
51:07over my knuckles.
51:08It opened the night.
51:10You fell into my arms
51:11because that was the night
51:12you walked downstairs
51:13carrying the papers.
51:14The day you actually
51:15decided to leave.
51:17I went still.
51:18The bond doesn't
51:19wake on schedule.
51:21It wakes at the
51:22breaking point
51:23when the wolf
51:23is about to lose
51:24his mate forever.
51:26It opens one last door,
51:28a final mercy,
51:29so she can hear the truth
51:31before she goes.
51:32His voice roughened.
51:34Every word you heard,
51:35every thought,
51:36that was the bond
51:37pleading my case
51:38because I was too much
51:39a coward to do it myself.
51:41You were never
51:42invading my mind.
51:43Sienna,
51:44my soul was yelling
51:45for you.
51:46The terrace blurred.
51:47I blinked hard.
51:48And there's a second half.
51:50It's one directional only
51:52until the mate chooses.
51:53Freely,
51:54words spoken,
51:55knowing everything.
51:56If you say them,
51:58the door opens both ways.
52:00I'd hear you too,
52:01for the rest of our lives.
52:02And if you don't,
52:03his jaw work.
52:04If you don't,
52:05the bond closes
52:06at the next new moon
52:07and you go free
52:07with my name,
52:09half of everything,
52:09and no wolf
52:10shadowing your life.
52:12I'd let you go,
52:13Sienna.
52:18It would end me,
52:19but I'd do it smiling.
52:21The wind moved
52:22between us,
52:22below.
52:23Eleven million people
52:24went about their nights.
52:26The next new moon,
52:28how long do I have
52:29to decide?
52:30His face stayed brave.
52:32His thoughts
52:33didn't even try.
52:34Twelve days.
52:35Twelve days
52:35and a lifetime
52:36of one wall
52:37between us forever.
52:38In every house
52:39I'll ever...
52:39Because I want
52:40to make sure
52:40I continued
52:41stepping closer
52:43that you understand
52:44what you'd be agreeing to.
52:46You'd hear everything,
52:47Damien.
52:48Every petty thought.
52:50Every time I think
52:51your meetings are boring.
52:52Every single thing
52:53I notice about
52:54your forearms.
52:55The collarbone poetry
52:56goes both ways
52:57and mine doesn't even rhyme.
52:59Sienna.
52:59His voice cracked open.
53:00Hope poured through
53:01the gap like daylight.
53:02I dragged divorce papers
53:03around for three weeks
53:05and couldn't sign them.
53:06I said,
53:06I sat down next to the wolf.
53:08I ran a countercru
53:09in a ball gown.
53:10Damien Blackwood.
53:11I chose you two years ago
53:12off one photograph.
53:14And then I chose you again
53:15every single day this week,
53:16knowing everything,
53:18fangs and ferocity
53:19and claws 47 and all.
53:21I took his face in my hands,
53:23his pulse hammering
53:24under my palms.
53:25So hear me,
53:27freely spoken.
53:28I am your wife.
53:29I am your mate.
53:30I'm choosing this.
53:32I love you.
53:34The world rang
53:35like a struck bell.
53:37It wasn't sound
53:38what opened.
53:39It was a door.
53:40I'd been living next
53:41to my entire life
53:42without knowing.
53:43And through it
53:44came two years
53:45all at once.
53:46Every closed door midnight,
53:48every cold shower,
53:49every guarded glance
53:50over coffee.
53:51The whole vast,
53:53patient,
53:54ferocious architecture
53:55of his love
53:55flooding into me
53:56until I couldn't breathe.
53:58And then,
53:59arriving in my mind
54:00in his voice,
54:00the very first thought
54:01my husband ever sent
54:03to me on purpose.
54:04Finally.
54:05Now,
54:05about that dud rumor.
54:12He carried me home
54:13over the threshold
54:14of the penthouse
54:15like we were newlyweds,
54:16which,
54:17in every way that mattered,
54:19we were.
54:19Two years married,
54:21twelve hours bonded,
54:22zero walls left.
54:24I can walk,
54:26I pointed out.
54:27I'm aware.
54:28He didn't put me down.
54:30Two years I watched
54:31other men hold doors for you.
54:32I'm collecting.
54:34The bond,
54:35it turned out,
54:36was a terrible roommate
54:37and the best thing
54:38that ever happened to me.
54:39All evening,
54:40it had carried traffic
54:41in both directions.
54:42His pride,
54:44ferocious and glowing.
