Chapter 6

Chapter 6 DENISE The silence that followed was very loud. I could not believe my ears, it was like he had submerged me under water and all i could hear was the rushing water and his muffled words. “Cancelled,” I repeated, mostly out of disbelief and a part of me was hoping that i had heard it wrong. That this was some kind of sick prank. “You can come back on Monday. Take the rest of the week.” He said it like he was doing me a favor. Like I should be relieved. Like I hadn’t spent four days dragging myself toward a door and he hadn’t just quietly locked it again without asking whether I wanted it locked. “Dante.” I said his name before I could stop myself, and continued without missing a beat. “We need to end this.” “You’re picking a fight.” “I’m not picking anything. You’re getting mated. You can’t—” I gestured between us. “You can’t keep doing this.” He crossed the room slowly, and I held my ground even though my wolf was doing the thing she always did around him, the embarrassing, treacherous softening that four years hadn’t managed to train out of her. “Elena felt bad,” he said, stopping a few feet from me. “She noticed she never reached out after the accident to make sure that you were alright despite me telling her that you were capable of getting out. She was worried.” I stared at him. “She was worried.” “She asked about you. I told her you were fine.” A beat. “She wants you to come to the house this week. She’s asked for help with some of the wedding preparations—small things, logistics. She’s comfortable with you.” Something almost funny moved through me and died before it became a laugh. Elena was comfortable with me. Elena, who had ordered me to fetch her contraceptives with a conspiratorial wink, who sat in Dante’s office radiating authority while I practically ran from the room. Elena, who had no idea that the woman she was asking to help plan her wedding had spent the last four years in her fiancé’s bed. “I won’t be doing that,” I said. Dante’s jaw tightened. He took the remaining distance between us in one step, his hand coming up to my face before I could step back. His thumb traced the edge of my jaw with the ease of long habit, and I hated how still it made me go. “Denise.” “Don’t.” My voice came out quieter than I intended. “You need to show up.” His eyes were steady on mine, that particular dark gaze that I had once confused for depth, for caring, for something that meant I mattered. “If you don’t, Elena will notice. She’s already asking questions—she picked up on something in the car, when you used my name. She’s smart. She’ll start putting things together if you act like you’re running from her.” “That’s your problem,” I said. “Not mine.” “It is yours,” he said simply. “Because if Elena gets any ideas about what we were, she’ll go looking. And when she starts looking, other people start talking. And you know what this pack does to omegas who get in the way of an Alpha’s mating.” The threat wasn’t delivered like a threat. That was the thing about Dante. His threats never felt like threats, rather he phrased it like he was concerned and was watching out for me. I stepped back. He let me. “Come tomorrow,” he said. “Help with the centerpiece arrangements, or whatever she needs. Stay two hours. Smile. And then you can go wherever you want. That is all, i am certain a girl like you can manage something like that without causing any issues.” He was still watching me with that expression certain that my life revolved around him and i was going to come regardless of my personal feelings on the matter. I looked at him, this man I had loved with everything I had at nineteen, this man who had thrown his body over someone else in a car crash while I bled alone in the wreck, this man who’d sent me fifty thousand dollars as a receipt for my pain and then posted his vacation photographs by evening. “Fine,” I said. Because I knew how to pick my battles, and tonight wasn’t the one. “Tomorrow.” He nodded, satisfied, and something in his posture eased, like he had gotten what he came here for. “Get some rest.” He glanced at the bathroom door, then at me, then looked away. “You still look tired.” He left. I stood in the middle of my living room for a long moment after the door closed, listening to the silence settle around me. My phone buzzed on the counter. I crossed to it and checked the screen. The resale listing had already received three inquiries. One was offering full asking price, no negotiation, immediate transfer. I accepted it without hesitating. Then I opened my calendar and confirmed tomorrow’s entry: *Moonlight Manor. 7 PM. K. Nightshade.* I went to my wardrobe and pulled out the dark green wrap dress. Laid it flat on the chair by the window. Set my alarm. Dante wanted me to show up tomorrow like nothing had changed, to smile at Elena over centerpiece swatches and pretend I was just a helpful subordinate who had never meant anything more. He’d cancelled my resignation and framed it as kindness. He’d threatened me gently and called it concern. He’d walked into my apartment without permission and left without once asking how my arm was, how my head was, whether the hospital had cleared me properly after the accident. But Kieran Nightshade had an offer on the table. And I had a plan. I turned off the light and got into bed. Tomorrow would come. I’d smile when I was supposed to smile. I’d nod when I was supposed to nod. But tomorrow was the 13th. And I was already counting down.