Cassian’s POV

I stood in front of my study window, sleeves rolled, the smell of gun oil still on my hands from the afternoon. Naomi’s words from earlier echoed like a bruise I couldn’t rub out.

“You wanted to own me”

She was wrong and she was right. I wanted her safe, but I also wanted her close.

I’d spent years building walls out of men’s bodies to keep her from the world. Now those walls were starting to crack.

My phone buzzed on the desk.

Private line. No caller ID. Only one person still used that channel.

I picked it up.

“Vale.”

A woman’s voice purred through the receiver....