Eoghan wiped the blood from his hands and stared at the video feed. Even inside his office, he could hear the gathered soldiers dragging Baldwin’s body away to be sunk into the Patapsco.

He hadn’t believed the first message from Gio. Then he hadn’t believed the dark, smudgy picture his underboss had texted as proof. Even now, peeping at her from a camera installed in the room, he still didn’t believe his Annika had returned.

She sat frozen after her initial glance around the room. Her hands rested flat on the table and she kept her eyes down. Every line of her body screamed terror.

“What did she say?”

Gio stepped up to the screen. Close enough to watch the video feed but far enough to duck if Eoghan lashed out. Smart man.

“She clammed up as soon as I pulled Baldwin off her.”

“Pawing at a woman like that? Have a talk with the rest of them and remind them of the rules. They can find someone unattached and willing or they can pay at a brothel. Otherwise, they’ll follow Baldwin’s trip tae the river.”

Baldwin broke two rules. There was to be no harm done in the Inner Harbor. The cops wouldn’t turn a blind eye to the family’s activities if the tourists made reports.

The second demanded his death. No adultery. No messing with the mates and lovers of family members. Annika’s sudden reappearance didn’t change that rule. The moment Eoghan scented her on the other man was the moment Baldwin’s death was ordained.

Pity he had to die. Now he’d need to find someone else to take Johnny Boy’s place as capo. One more concern to be brushed to the side because of her return.

It was a punch to the gut and a slammed beer bottle over his head to see her again. A full fooking year apart and Gio said she didn’t recognize any of them. He didn’t know if he should feel anger or relief and settled on suspicion. She hadn’t been killed, that much was obvious. But she’d disappeared nonetheless and abandoned their mate bond. On her own or with the aid of someone else?

“I’m going in there with you,” Gio said after a silent moment.

Eoghan didn’t even bother to look in his direction. “No.”

Gio poorly suppressed a sigh and passed a hand over his face. “You’re either going to fuck her or kill her, and neither are good for the family right now. You need a chaperone more than my daughters at their damn quinceaneras.”

Kill her? Women weren’t to be harmed unless it was life or death. And even then, only if there was no other way to survive. Annika sat in that room. His mate, for fook’s sake. He’d question her, ay, but he wouldn’t kill her.

“No,” he repeated. A bit of growl entered his voice and Gio stiffened.

He needed to enter the room alone. She was his mate. His responsibility. And he didn’t trust what he’d do if someone tried to get between them.

He left Gio in his office. He knew the man would watch the feed even if he ordered him not to. The man’s loyalty edged into overprotectiveness and Eoghan knew he’d stand guard to make sure Annika didn’t attempt to kill him.

It was annoying as hell but it was something he learned about running a family. He knew his people’s tics and when to push back on them or just let them slide. Gio could have his vigil. Eoghan was too concerned with what story Annika would spin him to care who watched her tell it.

Eoghan ignored the eyes on him as he crossed the warehouse and entered the short hallway at the back. Rolling his shoulders, he let himself into the room where the mate he’d been denied awaited him.

Seeing her image on the grainy security camera didn’t prepare him. She looked like a poor reflection of herself. Her hair hung lank and dead. Her eyes didn’t shine anywhere close to what he remembered. Even her skin looked sallow compared to her high bronze complexion before.

In all his forty years, no woman had made his body react in the way that he craved Annika. Even now, with the first scent of her in a year, he wanted to scoop her into his arms and make up for lost time. That other part of him, the one that she drew out before she disappeared, nearly vibrated with her closeness.

Instead, he leaned against the door and kept the distance between them.

“Where have ya been?” he asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.

“Why am I here?”

The faint tremble in her voice grabbed him by the balls. Fooking hell. She could still do a number on him.

“I asked where have ya been.”

Her lip quivered. He wanted to cross the space between them and wipe away the fear with his thumb. He never wanted to hear her heart pounding in her chest the way it did then. She was absolutely terrified of him and her situation.

He stayed where he stood. He wanted answers. He deserved answers. She’d disappeared on him and then reappeared in his city. He would get an explanation.