54:45When the old family's
54:47acknowledgments
54:47started arriving at Moonset,
54:49one by one,
54:51a hundred-year protocol
54:52honoring the wolf
54:53who'd claimed his territory
54:54in the open.
55:01My helpless laughter
55:02when Lisey texted
55:03to announce her contract
55:04had dissolved at midnight.
55:05Apparently,
55:05true mate Bond
55:06consummated in honesty
55:07triggered some
55:08Force Mayara clause
55:09in the witch's paperwork,
55:10followed immediately
55:11by her asking
55:11if she could be my assistant.
55:12I mean,
55:13I already know
55:13all your secrets
55:14and I have excellent
55:14taste in scenes.
55:15I'd said yes.
55:16I'm a softie.
55:17It's documented.
55:18Kane had sent one message,
55:20a photo of his lingerie gift box
55:22on our doorstep
55:23with the caption.
55:24No pressure,
55:25but if it works,
55:26I want a testimonial
55:27for the website.
55:39Damien had drafted
55:41and deleted
55:41four separate responses,
55:43each of which
55:44I heard him
55:45constructing his head,
55:46each more legally
55:47threatening than the last.
55:48Now the penthouse
55:49was quiet.
55:50Moonlight came
55:51through the tall windows
55:52and lay across the floor
55:53in long silver bars.
55:55He set me down at last
55:56in the doorway
55:57of his bedroom,
55:58our bedroom,
55:59as of a conversation
56:00in the elevator
56:00that had consisted
56:01entirely of eye contact.
56:03Sienna.
56:03This man I'd married
56:05as Eranist
56:06and I felt him
56:06gather himself.
56:08I need to say it
56:08out loud once,
56:09not in the bond,
56:11out here,
56:11where it counts.
56:14Okay.
56:15Two years I waited
56:16because
56:17I thought a piece
56:18of paper was your wish.
56:20I'd have waited
56:21twenty more.
56:23So this only goes
56:24the speed you choose.
56:26Tonight,
56:26next month,
56:27next year,
56:28the bond doesn't
56:28get a vote,
56:29the moon doesn't
56:30get a vote,
56:31I don't get a vote.
56:35Only you.
56:37Always only you.
56:44Do you understand?
56:47And the bond
56:48carried underneath of it
56:49the part he couldn't say.
56:50A seventeen-year-old
56:51learning word monster,
56:52two years of closed doors
56:53he thought were kindness,
56:54a man who would rather
56:55hold himself to ash
56:56ever once make me feel small.
56:58I reached up
56:59and undid his top button.
57:02Damien Blackwood,
57:04I have been trying
57:05to get this shirt off you
57:07since chapter one
57:08of our marriage.
57:10I choose tonight,
57:12I choose you.
57:14Enthusiastically,
57:14on the record,
57:15in perpetuity,
57:17and you can tell
57:17the lawyers I said so.
57:19The laugh that broke out
57:20of him was nothing
57:21like the boardroom.
57:22It was young
57:23and unguarded
57:24and mine.
57:26He kissed me,
57:27really kissed me.
57:28the first true kiss
57:30of our marriage.
57:39Two years
57:40and one revolution late,
57:41and the bond
57:43lit up like the skyline,
57:45both directions,
57:46no walls,
57:47his joy and mine
57:48ringing against each other
57:50until I couldn't tell
57:51whose was whose.
57:54I love you.
57:55And thought again,
57:56the words overlapping
57:57like echoes.
57:58My wife,
57:59my mate,
58:00my Luna.
58:02Much later,
58:03much, much later,
58:04I lay listening
58:05to the heartbeat
58:06I'd once been separated
58:07from by a wall of drywall
58:09and a fraudulent clause,
58:10his fingers tracing
58:11lousy lines along
58:12my shoulder,
58:13the moon setting
58:14somewhere over the harbor
58:15his family had guarded
58:16for 300 years.
58:19For the record,
58:21the rumor is dead.
58:22I'm issuing a formal retraction,
58:24front page.
58:25300 rounds?
58:27Don't push it!
58:29His chest rumbled
58:30under my cheek
58:31with quiet laughter,
58:32and through the open
58:33door of the bond,
58:34soft as a vow,
58:36came the last thought
58:37I heard before
58:38I fell asleep
58:38in my husband's arms
58:39for the first time.
58:41She stayed.
58:42She stayed.
58:43She stayed.
58:47She stayed.
58:48She stayed.
58:50She stayed.
58:51She stayed.
58:52what I'm doing!
58:52I told him.