It was sweltering outside. The sun was high in the sky, not a cloud in sight, and Ruby Crowell was cursing mother nature.

Ordinarily, she wouldn't hate this sort of heat; summer was her favorite season, after all. But this sort of weather on move-in day? Absolutely horrific.

Ruby squinted at the sky, tempting to raise a middle finger to whoever up there was cursing her. They had to be, because it was pushing one hundred degrees, and it was New England. It appeared that global warming was making a rather rash appearance.

She eyed her truck at the curb, mentally tallying up how many more boxes were left. Her arms felt like jello, and sweat was dripping down her cheek, but she still had five more boxes. Not including her suitcase, which sat in the passenger seat. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, pushed her flyaways back, and reached for another box.

"Do you need help?"

Ruby cast a look over her shoulder at a man leaving the apartment building that stood before her. The building itself was a lovely three story brick dream that Ruby had nearly swooned at seeing for the first time online. It was everything a first-time city apartment should be; small but cozy, cheap but quirky, and most importantly, within walking distance to everything.

The man in the doorway was smiling at her, a big friendly smile, the sort that makes you want to smile back. He wore a backwards baseball cap, a gray t-shirt, and cargo shorts. An adult frat boy, apparently. He extended his hand. "I'm Ryan."

Ruby's hands were sweaty. She rubbed them on her overalls, then stuck her hand in his. "Ruby."

"Well Ruby, you picked a great day to move." Ryan's smile was teasing. "What can I do to help?"

In any other circumstance, Ruby would have loved to entertain the idea of her and Ryan. She would be flirty, a little bit helpless, and they would end the evening drinking wine on his couch. But, Ruby didn't have time for boys, not really. Not if she wanted everything to go absolutely perfectly at her new job.

But, she wasn't going to refuse his offer, either. "Grab a box. I'm in apartment six."

The two of them grabbed and moved the remaining boxes and bags over the course of a few trips, and Ruby swore her legs were going to give out if she climbed them again. When she set the last box down in her empty living room, she collapsed by the windows, letting her lungs catch a break.

"No central AC is really inconvenient," she groaned when Ryan came to sit next to her. When she looked sideways at him, she was a little peeved he wasn't even red from the heat. No sweat in sight. "Maybe I made a mistake."

Ryan tilted his head back in a laugh. "I don't think you made a mistake. I think you'll fit right in here. Where did you move from?"

This is where it got tricky. Rule number one: Ruby didn't like to share her personal life. The more she shared, the weirder it got between her and whoever was listening. There would be a pity glance or two, or maybe they would excuse themselves politely and never talk to Ruby again. It was what always seemed to happen when she shared too much of herself.

She liked to stick to the basic things. The happy things. "South Dakota."

Ryan let out a low whistle. "You're far from home, South Dakota. Why did you move to the East Coast?"

Ruby tried not to fidget. She kept it brief. "A job. Isn't that why all twenty-somethings move away from home?" She turned to shoot Ryan a smile, hoping it would be enough for him. She didn't mind being mysterious, as long as they didn't ask for more.

"What sort of job?"

"I'm an event manager. There was a sweet job opening up here, and this is such a wedding hotspot, I didn't want to give it up."

Ruby sat herself up, wiping more sweat from her forehead. Share time was over, for her. "What about you?'

"I'm into sports. I help manage a local hockey team." Ryan bumped her shoulder. "You should come see a game sometime."

"Yeah, that would be fun." She let Ryan help her to her feet. "I suppose I should return my truck. Thank you for helping me move. I think I'd still be out there wrestling boxes if it weren't for you."

The two of them walked back to the first floor and then out into the street, the sun beating down on them again. Ruby had forgotten how thick the humidity felt against her skin, and she vowed that first, she would stop somewhere for an iced coffee. Something to cool her down.

"Oh, great. Not this guy again."

Ruby's eyes followed Ryan's gaze, landing on a motorcyclist pulling their bike to a stop across the street. The man swung one leg over, standing at his full height. Ruby, for one brief moment, eyed the way his jacket hugged his chest, the way his boots winked in the sunlight.

The man removed his helmet, shaking out his dark hair, then he rested his gaze on her. It was strange, the way his brown eyes almost held a golden gleam. The way her entire focus rested on him, as if he were the only person on the street.

Something wasn't right about him. Despite the way she felt drawn to him, there was a slice of fear that slid down her throat. "Who is he?"

He was now walking towards them, not bothering to even look before crossing the street.

"Atlas Langdon. He owns like almost all the property on our block. He's been trying to buy up this apartment building for years."

That meant very little to Ruby. She found she really didn't care who owned the building, as long as rent was cheap and she could stay. However, the name Atlas Langdon lingered in her head and seemed to get stuck there. She had a strange distinct feeling she knew that name.

As soon as Atlas stepped up onto the sidewalk, he nodded his head to Ryan, but kept his eyes trained on Ruby. She had a silly notion that she should give him a smile, but she squashed that as soon as he said: "Don't get too comfortable. As soon as the agreement goes through, I'm terminating your leases."

