Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Raven
“Is there a reason you aren’t channeling your wolf?” Alpha Damien’s face was inches from mine, his forearms on either side of me caging me in as he straddled me. “The doctor already confirmed a partial shift wouldn’t harm the baby.”
I sucked in a labored breath that tasted like him, dark and spicy and forbidden, my heart rattling so hard in my chest that I was certain it wanted to escape the confines of my ribcage.
If I’d known Alpha Damien would personally administer the training stated in the terms of our agreement, perhaps I wouldn’t have agreed so easily weeks ago.
He was just as ruthless in training as he was at work.
The moment his doctors ran a comprehensive check and cleared me for physical activities, he had me in the training room of his ridiculously massive city villa that made my nice portable apartment look like a shoebox.
“This is the most I can do,” I wheezed, weak and shaky from the “simple” grappling we’d been doing.
Without a wolf, channeling was virtually impossible.
“Impossible,” Alpha Damien’s frown deepened. “Your wolf’s dominance is on par with mine.”
Now that was a laughable thought—that my nonexistent wolf’s dominance was on par with Alpha Damien, whose presence alone evoked the most primal of fears in unwary individuals. I lifted my gaze to give Alpha Damien a piece of my mind, only for my breath to catch at the sight of him.
Whenever we were training, I was stuck in survival mode, but whenever there was a brief reprieve, I couldn’t help but stare at his dark hair framing an unrealistically chiseled jawline, full dark eyebrows, golden eyes, and lips that had felt soft yet urgent against mine.
I looked away suddenly, out of breath for a reason that had nothing to do with our training, and then I tapped out.
“I need a breather.”
Alpha Damien didn’t move.
“The only way you get off this floor is by throwing me off.”
I shot him a bitter glare, but Alpha Damien’s golden gaze was unwaveringly cold as he stoically stated my biggest fear.
“If you don’t learn to channel the full strength of your wolf, you will die in the duel.”
No matter how much I’d trained back in the Ivory Moon Pack or now under Alpha Damien, nothing could make up for the sheer power gap between Ivy’s strong beta wolf and my wolfless self.
I was going to die in the duel.
“I heard Mr Blackwell beat up his nephew for her.”
“No wonder she got promoted so fast.”
“...always knew she was fucking her way to the top…”
I froze outside the office breakroom, snatches of the conversation between Wendy and her sycophants easily carrying to me.
Alpha Damien’s team silenced the media, slapping almost everyone who’d attended the event with NDAs, but office gossip couldn’t be so easily controlled. I got surreptitious glances, one-word responses, and complete avoidance, entire conversations ending the moment I stepped into a room.
Wendy’s soft, outraged voice piped up again. “It’s so terrible how desperate women like that give honest women like us who work hard for our positions a bad name.”
Soft murmurs of assent followed her words, and a cold anger burned in my chest, taking everything in me not to lash out.
“We should speak to the union about sacking her—” Wendy’s voice abruptly cut off as she caught sight of me after stepping into the break room, her entourage falling deadly silent next to her. Wendy recovered quickly, flashing a thin smile at me.
“Raven, I didn’t see you there. You should have joined us for lunch.”
Save for Wendy, none of the women with her could meet my gaze. Swallowing my rage and frustration, I wordlessly turned away from them and returned to my office, my appetite gone.
Arguing with any of my colleagues wouldn’t change their opinion of me.
In fact, it’d make the situation more volatile, as though I was using my relationship with Alpha Damien to threaten his staff into submission.
My office door was ajar. I paused, fairly certain I’d left it closed.
Then I picked up my phone and sent a text.
My suspicions were proven the moment I stepped in to see my cousin seated behind my desk, her fiery red hair tilted back and heels propped up.
“Ivy.”
“I underestimated you, cousin,” Ivy started without preamble, her usually caustic gaze guarded and unreadable. “All this time, you pretended to be a naive virgin, but you were busy seducing Alpha Damien under our noses.”
Perhaps it was because of what had just happened in the breakroom, but I felt tired and drained, unwilling to pick a fight, even with Ivy.
“You need to leave,” I said curtly, motioning towards my door. “I have work to do.”
Ivy unfolded from her repose, her dark eyes glittering with active aggression.
“Did you laugh at the thought that you’d steal my position as the Luna of the Shadow Thorn Pack?”
Goddess, it was like listening to a broken record. I stared at Ivy.
“If you don’t leave, I’m calling security.”
Once more, Ivy ignored me.
