Chapter 1 Los Angeles - Tuesday before Thanksgiving Macen “Hammer” Hammerman stifled the mundane conversation with his assistant, Raine Kendall, and stood, bracing his hands on the desk between them. Though his office door stood open—he wasn’t “allowed” to talk to her otherwise—they were as alone as they’d been in weeks. It was now or never. He had an important question to ask. “Tell me something, Raine. Your period is what, five days late?” Blood leached from her face. “Wha—I… How would you even know that?” Because it was his business. After six years of being her mentor, caretaker, and employer, he’d recently given in to his gnawing hunger and fucked her in every way known to man. And recklessly, he’d done it without a condom. Since admitting how much he wanted her, he couldn’t seem to stop. But the elaborate collar that now dangled from her neck strangled him with one indisputable fact: She was owned. Taken. Completely off limits. Property of another. That son of a bitch, Liam O’Neill. His former best friend. “Kind of blows your theory that I’ve always looked through you, doesn’t it?” He smirked. “Since you came to Shadows, I’ve kept tabs on your cycle every single month. You promised you’d let me know if you were so much as a minute late. I’ve been waiting.” She pretended