Day three and I was mentally exhausted and my hope was somewhere between pitiful and desperate. Sat at the kitchen table, I buried my head in my hands. For the last two hours, I'd been on the phone to Zander, Hunter's brother in the USA and Ruth, who was still in Scotland with the children.

Lifting my head, I moved my fingers to my temple, rubbing in slow circles to draw out the tension.

It didn't work.

Guilt twisted up my insides from my lies. I'd told Zander Hunter was slowly recovering his memories.

He wasn't.

Or if he was, he wasn't telling me. But Zander's wife and mate, Andrea, was pregnant with their third child and suffering complications, so the last thing I wanted was to pile more worry onto his plate.

I could handle this—fix this.

Oui, right. The voice inside my head snarked and my wolf grumbled in agreement.

Do you have any suggestions? I asked my wolf, who only whined in reply.

Oui thought so.

The conversation with Ruth, however, had been the complete opposite. I'd confessed, or rather broke down, over the phone and told her everything, including that he was pulling away from me, and my fear of losing him. An empty box of tissues later, she tried her best to reassure me it would be okay.

I wasn't so sure anymore.

How could you get through to someone who seemed happy with the way things stood?

But Ruth was right. It was time the children came home, and we reminded Hunter he was a father above all else, no matter what happened between us.

So I was expecting the children back home this evening. Which left me seven hours to stir some memories... feelings. Or at least make damn sure he didn't treat his children the way he was treating me.

Sighing, slumping in my chair, I felt lost at sea. Every attempt at trying to reach him had been futile and if I was being totally honest, he wasn't making any effort. It didn't help that I'd hardly stolen a moment alone with him, and stealing was a good comparison because we certainly weren't sharing any.

Even on his first night home, I had to beg him to share our bed with me. It lasted an hour with him pulling away from my touch, with him telling me he needed space. Time to think.

He moved into the spare room next to Janine's—his bloody nurse.

Staring down at my third cup of lukewarm tea, I had to do something. Sitting here waiting wasn't cutting it. My eyes flicked to the clock above the cooker.  I was alone in the house. Hunter was at the office and thankfully Janine had made herself scarce. She hadn't dared look my way since I'd been inside her head. I'd also planted a few images of what would happen to her if she touched my mate in any way inappropriate.

It went without saying she'd kept her hands to herself.

Hunter returning to the office today, however, was not planned.

It might stir up memories—help me remember. He'd said.

But he'd only made that decision following Elaine, his mother turning up unexpectedly on our doorstep barely after seven. She'd been all smiles and acted concerned. It was true I hardly knew the woman, but it was fairly obvious she didn't have a genuine bone in her body. And I didn't need my gift to know her interest in her son was forced, fake even.

Did she lack the natural maternal instinct? Or was it something else?

It was frustrating. I couldn't get a read on her.

Unable to keep still a moment longer, I pushed up from my chair, speaking out loud. "If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain!"

Let's find out exactly what he's doing to stir up his memories.

My wolf lifted her head and wagged her tail and almost two hours later, I was riding up in the lift to Hunter's office.

On the way up, I let myself pretend he'd had a grand awakening coming into the office. I mean, it was possible—right?

The idea excited my wolf, and she pranced up and down and I let myself smile. It sure beat crying about the whole situation.

As the lift door opened, I walked down the executive landing. Strangely, it was quiet. No one was here and I let my senses roam ahead of me, feeling out my surroundings. I sensed nothing. Not even his mother. Rounding the corner, I arrived at Hunter's outer office, where his assistant, Lucas, normally sat. Lucas hadn't worked at Wolfe for long and had been on holidays when the accident happened.

His desk was empty. Laptop off. No coat.

Was he still on holiday?

Something felt off and the door to Hunter's office was closed. Walking toward it, I lifted my hand to knock... but paused.

