I blew out a breath, took a couple steps back, and flopped in one of the battered chairs that lined the wall, trying, with my casual pose, to defuse the situation. “Adam, I don’t have the sense to be afraid of Sam in the state he’s in now. I don’t know why you think I’d be smart enough to be afraid of you.” It would be smarter to be more afraid of a werewolf so upset that he took out a counter Zee had built than of a little paperwork and the IRS.

“Ask Samuel to leave us.”

“Sam?” I asked. He’d heard Adam.

He growled, and Adam returned the favor. With interest.

“Sam,” I said, exasperated. “He’s my mate. He’s not going to hurt me. Go away.”

Sam looked at me, then returned his attention to Adam’s back. I could see that back tighten up as if Adam could feel Sam’s gaze. Maybe he could.

“Why don’t you go see what Zee is up to?” I asked. “You’re not helping here.”

Sam whined. Took a half step toward Adam.

“Sam, please.” I couldn’t stand it if they ended up fighting. Someone would die.

The big white werewolf turned reluctantly and walked stiffly, with frequent pauses to see if Adam had moved at all. Finally, he hopped over the wreckage of the door and was gone.

“Adam?” I asked.

But he didn’t answer. If he’d been human, I’d have bugged him—just to get it over with. I’d hurt him, and I waited to take my punishment. I’d been taught you make your choices and live with the consequences long before I’d first read Immanuel Kant in college.

But he wasn’t human. And just then, if I was any judge, he was fighting his wolf. Being Alpha, being dominant, didn’t make that fight any easier, maybe the opposite. Being stubborn helped—and Adam was well qualified on that front.

Getting Sam to leave helped more. The only other thing I could do to help was to sit quietly and wait while Adam stared at the wreckage he’d made of my office.

For Adam, screwed-up bonding thing or not, I’d wait forever.

“Really?” he asked in a tone I’d never heard from him before. Softer. Vulnerable. Adam didn’t do vulnerable.

“Really what?” I asked.

“Despite the way our bond scares you, despite the way someone in the pack played you, you’d still have me?”

He’d been listening to my thoughts. This time it didn’t bother me.

“Adam,” I told him, “I’d walk barefoot over hot coals for you.”

“You didn’t take advantage of this thing with Samuel as a way of putting distance between us,” he said.