~Lina~
When I woke up the next morning, the first coherent thought in my head was: Oh my God, I actually traumatized an Alpha yesterday.
Then my second thought immediately slapped that one aside like, Yeah bitch, and you LIKED IT.
I groaned, rolled over, shoved my face into my pillow, and kicked my blanket because the memory of Kael's horrified naked kneeling form kept replaying like some kind of deranged highlight reel produced by Satan himself. And honestly? I didn't even feel bad. Not one percent. The man tried to kill me with his wolf the previous day, AND he's been making my job so stressful I considered faking my own death twice a week. I deserved some entertainment.
But today? Oh today I had a plan.
A glorious, petty, delicious plan straight from the depths of hell and maybe Pinterest. (Don't judge me. People post wild shit there.)
I grabbed my phone, opened my secret notes app, and reread the title of the file I'd spent until 2 a.m. making:
"Operation Make Alpha Boy Lose His Shit."
Yes.
I named it that.
I'm not ashamed.
And step one of the plan?
JEALOUSY.
Ohhhh yes. Wolf jealousy.
The nuclear bomb of all supernatural relationship dynamics.
Because after studying werewolves and by studying I mean binge-watching documentaries and reading articles at three in the morning like a stalker I learned something:
Mates are extremely territorial, extremely emotional, and extremely fragile when they think someone else is touching what's theirs.
And Kael?
Yeah.
He was already losing his mind over me HOLDING A PHONE.
Imagine what he'd do if I purposely drove him insane.
I started laughing into my pillow, very quietly at first, then louder, then cackling, and then coughing because I inhaled my own hair.
"Okay, Lina," I muttered to myself, sitting up. "Time to commit war crimes."
I showered, dressed up, and put on the most reckless outfit I owned the one that said "I am absolutely going to destroy someone's emotional wellbeing today." Tight black skirt, red top, hair down, lips glossy. I looked like someone's problem. I was someone's problem.
And then I went to work.
The elevator doors opened and BOOM, Kael was standing right there.
Like RIGHT THERE.
Front and center.
Arms crossed.
Eyes glaring.
Like he had been waiting the whole damn morning just to start suffering.
He froze when he saw me.
No, actually, he didn't freeze he malfunctioned.
His eyes roamed from my hair to my lips to my shirt to my skirt then back up like he was trying to reboot his soul.
"What," he said, voice cracking JUST A LITTLE, "are you wearing?"
"My clothes," I said cheerfully as I stepped out of the elevator. "You should try it sometime."
His jaw dropped. "You…why….Lina… you can't….what the fuck!? Are you kidding me?! You can't.."
"I can," I said. "I did. And I look hot."
I moved close to him and whispered… " don't forget our little deal honey."
His pupils dilated so fast I swear it gave me secondhand embarrassment. His wolf was pushing forward, I could tell, because suddenly he looked like he wanted to grab me and throw me back into the elevator and press every button until we were fifty floors underground where no one else could see me.
He stepped closer. "Lina… this is… dangerous."
"For who?" I asked sweetly.
He blinked. "Me."
STEP ONE COMPLETE.