Nicholas’s POV
The contract lay across my desk like a battle map. Kevin’s signature stared at me from the bottom margin, a neat flourish meant to look effortless. It almost fooled me.
“Stall it,” I said.
Dan blinked from the other side of the desk. “Sir?”
“The Blue Lake development project,” I clarified, tapping the page with one blunt fingertip. “Our legal department needs to ‘review’ the land title, then the environmental impact, then the shipping routes. Pull every lever. Slow it down.”
Dan hesitated. “He’s already sent crews to the site. He’ll be furious.”
“I’m counting on it.”
Norman shifted inside me, a low ripple of fur and teeth. You’re playing games again.
I leaned back, staring at the paper. “I’m drawing lines.”
She isn’t a contract, Norman growled. She’s our mate.
“She
