Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 39414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Sadie’s face tightens. “They don’t start with knives.”
I hate that she’s right.
Wyatt steps closer, and it’s subtle, but I feel it like gravity. “Tell me you don’t want a shield.”
I lift my chin. “I don’t want to need one.”
Wyatt’s gaze flicks to my mouth. “That’s not what I asked.”
I swallow hard. My pride wants to spit in his face. My fear wants to crawl under his skin and live there.
“I want him to stop,” I say finally.
Wyatt nods once, like that’s the only answer he needed.
Saxon’s voice cuts in. “Temporary means temporary. You don’t make my station your soap opera.”
Wyatt doesn’t blink. “Not a soap opera.”
Saxon’s eyes narrow. “Then what is it?”
Wyatt’s voice stays calm. “A courthouse signature.”
Levi makes a choking noise. “Oh my God. We’re doing it. We’re doing a wedding.”
Sadie grabs Levi’s sleeve and yanks him back. “Go be useful.”
Levi holds up his hands, grinning. “I am useful. I’m morale.”
Saxon’s gaze stays on Wyatt. “You mix duty with obsession and you get people hurt.”
Wyatt’s jaw tightens. “I’m not mixing anything.”
Saxon’s eyes cut to me. “Ellie. You understand what you’re agreeing to?”
I open my mouth, then close it again, because if I say it out loud, it becomes real.
Wyatt steps closer again, voice dropping so only I can hear it. “You’re shaking.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
I hate him for noticing. I hate myself for wanting his attention anyway.
I lift my gaze. “You’re enjoying being right.”
His mouth twitches. “I’m enjoying you in my space.”
My breath catches.
Saxon’s chair scrapes against the floor. “Enough. Cooper—if you’re doing this, you do it clean. No games.”
Wyatt’s eyes flick to Saxon. “No games.”
Saxon points a finger. “And if this goes sideways, you call me. You don’t play lone wolf.”
Wyatt’s jaw flexes like he doesn’t like being told what to do. Then he nods once. “Understood.”
Saxon’s gaze shifts to me again. “You want Sadie to go with you?”
I shake my head quickly. “No. I—”
Wyatt cuts in. “She’s coming with me.”
Sadie lifts a brow. “Excuse you?”
Wyatt doesn’t even look at her. “Stay close enough to see who’s watching. Then go home.”
Levi grins. “He’s bossy.”
Sadie’s mouth tilts like she finds it annoying and hot, which… same.
I exhale, trying to wrangle my thoughts into something coherent. “This is crazy.”
Wyatt’s gaze pins me. “You want another option?”
I clench my jaw. “I want my shop back.”
Wyatt’s voice goes quiet. “We’ll get it.”
The certainty hits me like a hand on my throat. I can’t tell if it’s comforting or dangerous.
Probably both.
A soft knock taps at Saxon’s office door.
Maddie appears in the doorway with Ethan behind her, both of them dressed like they stepped out of the woods—ranger gear, calm eyes, that steady way of moving like they’re always tracking something.
Maddie takes one look at my face, then the tension in the room, then Wyatt’s posture, and she whistles low.
“Well,” she says, strolling in like she owns the place. “This feels fun.”
Ethan’s gaze flicks over Wyatt, then me. “Everything okay?”
“Define okay,” I mutter, because apparently that’s my brand now.
Maddie’s eyes land on the phone in Wyatt’s hand. “Threat text?”
Wyatt nods once.
Maddie’s gaze shifts to me. “Who is he?”
I press my lips together.
Maddie’s expression doesn’t change. She just steps closer, lowers her voice. “You don’t have to say his name if it feels like giving him power.”
My throat tightens. “It’s my ex.”
Maddie’s eyes sharpen. “Mm.”
Ethan’s jaw tightens too. “And he found you.”
I lift a shoulder like I’m not crumbling. “He thinks he did.”
Wyatt’s gaze cuts to me, and something hot flashes in it. “He didn’t.”
Maddie’s mouth twitches. “Okay, alpha.”
Wyatt doesn’t react.
Maddie looks at Saxon. “What’s the plan?”
Saxon’s voice is flat. “Cooper thinks a ring is the solution.”
Maddie’s brows lift. She turns to Wyatt. “A ring.”
Wyatt’s tone doesn’t soften. “Temporary.”
Maddie glances at me. “And you?”
I swallow hard. “I think it’s insane.”
Maddie nods like that tracks. Then she says, quiet, to me, “Rangers aren’t the only men who track.”
My skin prickles.
I look at her. “What does that mean?”
Maddie’s gaze flicks to Wyatt, then back to me, like she’s weighing her words. “It means whoever is circling you doesn’t need a badge to be good at it. It means you stop underestimating how far some men go when they think you belong to them.”
My stomach turns.
Wyatt’s hand lowers slightly, phone still in his grip, but his body shifts closer to mine like he’s aligning himself between me and the world.
Ethan’s voice goes calm and firm. “If you’re going to do this, do it fast. Threats don’t wait for paperwork.”
Saxon nods once. “Agreed.”
Levi pops his head in the doorway again like a golden retriever who heard the word “walk.” “Is there cake?”
Sadie grabs him by the collar and yanks him away. “Shut up.”
Wyatt looks at me. “We go now.”
I stare back, throat tight. “Wyatt—”
“Ellie.”
My name in his voice is a command.
I hate that my body likes it.
I lift my chin. “If we do this, it’s a deal. Temporary. Strategic. No feelings.”