“Did you think Elias would get jealous and start competing with his uncle for you?” she taunted, a mocking smile curving up the corner of her lips. “Did you think that somebody would finally give a shit about poor little Raven?”
The words hit unerringly the way most of Ivy’s barbs usually did. I walked briskly to my desk and picked up the receiver of my office phone to make the call to security, only for Ivy to slam it back down so hard that the phone broke.
She leaned over the desk, malice glinting in the depths of her gaze.
“You are just a worthless piece of trash Alpha Damien is screwing. You will never become his Luna. Using his influence to get our duel postponed won’t save you.”
A callous smile settled on her lips. “Your fate is inevitable. You’ll die beneath my claws like the pathetic runt you are.”
I stared at Ivy impassively.
“If you are so sure of your capabilities and my fate, Ivy, then why are you here trying to intimidate me?”
Ivy’s expression darkened. I’d struck a nerve.
“You—” she seethed, but I wasn’t done yet.
“It’s because you are scared, cousin,” I tutted, using the same sardonic tone she loved to use on me. “It’s because, for the first time, nothing is going according to your plan, and I hold all the cards.”
A growl ripped out of Ivy’s throat, her eyes lighting up from within as her wolf took over.
“Is that what you think?”
It was my turn to smile.
“It’s what I know, Ivy.”
As though summoned by my words, Eric stepped into my office.
“Miss Nightbane,” he bowed. “You called?”
I turned to face the head of the security team Alpha Damien had given me shortly after our first sparring session. He’d been so appalled by my fighting skills, or lack thereof, that he’d immediately drafted a team to shadow me.
“Thank you,” I nodded gratefully. “Please escort this woman out of here, and let our security know, henceforth, she isn’t to be allowed into Cityscape again.”
Ivy paled, her shock palpable.
“You…Alpha Damien gave you his elite personal security team?”
He did? I thought he’d just drafted whatever men he had on hand. I hid my surprise.
“I wonder what else he’ll give me,” I mused darkly. “Maybe it’ll be the Luna of the Shadow Thorn Pack position. Maybe it’ll be the life of the woman who framed me and stole my inheritance.”
I didn’t think it was possible for Ivy to pale further. It was. I gestured towards Eric.
“Take her.”
Eric escorted a stunned Ivy away, and the moment the door shut behind them, I collapsed on my chair, the wind going right out of my sails.
My words to Ivy had been a bluster. Alpha Damien wasn’t going to “give me” anything or go around avenging perceived slights against me. Hell, the man barely spoke to me outside our mandatory training sessions and barking commands at me at work.
And even if he did, even he couldn’t save me from my impending deadly fate. There was a hesitant knock on my door, and then Wendy pushed the door and stepped into my office, balancing a set of documents and coffee.
”Mr. Martin asked that you take the records up to accounting…I brought you a coffee,” she paused, dropping both her parcels on my desk.
I stared at Wendy, baffled at this sudden act of kindness.
“Also, the main elevators are being fixed today, so maybe use the side ones?” She offered the advice unsolicitedly.
My bafflement quickly morphed into a dark suspicion when Wendy still didn’t leave my office. Rather, she shifted on her feet awkwardly, avoiding my gaze.
“Look, about earlier…it was just a bit of harmless gossip. I won’t go to the union,” Wendy’s words sounded strained, as though even acting nice to me was difficult for her. “Please don’t tell Mr. Blackwell about it.”
Of course. She wanted the freedom to slander me while simultaneously avoiding provoking Alpha Damien. I gave her a noncommittal shrug.
“I’ll think about it.”
Wendy’s smile held the sharp edge of relief. “Thank you.”
Cautious, I didn’t touch the coffee, but I picked up the files once Wendy left, ignoring the ever-present dull pain in my lower back as I headed to accounting. I entered the side elevator.
I was almost twelve weeks along, and my first ultrasound was coming up. I had to inform Alpha Damien so he could fit it into his schedule. Then, Alpha Damien appeared out of nowhere, striding into the elevator with me. I stared.
Cutting an impressive figure in a tailored suit that sculpted a body that I knew was ripped beneath, Alpha Damien settled in next to me, and my cheeks burned as I unhelpfully recalled the last and only time we’d shared an elevator.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
“You said you didn’t want us to talk in my office. Elias is pushing for an official show of our engagement. We need to discuss your visit to the Shadow Thorn Pack,” Alpha Damien shrugged, hand on the elevator panel. “What floor?”