Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Luca’s POV
When Alpha Sterling Moreau requested a meeting in the private conference room of his estate, I knew he was trying to intimidate me.
It was a tactic influenced by the pack’s centuries of arrogance and old power.
But I also knew that our conversation at Manhattan's New Wine Tasting Ceremony two days ago had given him something to think about. He’d never admit it, not in what was left of his lifetime, but I’d impressed him.
And while I had no interest in earning his approval, I couldn’t deny I wanted something that, unfortunately, only he had.
I crossed one leg over the other, my three-piece suit stretching, just like my patience. The meeting was scheduled for ten. It was now thirty minutes past.
My jaw clenched as my eyes flicked to my wristwatch. I’ve never had much patience for waiting. Not since I spent months waiting for a woman who never came back.
As if on cue, the door opened and he walked in.
“Sorry, I’m late,” he said without the slightest hint of remorse in his voice. My expression was neutral as I stood to shake his hand. My grip was firm, a silent warning that I wouldn’t tolerate another power play.
“My daughter had to introduce me to the wedding events planner,” he added, his steel-gray eyes fixed on me with that calculating stiffness of a predator, gauging my reaction.
I wasn’t sure what reaction he was looking for. Or what, exactly, I was supposed to react to. His daughter introduced him to her—our—wedding event planner? So what? I’d come here for far more important things.
“Yes,” I said coolly. “Elena and I talked about her hiring someone early. She wants everything to be perfect.”
Talked, of course, meaning she mentioned it, and I nodded. Just like I always did when she brought up the wedding plans.
Alpha Sterling gave a small huff as he settled into the high-backed leather chair on the other end of the table across from me.
“I’ve only got about forty minutes before my board meeting. Let’s not waste them.”
“Straight to business.” He chuckled dryly, steepling his fingers as he reached for a remote on the mahogany conference table. “That’s what I appreciate about your generation. So efficient. So…eager.”
I smiled, but it was devoid of any humor. “Efficiency is why Vaughn Industries is leading the tech scene in New York.”
The way his lips thinned told me everything. I was too confident for his liking. But when you’re trying to close a million-dollar deal with a man like Sterling Moreau, confidence isn’t enough. You need arrogance.
He thought he held the upper hand, and to be fair, he did.
Getting engaged to his daughter was proof enough that I wanted this.
Because God knows, I wasn’t interested in marriage.
Or any woman at all. Not anymore. Not after her.
Not after I let her in deeper than anyone, only to watch her lie with the same mouth that once called me hers.
Alpha Sterling hit a button on the remote, and the screen beside us flickered on. I turned my chair to face it as cold blue light filled the room.
A smooth, glassy crystal filled the screen. It looked like a mix between a gem and a circuit. Small as it was, it was built to power an entire city. To make a city think for itself.
LUNA-tech. That’s what he had named it. A game changer.
Moreau Industries owned the prototype, the research, the blueprints, and the patent for the LUNA-tech. He had it. Which made him the hotcake. An arrogant one, at that.
But we had the tech. We were one of the few companies capable of mass producing, integrating, and stabilizing it for global use, especially for the Alpha Regent’s Smart Hub District.
In New York, wolf shifters didn’t just coexist with humans; we governed beside them.
Each city operated as its own clan, eight in total, each ruled by an Alpha, but all of us answered to the Alpha Regent, the head of all packs in the state.
The title wasn’t inherited. It was earned through elections, deals, and sometimes blood.
The Bronx and Manhattan were the crown jewels, offering wealth, influence, and population.
Manhattan had the tech. The Bronx had the territory.
Together, we controlled more than half of New York’s trade routes and Smart Hubs.
That made us the power center, and I planned to use it.
If I played my cards right, Vaughn Industries wouldn’t just win the mega contract.
I’d win the Regent’s backing when it came time to name the next Alpha Regent.
But before all that, I needed to become Alpha. And to do that, I needed a wife.
Sterling Moreau didn’t trust me with his crown jewel. Not without assurance. And marriage was the best bet. Both the Bronx and Manhattan Packs still believed in the sanctity of a union.
As my father had been reminding me for the past six months, “My time as Alpha of the Manhattan pack is running out. You’re ready in every way but one—you need a wife. A Luna. Only then will the council name you Alpha.
It was ironic. I had to build a family to gain a title—when mine fell apart before I could even understand what it meant.
If I was going to enter a marriage—loveless and largely political, then the candidate had to offer something tangible. Someone like Elena Moreau, daughter of the Alpha of the Bronx Pack.
“The prototype’s passed all stress trials,” he said, tapping a file on the table and sliding it toward me.
