Chapter 9 Fated Mate Bond

"It's Leanna." Serena's voice turned cold as everything clicked. "She bumped into me on purpose. Distracted me. That was their only chance to swap the files."

She grabbed her jacket and was about to run after them. Then she stopped. Thought.

Leanna was too cunning to ever admit what she'd done. No point chasing her.

"Damn it. I can't believe I fell for that." Serena slammed her fist on the desk. Turned to her team. "Nobody goes home tonight. We're rebuilding all the evidence from memory. From whatever scraps we have left."

Even if they could only recover half of it, she wasn't about to give up on Ariadne's case.

The faces around the room fell. Reconstructing a complete set of evidence overnight was next to impossible.

While everyone stood there at a loss, a warm hand gently covered the back of Serena's.

Derek had moved behind her at some point without a word. He quietly let out a faint thread of Alpha energy. Calm. Steadying.

The gentle pressure wrapped around Serena like a blanket. The tension she'd been holding snapped loose. A sense of quiet steadiness settled over her out of nowhere.

Serena looked up in surprise. Gave him a small, apologetic smile.

"Derek, I was going to take you out to dinner as a thank-you. Looks like that's off the table tonight." She spread her hands helplessly. "You saw what happened. I'm in serious trouble. I have to stay and fix this."

"What kind of trouble has a sharp lawyer like you completely stuck?" Derek looked down at her. Voice easy and unhurried. "Tell me. Maybe I can help."

Serena laid it all out. How Leanna had secretly swapped the files. What that meant. "I spent days putting all that together." Frustration bled into her voice. "Knowing Leanna, there's no way she gives any of it back."

"This isn't on you. When someone plays dirty, you don't have to play by the rules either." Derek gave her shoulder a light pat. "Leave it with me. Sit down. Take a breath. Drink some water."

Serena didn't let herself hope. Mistfir Vale was the Sawyer Pack's territory. No matter how powerful Derek was, there was no way he could track down deliberately hidden files in under fifteen minutes.

But less than ten minutes later, a man in a black suit walked through the door of the firm. Spoke with quiet deference. "Mr. Grim. It's been retrieved."

Derek took the files. Handed them to Serena. One eyebrow raised. "Take a look. Is that what you lost?"

Serena's eyes lit up. She flipped through quickly. Every account record. Every transaction log. Every piece of evidence. Completely intact. Not a single page missing.

"How did you do that?" she asked, staring at him.

"When the Grim Pack wants something, we don't ask for permission." Derek glanced at his watch. Tone relaxed. "Now then, counselor—care to call it a day and have dinner with me?"

Serena nodded hard. The weight that had been pressing down on her lifted all at once. She felt genuinely light for the first time all day.

On the way out, her colleague Darcy had been planning to ask Serena to dinner to celebrate. But then she saw Serena naturally slip her arm through Derek's as the two of them walked out the door together.

The office erupted.

"Oh my god, who is that man? The energy he gives off is insane."

"Is he her boyfriend? He's clearly someone important."

Derek drove Serena to an old restaurant she'd known since childhood. The place her parents used to take her. The familiar smell of meat sauce hit her the moment they walked in. Pulling up a flood of memories.

Even with the food in front of her, Serena sat with a slight frown. Her mind elsewhere.

"Still thinking about the case?" Derek noticed. Asked quietly. "Ariadne's situation is really weighing on you?"

Serena set down her fork. Sighed. "Even with all the evidence back, we've got maybe a fifty-fifty shot. Ariadne is a low-ranking Omega. Under the Sawyer Pack's hierarchy, she's almost guaranteed to walk away with next to nothing."

"Omegas have so little standing. To those arrogant Alphas, pack rules and human law are just pieces of paper. They ignore them whenever it suits them."

"I want to help her. I just don't know if I can do enough."

Derek set down his utensils. Looked at her steadily. "I'll take care of it, Serena."

Serena figured he was just saying something kind. The Sawyer Pack's internal affairs were nearly impossible for outsiders to touch. Even for someone like Derek.

But the next day at the negotiation table, she stood there completely stunned.

The Sawyer Pack's representatives—usually aggressive and impossible to deal with—were a completely different story today. They agreed to every condition. Loosened every restriction on compensation. Even offered an additional piece of territory to secure Ariadne's future.

Kieran never showed up. Citing illness.

After the negotiation wrapped up, Serena's colleagues crowded around her. Buzzing with excitement.

"Why were the Sawyer Pack people suddenly so easy to work with? That was completely out of character."

Darcy leaned in close. Dropped her voice. "I heard through the grapevine that the Grim Pack sent their top Betas to Mistfir Vale last night. Met directly with the Sawyer Pack elders."

"That guy who picked you up yesterday—he's not actually high up in the Grim Pack, is he? The way he treats you is so different. He's definitely into you."

Serena didn't know whether to laugh or groan. Now she understood exactly why the Sawyer Pack had backed down. Derek had been working behind the scenes the whole time.

That was just how he was. Always quietly watching her back without making a thing of it.

A wave of warmth spread through her.

Back in her car, Serena pulled out her phone and sent Derek a message: [Thank you, my sweet Wolf.]

After finishing up at the firm, she drove back toward her apartment in the city center.

But somewhere on the winding road through the hills outside town, a scorching wave of heat exploded from somewhere deep in her bones. Without any warning.

"Ugh—" Serena slammed the brakes. The steering wheel nearly jerked out of her hands.

Her blood felt like molten rock. Every part of her burned with a hollow, desperate heat. Aching for touch. For comfort. For something she couldn't name.

This heat was a hundred times worse than anything she'd ever felt before.

She had no idea what had triggered it.

Her body went weak. She slumped over the steering wheel. Barely managed to get the car moving again. Steered toward the empty mountains ahead.

She couldn't stop on the road. If a male werewolf caught her scent, she didn't want to think about what would happen.

Deep in the forest, Serena's awareness began to blur. The wolf inside her raged. Sent out the most raw, desperate call she had ever felt—a call for her fated mate.

She sank to her knees in the thick fallen leaves. Her back arched sharply. A long, broken howl tore through the silence of the valley.

At that same moment, Derek was at the Grim estate dealing with business when he shot to his feet. His eyes flooded gold. A sharp, piercing pain flared at the bond mark on his chest.

"Serena."

He felt it clearly. His fated mate was in pain. Desperate. On the edge of losing control.

He didn't stop for a jacket. He vaulted straight off the second-floor terrace. His body already shifting mid-air. Bones cracking and reshaping in rapid succession.

A second later, he was a streak of motion tearing through the dark toward the mountains.