Chapter 28 28
My eyes shot to Mandy. Had she told him? Given him a full briefing? Maybe. She was a talker.
I shrugged, trying for nonchalance. “Just like most grounded and stable packs, we do have schools. But it was my decision to go to the city’s high school. Is there an issue with that?”
“No issue at all,” he said smoothly, picking up his knife again. “Everyone from any pack in Crimson Valley—and beyond, for those with alliances with the Alpha King—can attend. But as you said, you’re an Alpha’s daughter. And your father ‘doesn’t joke with you.’” He echoed my own words back at me, and they sounded foolish in his calm, deep voice. “So I would have thought he’d want to keep you close. Both your parents, to be precise.” He paused, his gaze locking onto mine. “Unless you are a menace.”
The insult was so casually delivered, so perfectly aimed. A menace. He was using my own weak bluff to pry, to try and figure out why the daughter of a supposedly fearsome Alpha was allowed to wander into city schools.
Mandy, sensing the dangerous shift in the air, jumped in. “Menace? No, Uncle! Arielle is a loving person. She’s never bothersome. She’s the sweetest!”
He just gave a sort of low chuckle, his eyes never leaving mine.
“I know,” he said, the words loaded with a meaning only I could understand. “I know exactly how much of a ‘loving’ person she can be.”
Mandy looked between us, her smile faltering, confusion clouding her features. I could see the questions forming in her eyes—Have you two met before? Did something happen?
I couldn’t let her ask. I had to derail this. So I forced a light, almost teasing tone into my voice, retorting to him not with anger, but with a deflection. “Well, I suppose ‘menace’ is a matter of perspective. Some people find a little independence threatening.”
He gave me that tiny, infuriating smile again—just a flicker at the corner of his mouth—and then simply went back to eating his food, as if my little retort was nothing more than a faint buzzing in his ear.
What a true, annoying jerk.
If I were reborn a hundred times, I swore to myself, I wouldn’t even think of kissing him. I wouldn’t use him as a prop in my pathetic rash revenge play, not even if I walked in on Logan fucking Angel and her entire clique in what would have been our future matrimonial bed. The humiliation of being linked to this arrogant, cold, impossible man for even five seconds was worse than any betrayal.
In that moment, I was purely, simply irritated.
But the next moment… it was far from that.
He reached for his glass of water. It was a simple movement, but I watched it happen in a kind of horrible, slow detail. His hand, large and veined, curled around the crystal. He brought it to his lips, taking a slow, measured sip.
My eyes, traitors that they were, followed the motion. I watched the strong column of his throat work as he swallowed, the shift of his Adam's apple a precise, fascinating movement under his skin.
My gaze travelled back up, against my will, and landed on his mouth. The same lips that had been so firm and unyielding against mine. They were slightly parted now, damp from the water.
A strange, warm flutter started low in my stomach. It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t anger. It was something else entirely, something that felt reckless and forbidden and stupid. It stirred something in me, a physical awareness that made my skin feel too tight.
I dropped my gaze the second he looked up, my cheeks burning. I stared hard at the geometric pattern on my plate.
No.
What is wrong with me?
I can’t be finding him attractive. Ew.
The thought was a visceral recoil. He was ancient, he was terrifying, he was Mandy’s uncle, and he’d basically just called me a nuisance.
I shook my head slightly, as if I could physically dislodge the traitorous feeling. I can’t even think of that.
Mandy must have noticed my internal struggle, because she leaned toward me, her voice concerned. “Are you okay? You look a little flushed.”
I looked up at her, forcing a smile. “Yes. I’m fine. The food is just… warm.” It was a lame excuse, but she seemed to buy it.
“Okay,” she said, then brightly changed the subject, probably to rescue me from the weird silence. “So, are you going to Seal College? You have to tell me!”
I stopped pushing my food around. Graduation wasn’t just an end; it was a cliff edge. College wasn’t optional in our world, not for someone with my last name. Seal College was the city’s premier institution, where the sons and daughters of Alphas were shaped into sharper weapons, smarter leaders, or at least given a glossy polish. Most of our pack’s youth went there, or to similar colleges in allied territories.
I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll go.”
“You should fill out the forms soon!” she chirped, ever practical. “Applications will be closing before you know it. They’re super strict about deadlines.”
“Yeah,” I nodded again, the reality of it—another institution, another place to feel out of place—settling heavily on me. “I know.”
Then he looked at me again. Those hazel eyes pinned me to my chair. “So,” he said, his voice cutting through Mandy’s chatter. “What about your family?”
Gosh, can he just avoid me like I’m trying to avoid him? The question felt like another probe, another attempt to peel back my layers.
Mandy, trying to be helpful, jumped in. “She’s an Alpha’s daughter! Her mother is, like, seriously scary. And her father is…” She trailed off abruptly, her smile faltering as she remembered. She bit her lip and looked at me, her eyes full of apology. “Sorry. I think… she should tell you about her family herself.”
An awkward silence fell over the table. Mandy looked mortified. I felt exposed.
Then he shifted his full, unnerving attention to me. His gaze was direct, expectant. No more games, no more sly implications. Just a simple, devastating question.
“Who are your parents?”