Garrett Cole POV
Garrett is sitting in his office at midnight drinking whiskey he doesn't taste when he realizes he's made a choice that will destroy everything.
For seven days, he's kept Riley alive. For seven days, he's brought her food and water and healed her wounds with his own alpha blood. For seven days, he's done the opposite of every strategic decision his brain screams he should make.
He should turn her over to Erik. Demand payment. Use her as leverage in a territorial war that's been brewing for years. He should be doing what alphas do. What his father taught him to do. What survival demands he do.
Instead he's protecting her like she's his own.
Victor came to him three hours ago with reports. Erik is searching frantically. He's moving wolves across Silvermoon territory like a man possessed. He's asking questions about Blackthorn movements. He's getting desperate.
And every moment Riley is alive and healing, Erik gets more desperate.
Garrett knows what this is. This is possessiveness disguised as protection. This is weakness dressed up as strength. This is exactly the kind of emotional thinking that gets alphas killed.
But when he thinks about giving her back, his entire body rejects the idea. His wolf rejects it. Every cell in him rises up and says no.
So he drinks whiskey and tries to figure out how to burn his empire down for a woman who doesn't even remember his name.
The knock on his office door comes at 12:47 AM.
Garrett doesn't move. He just watches the door open and feels his carefully controlled world shift on its axis.
Riley stands in the doorway in borrowed clothes. Her hair is messy from sleep. Her eyes are wide with fear. She looks fragile and broken and absolutely beautiful and Garrett wants to destroy whoever made her look like that.
"I had a nightmare," she says softly. "I didn't want to be alone. I remembered the forest and I couldn't breathe and I didn't know where to go so I came here because you're the only person I know for sure won't hurt me."
Garrett sets down his drink carefully. If he moves too fast, she'll bolt. If he speaks, his voice will come out rough and dangerous and she'll remember that he's supposed to be her enemy.
"Come here," he says anyway.
Riley walks toward him like she's pulled by invisible strings. She stops a few feet away like she's still deciding whether to trust him. Then her legs give out and she sits down on the edge of his desk like sitting is the only thing keeping her upright.
"I'm scared," she whispers.
"I know."
"I don't remember who I'm supposed to be. I don't remember my pack. I don't remember anything except that someone wanted me dead and you found me and now I'm here and I don't know what to do with any of it."
Garrett stands up. He moves slowly so she can see every decision. He walks until he's standing in front of her. Until she has to tilt her head up to look at him.
"You don't have to be anyone," he says. "You don't have to remember. You don't have to figure anything out. You just have to survive."
"And then what?" Riley asks.
"And then you decide who you want to become."
Her eyes fill with tears. They spill down her cheeks like she can't hold them back anymore. Like everything she's been holding together for a week finally breaks open.
Garrett reaches out and wipes one away with his thumb. Her skin is soft. Warm. Alive. He can feel her pulse jumping in her neck where her Silvermoon mark should be. The mark that says she belongs to Erik.
She doesn't belong to Erik anymore.
She belongs to him.
The thought is possessive and territorial and absolutely dangerous. But Garrett stops fighting it. Stops pretending he's still the cold alpha who makes logical decisions. Stops lying to himself about what this is.
"You're going to go back to Silvermoon eventually," he says quietly. "You're going to remember who you were. You're going to remember that I'm supposed to be your enemy. And when that happens, you're probably going to hate me."
"I don't think so," Riley says.
"You will. But I'm keeping you anyway."
Garrett's hand moves from her cheek to the back of her neck. His fingers thread through her messy hair. He's crossing a line he can't uncross. Breaking a rule that will cost him everything. And he doesn't care because she's looking at him like he's her anchor to reality.
"Garrett," she says like his name is a question.
He doesn't let her finish asking it.
He pulls her forward and kisses her hard. It's desperate. It's hungry. It's completely uncontrolled and absolutely the wrong move. It's the kiss of an alpha who's decided to burn down his pack for someone who might leave him the second her memory returns.
It's the best decision he's made in his life.
Riley makes a sound against his mouth. Not protest. Not fear. Something else. Something that sounds like surrender. She reaches up and grabs his shirt and kisses him back like she's drowning and he's air.
When he finally pulls away, she's shaking.
"What was that?" she asks breathlessly.
Garrett runs his hand through his hair. He knows what he should say. He knows what the smart alpha move is. He should tell her it was nothing. Should tell her it was a mistake. Should put distance between them and go back to pretending he can give her back to Erik when the time comes.
"A mistake," he says.
But they both know he's lying.
He can see it in the way her eyes search his face. Can feel it in the way her hands still grip his shirt. Can taste it in the way the air between them crackles with electricity and need.
It wasn't a mistake. It was the most right thing he's ever done. And if it destroys him, he'll burn willingly.