Chapter 4 #2
The door closes behind Marcus, leaving just the three of us.
Darius gestures to the chairs. “Please, sit.”
I sit. Lucas takes the chair farthest from me, his expression blank.
“Sienna, that was excellent work,” Darius begins. “The framework is comprehensive, well-reasoned, and you handled the questions brilliantly.”
“Thank you, Alpha.”
He turns to Lucas. “What did you think?”
Lucas is quiet for a few seconds. I can see him choosing his words carefully.
“It was thorough,” he says finally. “Well-researched. The security council structure in particular was…impressive.”
“Impressive enough to work together?” Darius asks, his tone mild but pressing.
Lucas’s jaw tightens. His hands flex once on the armrests.
“Lucas,” Darius says more gently, “are you comfortable working with Sienna on this merger?”
The question hangs in the air. Lucas doesn’t answer immediately, and I watch Darius’s expression shift from mild curiosity to genuine concern.
“Please,” Darius says, looking between us. “I need to know what’s going on here. This merger is important—to both our packs, to our future alliance. If there’s an issue, I need to understand what it is so we can address it.”
Silence.
I watch Lucas struggle with what to say. He opens his mouth, closes it, his hands now clenching both the armrests of his chair.
He’s not going to tell Darius about the mate bond. I can see it in every tense line of his body.
The question is, will I?
Part of me wants to. I want to lay it all out and force Lucas to acknowledge what he’s been running from.
But another part of me—the part that’s furious and hurt and still trying to maintain some dignity—refuses to be the one to expose this. If Lucas won’t claim me as his mate, I’m sure as hell not going to go around announcing it.
“There’s no issue,” Lucas says, his voice flat. “I’ll work with her.”
The words sound like they cost him dearly. But he said them. Relief washes through me, though I’m careful not to let it show.
Darius studies him for a moment before looking at me. “Sienna?”
I give a terse nod. “No issue here.”
Darius clearly doesn’t believe either of us, but he also seems to realize he’s not going to get more than that.
“Okay,” he says finally. “In that case, I’d like to formally confirm that Sienna will be leading the Moonvale assessment team going to Silvercrest. Sienna, you’ll have a few days to finalize your team selection. Lucas, I assume you’ll need time to prepare accommodations?”
“We have guest quarters in the main estate house,” Lucas says, still not looking at me. “They’ll be ready.”
“Perfect.” Darius stands, effectively ending the meeting. “I think we’re done here. Thank you, Sienna.”
I gather my things quickly, not looking at Lucas. I can feel him doing the same, both of us pointedly avoiding acknowledging the other’s presence.
I reach the door first and step through it, breathing easier once I’m in the hallway.
Behind me, I hear Darius say quietly, “Lucas, whatever’s going on, it isn’t going to affect the merger, is it?”
I don’t wait to hear Lucas’s response. I’m already walking away, my hands shaking slightly as I head for the elevator. Adrenaline from the confrontation, from having to be in a room with my fated mate while pretending he’s just another alpha I’m working with.
The elevator doors close, and I lean back against one wall, closing my eyes.
I need to talk to Violet and Anne.
I pull out my phone and text the group chat: Lunch today? My office? Need to debrief. Bring food.
Violet’s response comes immediately: On it. Crisis level?
High, I type back.
Say no more, Anne replies. But can we make it later? Say, 4:30?
Perfect.
I slip my phone back into my pocket as the elevator reaches my floor.
I have two hours to get through before then.
Two hours to look like I’m working when really I’m just trying not to think about the way Lucas’s hands clenched on the chair, the way his voice went rough when he said, “no issue,” the way he still won’t look at me.
Two hours until I can fall apart with my best friends.
I can manage that.
At four-thirty exactly, Violet and Anne appear in my doorway carrying bags from the Italian place three blocks away.
“We brought sustenance,” Violet announces, setting down containers of pasta and bread.
Anne holds up a bottle. “And wine.”
“It’s the middle of the workday!” I point out.
“Work is over in thirty minutes, and you texted ‘crisis level high,’” Violet counters. “Wine is appropriate.”
I can’t argue with that logic.
We settle around my desk, them in the chairs, me perched on the edge. Anne pours wine into the coffee mugs I keep in my desk drawer while Violet dishes out pasta.
“Okay,” Anne says once we’re all situated. “Talk.”
I tell them about the meeting, about proving myself to Lucas, about Darius making us both stay afterward.
“He knows something’s up,” I finish. “He doesn’t know what, but he can tell there’s tension.”
“Did you explain?” Violet asks.
“No.” I stab my fork into my pasta. “If Lucas won’t acknowledge the mate bond, I’m not going to be the one to expose it.”
“That’s fair,” Anne says. “Though it might have been satisfying to watch him squirm.”
“Tempting,” I admit. “But I have to work with him for the next month—or more, if we proceed to phase two. Making him look bad in front of Darius wouldn’t help matters.”
Violet nods approvingly. “Smart. Keep the high ground.”
“Speaking of the merger,” Anne says carefully, “have you thought about your team? Who you’re taking with you to Silvercrest?”
I have. I’ve been thinking about little else during the hours between the meeting and now.
On my tablet, I pull up the list I’ve been working on.
“David from operations—he’s been with Moonvale for fifteen years, knows our systems inside and out.
Elena from finance—brilliant with numbers, unflappable under pressure.
James from security—Kain recommended him personally.
And probably Rachel from pack relations—she’s young but sharp, and she won’t take shit from anyone. ”
“That’s a solid team,” Anne says.
“It is,” I agree. “And once they’re gone, I’ll be left alone for the rest of the time, embedded in my apathetic mate’s pack.”
“You think he’ll make it difficult?” Violet asks, concerned.
“I think he’ll be professional,” I say. “Darius made it very clear that’s required. But I don’t want professional; I want Lucas to tell me why he doesn’t want me! Am I not good enough?”
Anne reaches over and squeezes my hand. “Never say that! Of course you are!”
“He wants you,” Violet says with certainty. “He’s just running from it.”
“Well, he’s about to run out of places to run,” I say. “Because in a few days, I’m going to be living in his estate house. And he can’t simply ignore me the whole time because the mate bond isn’t going anywhere. I’ll make him face it.”
Anne grins. “That’s my girl. Take the bull by the horns.”
“Always,” I agree.
Soon, I’ll be in Lucas’s territory, and he’ll be forced to see me every day. So maybe, just maybe, I’ll finally get some answers.