Jackson's POV

I sat behind my desk, fingers drumming against the polished wood, irritation simmering beneath my skin. My beta’s failure still clung to me like a stench I couldn’t shake. I wanted Adina dead, needed her dead and yet he had failed not once, but twice. Useless. I’d deal with him soon enough, but for now my attention shifted as the office door opened. Alpha Malachi stepped in.

Finally, he closed the door quietly behind him, shoulders tense, face controlled…but too ...