Page 28 of Billionaire Wolf Needs a Chef

Chapter 10

CAMERON

The air in the office was thick with the acrid scent of adrenaline and barely controlled violence. Ivy sat across from me at the conference table, her fingers drumming a silent, furious rhythm against the polished mahogany. The bond between us thrummed with her fury.

Denver's wolf bristled at the edges of his control, his amber eyes flickering between human and beast as he paced.

Brody shifted to my left, the leather of his jacket creaking as he rolled his shoulders. His usual easy grin was absent, replaced by a grimace that deepened the scar along his jaw. "Boris has eyes on the docks," he said, sliding a grainy surveillance photo toward Ivy. "But he's not stupid enough to show his face there himself."

Ivy didn't flinch. She picked up the photo, her thumb tracing the blurred figure in the corner, a hulking shape that could've been any of Boris's enforcers. "We can't just sit here waiting for him to burn down the company," she said, her voice low but edged like a blade. "I need to be part of this. After all, I'm the bait he wants."

"Ivy," I growled, "you're not trained for this kind of fight. Boris doesn't just want to hurt you, he wants to unmake you. In front of me."

Her chair screeched as she shoved back from the table. "And what? You think locking me in a gilded cage will stop him?" Her laugh was sharp enough to draw blood. "I've dealt with men like Boris my whole career. They're all bullies who crumble the second someone stands up to them."

Denver chuckled darkly from his perch against the wall. He'd been silent until now, arms crossed over his chest, his amber wolf's eyes tracking every flicker of tension in the room. "She's got fire," he mused. "Pity it'll get her killed."

The growl ripped from my throat before I could stop it. Denver's smirk widened.

I slammed a fist onto the table, cracks spider-webbing through the wood. "She's not bait."

Ivy leaned over the table until her scent wrapped around me. "You said we were partners," she whispered. "Partners don't get benched when the game gets rough."

The conference room door burst open before I could respond. One of my security team staggered in, his shirt sleeve torn and dripping crimson. "They hit the warehouse again," he panted. "Tore through the guards like they were paper. Left a message."

He tossed a crumpled note onto the table. The paper reeked of gunpowder and something sickly-sweet. Wolfsbane.

"Next time, it won't be rats. It'll be her throat."

The room tilted. My wolf surged forward, fangs shredding through my gums as the shift threatened to take me. Ivy's handclamped down on my wrist, her nails biting into my flesh. "Breathe," she ordered, her voice steady despite the rapid pulse pounding in her throat.

Denver snatched up the note, sniffed it, and snarled. "He's got a traitor in your security detail. Only someone with clearance could've gotten this close."

Brody's phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, then paled. "The test kitchen's security feed just went dark."

Ice flooded my veins. Ivy's grip on me tightened.

"Then we don't wait." She snatched the photo back, her eyes blazing. "We use what he wants, me. We end this tonight."

The test kitchen was quiet despite the danger that awaited nearby. In the air, the scent of onions and roasted spices mingled with wolfsbane. I had given Ivy my laced gun meant to take down any wolf, but I still worried it wasn't enough to keep her safe. Blood would follow. I could feel it in the air and taste it on my tongue.

Ivy's knife flashed, steady and sure, but her pulse was too fast and too sharp, betraying her calm. She moved through the space like a ghost, her knife flashing as she diced onions with deliberate, measured strokes. The rhythm was too perfect. A performance.

I lurked in the shadows by the walk-in freezer, every muscle coiled tight. The comms unit in my ear crackled.

"East entrance clear," Brody murmured.

Denver's voice vibrated through the line. "He'll come through the loading dock. It's where the blind spot is."

I didn't respond. My entire world had narrowed to the curve of Ivy's neck, the way her pulse fluttered just above her collar. The bond between us hummed with nervous energy.

The first alarm shattered the silence.

A blaring high-pitched screech tore through the building. It was a distress beacon from the lobby.

"Shit." Brody's curse echoed in my ear. "They're splitting us up."

The lights died.

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