Adrian’s POV

I told myself that last night would fade by morning. That I’d wake up, go to work, and function like a man whose world hadn’t shifted because of one girl.

I was wrong.

The moment I stepped into the office, Sienna’s laugh replayed in my head warm, careless, unforgettable. I tried to bury myself in files, in emails, in anything that didn’t have her name attached to it. But my wolf wasn’t fooled. It prowled beneath my skin, reminding me that she was real, close, and more dangerous to me than anything else in my life.

My phone buzzed.

Sienna: You okay?

Two words. Small. Simple. But they hit with the force of a blow.

I stared at the message longer than any sane person should. I wanted to reply something neutral, easy, forgettable. Every sentence I typed sounded wrong too cold or too honest. I deleted them all.

answering meant admitting she mattered.

I wasn’t ready to admit that not even to myself.

I left work early without explaining. Not to my assistant, not to my coworkers. Just grabbed my keys and let the need—not desire, not logic, but instinct steer the wheel.

I ended up outside her apartment.

Ethan opened the door, and for a moment, we just looked at each other. He didn’t accuse me. He didn’t have to. His silence was a question and a warning wrapped together.

He let me in anyway.

Sienna was in the kitchen, flour smudged on her hands, her hair loosely pinned back. Nothing dramatic. Nothing intentional. But when she looked up and saw me, the entire room shifted.

“You came,” she said, soft but certain.

“I was in the area,” I answered, keeping my voice even.

Lie.

Her eyes lingered a moment too long reading me, challenging me. She always had a way of seeing through me, even when I wished she wouldn’t.

“You don’t have to pretend with me, Adrian,” she murmured.

I didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

She slid a plate toward me simple food, an innocent gesture—but the closeness was anything but innocent. My wolf pushed against the walls of my restraint, pacing, wanting, claiming.

“You’re really good at pretending,” she added quietly.

Still, I said nothing.

Ethan rummaged through the fridge like he wasn’t noticing the tension choking the room. Sienna’s eyes flicked toward him, then returned to me warmer, braver, more dangerous.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” she said.

“I’m not,” I replied, too quickly.

Her expression softened, but her voice didn’t. “Adrian lie to anyone else. Not me.”

I should have walked away right then. Should have put distance between us before everything inside me snapped. Instead, I stayed. And she leaned in, close enough that her scent stole the air from my lungs.

“Adrian…” Her voice softened into something intimate. “You don’t have to hide from me. Not with me.”

Her words slid under my skin like a key into a lock I’d never planned to open. My chest tightened, my control stretched thin.

“I’m… used to control,” I managed.

“You’ve never needed it with me,” she whispered. “Maybe that’s what scares you.”

She was right but the truth was bigger, heavier.

She didn’t know what she was tempting.

She didn’t know what answering her would unleash.

She smiled then a soft curve, nothing dramatic but it undid something in me. She shifted her chair slightly closer, subtle enough to be innocent, bold enough to destroy my control.

“I missed this,” she said. “Missed… us.”

Her words didn’t just hit they landed. Heavy. True.

Because there had always been an us.

A silent one. A forbidden one.

The kind that lived in the space between rules I created and the instincts I couldn’t kill.

Ethan reentered the kitchen, his presence a harsh reminder of a line I wasn’t supposed to cross.

But something had already crossed.

The moment Sienna laughed at something he said, my wolf growled low, a warning I barely managed to swallow. My grip tightened on the edge of the table.

One wrong move one inch closer and everything would change forever.

And the terrifying part?

A part of me wanted that.

Wanted her.

Wanted the chaos she brought just by breathing near me.

Control was slipping.

Not because she pushed.

But because my wolf had already chosen and fighting that choice felt like fighting my own blood.

Adrian’s jaw tightened the second Sienna’s fingers brushed his—soft, hesitant, too aware.

She pulled back like she’d touched fire.

“Adrian… there’s something I didn’t tell you.”

Her voice was low. Nervous. Wrong.

He studied her face too pale, too careful

then followed her eyes toward the hallway.

She wasn’t looking at him.

She was looking at her bedroom door.

Like something behind it terrified her.

A soft sound echoed from inside the room.

Not loud.

But unmistakable.

A footstep.

Adrian’s wolf snapped awake under his skin.

“Sienna,” he said slowly, “who’s in there?”

She didn’t answer.

She only whispered, “Don’t get angry…”

And that was the moment the doorknob began to turn.