“You should have told me,” Darius says sternly. “I may be your alpha, but you are important to Violet. I would have looked out for you, Sienna. Come home. I’ll reassign the position to Ethan. I’ll tell Lucas we need you here. I’ll handle it.”
I can see it now. Me, crawling back to Moonvale in the middle of my first big assignment because my fated mate was cruel to me.
I’m supposed to represent my pack. I beat out two older, more experienced men for this job. If I go back now, I’ll be proving everyone who didn’t think I earned this title right. If I go back now, Lucas Steele will be satisfied that he broke me and put me in my place.
He doesn’t know what my place is. I will never let anybody dictate that.
I sit up so fast, the room tilts. “No.”
“Sienna.”
“No.” I drag in a shaky breath, forcing my emotions down. “I worked too hard for this position. I am not leaving because of a man. I will not give him the satisfaction.”
The other end is quiet for a long stretch. I can barely hear Violet’s voice off to one side, low and urgent, saying words I don’t catch. Darius is silent for the whole of it.
When he speaks again, his voice has changed. He sounds proud. “If that’s what you want, you’ve got our full support.”
“I won’t let you down.” I wipe the remaining tears from my eyes. I’ll force this grief somewhere deep and box it up so that it never resurfaces.
Darius clears his throat. “When this phase of the merger is over and you do come back, there is no shortage of eligible males in this pack. I will find you a good mate.”
A strangled sound escapes me. “I don’t need my alpha playing matchmaker for me.”
Violet’s voice cuts back in. “Ethan’s a good option. He’s attractive. He’s steady. He’s filthy rich.”
“Violet.” Darius’s voice goes flat. “Since when do you find Ethan attractive?”
“Oh, calm down. Sienna, come home. Ethan and you—”
I shake my head, my heart still aching. “I appreciate what you two are trying to do, but you know it doesn’t work like that, right? Lucas is my fated mate. Was, I suppose. He wasn’t just some random guy who…”
I can’t finish the sentence.
Violet is silent, and then Darius speaks. “It’s not going to be easy, but once the fated mate bond disappears, it won’t feel as bad. When this is over, I’ll make sure you don’t have to cross paths with Alpha Steele again.”
I nod even though they can’t see me. Their words may be of little comfort, but at least I don’t feel so alone anymore. And I’ve been reminded of my priorities.
I pull myself to the edge of the bed and swing my legs down. “I’m going to handle this. I’m going to blow off some steam tonight, and then tomorrow, I’m going to come back and do my job.”
Once the call ends, I sit on the edge of the bed with my phone in my lap. Silence roars in my ears. My reflection watches me from the mirror over the dresser. Swollen eyes. Pale mouth. Hair a tangled mess.
I look at that woman for a long time.
“No,” I tell her.
I stand up, go into the bathroom, and turn on the shower as hot as it will go. I strip off the blue blouse I chose so carefully this morning—the one I picked because some small, traitorous part of me had thought, “He will see me in this today.” I ball it up and throw it in a corner.
I step under the spray and scrub my makeup off harder than I need to. After rinsing my hair, I cry the last tears while the spray hits my face. And when I get out, I’m done. Cold-eyed, I look at myself in the mirror. I’m not a bad catch, and if my own fated mate can’t appreciate that, then that’s on him. Like Alpha Darius said, there are plenty of eligible males out there.
Standing in front of the mirror, I gaze at the new woman in the glass for a full minute.
Sienna Carter. Youngest chief strategic advisor in Moonvale history. Daughter of a woman who never let a man dictate her mood. Friend of a luna. Wolf in her own right. Not some limp thing for any alpha to discard.
I lift my chin. “He does not get to break you,” I tell the mirror.
The woman in the glass nods back.
I call down to the hotel’s concierge and ask them for the number of a local clothing store. The boutique picks up my call on the second ring, and I order a flirty dress in my size and high-heeled shoes from the store next door. The girl is sweet enough to offer to buy me some makeup when I ask her where to get some specific items. The wonders of small towns.