I both sensed and heard something.  Lifting my nose, I sniffed. Hunter was in his office, but he wasn't alone. There was a scent I didn't recognise. Instead of barging inside, worried what I might find. I stretched out my feelers. My fingers tingled as my gift absorbed everything on the other side of the door. Every vibration. Emotion and thoughts pulsed in my head.

I stiffened as the shock hit me and the air in my lungs deflated. It was a female in his office with him.

A deep groan was followed by... "So good, yeah..."

My wolf growled, and I balled my hands into tight fists. And without knocking, we burst in.

Mon Dieu.

If there was such a thing as slow blinking, then I was doing it. Understanding slapped me in the face.

Hunter—my mate. My husband was behind his desk, sitting in his leatherback chair with a woman's head buried in his lap.

Devastation, like cold heavy chains spiked with ruthless knives, coiled around my heart.  "Why?" I whispered and for several seconds I remained still.  

But inside was a different story. Pressure started to build and my body began to shake as a darkness I'd never felt engulfed me and like a pin pulled from a grenade I exploded. Hair flicking outward, my hands shot up and the sheer weight of my power burst from them. Not just my fingertips. Both hands vibrated, and it knocked me back a step, never having felt something so strong.

The woman squealed like a piglet as the energy I projected hit her like a missile, lifting her clear into the air.

I held her there, both shocked at the strength of my own power and now not sure what to do with her.

End her.  My wolf snarled.   And was sorely tempted to launch her out the window, I left her there, suspended, whilst I gathered my wits, which had been shattered to the wind.

What I noted was what little clothing she had on. Her shirt was wide open, exposing her lacy bra, and her skirt was hiked up just above her hips.

Anger forced a growl from my lips, and I diverted my attention to him.

Hunter.

His mouth was set in a hard line. "What the fuck!?" he ground out between gritted teeth. "Fuck. Sage. Put her down. Now!"

He had the barefaced cheek to be angry at me? Had I upped and moved to planet crazy?

"Or what?" I snapped back.

He didn't reply.

I tossed an infuriated hand. The woman who seemed familiar flew through the air, her long blonde locks fluttering with the movement. She landed on the sofa in front of his window with a yelp.

Withdrawing my influence, her eyes were as wide as they could go as the pinkish hue to her cheeks vanished. She scrambled to cover herself. Not that it mattered. I'd seen enough to be burned into my memory for life. "I'm so sorry Mrs Stone..." she stuttered.

This only incensed me further. She knew me. She knew he was married and had a family, and yet she was willing to go down on him in his office where anyone could walk in.

I'd walked in.

My nails extended, and I had to stop my wolf from ripping out and tearing her to shreds.

Instead, I set free my senses, ensnaring her mind and showed her all the things I was going to do to her, in graphic detail. Her gargling shrieks filled the room as she clasped her head in fear.

I heard yelling, but I was too far gone.

Hunter shifted in front of me, blocking and then breaking the hold I had on the tramp. His big, firm hands gripped my upper arms, shaking me. "Stop this, please!" he begged.

I blinked. Hunter begging?   "Explain this!?" Screaming in his face.

It was his turn to blink as his mouth slackened. "Explain what?"

Was he stupid?

"You—her—what the hell is going on with you, Hunter?" And although I could feel the burn of tears, my eyes widened, fury burned in my veins. "Who are you!?" I hardly recognised my mate.  His behaviour was nothing short of cruel.

His head pulled back a fraction as if the question stumped him.

"You're not my mate. Nor my husband," I blustered, allowing my temper to run away with my mouth. "Do I mean nothing? Do your children mean nothing!?" I shook myself from his hold on me, stepping back, my fingers itching to scratch his eyes out.

"There's no need to overreact," he said, and I stumbled back as if he'd slapped me. "Try to see this from my point of view," he finished.

What? I glared at him. Never mind wanting to scratch his eyes out. I was about to reach for his letter opener, sat on his desk and castrate him.

He continued. "You don't know how hard this is!"

My jaw dropped.

