Chapter 2 - Eventually, the medication that had kept his wolf sedated was reduced under supervision.
More surprising was what happened to Harper.
She began sleeping.
Really sleeping.
One evening, Kane found her studying financial reports.
“You’re supposed to be resting.”
She looked offended.
“I rested for eleven days.”
“Tragic.”
“I’m bored.”
“Most people would enjoy being bored in a house with an ocean view.”
“Most people apparently don’t know how badly your Northwest freight division is bleeding money.”
Kane stopped.
“What?”
Harper turned the laptop around.
He stared at the spreadsheet.
“You found that in twenty minutes?”
“Seventeen.”
His mouth curved.
That was the first time Harper saw Kane Croft smile.
It transformed his entire face.
Unfortunately, Vivian Mercer saw it too.
And Vivian understood before anyone else that Harper had become dangerous.
A calm Kane was a powerful Kane.
A happy Kane was almost impossible to manipulate.
So Vivian attacked the one weakness Harper still had.
Her family.
She invited Richard and Chloe to the estate without Kane’s permission.
Dinner began badly.
Richard walked through Croft Estate staring at artwork and furniture with naked greed.
Chloe stared at Kane.
Harper’s younger sister was beautiful, impulsive and accustomed to receiving attention.
After two glasses of wine, she leaned toward Kane.
“So, is it always this quiet here?”
“Yes.”
“You should come into Seattle sometime. I know places Harper would never—”
“No.”
Chloe blinked.
Richard laughed too loudly.
“She’s only being friendly.”
Kane’s expression remained blank.
Richard turned to Harper.
“You look good.”
“I’ve been sleeping.”
“Wonderful. Now that all this unpleasant business is over, we should discuss the future.”
Harper set down her fork.
“What future?”
“Our families.”
“There is no arrangement between our families beyond the debt settlement.”
Richard smiled toward Kane.
“Of course there could be.”
Harper knew that smile.
It was the smile Richard wore when he believed he had discovered another person he could use.
“Chloe could stay here too,” he suggested. “This is a large place. If Kane is considering a permanent companion, there’s no reason we need to rush anything. Chloe has always been more social than Harper.”
Silence.
Harper stared at her father.
Even Chloe looked uncomfortable.
Richard had sold one daughter.
Now he was trying to upgrade the transaction.
Kane rose slowly.
Every glass on the table trembled.
Richard’s smile disappeared.
“Kane,” Harper said.
He did not hear her.
The pressure exploded through the room.
Chloe cried out.
Richard grabbed the table.
Kane’s eyes turned blazing gold.
“You brought your daughter here as payment,” he said.
The windows vibrated.
“Then after she survived what you thought would destroy her, you came into my home and offered me her sister as a better bargain?”
“Kane.”
Harper stood.
His wolf was taking control.
She walked through the pressure toward him.
“Look at me.”
His head snapped toward her.
“Not as your Alpha,” she said. “As me.”
She reached across the table.
Her hand closed around his fist.
“Breathe.”
Kane’s chest rose.
“Again.”
He exhaled.
The windows stopped shaking.
The pressure withdrew.
Chloe stared at Harper as if seeing her for the first time.
Richard looked terrified.
Kane’s voice was perfectly calm when he spoke again.
“Leave my property.”
Richard swallowed.
“Kane, surely—”
“Gideon.”
The door opened.
“Escort them out.”
Richard stood.
Harper expected Chloe to follow immediately.
Instead, her sister stopped beside her.
“I’m sorry,” Chloe whispered.
Harper looked at her.
“For what?”
“For letting you be the strong one every time.”
Harper’s anger softened.
Chloe’s eyes filled.
“I kept thinking you could handle everything because you always did. I never wondered what it was costing you.”
Richard called sharply from the doorway.
“Chloe.”
She flinched.
Harper squeezed her hand.
“You don’t have to become me.”
Chloe looked confused.
“Meaning?”
“Stop letting him decide what you owe him.”
For once, Chloe did not answer their father immediately.
She walked out slowly.
Across the room, Vivian watched Harper and Kane with cold hatred.
Harper saw it.
And understood that the evening had not gone the way Vivian intended.
Three days later, Harper found the truth.
