Page 49 of The Way You Hurt Me

It's quite simple: any move is made against Willow, and we're at war.

Tonight, Irina just couldn't resist reminding me that she thinks she knows my weakness. She doesn't really understand.

I am a lone wolf, doing my own thing, giving her as much freedom as she could desire as alpha of my pack. But if she pushes that one boundary, I won't be wounded. I won't be malleable. I will become what I was always meant to be, and do so without an ounce of regret, if it means keeping Willow safe.

No, Willow is no weakness. She's a bomb on an air trigger, ready to detonate, especially after tonight.

"I need a smoke," I growl, hearing footsteps.

Mishka chuckles low. "Terrible habit." He hands me one anyway.

I have the sense to step outside before lighting it.

My old friend follows, in silence, first, but if he had nothing to say, he wouldn't have bothered to come find me. I wait.

"You need a plan," he finally says.

"What makes you think I don't have one?"

"You need a plan that doesn't involve you getting your hands dirty. That's not you. You don't like it. I don't want you to spend your life in the shadows. You're meant to play with your apps or whatever."

It's been such a long time since I smoked. It's fucking disgusting. I drop it on the ground and crush it under my shoes.

"Yeah, well, feel free to let me know if any brilliant idea comes to mind."

"As a matter of fact, I already have one," Mishka says. "Three years ago, when I told you this deal wasn't the worst idea, there was no other choice. It was you or her. Now, I'm not so sure that's the only option."

I lift an eyebrow. "You want to be pakhan?"

"What I want is immaterial. I don't have the right bloodline for that. But there's someone else now, isn't there?"

I blink. Then I turn to my old friend, slowly. "Oh."

Mishka nods. “He’d follow your code, no question. Both out of respect and because he agrees with it. You'd still need to be the name, but he could be the face and the fist. Better than Irina. He commands respect and loyalty. So does his woman.”

I’m a fucking idiot for not having thought of it sooner, honestly. “I’ll give Markus a call.”

23

WILLOW

Idon't even know where to begin with Doctor Palmer. The thing with a shrink is, they know everything about us, but we don't have to know anything about them. It's a one-way relationship, although it feels more intimate than most.

I didn't feel awkward at any point when I didn't know anything about her except her excellent taste in shoes—blue patent, today. But now, I know that one thing about her, and everything is just weird.

I clear my throat. "So, you know Dimitri."

"Yes, I do. We went to college together, actually."

I blink, somewhat surprised. I know Dimitri's thirty, and I would have guessed Doctor Palmer was a bit older, maybe thirty-five or so. "You did?"

"Yes, we did pre-med together."

My surprise only grows. Dimitri in pre-med?

"I went into psychiatry, he switched to pre-law, and then STEM, I think." She tilts her head. "Or was it STEM then law? I can never remember. Either way, we stayed in touch."

I blink. "That's a lot of…indecision?"

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