I caught it with one finger, flipped it open.
“I already got two offers for its exclusivity,” he added. “You’re late to the party, Vaughn.”
“I never show up early to a party I plan to buy out.” I lifted my eyes from the file. “Besides, I’m the one marrying your daughter, aren’t I?”
Alpha Sterling grimaced. “I’ll listen to whatever offer you’ve got, Vaughn. But I’m not making a decision until the marriage is finalized.”
“That’s always been the plan, has it not?”
He shrugged. “Just reminding you. So, what are you offering? It better be something worth my baby girl's hand in marriage.”
I leaned back in my chair.
“Full infrastructure backing. Vaughn Industries fronts the entire cost for all integration phases, further research and development, testing, regulatory clearance, and scaled deployment.”
His brows twitched. I didn’t stop.
“We’ll also take on the liability risk for phase one trials. In return, we want a ten-year exclusive distribution deal. North America only, with first right of refusal for all future upgrades.”
“And the Smart Hub District?” he asked.
“We’ll build the neural grid backbone. The Manhattan pack territory becomes the flagship district. You get prestige. I get the Alpha Regent’s attention.”
I paused.
“And Elena gets to play princess.”
Alpha Sterling grinned, just for a second. Clearly impressed.
Then his mouth thinned, the smile vanishing like it had never been there. He stifled a nod my way.
“I can have my company lawyers begin drafting the contracts, while—”
Something stirred in me. It was a low growl in my chest, coiling up my spine.
I shifted in my chair, adjusting my tie. “Vaughn Industries will also handle all PR programs, irrespective of what—”
There it was again. The growl. Stronger this time. Like something was waking inside of me.
It was my wolf.
For five years, it had been quiet. Dormant. As if punishing me. For her. For the decision I made five years ago, to reject our Fated Mate, to sever the one bond that could’ve ever made us whole.
Since then, he hadn’t moved. Hadn’t howled. Hadn’t whispered.
Until now.
“Vaughn?” Alpha Sterling’s voice cut through the haze. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I clenched my jaw, forcing the words out, fighting the tension building in my gut.
But the feeling kept intensifying inside of me. I grabbed the armrest of my chair to try to ground myself, my nails threatening to tear into the leather.
It wasn’t like anything I’d ever felt before. My wolf was awake. Fully. Pacing beneath my skin, restless, wild, demanding something. Someone.
Then it hit me. The scent. Sweet like jasmine and honey, yet wild as an untamed ocean. Just like her. Fierce and irresistibly soft.
I froze. The sharpness in my chest eased. My wolf growled again. But this time it was different. Calmer. More certain.
I didn’t understand it, but I knew it. No, I felt it. She was here.
I pushed back from the chair, standing abruptly. “Excuse me,” I said, already moving.
Alpha Sterling’s voice followed me out. “Problem, Vaughn?”
“No,” I muttered without turning. “Just ghosts.”
I followed the scent through the hallway, down to the living room. With every step, it grew stronger, undeniable. My wolf grew more restless, impatient, pushing me forward until my strides turned urgent.
It didn’t make sense.
She couldn’t be here. Not here, of all places.
Logic screamed no. But instinct…instinct knew. I felt her.
When I stepped into the living room, I froze.
Everything in me stilled.
She was standing with her back to me, gazing at the painting on the far wall, nodding thoughtfully, a glass of wine dangling from her fingers.
I didn’t need to see her face.
That full, wavy blonde hair cascading down her back, I’d know it anywhere.
She hadn’t changed. Or maybe I just never forgot.
The rage came first—fierce, instinctive. Then the ache, slower, heavier.
Some wounds don’t heal. They don’t fade. They wait.
And the moment I saw her, that wound split open like it had never closed, reminding me of the love I had for her, the trust she shattered, and the part of me that still couldn’t bring itself to resent her for both.
My gaze dropped lower, tracing the shape of her ass, hugged perfectly by a tailored black pantsuit that made my cock twitch in my slacks. She wore stilettos—black, sleek—which gave her just a bit more height than I remembered.
Leila Carter. Right in front of me. After five long, agonizing years. Well, I’ll be damned.
I took a step forward, but Elena’s voice floated into the room beside me.
“Oh, there you are, Luca. You’re just in time to meet our wedding planner.”
Leila turned.
And just like that, time punched the breath out of both of us.
Her olive skin lost its glow in an instant, her shoulders locked, and her eyes went wide. Recognition hit her.
Elena stepped beside me, slipping her fingers into mine with practiced ease.
“Luca, this is Leila Carter,” she said, smiling brightly. “And Leila, this is Luca Vaughn. My fiancé.”