“Please. Just let me go. I won’t say anything about this to anyone.”

“And where, exactly, do ya think yer going?”

“Home. To DC.”

Fooking hell. DC. Yakuza territory.

Was she part of Mariko’s plans? Make him go soft on her and let her get close enough to shove the knife in his heart? What a cold bitch to kidnap his mate and use her against him.

Unless she was working for Mariko all along.

He folded his arms over his chest. Cold fury washed over him. It was a familiar feeling after the year alone and he welcomed it. He could disassociate himself from the Annika he remembered. Just because she looked the same and sounded the same and even smelled the same didn’t make the weak creature in front of him the Annika that tugged at his heart.

“Why were ya at The Can-Can tonight?”

She swallowed a lump in her throat. Her fingers pressed harder onto the table. “I was looking for help.”

The word sounded like a keen to his soul. His mate needed help and he wanted to give it to her. He shook his head and cleared the thought. Ay, she’d get his help. After he got his answers.

“I heard there was a wytch. And shifters. And… I need to know if I am one.” The last spilled out in a quiet jumble.

He barked a laugh and she shrank back. “Now I know yer full of shite. Come, tell me why yer here after disappearing last year. Where have ya been?”

Fooking hell. If someone had taken her, they did her over good. She paled under his attention and didn’t even know she was a shifter?

Unless that was a lie. Unless she was spinning a story. How could she forget her other form? He scented the air and tried to find a lie but there was only the smell of nerves and sweat under the deliciousness he remembered. His hands clenched into fists. He wanted to hit something. Fook.

“DC. I have an apartment there,” she said quietly. She sounded on the verge of tears.

DC again. The spot between his shoulders itched in wariness. What was in store for him, now that she’d been returned? Was she some agent for Mariko? Was Mariko trying to distract him or send him on some wild hunt to avenge his memory of Annika?

His Annika would have met his accusations with biting ones of her own. She’d have defended herself and tried to win him over to her side. Headstrong, that one was. The woman sinking further into herself and pleading with him was weak.

If she was a plant, he needed to find out who sent her. Mariko was likely but he’d made other enemies since becoming Don. Those he’d beaten while consolidating his power might be using her to make a play. The Dragon Court that sought to hire his men to die in their war was another possibility but he was sure his wasn’t the only family to refuse them.

He didn’t want to confront the growing certainty that something was wrong with Annika.

“Who sent ya?” he asked roughly.

“No one. Please. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just want to go home.”

Her shoulders hunched and she cringed away from him. The brief flash of guilt he felt disappeared when he glanced at the camera. Annika was his responsibility. He let her get close, he mated her, he had to protect the family if she was a threat.

He’d get her to spill all the answers he deserved, starting with who brought her careening back into his life.

* * *

Annika watched from under her eyelashes as he pushed away from the door. He trudged deliberately toward the table. The chair scraped against the floor.

It was all too loud. Her heart beat faster as he neared and then settled in the chair across from her. That, too, sounded loud in her ears.

She met his eyes for the first time. The bright, clear blue seared into her.

That’s Eoghan’s girl.

She didn’t need the words of the other man to know this one was something important to her. She just wished she could remember him.

His dark t-shirt clung to his body and she could almost see the dips between the muscles lining his stomach. One smooth cheek was marred by a faint, thin scar. Some part of her knew his short, dark curls that needed a trim would be as soft as they looked. A faint, smoky smell filled her nose and she knew it was from him. She wanted to press her nose against his bare skin and inhale.

And still, his eyes dug into her as if he could draw every secret out of her with one look.

She wished he would.

Annika struggled to think through the spinning in her head. She could feel her memories just out of reach. It was almost as if there were more than one scene happening then, layered on top of one another. Eoghan stared and laughed at her—or was it with her—and she couldn’t tell past from present.

She broke their look and with it, their connection. She pressed her hands to the table again and tried to will her heart to a normal rate.

There was nothing normal about the reaction to him. Her lungs struggled to fill with air. Her body warmed the more she was near him, nerves thawing under the heat in his eyes.

Who was she?

