Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
CAELAN
Simone burst into the office, her face white as a ghost.
“She’s back!” she blurted, waving her hands around like a maniac. “Run. Leave. You can’t see her!”
I set my pen down and stared. “Who’s here?” I said calmly.
Someone needed to be calm. My usually unflappable Omega was beside herself. Her blonde hair was ruffled, her eyes were wide, and she was pacing back and forth like a military general.
“Rachel.”
I stilled, the name sending an electric shock of horror through my body. “Rachel who?”
I needed clarification. The last name would decide whether I relaxed or if I shifted and went for a very long run.
Simone met my eyes, her lips pressed tight. “You know who.”
My fists clenched, claws stretching out, ripping through the paper notebook I’d been writing in. “Why is she here?”
Simone sagged against the doorframe and pinched the space between her brows. “Hell if I know. One of our sentries spotted her pulling up the drive.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Rachel was the daughter of a powerful European lord, and what was supposed to be a youthful dalliance between us had turned into something furious and toxic. I’d fallen in love with her against my better judgment, and it took years for me to get her claws out of my heart.
If she were here now, she wouldn’t be bringing good news with her.
The steady thump of Seymour’s pot tore me away from my intrusive thoughts. I reached out for him, and the flytrap sailed through the air to land in my palm.
Simone snorted. “I do not know how he does that.” She frowned. “You may need to change his pot soon. He’s getting too big for it.”
Seymour waved his traps in agreement.
I snuggled him against my chest. Not sure how it happened, but me and the sentient, sometimes aggressive flytrap had become buddies. “What do you think?” I asked. “You want racing flames down the side of the next one?”
He smacked me with one of his traps.
Simone smirked. “It seems our Seymour prefers a more elegant home.”
“Millennial greige?” I asked.
If a plant could sigh, Seymour would have.
Simone pushed away from the door. “We have to greet her. Garrett isn’t here right now, so I’ll stand with you.”
“Can’t we just throw her out?”
My Omega’s eyes glittered. “If you don’t mind causing an international incident, sure.”
I sighed and pushed my chair back, gently setting Seymour down as I stood. “You have to stay here for now. I don’t want you to bite Rachel, okay?”
Seymour hopped off the desk, forcing me to catch him. “No,” I said gently. “She’s awful, but she’s important. Plus, I don’t want her to know about you.”
I set him down once more. “We’ll keep you as our secret weapon, okay?”
The flytrap thumped a few more times before he settled down. I gave him a gentle pat on the head and motioned Simone out the door.
“Does Evie know?” she whispered.
My steps hitched. We’d just gotten back on track.
Simone winced. “Oh Caelan.”
“I’ll call her right after this meeting. Or whatever the hell this is,” I grumbled.
Simone said nothing. Probably for the best. No matter what I did, I always seemed to screw things up. Logically, I knew it wasn’t all me. Evie had an opaque, sometimes indestructible wall up, and I wasn’t exactly great with boundaries.
Mostly because few people refused me.
And that was something I’d think about later.
Rachel’s arrival, though? Curveball out of left field.
There was no reason for her to be here, and to show up without announcing a formal visit was shady.
Right before we stepped into the foyer, Simone grabbed my arm and leaned in close. “You are still single to the world and a Shifter Lord. Rachel has always been power hungry. Take care with your words and actions and do not get us into another Gianna situation.”
She huffed a breath. “I do not want to get on Evie’s bad side. She’s terrifying.”
I snorted and leaned away. “I’m well aware of her temper. You do not need to worry.”
Simone gave me a long look before she nodded. She was around during the Rachel years, and trust me, I did not come out of that mess looking like a knight in shining armor. More like a mercenary who’d somehow managed to escape a nuclear bomb.
I squared my shoulders and opened the door.
Rachel sat on the blue fainting couch, one leg over her knee. Her hands were crossed on her lap, and she wore a faintly amused expression. A server had given her refreshments, which she hadn’t touched.
Seeing her again was a punch to my solar plexus, and not in a good way.
She was as beautiful as she was the day I’d finally broken away from her, and she oozed elegance and wealth.
Her hair was a sheet of silk tumbling over her shoulders, and her green eyes were just as calculating as they used to be, maybe even more.
Her painted lips curved into a carefully crafted smile. “Hello, Caelan,” she purred.
Simone stepped in behind me. Rachel’s gaze flicked to my Omega’s and back to me, her smile less warm than it was just a moment ago.
My Omega stepped up and offered her hand. “Simone,” she said. “We’ve met before.”
Rachel shook her hand in that limp way of one with too much self-importance. “You were Caelan’s little friend.”
The emphasis on the last two words missed their mark because Simone was familiar with all of Rachel’s tactics.
“I am now his Omega.” Simone’s smile brightened. “If you’re having trouble controlling your emotions while you’re here, Caelan will call on me for assistance.”
Rachel’s eyes narrowed. Bullseye.
She’d always had a control problem, one overlooked and excused by her powerful parents.
“But feel free to call on me yourself, if you’re able to.” Simone stepped away and poured herself a cup of tea from the tray on the other table. She raised the kettle at me, but I shook my head.
I wanted Rachel out of here and sharing a drink with her wasn’t on my list today. “Rachel,” I said without preamble. “Why are you here?”
