The wolf's teeth were still in the man's throat when Maya realized she'd made a terrible mistake.
She should have kept walking. Should have ignored the sounds coming from the alley. Should have minded her own damn business like every other person in this city.
But the scream—God, that scream—it didn't sound human.
Now she knew why.
Maya's back pressed against the cold brick wall, her hand clamped over her mouth to stop the sob trying to escape. Ten feet away, in the shadows of the alley behind Giovanni's Restaurant, a massive black wolf shook its head violently. Blood sprayed across the dumpster. Across the ground. Across Maya's shoes.
The man—what was left of him—hit the pavement with a wet thud.
The wolf's head snapped toward her.
Golden eyes. Intelligent. Furious.
Run.
Maya's body finally listened to her brain. She spun, her waitress uniform catching on the rough brick, and ran.
Behind her, she heard it—the sound of bones cracking, reshaping. A growl that turned into something worse.
A laugh.
"You saw." The voice was male now. Human. "That's unfortunate."
Maya's sneakers slapped against the wet pavement. The main street was just ahead. Lights. People. Safety.
Twenty feet.
Fifteen.
Something slammed into her from behind.
She hit the ground hard, her chin cracking against concrete. Blood filled her mouth. Strong hands flipped her over, and suddenly a man was straddling her—naked, covered in blood that wasn't his, with eyes that still glowed gold.
"Please," Maya choked out. "I won't tell anyone. I swear. I didn't see anything—"
"You're a terrible liar." He smiled, showing teeth too sharp to be human. "I can smell your fear. Taste your heartbeat. And unfortunately for you, sweetheart, my pack has a very simple rule about witnesses."
His hand wrapped around her throat.
Maya clawed at his arm, her vision already spotting. This was it. This was how she died. In an alley behind a restaurant, killed by something that shouldn't exist, and Leo—God, Leo would die too because there'd be no one left to pay for his surgery—
"Marcus."
The voice cut through the alley like a blade.
The man—Marcus—went rigid. His hand loosened just enough for Maya to gasp in air.
"This doesn't concern you, Blackthorn."
"Everything in my territory concerns me."
Maya turned her head, tears streaming down her face, and saw him.
Another man. Taller than Marcus. Broader. He wore a black suit that probably cost more than her car, and his dark hair was pulled back from a face that looked carved from stone. But it was his eyes that made Maya's breath catch—not gold like Marcus's.
Silver. Like moonlight. Like a blade.
And they were locked on her.
"She's a witness," Marcus said, his hand tightening again on Maya's throat. "Human. You know the law."
"I know you just killed someone in my territory without permission." The silver-eyed man—Blackthorn—took a step closer. "That's a violation. Want me to call the Council? Explain why you're starting a war over a human?"
"She SAW—"
"I don't care what she saw." Another step. "Get. Off. Her."
For a long moment, nothing happened. Maya could feel Marcus's pulse through his hand on her throat, could smell the blood on him, could see the calculation in his eyes.
Then he smiled. "This isn't over."
He released her and stood, still naked, still covered in blood. "The human dies, Blackthorn. Tonight. Tomorrow. Next week. Doesn't matter. She's marked now. And when I come to collect—" He looked down at Maya. "—I'll make it hurt."
He walked past Blackthorn and disappeared into the shadows.
Maya lay on the cold ground, gasping, shaking, her mind screaming that none of this was real. Werewolves. Territories. Councils. Impossible.
"Get up."
She looked up at Blackthorn. He wasn't offering his hand. Wasn't showing any sympathy. Just stood there, cold and untouchable, waiting.
"I said get up. Unless you want to be here when Marcus comes back with his pack."
Maya scrambled to her feet, her legs barely holding her. "What—what are you—"
"Not here." He grabbed her arm, his grip iron-strong, and pulled her toward a black car parked at the mouth of the alley. "Get in."
"I'm not getting in a car with you! You're—you're—"
"Your only chance at survival?" He opened the back door. "Yes. Now get in, or I'll let Marcus have you. Your choice."
Maya looked back at the alley. At the body still lying there. At the blood.
She got in the car.
Blackthorn slid into the seat across from her and the car started moving immediately, though Maya couldn't see a driver through the tinted partition.
"Who are you?" she whispered.
"Kade Blackthorn. Alpha of the Nightshade Pack." He pulled out his phone, not even looking at her. "And you just became my biggest problem."
"I didn't ask for this! I was just walking home from work—"
"You saw a werewolf kill someone. In our world, that's a death sentence." He glanced up, his silver eyes piercing. "Marcus wasn't lying. You're marked now. He'll hunt you. And when he finds you—and he will find you—he'll kill you slowly just to send me a message."
Maya's hands were shaking so hard she had to clasp them together. "Then why did you save me?"
