Claimed Twice

Chapter ten

The Guard at My Door

That night, I found out Alpha Alexander was serious about protection. Very serious.

When Priya drove me home, there was already a black car parked outside my apartment building. A tall man in a suit stepped out and nodded politely at us.

"Miss Whitfield," he said. "Mr. Voss sent me. I'll be posted outside your door tonight."

"Excuse me?" I said. "I did not agree to a bodyguard."

"He said you'd say that," the man replied, almost smiling. "He also said to tell you it's not up for discussion, given the threat."

I wanted to be angry. Some part of me was angry, that he could just decide things about my life again without asking me first, the same way his family decided things about my life five years ago. But another part of me, the part still shaking from those text messages, felt strangely safe with a stranger standing outside my door.

Priya walked me inside, glancing back at the guard nervously. "This is a lot, Nora."

"Tell me about it," I said, sinking onto my couch.

My phone rang. It was Alexander.

"Are you okay?" he asked the second I answered. "Did Marcus get there okay?"

"Marcus is outside my door like something out of a movie," I said. "Yes, I'm okay. For now."

There was a pause on the line, long enough that I could hear him breathing.

"I looked into it more," he said finally. "The threat. I have a guess about who sent it, but I need more proof before I say the name out loud."

"Who do you think it is?"

Another pause, longer this time.

"Selene's second, Damon," he said quietly. "He's been pushing hard to change the merger terms in his favor. If your bloodline gets confirmed, it could shift the entire power balance of the deal away from him."

I felt sick to my stomach. "So this is all about money and power."

"It's always about money and power," Alpha Alexander said, his voice tired. "That's what broke us the first time too, Nora. I just don't want it to break you again."

I did not know what to say to that. Five years of silence, and now here he was, trying to protect me from the same kind of danger his own family created in the first place.

"Alexander," I said slowly, "if Damon really is behind this, and he's this powerful in the pack, what happens if you're wrong, or if you can't stop him in time?"

The silence on the other end of the line stretched out so long I thought the call had dropped.

"Then Friday isn't just a deadline for the merger anymore," he finally said. "It's a deadline for keeping you alive."

My phone screen lit up right then with one more message, the same unknown number as before.

Tick tock, Nora. Three days left.