Chapter 1

“Explain to me why half this company opened their phones this morning and found pictures of you changing in your underwear.”

Brian Keller, my boss, threw his phone across the desk, and it slid toward me with the company group chat still open on the screen.

My stomach twisted violently before I even touched it.

There were three pictures underneath my name. My fingers started shaking when I picked up the phone and realized I was looking at myself inside the cabin from our company retreat.

The first picture caught me pulling my jeans down while changing clothes, while another showed me reaching for the dress I’d left across the bed, and every angle came through the narrow opening between the curtains.

Someone had been outside my window.

My chest tightened until breathing became something I had to think about. Heat rushed across my face while I scrolled through the pictures with fingers that barely felt connected to me.

I remembered changing that night after everybody returned from dinner, but I had been alone with the cabin door locked, and I couldn’t remember seeing anybody near my window.

How the hell did these even exist?

Then I saw the message above them.

Figured Tyler deserved a better view of what he’s been missing, but I’m not exactly picky if anyone else likes what they see.

My name sat directly above it.

Hailey Monroe.

My hand flew over my mouth, “No, Sir, please, I didn’t send these.” My voice cracked while I pushed the phone back toward him. “I swear to you that I didn’t send anything, and I didn’t even know these pictures existed until you showed me.”

Brian leaned back in his chair. “IT traced the message to your account and your workstation, Hailey.”

“But I was changing when these were taken, and you can see the window in the pictures.” I pointed at the screen while my vision blurred. “Please, just look at the angle, because whoever took them had to be outside my cabin.”

“You expect me to believe somebody followed you to your cabin, photographed you through the window, accessed your password-protected computer after the retreat, then distributed those pictures through your account?”

“I don’t know how they did it, but please check again.” I hated how desperate I sounded, but the thought of walking back into that office made my throat tighten. “Check the security cameras or ask IT to look at my computer properly, because I would never send pictures like that to everybody.”

Brian dragged a hand across his mouth. “Several employees have already complained about this pictures, and Tyler Brooks was specifically named in your message.”

The mention of Tyler made my embarrassment worse.

I’d liked him for months, although I’d never actually told him. I had smiled too much whenever he stopped at my desk, remembered stupid things he mentioned during conversations, then spent way too much time wondering whether his attention meant anything.

Now everybody knows.

Worse, everybody probably thought I had sent half-naked pictures to the entire office just to get his attention.

“Please don’t bring Tyler into this.” I dropped my gaze because I couldn’t even look Brian in the face anymore. “I’ve never sent him anything inappropriate, and whatever people think about me liking him doesn’t mean I did this.”

Brian’s expression barely changed. “I’m not interested in your personal feelings toward another employee.”

“Then please believe me when I tell you those feelings would never make me do something like this.”

My eyes burned, and I blinked quickly because crying in front of Brian would somehow make the humiliation feel complete.

Brian reached for a folder. “Whether you intended to send the photographs or not, they were distributed through your account, and this company has to respond.”

“Please don’t fire me.”

The words escaped before pride could stop them.

Brian looked at me.

“I need this job.” I leaned forward without realizing it. “You know I’ve never caused problems here, and I’ve never had a complaint against me before today. Please give me a chance to prove somebody set me up before you make a decision that ruins everything for me.”

“Hailey, you’re putting me in an impossible position.”

“I know this looks bad, but please don’t make me apologize for something I didn’t do.”

Brian walked toward the window and stared outside for several seconds before turning back. “A formal apology is the easiest way to contain this situation before it damages you or the company any further.”

“But everybody will think I’m admitting I sent them.”

His expression hardened again. “I’m trying to give you an option that doesn’t involve disciplinary action.”

I instantly went mute.

I couldn’t afford disciplinary action, and I definitely couldn’t afford to lose my job.

“Please reconsider.”

“I’ve made my decision.”

“But sir…”

“No more excuses! I’ve worked in this company for more than a decade and not a single employee has behaved in a manner that you did. You either apologize or start job hunting!”