Kane was in Seattle for a board meeting when she sat down in his office with permission to review several neglected subsidiary accounts.
Four hours later, a number bothered her.
Then another.
Then a third.
Money had moved from a Croft waterfront development fund through multiple shell companies before disappearing into a private holding account.
Harper followed the trail.
Her heartbeat accelerated.
Richard had not simply stolen three million dollars.
Someone had deliberately placed access in front of a gambling addict who was drowning in debt.
Someone had created transactions that would appear to originate from Richard.
Someone had wanted Cascade destroyed.
The final holding company belonged overwhelmingly to one person.
Vivian Mercer.
Harper sat back.
Then the entire pattern became horrifyingly clear.
Vivian had helped draft the debt settlement.
Vivian had promoted the old tradition requiring women to spend nights with Kane.
Vivian’s own sister had been one of the women whose breakdown was used as proof that Kane was unstable.
Each terrified candidate increased pressure from the elder council.
Each failed night made Kane appear more dangerous.
If the council declared him mentally incapable of governing, control of Croft Industries and the regional packs would pass temporarily to senior leadership.
Vivian was both chief legal adviser and one of the largest minority shareholders.
She had not been protecting Kane.
She had been manufacturing his collapse.
Harper immediately copied the files.
A voice spoke behind her.
“You really are irritatingly intelligent.”
Harper froze.
Vivian stood in the doorway.
The lock clicked.
A handgun rested in her hand.
Harper’s fear came quietly.
Not as panic.
As clarity.
“You set up my father.”
“Your father set up himself. I merely provided opportunity.”
“You stole from Kane.”
“I moved resources away from an unstable ruler.”
“You sent those women upstairs knowing what would happen.”
Vivian smiled.
“They volunteered.”
“Did your sister?”
The smile vanished.
Harper saw the answer.
“My God.”
Vivian’s face hardened.
“My sister wanted Kane. I told her what she needed to do. Fear him. Trigger him. Make it dramatic enough that the council would hear about it.”
“She was hospitalized.”
“She became enthusiastic.”
“You used your own sister.”
“I used what was necessary.”
Harper clicked one key beneath the desk.
The financial packet transmitted to Gideon.
Vivian stepped closer.
“Kane was nearly removed before you appeared.”
“So this is about power.”
“It is always about power.”
“No.”
Harper shook her head.
“For people like you, maybe.”
Vivian raised the weapon.
“You ruined five years of work by falling asleep.”
Despite the gun pointed at her, Harper almost laughed.
“That sounds ridiculous when you say it aloud.”
Vivian’s expression twisted.
“You think you saved him because you’re special?”
“No.”
“Then why you?”
Harper thought of that first night.
“Because I wasn’t trying to get anything from him.”
Vivian’s finger moved toward the trigger.
The door exploded inward.
Kane entered like a storm given human form.
He had received the files.
One look at the gun aimed toward Harper and every trace of control vanished.
Vivian fired.
Kane moved.
He crossed the room before Harper understood what was happening and threw himself between them.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
“Kane!”
He barely reacted.
His eyes had turned completely gold.
His claws extended.
Vivian backed away.
For the first time, the woman who had spent years manufacturing a monster looked genuinely afraid of one.
Kane advanced.
“Five years,” he growled.
Vivian stumbled backward.
“You manipulated the council. You stole from my company. You used my condition against me.”
“Kane—”
“You pointed a weapon at her.”
His voice became almost inhuman.
The room began to shake.
Harper grabbed his uninjured arm.
“Stop.”
He did not.
“Kane!”
He turned.
“She tried to kill you.”
“I know.”
“I will end her.”
“And then she wins.”
His breathing was ragged.
Harper moved in front of him.
“If you kill her while you’re out of control, every lie she told about you becomes true.”
“She hurt you.”
“She failed.”
His eyes burned.
“I sent the records to Gideon. The board has them. She’s finished.”
Kane’s claws remained extended.
Harper placed both hands against his face.
“Look at me.”
He did.
“You are not what she made people believe you are.”
His breathing slowed fractionally.
“Prove it.”
For several terrible seconds, Harper did not know which side of him would win.
Then Kane closed his eyes.
He breathed.
Once.
May you like
Twice.
The gold faded.
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