Who was he?

He reached across the table and snatched her hand in his.

“You need tae tell me who sent ya.”

The rough burr of his voice sent a pleasant shiver down her spine. His tone sounded reasonable but his fingers tightening around her wrist were anything but. Parts of her wanted to pull away while other parts urged her closer. The warmth of his hands spread through her hand and wrist and up her arm.

She just wanted to lay down and cry. Everything about him was so overwhelming.

“Please. Just let me go. I don’t know anything. I don’t even know who I am,” she whispered, trying to pull her hand away from his.

The room spun faster and the flash of a memory hit her. She sat in a room not terribly different from the one she currently occupied. Another looming figure sat where Eoghan sat. Instead of fear, it felt like… practice. A voice spoke in her ear.

Give the enemy nothing. You know nothing. You are nothing.

The memory shimmered and Eoghan’s face scowled at her once more.

“I’ll ask you again. Who sent ya?”

His fingers tightened around her wrist and he refused to let go of her. “No one. I told you. I heard about shifters here. I thought maybe… maybe I could get some help.”

She jumped as Eoghan’s other hand slammed down on the table. “Don’t lie to me!”

“I’m not lying! I don’t know anything past this last year. No one sent me. I keep having dreams of being a dragon and I don’t know if I’m a shifter.” She sucked in much needed air after her outburst but Eoghan remained silent.

It was obvious he knew her and held the information back. Information she desperately needed. She was so close to learning the truth and he wouldn’t give her anything.

Anger curled around her spine and straightened her shoulders. She could feel it flushing her cheeks when she cocked her head and turned narrowed eyes back on Eoghan.

“You like to play games, little man? Does it keep you warm at night to keep others in the dark? Bet it’d make your mommy so proud to see you getting off on being the biggest cock in the room.”

He smirked at her. The blue of his eyes grew colder than ice but at least he let her loose. The burr on his tongue nearly disappeared when he spoke next. “You’re going to tell me where you’ve been for the last year.”

“I’m not going to tell you shit until you tell me what you know about me.” She crossed her arms and glared back at him.

The door burst open and the man who brought her there hurried inside. But it wasn’t him that drew her attention. Eoghan sat back and a small smile still tugged his lips up. His blue eyes held something close to amusement. No, that wasn’t right. Pride.

Why would he be proud that she’d snapped at him? Wouldn’t anyone do so, if they were pushed hard enough? And after a year of being called crazy, she’d reached her breaking point.

“You both need to calm the fuck down before you tear into one another,” the new arrival scolded.

“Get out, Gio,” Eoghan ordered without taking his eyes off Annika.

“You want to know where she’s been. That’s fair. We can find that out without using her as a verbal punching bag.” The man called Gio turned to Annika. “From the sound of it, you want to find out who you are. Okay. We can fill you in on that, see what that gets us.”

Annika eyed Eoghan and found him still watching her just as closely. “Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Then talk.”

He shook his head and the insolent smirk reappeared. “I don’t think so. Ya left me. Ya explain that first.”

She wanted to throw her hands in the air in exasperation. “I can’t explain anything! I don’t even remember you! I woke up in a homeless shelter in DC last year with no idea who I was. Your turn.”

“That’s the part I don’t believe. It’s too bloody convenient. Ya have tae know something.”

Annika matched his scowl. “I know my counselors. I know the girls I housed with. I know how to get to and from my appointments. But I have no bloody idea how I got there. Your. Turn.”

Eoghan cocked an eyebrow at her. She had the feeling that he wasn’t used to having demands made of him. His eyes flicked to Gio who then left without another word.

But Eoghan wasn’t done tormenting her with crumbs. “Yer powyrful. Like me and the rest of my family out there. You were here roughly three months before ya vanished. Before that, a mystery.”

“I have dreams where I’m a dragon. Is that what I am?”

“Ay.” He stood slowly and walked around the table between them. His breath ruffled her hair and curled heat in her center. “And ya know exactly how tae get the biggest cock in the room off.”

The door closed on his dark chuckle and locked her away. Annika didn’t know whether to scream or cry.