“Now get out of my office.”

Heat crawled across my skin as my wolf pushed against my control, and Brian’s heartbeat became clearer alongside every movement outside his office.

“He doesn’t believe us, we have to find another way.” she muttered, while I fought to keep my emotions from giving her more control.

I opened the door and stepped outside, then every bit of courage I’d managed to hold onto disappeared when the office went quiet.

People stared openly now, and the second I walked past the first row of desks, whispers started up again behind me with absolutely no effort to keep them low.

Ashley Parker was standing beside Nicole’s desk with her phone in her hand, and both of them looked at me before Ashley’s mouth twisted with open disgust.

“I still can’t believe she sent that to the whole company,” Ashley murmured loudly enough for me to hear. “Like if you’re going to throw yourself at a guy, at least have enough sense not to make everybody else look at it too.”

Nicole glanced toward me, then leaned closer to her. “She keeps saying somebody hacked her.”

Ashley gave a dry laugh. “Of course she does, because what else is she supposed to say after everybody saw it?”

My face burned so hard that I wanted to disappear into the floor, but I kept walking while pretending I hadn’t heard them.

“She was always weird about Tyler anyway,” Ashley continued. “I knew she had a thing for him, but this is actually embarrassing.”

Nicole lowered her voice slightly. “Do you think she thought he’d like it?”

“Tyler Brooks?” Ashley looked genuinely offended by the idea. “Please. A man like that wouldn’t even look twice at somebody like Hailey unless she was standing directly in front of him.”

A few people nearby laughed.

My throat tightened.

I reached my desk and sat down without looking at anybody, while my hands shook so badly that it took two tries to unlock my computer. The company chat was still open on the screen, and more reactions had appeared beneath the pictures while I was inside Brian’s office.

Someone had posted a vomiting emoji.

Another person wrote, HR needs to deal with this.

I closed the window so fast that my mouse nearly slipped from my hand.

“Don’t cry.” My wolf, Brittany said. “Someone set you up and we need to find them.”

I swallowed hard and stared at the blank desktop.

Ashley passed behind my chair a second later, and the strong floral scent of her perfume hit me before I even heard her heels.

She stopped beside Nicole again. “Brian should honestly suspend her, because this whole thing is gross and now everybody has to act like we’re the bad guys for being uncomfortable.”

I kept my eyes on the screen while my nails pressed into my palms.

The humiliation hurt more than the anger did, and every part of me wanted to shrink into my chair until the day ended.

Then a man’s laugh came across the office.

My body reacted before my mind did.

Tyler.

I slowly looked across the room.

Tyler Brooks stood near the glass conference room with two senior managers, while Madison Blake leaned against the edge of a desk beside him.

Tyler had always been different, but being the successor Alpha of the Redwood Pack came with privileges most wolves could only dream about.

People moved when he wanted space, management overlooked rules for him, and even older wolves lowered their heads slightly whenever he passed because one day, Tyler Brooks would be their Alpha.

Madison knew more than everybody else did, though.

She had spent years circling Tyler like his future was already hers, and everyone in Redwood Pack knew she wanted the Luna position waiting beside him once he became Alpha.

Whenever another woman got too comfortable with Tyler, Madison found a way to make her regret it without ever looking like she’d done anything.

Tyler suddenly glanced toward me.

His expression changed almost immediately.

Then Madison leaned closer and whispered something into his ear.

Tyler’s mouth curved into a smirk.

Madison looked directly at me afterward, then her own lips pulled into a small smile that was far too satisfied to be innocent.

“They are definitely hiding something.”

Neither of them looked surprised.

“He might have a hand in this.”

What if Tyler knew more than he was pretending to?

My phone vibrated against the desk before I could think any further.

The message came from an unknown number.

Like what we did with your pics? You should’ve kept your eyes off Tyler. Girls like you don’t belong anywhere near someone like him, and you’ll understand exactly what that means soon enough. — M