Page 20 of Billionaire Wolf Needs a Maid

"This is different." But even as I said it, my wolf stirred at Nina's approaching footsteps. "You don't have a psycho family that wants to kill you."

"They will always be a threat." Levi cut me off. "But you're stronger with her than without her. That's the whole point of mate bonds. They complete us, balance us. Make us better than we are alone."

"How can I risk it?"

"You can't risk not accepting it." His tone grew serious. "You remember what happened to Mark? The alpha who rejected his mate?"

I did. The story was infamous in shifter circles. It was a cautionary tale of a wolf driven mad by denying the mate bond. He'd lost control completely, shifted in public, exposed our kind to humans. The cleanup had taken years.

"Just think about it," Levi said softly. "Before you destroy yourself trying to protect her."

Nina's knock came just as I hung up. "Dean?" She opened the door cautiously, and my breath caught. She looked soft in the fading daylight, all gentle curves and worried eyes. A strand of hair had escaped her ponytail, and my fingers ached to tuck it back. "I brought dinner. Jenkins said you missed lunch again."

Every cell in my body yearned toward her, like a plant seeking sunlight. The beast whined, desperate to close the distance between us, to touch and claim and protect.

"You should go." My voice came out rough, almost pleading. "It's late."

"Not until you eat something." She set a plate on my desk, grilled chicken and roasted vegetables. It was exactly what I needed but hadn't asked for. The simple gesture of care hit me like a punch. "Doctor's orders, remember?"

My wolf whined, desperate to accept what she offered, not just food, but compassion. Connection. Pack. The mate bond hummed between us, a silent song of belonging that grew harder to ignore with each passing day. "Nina," I began.

"You don't have to explain." She smiled, gentle and understanding in a way that made my chest ache. "Just take care of yourself, okay? There are people who," She hesitated, then finished softly, "Who care about you."

She left before I could respond, but her words echoed in my mind. People who care. When was the last time someone had genuinely cared about my well-being? Not my company, not my power or position, just me?

My wolf knew. It had recognized in Nina what I'd been trying so hard to deny. She offered the possibility of connection. Of healing. Of pack. Of home.

Another tremor wracked my body. Sabrina's warnings echoed in my mind, mixing with Levi's advice and the wolf's constant howl of need.

But as my family and Sean's earlier attack proved, danger lurked everywhere. My enemies would use any weakness, any connection, to destroy what I'd built. And I wouldn't forgive myself if my world destroyed her light.

Even if denying our bond destroyed me first.

The food she'd brought sat untouched, her lingering scent a sweet torture. I pressed my forehead against the cool glass of my window and watched her small figure exit the building far below. Even from this height, my enhanced vision caught every detail, the way she hugged her coat tighter against the evening chill, how she glanced back up toward my window, the slight drag in her steps that spoke of reluctance to leave.

"She deserves better," I whispered to my reflection, watching my eyes flash between hazel and gold. "Better than a monster who can't control his shift. Better than living in fear of assassins and mafia enforcers. Better than waiting up nights wondering if I'll come home alive."

I pictured Nina's smile lighting up my dark world, her gentle hands smoothing my fur after a shift, our pups running through moonlit fields. It was the future my wolf desperately wanted, the happiness I couldn't risk destroying with the violence that followed the Nightfang name.

I clenched my eyes and forced myself to picture instead what could happen, Nina's blood staining her wedding planner sketches, her green eyes wide with terror as Rafe used her against me, her light dimming as she was dragged into my darkness. The mate bond throbbed like an open wound, punishment for even imagining such horrors.

"I won't be the reason her light goes out," I growled, even as my wolf's anguish threatened to tear me apart. "I won't."

Chapter 9

NINA

I knew something was different immediately when I woke up. By the time I stepped out of my room and began my morning routine, Dean had been long gone. His office stood empty. When I opened the door, there were no broad shoulders hunched over the computer, no dark eyes tracking my movements while pretending not to. The silence felt wrong.

"Jenkins, where's Dean?" I asked as I set down my cleaning supplies.

"Mr. Nightfang is attending an emergency board meeting, Miss Sorenson. He left quite agitated this morning." Jenkins's digital voice held an unfamiliar note of concern.

My stomach knotted as I moved to straighten Dean's desk. A scattered stack of papers caught my eye, there were internal memos, security reports, and what looked like evidence of sabotage. One name kept appearing. Sean Mitchell.

"Jenkins, who's Sean Mitchell?"

"I am not authorized to discuss Mr. Nightfang's business matters, Miss Sorenson."

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