The mate bond was a funny, cruel thing-it could sleep for years, then snap back like a live wire when you least expected it. When I met Damian's eyes, I felt the first crackle of electricity shoot straight through my spine. And he looked at me like he was remembering something he couldn't quite name.

But I didn't blink.

I just gave him my best rehearsed smile, the one I used to practice in the mirror when I first planned this whole thing. Not flirty. Not cold. Just... confident.

"Shall we begin?" I asked, nodding toward the chair across from his desk.

He hesitated for half a beat too long before gesturing for me to sit. Good. I wanted him off balance.

"Right," he said, clearing his throat. "So, you'll be working with our mergers and acquisitions team for the next few months. It's a bit of a... delicate time."

"Delicate how?" I asked.

He arched a brow. "You'll see."

His voice was deeper than I remembered. Rougher. But still calm, like he was always in control of the room. That was the thing about Damian Blackthorn-he didn't have to try to be Alpha. He was Alpha. Every room he entered, every breath he took, bent toward him like gravity.

But not me.

Not this time.

I sat straighter. "I've reviewed the analytics you sent over. There's a pattern in your acquisition targets. All smaller companies connected to Norwyn Holdings."

His eyes flicked up. Surprised.

"Impressive," he muttered. "Didn't think anyone else noticed that."

I shrugged. "You hired me to notice things."

"Remind me where you're from again?"

I lied without blinking. "London."

He nodded slowly, eyes narrowing just a little.

Good. Let him try and figure me out. Let the past itch at the back of his mind while I danced just out of reach.

Because if he remembered who I was too soon... this whole plan would fall apart.

---

Damian

Something was off.

Not in a bad way. Not exactly. Just... strange.

This woman-Rielle-walked into my life out of nowhere, with credentials too clean, a scent too familiar, and eyes that stirred up memories I'd buried with a bottle of bourbon and a handful of regrets.

I kept watching her while she spoke-calculating, steady, like she'd been trained not to flinch under pressure.

But the scent...

Ash. Snow. Moonlight.

It shouldn't be possible.

Zara was dead. I felt it the moment her pack rejected her. I ordered her exile myself. It was supposed to be mercy.

And yet...

My wolf paced inside me like a caged animal. Every second she sat across from me, he got louder. More restless.

Mine, he kept growling.

No, I growled back.

Not again.

---

Zara

He stared too long. I knew the signs-his wolf was waking up. The bond was stirring. Not fully. Not yet. But soon.

And when it hit him, it'd hurt.

Good.

Maybe then he'd feel an ounce of what I'd gone through.

"I'll need full access to the acquisition files," I said coolly, flipping open my tablet. "And I'd like to sit in on the next board meeting."

He raised a brow. "That's... ambitious."

"So was hiring me."

There was a pause.

And then, to my shock, he smiled.

It wasn't cold or cruel. It was the kind of smile that had made girls melt when we were teens, when he was still just the heir to a broken pack, before he became king of Manhattan.

"You always did like playing with fire," he said softly.

The smile died on my lips.

My pulse spiked.

He didn't realize what he just said.

Not fully.

But he almost did.

"I beg your pardon?" I asked, voice tight.

He blinked. "Sorry. Just... reminded me of someone."

I forced a laugh. "Must've been a hell of a woman."

He didn't smile this time.

"She was."

Then silence. Thick and sharp and choking.

---

The meeting ended fifteen minutes later. I collected my notes, offered him a nod, and walked out like I wasn't secretly shaking inside.

As the elevator doors closed behind me, I let out the breath I'd been holding.

He didn't know. Not yet.

But the bond was real. The connection still burned. And if I stayed too long in his orbit, I wasn't sure I could hold onto the hate I'd been living on.

Because some tiny, broken part of me still remembered the boy who used to hold me like I was his entire world.

Before he gave the order to destroy it.

---

Later that night...

I stared at the old photo tucked in the back of my wallet.

We were sixteen. He had his arm around me, a smug grin on his face. I was laughing at something dumb he'd said.

That version of me was gone now.

Dead in the snow.

And this version? She wasn't here to fall back in love.

She was here to end him.