Ruby's eyes widened, shocked by his words, but surprised by how attractive he was close up. If she didn't have the whole no boys rule, she may have been tempted to have a fantasy about him where they ended up married, happily ever after.

"You're such an asshole." Ryan seethed. "He's never gonna sell this place to you."

Atlas reached into his jacket, pulling out a folded piece of paper from an inner pocket. His grin was sly, evil. "He already did."

Atlas eyed her one last time, his gaze running up and down her body. It lingered on her overalls, and then on her crazy humidity hair. Then, he walked into the building.

Ruby eyed Atlas's back at the front door closed behind him. It felt completely unfair that she had just gotten there, and already she was facing a setback. She rubbed her forehead, imagining how painful it would be to try and track down another apartment.

"He can't do this," Ryan was muttering. "I gotta go, Ruby. It was nice to meet you."

She stood there for a lingering moment, hands hugging her middle. She shook her head, refusing to believe that this was the end. She had come so far, and she refused to back down. And under no circumstances was she going back home.

She straightened her back. Turned on her heel, back into the building. It was easy to find Atlas lingering by the landlord office, a phone pressed to his ear. He looked a little dangerous, and definitely a little cruel.

She tilted her chin up. "Excuse me, Mr. Langdon? Can I talk to you about the lease?"

Atlas swung his head around to meet her gaze. She could read how irritated his expression was from a mile away, but she didn't back down. She swallowed the lump in her throat, and tried again. "Please. I'll... figure out how to pay rent if you raise it. Or if you're buying to renovate the apartments, I'll stay out of your hair until they're ready again. But I really can't move."

Altas said something into the phone, too low to hear, before he hung up. He moved faster than Ruby was ready for, and he had her cornered against the wall. He wasn't touching her, but he was far too close for comfort.

Something inside of her didn't hate how close they stood. And this she was used to; there were plenty of commandeering men in her life in South Dakota. It was why she left home.

"There is nothing you can say or do to persuade me to keep you. Sorry sweetheart, but there's nothing I can do for you."

She flinched at his words, at the use of the nickname sweetheart. There was a heat in his gaze that had Ruby cowering against the wall. But a grown man wouldn't attack her in her own building, right? In broad daylight? She pressed her palms against the wall. "There are like, no other available apartments in town." Not like this. Not as cheap, not as hidden, not as convenient.

"Not my problem." She saw the way Atlas tucked his tongue in his cheek, and it made heat flash across Ruby's face. This is ridiculous, she thought. Get your head out of the gutter.

She couldn't stop thinking now of his tongue in her mouth, pressed up against her check. It stunned her; she couldn't remember the last time she had felt so drawn to a man in such a... sexual way. In fact, she was pretty sure she'd never felt like this before. And this man was a stranger.

"You'd rather the people who live here be homeless?"

"Again, not my problem, sweetheart. Now I suggest you run along with your little boyfriend."

Ruby thought that Atlas was right. She should run along. But when she closed her eyes, she remembered why she was here in the first place. Her fourteenth birthday. The screaming and yelling. The divorce. Ruby shuddered as she remembered her cake stuck to the kitchen wall, the plate shattered against the floor.

Her father telling her to never, ever return. Screaming at her to get out, get out, get out.

"What can I do? Honestly, what would convince you?"

Atlas let his eyes roam over her body again, his hands clenched into fists against the wall as he leaned forward. "You're trying to proposition me?" His voice dropped in pitch, caressing her ears, and he leaned forward. He was conceited, and good looking, and he knew it.

Ruby's eyes widened. "Do I look like I'm trying to do that? You freak, I don't want to be homeless!" Ruby pushed him back with her hands.

Atlas let her push him, but his narrowed gaze didn't look happy about it. "First, never touch me again, you understand?" There was a threat in his tone of voice. "And second, you will never live here. Not once all is said and done. Now I suggest you leave me alone."

As soon as Ruby was out of sight, Atlas leaned his head against the wall. His fingers curled against his palms, nails biting into the skin painfully. He was shaking with pent up anger, and with something else just as dangerous.

"We found her. We found her!" Atlas pressed back against the voice in his head, the delight in his wolf's voice too much for him. He felt dizzy with the knowledge that she was here, in his city, in his building.

"We aren't keeping her," Atlas snarled back. "We're going to forget she ever existed."

His wolf whined. It wasn't often that Rufias whined or complained. "She's ours. We finally found her."

Atlas pressed his forehead against the wall. Considered banging it for a moment. He pictured her in his mind, seeing those optimistic eyes. The stubborn set of her jaw. The way her wild hair framed her face.

He bit his cheek. "She's human. You know we can't keep her."

Not in his world. Not next to him. The best way he could keep her safe, now that he had met her, was to keep her far away from him. Far away from his world.

"You know this will kill us," Rufias howled. "We need our mate."

But Atlas had made his decision. And if he had his way, he would never have to see his mate again.