Chapter 139: CHAPTER 140: Shadows in the Room

REED'S POV

The flashing lights and loud music inside the school's main auditorium were giving me a headache. A sharp, pulsing pain right behind my left eye that throbbed with every bass drop. Everyone around me was having the time of their lives. Cole was holding court near the bar with a crowd of cheering girls, Jasper was laughing loudly with some of the pack warriors, and Kai was leaning against a marble pillar, looking exhausted but victorious.

Normally I would have been right in the middle of it. I would have been the loudest voice in the room, soaking up every second of the attention, cracking jokes, getting drink refills, and finding some pretty girl to lean against in the corner. That was who I was. That was who Reed Steel had always been. The charming one. The easy one. The one who never let anything sit too heavy on his shoulders.

But something had changed in me, and I couldn't figure out exactly when it happened. Somewhere between the championship and the late night conversations on the beach, between holding Aria close and watching her sleep against my shoulder, I had stopped being the guy who could shrug things off. The weight had settled in. And it wasn't going anywhere.

I stood near the corner of the stage, holding a plastic cup of soda I had barely touched. Every celebration reminded me that something was wrong. No matter how much everyone tried to act normal, the mystery surrounding Aria kept hanging over all of us like a storm that refused to break. My eyes constantly searched the crowded room, tracking her every movement. Where she walked. Who she talked to. How close the exits were.

Then I noticed him.

A visiting pack representative. Older man. Expensive charcoal suit with a silver pin on his lapel identifying him as a delegate from the Northern Territories. At first I assumed he simply recognized Aria because of recent gossip. The kidnapping story had spread through enough pack circles that a few curious looks were expected. But the longer I watched, the stranger it felt.

The man wasn't looking at her like someone who found her attractive. He wasn't staring the way young alphas stared, with heat or hunger or obvious desire. This was something else entirely. He was studying her. Observing her. His eyes moved slowly across her face, her posture, the way she shifted her weight when she laughed. He was cataloging her, and the clinical precision of it made something dark and furious twist inside my chest.

He wasn't smiling. He was just analyzing her like a collector examining a piece he intended to acquire.

I pushed off the wall, setting my cup down hard on a nearby table. The soda sloshed over the rim, but I didn't care. I started walking toward Aria, pushing past a couple of cheerleaders who tried to grab my arm, ignoring the calls and the giggling and the offered phone numbers.

"Hey," I murmured, resting my hand lightly on the small of her back. Her skin was warm through the thin fabric of her dress.

Aria turned her head, looking up at me with those bright, dark eyes. "Hey yourself. Aren't you supposed to be doing a victory toast with the coaches?"

"They can wait," I replied, my eyes darting back toward the buffet table. The Northern delegate was gone. My jaw tightened. The spot where he had been standing was empty, and that emptiness felt heavier than his presence had. A man who was watching that carefully didn't just lose interest and walk away. He moved because he got what he came for.

"How are you holding up? Are you having fun?"

She rolled her eyes playfully, leaning back against my side. "You know, for a guy who just won the biggest hockey game of the year, you are acting awfully clingy. Is this because you missed me during the third period, or are you just jealous that everyone is looking at my dress?"

"Me? Jealous?" I teased, flashing her a cocky grin while my heart hammered against my ribs. "Never, princess. I just know good company when I see it."

But inside, I was running calculations. Where had the delegate gone? Was he alone or did he have men positioned elsewhere in the venue? Could I get Aria out through the kitchen if I needed to? Where were my brothers? How quickly could we form a wall around her if something happened right here, right now, in the middle of a party surrounded by two hundred people?

The paranoia was suffocating. It sat on my chest like a second ribcage made of lead. I hated it. I hated that I couldn't just enjoy one normal evening with her without my brain turning into a tactical map. I hated that the sound of her laughter, which should have been the only thing I heard, kept getting drowned out by the static of fear.

Later that night, after most of the guests had left, Aria and I found ourselves alone. We walked through the back terrace doors into the quiet shadow of the garden. The air was cool and clean, carrying the smell of wet earth and jasmine, and the heavy noise of the world faded into silence.

The moonlight caught the soft waves of her hair, and something in my chest finally loosened.

"It's quiet out here," Aria whispered, wrapping her arms around herself to ward off the chill.

I shrugged off my dark suit jacket, stepping close behind her, and draped it over her shoulders. It smelled like cedar and smoke. My scent. She pulled it tighter around herself with a soft, grateful sigh, and watching her disappear into the fabric of something that belonged to me made a possessive warmth bloom behind my ribs.

"Thanks," she murmured, leaning back against my chest.

"I'm just so tired, Reed," she confessed, her voice trembling slightly. "I feel like I'm walking through a fog. One minute I'm trying to figure out school and the hockey team, and the next minute there are strange men, rumors, and things happening that make zero sense. Why does everything feel so complicated? Why is everyone acting like I'm sitting on some kind of secret?"

I wrapped my arms fully around her waist, pulling her back against my solid chest so she could feel my heartbeat. Steady. Strong. Constant.

"Hey. Look at me," I whispered, pressing my lips softly against her hair.

She turned her head, looking up at me with tired, beautiful eyes. Eyes that had seen too much and understood too little. Eyes that trusted me more than she wanted to admit.

"You don't have to carry any of this alone anymore," I told her, my voice dropping into a fierce, quiet promise. "I've got you. Cole, Kai, Jasper. We're all right here. You never have to face any of it by yourself again."

A soft, genuine smile touched her lips, and the defensive wall she always kept up crumbled away. She let out a long, shaky breath, melting completely into my embrace.

"It's nice," she whispered, her hands coming up to rest gently over my arms. "Knowing someone actually has my back."

I lowered my head, brushing my lips softly against hers. The kiss was slow, sweet, and deep, carrying every unspoken word I couldn't tell her yet. All the warnings I was keeping locked behind my teeth. All the fear I swallowed every time she smiled at me without knowing how much danger she was in.

Whatever was coming, whatever those men wanted, whatever secrets were buried in her past, she didn't need to know tonight. She was safe right here in my arms.

And if anyone tried to take her, they would have to come through me first. That wasn't a threat. It was a fact. Simple and final and absolute, the way gravity is a fact, the way sunrise is a fact.

I held her tighter and didn't let go.