The Hunt Begins

My heels clicked against the marble floor of James's office building, each step echoing like a countdown in my head. The familiar scent of his cologne lingered in the air - bergamot and cedar, now tainted with something metallic. Blood.

Security footage of his crumpled form played on loop in my mind. My ex-husband, the man who'd shattered my trust, now lay in a hospital bed because of what everyone thought I'd done. My newly heightened senses picked up whispers from the cubicles I passed. *Monster. Animal. Murderer.*

If only they knew how right they were about the animal part.

The glass walls of the executive floor loomed before me, a sterile fortress against London's rain-darkened sky. My wolf stirred beneath my skin, reading the tension in my muscles. Callum's training sessions echoed in my thoughts: "Control the beast, or it controls you." Easy for him to say. He wasn't the one being hunted by his own pack.

I slipped into the security room, my corporate access card still valid. Eit