Page 178 of Dead Girls Don’t Forget

I felt the eyes on me. A couple of the older wolves near the back shifted, waiting for weakness.

I kept my voice even. “The Markham family is under investigation for their part in Thomas’s schemes. Their ‘right’ ended the moment they benefited from stolen pack resources. Take some enforcers with you and tell them to turn over the supplies or I’ll go collect them myself.”

The woman blinked, then nodded quickly. A few murmurs rose, but no one challenged me openly. Not anymore. The last time someone had tested me, I had put them on the ground in front of half the pack. The hostility was still there, simmering under the surface, but I had made it clear I wouldn’t tolerate it in the open.

Jackson’s hand brushed mine in silent approval.

Hours later, we were still in the central meeting room when one of the investigators stepped forward with a thick folder.

“The investigation into former alpha Thomas Black is complete. The evidence is overwhelming. Embezzlement, extortion, trafficking, the killings… everything from the files and more. The tribunal has been scheduled for three days from now.”

I sat very still and listened as they laid out the findings. Every word tightened something cold and sharp inside me. Thomas wasn’t supposed to end up in a tribunal. He was supposed to end up in my hands.

I kept my face blank and my breathing even, careful not to let anything slip through the bond. Jackson couldn’t know.

They would either execute him under old pack law or exile him, stripping his title and banishing him beyond our borders. Ten years of planning. Ten years of hunting the man who destroyed my family. And now, in three days, pack justice was going to take him from me.

I felt Jackson glance at me, the bond flickering with quiet concern.

I gave nothing away. Just a slow nod, like this was exactly what we had been working toward.

But inside, the hunter sharpened her knife.

Jackson called the meeting to a close not long after. The drive back to the apartment was quiet, the bond between us heavy with everything neither of us was saying. The moment the door clicked shut behind us, he turned to me.

“When?” he asked, voice low. It wasn’t the first time. “When are you ready? We do this together. I won’t let you carry it alone.”

I didn’t answer right away. The words tangled in my throat. He shouldn’t have to watch his father die. He shouldn’t see me like this. I wouldn’t let it poison what we had.

Instead I stepped closer, sliding my hands up his chest, feeling the tension coiled there.

“We finally have a whole night without meetings or pack bullshit. I don’t want to spend it talking about him.”

Jackson searched my face, the bond pulsing with frustration and concern. I rose onto my toes and kissed him, slow and deliberate, pouring everything I couldn’t say into it.

He hesitated for half a second, then his arms came around me, pulling me hard against him. The growl that rumbled in his chest told me I had won this round.

Jackson lifted me like I weighed nothing, one arm under my ass, the other banded across my back. I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed him hungrily. Still kissing me, he carried me down the hallway and kicked the bedroom door shut behind us.

He set me on the edge of the bed and stripped me with rough, impatient hands. My sweater, bra, jeans, everything gone in seconds. His own clothes followed just as quickly. A heartbeat later he came down over me, covering me with his body. Teeth grazed the mating mark on my throat as he pushed my legs apart and thrust into me in one deep stroke.

I gasped, back bowing off the bed. He was thick and hot and so fucking deep. He groaned my name against my neck and started moving, deep and steady, like he needed to feel every inch of me wrapped around him.

I met him thrust for thrust, nails digging into his shoulders. The bond between us burned wide open, his pleasure and mine tangled so tight it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. But I also felt the raw edge beneath his usual control — a desperate need tonight, like he was trying to imprint himself on every inch of me, afraid I might slip away. I held him closer, legs locked around his waist, letting him bury himself as deep as he could go. I wanted it. I wanted all of him.

“Harper,” he rasped. “Love you. Need you like this. Always.”

The words hit low and sweet. I kissed him harder, pouring everything I couldn’t say into it. For these few minutes, nothing else existed. Just his weight on me, his cock thrusting perfect and relentless inside me, the bond pulsing with raw love and desperate possession.

Then he shifted suddenly, pulling out and flipping me onto my stomach. I pushed up on my elbows, but he pressed a hand between my shoulder blades, keeping me down as he slid back inside me from behind. The new angle made me moan into the sheets. He fucked me like that for a while, deep and possessive, one hand sliding down to circle my clit.

Then his finger moved.

He pressed the pad of his finger against my other hole, rubbing slow, teasing circles while he kept thrusting into my pussy. I tensed, then relaxed as heat flooded through me.

“I want all of you,” he rasped, voice rough with need. “Every fucking inch. Let me have you here.”

I pushed back against his finger, breathless. “Yes.”