I looked at her, taking in the green gown that made her eyes look like forest shadows, the bare shoulders I wanted to press my lips against, the fierce intelligence in her gaze that had captivated me from the start.She deserved the truth.She deserved a man who would not protect her from reality while hiding in shadows.
“He wanted your father’s files,” I said.“The blackmail records.Access to everything Richard kept.”
Her face went pale.“And you said?—”
“I said no.”
She processed this.I watched the understanding dawn, the implications settling into her expression like stones dropped into still water.Her lips parted and her eyes searched my face.
“That man.”She said it slowly, fitting the pieces together.“He’s your Alpha.The one who ordered your punishment.”
“Yes.”
“And you refused him.”The weight of it settled into her voice.“For me.”
“For you.For us.”I paused, holding her gaze.“For the hotel you are trying to save.”
“What happens now?”
The honest answer was that I did not know.The Pakhan had built his empire on absolute loyalty.Defiance was not forgiven.It was punished.Publicly, brutally, in ways that discouraged anyone else from making the same mistake.I had seen what Max did to wolves who forgot their place.I had helped him do it.
“There will be consequences,” I told her.“He does not forget.”
I expected her to step back.To calculate the cost of being married to a man who had just made himself a target.To ask if it was worth it, if she was worth it, if I should have just given him what he wanted.
She stepped closer instead.
She took my hand in hers, right there in the middle of the crowded ballroom where anyone could see.Her fingers laced through mine, warm and steady and certain.
“Thank you,” she said, and my wolf went still with wonder.
She sees.She accepts.She chooses us.
We slipped through the French doors onto the terrace.The night air was warm, thick with summer and the distant smell of pine from the mountains.Behind us, muffled by glass, the gala continued without us.Her staff handled everything perfectly in her absence.Proof of the leader she had become.
She had not let go of my hand.
“My father used this hotel to control people,” she said quietly.Through the windows, we could see the glittering crowd, the crystal chandeliers, the elegant decay of money celebrating itself.“You could have given Max the same weapon.”
“You are not your father.”
“And you are not who I thought you were.”She looked up at me, her eyes holding no fear, no calculation.Only a warmth I had done nothing to deserve.“Not anymore.”
I turned to face her.The sky behind her had gone gold and rose, the last light of midsummer clinging to the horizon.
“I was,” I admitted.“Everything you hated about me.I was all of it.”
“But you chose differently.”Her voice was soft.Her thumb traced circles on the back of my hand.“That matters.”
My wolf pushed against my control, demanding more.Claim her.Complete the bond.Make her ours forever.The pull toward marking her was overwhelming, the need to sink my teeth into her throat and make this permanent.But I held back.Still afraid.Still carrying the memory of my father’s failure, the moment when love had become destruction.The sound of my mother’s scream.The blood on my father’s hands.
She saw it in my face.She always saw.
“The claiming bite,” she said.“You are still afraid.”
“Terrified.”I cupped her face in my hands, searching her eyes.“Hate me all you want, Lena.I can survive that.Just be alive to do it.That’s all I ask.”
Her expression softened.“I don’t hate you anymore.I wish I did.It would be simpler.”