Her lips turned into a pout. “What kind of welcome is that?”
“The welcome I reserve for unwelcome guests who don’t call in advance.”
Her eyes flickered, the amusement in them guttering. “Being Lord does not seem to appeal to you,” she said after a long silence.
“Being Lord is fine.” I leaned against the opposite couch. “It allows me to deal with nuisances any way I see fit.”
Rachel sucked in a shocked breath.
Simone gave me a warning look, but I didn’t back down. “State your business, Rachel. A Lord does not schedule around your whim.”
She blinked in surprise, her hands trembling as she reached for her teacup. I knew for a fact she hated tea, and she was using the cup as a crutch so she could get her emotions under control.
When I first walked in, she smelled of satisfaction and pleasure. Now, her scent had turned a little sour and fearful. She needed something from me and wasn’t pleased I’d called her out. Rachel liked arriving at things her way and didn’t like to be reminded she was at anyone’s mercy.
I was happy to remind her. Seeing her again stirred no fond memories.
We had none together. Only mutual destruction.
Once, I’d wanted her more than anything in the world.
She wanted everything else. Power, fame, money, status, all the things I’d never cared for much, those were the things Rachel worked toward.
I was Lord because I was too powerful to be anything else. Rarely did I access those powers, preferring to save them for when they might be necessary, but I could access them at any time. Rachel had no idea how close she walked the line between death and freedom.
I could crush her with a moment’s notice, and a small part of me wished to. Wiping her off the face of the earth would save a lot of people in her orbit heartache and destruction. Rachel was a user, a creature so self-absorbed she didn’t care who she took down on her way to the top.
I’d become Lord to stop people like her, and yet, here she was sitting on my couch and drinking my tea. The irony of it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Walking away from her was the hardest thing I’d ever done.
I never thought she’d darken my doorstep. Yet here she was.
I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for her to lie to me.
“My father sent me here with a warning of rogue shifters trying to infiltrate packs all over Europe. He’s convinced some of those rogues are coming from America.”
I knew all about the rogues and knew my Pack had none. “Try again.”
Anger rolled over Rachel’s eyes. “It’s true.”
I lifted a shoulder in an unconcerned shrug. “Perhaps, but it isn’t the complete reason you showed up. A message like that could have been sent via email or phone call.”
Rachel huffed. “You know my father hates modern technology.”
Another tactic of hers. Trying to humanize her family, so I’d soften my stance.
“Your father has been using email for the past thirty years and you know it. He’s also been in several of our last video conferences.
This is your last chance to be honest. If you lie to me one more time, I’ll throw you out myself. ”
Her green gaze landed on Simone. “Can you ask your Omega to step out?”
“No,” I said shortly.
Rachel blinked, unused to being refused. “Do you trust me so little?”
“Yes.” I flicked an impatient hand.
Rachel rose in a liquid move and slunk over to where I stood. She reached out a slender hand tipped with burgundy manicured nails and was about to press her palm against my chest, when I snatched her wrist and held it two inches away.
“No.”
She clicked her tongue. “Scared, Caelan?”
I let the gold shine through my eyes, a slow grin curving my lips. “Not at all. More like taken.”
Her nostrils flared. “Who?” she demanded.
At that moment, one of the part-time butlers came through the door carrying a massive floral display, seasonally appropriate, but filled with carnations.
I almost smiled even as dread filled me. Evie would have judged Rachel for this order. Knowing the shifter before me, she’d already told Evie who she was and where she was going.
I’d have to do more than call her when this was over.
“I apologize for the interruption,” the man said. “Your guest was so kind as to bring this as a gift.”
Simone let out a little choking noise, recognizing Evie’s work.
“You’ve already met her,” I said.
Rachel’s eyes narrowed. The butler set the display on the table and backed out of the room, his eyes down. I couldn’t blame him. There was a lot of tension in this room.
Most of it coming from my pissed off ex-lover.
She let out a bark of laughter a second later. “That tall, lanky vampire?” Rachel snorted and pulled her hand away. “She doesn’t seem like your type.”
Funny how she assumed Moira was the more dangerous of the two. “Not the vampire. The other dark-haired one.”
Rachel stared at me for a long moment. “The stupid one?”
One moment, I was standing there staring down at her. The next, my hand was wrapped around Rachel’s throat, one second from snapping her neck.
I leaned in close and quietly said, “Speak that way about my fiancée ever again, and they’ll never find your body.”
Rachel stank with fear. She swallowed and gave me a short nod. “Fine.”
I released her and stepped back. “State your business and leave.”
Her eyes flashed with anger. “I’m afraid my father has requested I stay for a while.” She offered a thin smile. “You should have received an email from him already. If not, before the end of the day. I’m sure you won’t mind hosting me for a while.”
Simone’s lips tightened. Her request was a tricky one. If I wanted to avoid offending her father, I’d be forced to put her up in one of the extra rooms in the Keep befitting her station.
But if I wanted to avoid being impaled on the end of a sharp tree limb when Evie got wind of this, I’d refuse.
I’d chosen wrong the last time, but this one was Shifter business. I couldn’t afford to start a war with the European Lords. Fuck.
“For now, Simone will show you to temporary quarters. Do not get too comfortable.”
Her full lips parted in a satisfied smile. “I look forward to catching up.”
I very much did not.