"I woke up to find I have a wife and kids." He tapped his forehead. "In here, I'm still a single man."

That was his self-justification for getting a blowjob in his office?

My gift may not work on him—but my hands sure would. I stepped up and slapped him hard. So hard his teeth rattled and my palm stung as if sliced by a thousand paper-cuts.

He sucked in air, shocked, as he lifted his hand and placed it over my beautiful blossoming hand-stain. "What the fuck, Sage?" he snarled.

Violence tickled my fingertips as I lifted my other hand to take another swipe. But he was quick and caught my wrist.

I leaned forward and met his snarl with my own. "What? So you expect me and your family to wait whilst you what?" I hissed. "Relive your man-whore days?"

He had no answer for that as I tore my wrist from his grip as he remained still, with his jaw twitching and pulse in his temple throbbing.

I could almost hear the tear in my soul as I spat out my next words. The coldness in them, surprising to me and my wolf. "Let me make this simple for you. Don't come home."

Hunter said nothing.

And it was a knife to my battered heart. But I couldn't sit by and wait and watch him detonate our lives. It was the final straw.

Fists clenched, I turned and stomped out.

My wolf both snarled and whimpered at her mate's behaviour. Even she wouldn't try to justify what had just happened in his office.

Practically running to the elevator without breathing, my finger hit the button repeatedly, willing it to get here faster.

My head and heart throbbed as heat stung the back of my eyes.

"Sage! Wait."

Hearing my name, I pulled back my shoulders, tilted my chin up and steeled my spine. I wouldn't grace him with an acknowledgement.

He spun me around, gripping my arms tightly, his eyes tortured, searching mine, looking for what I didn't know. "Sage —I—I—" he stuttered, stumbling over his words.

Hunter never stuttered or stumbled over his words.

I schooled my face into a mask of calm. He would not see the devastation that warred inside my body.

"Please... don't—" he started to say.

"Stop!" I wouldn't... couldn't  listen to what he had to say.

He flinched and then did something even I couldn't predict. Pulled me toward him. His lips landed on mine.

I tried to push him away, but he stayed firm, his grip unyielding.

And it wasn't a gentle kiss. His tongue forced past my lips as he walked us backward two steps to press me against the cool steel door of the elevator, and my traitorous heart swelled.

Almost softening my resolve under his attack, my wolf brought me back from insanity as she growled.

She was growling at our mate. Pawing the ground, restless.

I was upset, too, but her feelings overrode mine. She wanted to hurt him. It was then she did the strangest thing. She commanded me to use my gift.

Not understanding, I did as she asked and feelings swamped me. Feelings that weren't mine or hers.

They were from Hunter.

Confusion.

Regret.

Pain.

Finding strength, I pushed him off me and he stumbled back two steps, putting some much needed space between us.

We stood glaring, with my chest heaving and my heart doing overtime. I tried to understand, make sense of what my wolf and gift was telling me. "Who are you?" I whispered.

He said nothing, but I knew.

The man stood in front of me wasn't Hunter Stone.

That wasn't my mate.

I swiped my hand across my mouth.

"Hunter," I heard his name hissed.

Both our heads twisted in the voices' direction. It was Elaine Stone.

"Hunter, come and see me in my office. I need your assistance."

My head snapped back to him. He was staring at me and there again I saw conflict in his eyes, as if he was trying to tell me something.

The lift signalled its arrival, and the doors slid open. Without turning, I stepped backwards and kept stepping until I was inside.

His eyes never left mine as I hit the ground button over and over. The door's finally closed and started its descent and I sucked in a sob and clasped at my chest.

If that wasn't Hunter... my Hunter. Where was he?

I needed to get home to make a call. I needed help.

~ ~

A/N:  Update:  19th Jan 2023.  Hey!  My apologies for not being able to crack on with this book - work's been crazy, but now its getting back to normal and I will resume updating from Wednesday 25th Jan 2023.