"I didn't save you. I delayed your execution." He went back to his phone. "The question is whether you're worth keeping alive."
"Worth—what the hell does that mean?"
"It means I have a problem, and you might be the solution." Kade's eyes locked on hers again. "How badly do you need money, Maya Torres?"
Ice flooded her veins. "How do you know my name?"
He held up her wallet—the one that had been in her apron pocket. When had he—
"Twenty-four. Works three jobs. Raising a younger brother who needs a heart transplant. $200,000 for the surgery. Currently have $3,000 saved." He tossed the wallet into her lap. "Marcus isn't the only one who can smell desperation."
Tears burned Maya's eyes. "What do you want?"
"Thirty days."
"What?"
Kade leaned forward, and Maya saw something flicker in those silver eyes. Something almost like... desperation.
"I need a mate. The Wolf Council is demanding I present one in thirty days or they disband my pack. I've refused every arrangement for three years. But you—" His smile was sharp. "—you're perfect. Human. Desperate. Completely disposable."
Maya's stomach dropped. "You want me to—"
"Pretend to be my fated mate. Convince the Council. Survive my world for one month." He pulled out a contract. An actual printed contract. "In exchange, I pay for your brother's surgery. All medical bills. Plus $100,000 cash. And I protect you from Marcus."
"That's insane."
"That's business."
"Werewolves can't just—you can't just fake a mate—"
"Why not?" Kade's expression was ice. "My last mate is dead. The Council doesn't care if I love you. They care that I'm stable. That I can lead. That I'm not a liability. You play the part for thirty days, we both get what we need."
Maya's mind raced. This was crazy. Impossible. Werewolves. Mates. Councils.
But Leo's face flashed in her mind. Her baby brother in that hospital bed, getting weaker every day. The doctors saying they were running out of time.
"What happens after thirty days?" she asked quietly.
"We fake a breakup. You take your money and disappear. I tell the Council you couldn't handle pack life. Everyone wins."
"And if I say no?"
Kade's smile was cruel. "Then I drop you off at the nearest corner, and you have maybe six hours before Marcus finds you. Your brother loses his sister. And his only chance at that surgery." He leaned back. "Choose."
The car slowed to a stop.
Maya looked out the window. They were in front of a mansion that made everything she'd ever seen look like a dollhouse. Iron gates. Sprawling grounds. Guards that definitely weren't human.
"Thirty days," Kade said. "Starting now. Yes or no?"
Maya thought about Leo. About the bills. About Marcus's hand on her throat.
About having no other choice.
"What do I have to do?" she whispered.
"Convince everyone you're mine." Kade opened his door. "Starting with my daughter."
"Your—you have a daughter?"
"Sophie. Eight years old. Hates humans. Blames them for her mother's death." He stepped out of the car. "She's chased away every woman I've brought near in three years. If you can survive her, you might survive the Council."
"And if I can't?"
Kade looked back at her, his silver eyes glowing in the darkness.
"Then the deal's off, and Marcus gets his wish."
He walked toward the mansion.
Maya sat in the car, her whole body shaking, her mind screaming at her to run.
But she thought about Leo. About the surgery. About six hours until Marcus came.
She got out of the car and followed the monster into his castle.
The inside of the mansion was exactly what Maya expected—cold, expensive, perfect. Like a museum. Like no one actually lived here.
A woman in a crisp uniform appeared from nowhere. "Mr. Blackthorn. The Council called again."
"Tell them I'll have an answer tomorrow." Kade didn't slow down, just kept walking through halls that seemed endless. "Where's Sophie?"
"Locked in her room, sir. She broke another iPad. That's the fourth this month."
"Bill it to her trust fund."
They climbed a massive staircase. Maya's legs felt like jelly, but she forced herself to keep moving. This was happening. This was real.
Kade stopped in front of a door on the second floor. Unlike every other pristine white door in the hallway, this one was covered in drawings. Violent slashes of crayon. Dark colors. And in the center, drawn over and over—
A little girl. A man. And a woman-shaped hole between them.
"Ground rules," Kade said, not looking at her. "Don't mention her mother. Don't try to replace her mother. Don't lie to her—she'll smell it. And whatever she does to test you, don't quit. The second you quit, the deal's off."
"What kind of tests?"
"You'll see." He knocked on the door. "Sophie. We have a guest."
"GO AWAY!"
Something hit the door from inside. Hard.
Kade's jaw tightened. "I'm coming in."
"I HATE YOU!"
He opened the door anyway.
The room was a war zone. Broken toys. Shredded books. Paint splattered on the walls like a crime scene. And in the middle of the massive bed, drowning in pillows, was the smallest, angriest child Maya had ever seen.
Sophie had her father's dark hair but her eyes were different—huge and brown and filled with so much pain it physically hurt to look at.
