Chapter 322

Chapter 322

“Then teach me,” he insisted. “I could learn. I want to learn.” His eyes dropped to the floor. “I want to run. I want to shift and just run and not have to think about any of this. I want to be around people who are actually like me. Is that so wrong p>

It wasn’t wrong. I wished more than anything that I could give that to him, but I just couldn’t. The packs were simply too dangerous and volatile, and I had made up my mind years ago never to expose my son to that life.

“It’s not wrong,” I said. “But the answer is still no p>

Bjorn looked up at me with eyes darker than night.

“I hate you,” he said.

It was barely above a whisper, but the words struck my chest as if he’d shot me. I knew kids said that sort of thing sometimes but right now, it truly felt like he meant

I couldn’t respond.

Wordlessly, he turned his back to me. I stood there for a long moment, waiting to see if he might regret it and apologize, but he didn’t. Finally, I stood, grabbed the rest of the cookies, and walked to the door.

“We’ll talk more tomorrow,” I said.

With that, I pulled the door shut behind me and stood in the hallway for a long moment. The house was quiet. My mother’s light was off under the door at the end of the hall. It was just me, standing in the dark, holding an empty plate.

He didn’t mean it, I knew that. He was ten years old and frustrated and lost, and he was lashing out at the only person close enough to hit. I knew all of that,

But it still hurt,

Sighing, I walked downstairs and set the plate in the sink and stood there with my hands braced against the counter, staring down at the drain. The kitchen was dark except for the little light above the stove, Outside, it had started to rain, fat drops pattering against the skylights.

I was just considering making myself something to drink when my phone buzzed on the counter. It was a text from Claire.

“Just checking in on the Evergreen proposal” it read. “Alpha Sebastian is still waiting on a response. We really do need to give him an answer soon if we’re going to

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move forward, or he’ll take his business elsewhere. Let me know, please? I don’t want to leave him hanging p>

I stood there and read it twice. Then a third time.

Alpha Sebastian. A werewolf Alpha actually wanted to do business with me. It was an amazing business opportunity, and it meant expanding my company not just across the human lands, but the packs, too.

But it also meant bringing the packs back into everything I had spent ten years carefully, deliberately building in this world far away from all of that. I had left. I had gotten out. I had built something real and mine, something that had nothing to do with pack politics or Alphas or mates or any of it.

And now the packs wanted in anyway, as if I hadn’t tried like hell to keep them as far away as fucking possible.

What pissed me off the most was that I was actually considering it despite all of the statements I had made about not working with werewolves in the past. All for some extra cash.

Well, this time, I wouldn’t fall for it. I typed back quickly.

“Tell him no p>

I hit send, then set the phone face-down on the counter, grabbed a bottle of wine, and turned off the stove light.

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