Page 18 of The Alpha's Forsaken Vow

I knew my week was off to a bad start when I lashed out at a secretary, firing her on the spot for her incompetence.

It hasn’t been easy keeping the board in check or assuring everyone that I’ve got things handled.

The truth is, I’ve got nothing handled.

Not in H Industries.

Not securingmy place as Alpha.

And definitely not finding thewoman who has consumed my thoughts every damn day for the past six years.

The search for Irene has hit nothing but dead ends, and I’m starting to wonder if the bullshit Julian has been spewing to the pack is true.

That Irene might be dead.

That I’ve been chasinga ghost.

The pressure is suffocating, sitting heavy on my chest like a weight I can’t shake off. The migraines have been relentless, self-inflicted stress gnawing at me from the inside out. Maybe that’s why I didn’t bother asking HQ who my new secretary was.

I received the memo this morning. I overlooked her name.

I fucking overlooked the obvious.

And now, that mistake is standing right in front of me, staring at me like I should be dragged to a pit and burned to ashes.

I don’t have to look at her twice to know who she is.

My wolf knows.

He roars inside my chest,coming alive like he’s been dormant for years, like he’s just gotten a new breath of life.

“Lila.”

Her name escapes my lips in a breath of shock, surprise, and something deeper. Something I don’t want to name.

Six years.

It’s beensix years since I threw her out of my apartment, called her a whore, and convinced myself she meant nothing.

I swallow past the sudden tightness in my throat, but my entire body has gone rigid.

Every nerve inside me is on high alert. Her scent, the same scent from that night, coils through the air, a beckoning spell calling to me, taunting me.

And her eyes?

Those spitfire green eyes.

The same wild,untamed gaze that met mine as I worshiped every inch of her body, giving in to the bond that neither of us understood.

She hasn’t changed.

She’s still breathtaking.

Still too much.

Still mine.

And damn me, because I remain transfixed.

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