Those eyes locked on Maya.
"Who's she?"
"This is Maya," Kade said, his voice careful. "She's going to be staying with us for a while."
"No." Sophie's voice was flat. Final. "No more nannies. No more replacements. Tell her to leave."
"She's not a nanny—"
"I DON'T CARE!" Sophie grabbed a book and hurled it. At Maya's face.
Maya caught it on instinct. Barely.
"Sophie!" Kade's voice thundered.
"Get out get out GET OUT!" Sophie was screaming now, tears streaming down her face. "I don't want her here! I don't want anyone here! I want my MOM!"
She collapsed on the bed, sobbing.
Kade stood frozen. Maya could see it—the way his hands clenched. The way his jaw worked. The complete helplessness in his eyes.
He had no idea how to comfort his own daughter.
Without thinking, Maya stepped forward.
"Don't," Kade warned. "She'll—"
Maya sat on the edge of the bed.
Sophie's head snapped up, her face red and tear-stained. "I said GET OUT—"
"When I was sixteen, my parents died," Maya said quietly.
Sophie went still.
"Car accident. And everyone kept telling me to move on. To be strong. To stop crying." Maya's voice cracked. "But I didn't want to be strong. I wanted my mom."
Sophie's bottom lip trembled.
"So I know what it's like," Maya continued. "When people try to make you forget someone you love. When they act like you should just... get over it. It's the worst feeling in the world."
"Did you forget her?" Sophie whispered.
"Never. I think about her every single day." Maya looked at the drawings on the wall. "Is that your mom?"
Sophie nodded, clutching a pillow.
"She's beautiful."
"She's dead." Sophie's voice broke. "And Daddy keeps bringing new ladies and they all try to make me call them 'mom' and I WON'T. I won't forget her."
"Then don't," Maya said simply.
Sophie blinked. "What?"
"Don't forget her. Talk about her. Draw her. Keep her alive in here." Maya touched her chest, over her heart. "That's what I do with my mom."
For a long moment, Sophie just stared at her.
Then, in the smallest voice: "Will you tell me about your mom?"
"If you tell me about yours."
Sophie's face crumpled. She threw herself at Maya, sobbing into her shoulder.
Maya wrapped her arms around the little girl and held on tight, feeling the child shake with three years of grief she'd been holding in.
Behind them, Kade stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable.
An hour later, Sophie finally fell asleep, exhausted from crying.
Maya carefully laid her down and pulled the blankets up.
When she turned, Kade was still there. Watching.
"You weren't supposed to do that," he said quietly.
"Do what?"
"Get her to trust you." His silver eyes glowed in the dim light. "Now she's going to get attached. And in thirty days when you leave—"
"Then we'll deal with it in thirty days." Maya's hands were shaking, but her voice was steady. "Right now, she needed someone. And you were just standing there."
Kade's jaw clenched. "You don't know anything about—"
"I know grief. I know a child who lost her mother. And I know you have no idea how to help her." Maya walked past him toward the door. "So maybe that's what you're really paying me for. Not to fake being your mate. But to do the job you can't."
She walked out into the hallway.
Behind her, Kade's voice stopped her cold.
"My wife didn't just die, Maya. She was murdered. By humans. Right in front of Sophie."
Maya turned slowly.
Kade stood in the doorway of his daughter's room, his face carved from stone.
"So when I say Sophie hates humans, I don't mean it as a challenge. I mean it as a warning." His eyes met hers. "Because the second she remembers what humans took from her, all that trust you just built? It's going to turn into something much worse."
"Then why bring me here at all?"
"Because I'm desperate. Because the Council is demanding a mate. Because Marcus is hunting you." His smile was bitter. "And because thirty days from now, when you disappear like everyone else, at least I'll have convinced the Council I tried."
He closed Sophie's door, leaving Maya alone in the hallway.
She stood there, shaking, wondering what the hell she'd just agreed to.
Her phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number:
Tick tock, little human. Marcus Steele is looking for you. He's checked your apartment. Your brother's hospital. Your job. How long until he finds what he's really looking for?
Another text. A photo.
Leo. In his hospital bed. Sleeping.
Thirty days might be twenty-nine too many.
Maya's blood turned to ice.
She looked down the hallway at Kade's retreating figure.
Then back at the photo of her brother.
She was trapped in a mansion with a man who terrified her, pretending to be the mate of a werewolf, trying to win over a traumatized child who hated her species, while a murderer hunted her family.
Thirty days.
She just had to survive thirty days.
Maya looked at Sophie's door, covered in those desperate drawings.
"Please let me survive thirty days," she whispered.
From somewhere in the mansion, a wolf howled.
And Maya knew—deep in her bones—that she'd just made a deal with the devil himself.