MY ASSASSIN IS MY MATE

NIA

They say peace never lasts long in a wolf’s world.Turns out, it barely lasted a week in mine. Knight and I had fallen into a rhythm—a dangerous kind of quiet. Training, research, sarcasm, repeat. The edges between us blurred until I wasn’t sure if we were allies, enemies, or something in between.

The night it all burned down again started like any other. He was on a secure call across the room. I sat at his desk surrounded by datapads and paper trails, following encrypted transactions that always ended in digital smoke. We were close to something.

“Anything?” he asked, ending the call and strolling towards me, tie loose, sleeves rolled.

“Just the same dead ends,” I muttered. “Whoever’s behind this knows how to cover their tracks.”

He leaned against the desk, arms folded, that smug little smile playing on his lips. “You should rest.”

“You should stop telling me what to do.”

His eyes gleamed. “But then what would we argue about?”

I opened my mouth to retort but my wolf went rigid.A metallic tang cut through the air.

“Down!” I barked, and launched at him.

The window shattered an instant later.Glass exploded inward in a storm of glittering shards. A masked figure rolled through the breach, blades already drawn. Knight hit the floor under me as the assassin’s dagger embedded in the wall above where his head had been.

“Really?” Knight grunted beneath me. “You could’ve just said ‘incoming.’”

“Shut up and stay down!”

I spun, drawing the blade Knight insisted I keep strapped under the table. The assassin came fast—silver-edged daggers flashing under the city lights.This one was good. Trained. Deadly. But I’d met worse.

We clashed in a blur of movement, blades ringing, sparks biting the air. Knight moved behind me, scanning for an opening. The smell of ozone thickened—his wolf close to the surface.The assassin feinted left. I countered right. He kicked low, but Knight caught his leg mid-swing and twisted. The man hissed, stumbling. I took advantage, driving my knee into his chest and slamming him into the ground.

“Not bad for a CEO,” I said, panting.

Knight grinned. “Not bad for my would-be killer.”

The assassin tried to roll away. Knight’s boot pinned him down.

“You could’ve just scheduled a meeting,” Knight drawled. “I charge less for appointments that don’t involve explosions.”

I scowled. “You joke too much for someone who was almost a corpse.”

“Seems I’m in high demand these days, Silent Blade.” His smirk widened. “Maybe I should start charging.”

“Keep talking and I’ll add hazard pay to your bill.”

The assassin groaned, reaching for a hidden blade. I kicked it out of his hand, the clatter echoing through the ruined room.

Knight crouched beside him, voice turning sharp and cold. “Who sent you?”

Silence.

He pressed a knee into the man’s ribs. “You have three seconds before my partner stops being polite.”

“I was never polite,” I said, crouching beside him. “Talk. Or I’ll make you wish you took the fall.”

The assassin’s eyes darted between us. Sweat beaded at his temple. Finally, he rasped, “There’s… there’s a new bounty. Double. On your head, Alpha.”

Knight’s expression didn’t change, but the air shifted—predatory calm.

“Who placed it?”

“I don’t know. They call him ,the Crow. He runs the network now. No faces. Only contracts.”

Knight’s jaw flexed. “The Crow. Fitting name for a parasite.”

The assassin started trembling. Then, suddenly—he convulsed.

“Knight—”

Too late. His body arched, eyes rolling back. Foaming lips. Poison. A kill switch embedded in his tooth.

He was dead in seconds.

Knight stood, brushing glass off his shirt like the scene was mildly inconvenient. “Well. That’s going to make dinner awkward.”

I exhaled hard, adrenaline burning through my veins. “Do you ever stop making jokes?”

“Only when they stop trying to kill me.”

I glared. “You cope with sarcasm, don’t you?”

“I cope with everything,” he said lightly, but his eyes were dark—angry.

We stared down at the corpse. The Crow. Another player in a game we hadn’t agreed to join.

Knight crouched again, checking the assassin’s neck. “Professional job. Micro-poison capsule. Whoever’s behind this doesn’t like loose ends.”

“That could’ve been me,” I murmured before I could stop the words.

He looked up, something softer flashing in his gaze. “Yeah. But you’re prettier when you’re not trying to kill me.”

I sighed. “You’re impossible.”

“Efficiently so.”

The silence stretched, heavy with the scent of smoke and adrenaline. My heart was still hammering.

Knight reached for a shard of glass, flicked it away, then met my eyes. “You tackled me.”

“You’re welcome for saving your life.”

He smirked. “Didn’t say I wasn’t grateful.”

The bond hummed—alive, electric. My pulse stuttered. His scent was too close, too warm, too him.

I stepped back, needing space that didn’t exist.

He let me go, turning back to the body. “We’re not done, Nia. Whoever The Crow is, he’s escalating. And if they’re doubling the price on me, they won’t stop there.”

“Then we hit back harder.”

Knight looked up, and for once, his grin wasn’t just sarcastic. “There’s the woman I almost died for.”

I shoved him lightly. “Don’t make it sound romantic.”

“Oh, it’s not. It’s purely practical. You’re great cover.”

I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t hide the small, traitorous smile tugging at my lips.

We stood there, shoulder to shoulder, looking out at the shattered skyline beyond the broken window. The city pulsed below, unaware, already resetting for the next round of chaos.

Knight sighed. “Guess we should call for cleanup.”

“Guess you should install bulletproof windows,” I said.

“Where’s the fun in that?”

I shook my head, stepping past him toward the door. “You’re insufferable.”

“Admit it,” he called after me. “You’d miss me if I were dead.”

“Maybe,” I said over my shoulder. “Depends on how quiet life gets.”

His laugh followed me down the hall.Another assassin.Another secret.Another reminder that fate doesn’t just tie bonds—It tightens nooses.