Chapter Twenty: Carol's POV
The embrace was careful, restrained—not like the way I'd seen other fathers hold their daughters.
But it was real. It was solid.
For a moment, I let myself lean into it.
One hand pressed against the small of my back, holding me firmly against him, while the other slid up to cradle the back of my head, fingers threading through my still-damp hair.
The gesture should have been comforting, but it also felt like he was anchoring me in place, keeping me exactly where he wanted me.
This wasn't a guardian comforting his ward.
This wasn't the kind of perfunctory comfort I'd grown accustomed to over the years—the brief pat on the shoulder when upset, the awkward pat on the back when comfort was needed.
This was something else entirely.
His arms wrapped around me with a tightness that bordered on desperate possession.
I could feel every inch of him—the strength of his chest, the heat radiating through his shirt, the shift and flex of his muscles as he pulled me closer.
He held me like I was something precious that might slip away if he loosened his grip, like he needed to protect me not out of duty but out of something he couldn't name.
The embrace lasted only seconds, but it felt like much longer.
My heart thundered in my ears as I stood frozen in his arms, hands pressed flat against his chest, face tucked against his shoulder.
I could smell him—cedarwood and rain, and that purely Alpha, purely Simon scent. And beneath it all was something warm and familiar that made my chest ache with a longing I didn't want to examine.
Because acknowledging it would change everything.
This felt like a man holding a woman he cared about, like someone embracing something important to him—nothing to do with obligation, duty, or promises to his dead friend.
When he pulled back, his hands lingered on my shoulders, his thumb brushing across my collarbone.
The gesture was too intimate for our relationship.
He was close enough that I could see his golden irises, could feel his breath against my forehead, could count the fine lines at the corners of his eyes that only appeared when he was truly worried.
Something in his expression made my heart skip.
"You don't have to pretend to be strong in front of me," he said softly, his voice carrying something vulnerable I'd never heard before.
His hand tightened slightly on my shoulder. "Not here. Not with me. But out there?" He tilted his head slightly toward the window, meaning the world beyond this study.
"Out there, you need to be smart. You need to learn when to fight and when to walk away and let others fight for you. That's not weakness, Carol. That's survival. That's knowing what you're capable of and using it wisely, not trying to compensate for things that aren't your fault."
I nodded, not trusting my voice. My mind was still reeling from being held in his arms.
My hands were still pressed against his chest, and I could feel his heartbeat.
Steady and strong, but too fast for someone who should have been unaffected.
"I understand," I managed to whisper.
His expression relaxed slightly, looking almost relieved.
"Good." His hands fell away from my shoulders. The moment he released me, I felt an odd emptiness, as if I'd lost something I hadn't known I needed.
He stepped back, putting distance between us.
When he spoke again, his voice had returned to something closer to its usual controlled register. "Go rest. You'll need your strength tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" I didn't understand, my mind still scattered, unable to process.
"The pack meeting," Simon said. "You're coming with me. All pack members will be in attendance, which means Seraphina will be there too. I should stop hiding you."
It took me a moment to process. When I finally understood, shock washed over me like cold water. "Simon, I can't—I'm not—you've always kept me separate from pack business."
"I know." He moved toward his desk, putting more distance between us.
I wasn't sure if it was intentional or not.
"But things are changing. What Seraphina did today made me realize something: if I keep hiding you, keep pretending you're just a temporary ward I have an obligation to protect, then people like her will think they can bully you without consequences. Tomorrow, that ends."
I struggled to process his words, feeling somewhat dazed.
"But you've always said I'm safer staying out of pack politics, keeping a low profile. You spent eight years protecting me by keeping me separate from all this. Why suddenly—"
"Because continuing to hide you is causing more problems than it's solving." Simon cut me off.
His tone told me he'd been thinking about this for a long time.
"Go rest, Carol. Tomorrow will be hard enough. You shouldn't face it exhausted."
I nodded numbly, my mind still racing, then turned toward the door.
But something made me pause when I reached for the handle—an instinct telling me there was more beneath the surface, something I didn't understand brewing underneath.
I pulled the door open just enough to slip through but didn't close it completely, leaving it slightly ajar. Just enough for me to stand quietly outside, listening carefully, letting the murmured voices carry into the hallway.
I knew this was eavesdropping, knew it was wrong, knew Simon would be angry if he discovered me.
But I needed to understand what was really happening. I needed to know why he'd suddenly changed a policy he'd maintained for eight years.
Leon's voice came first, quiet but clear in the silence. "She agreed?"
"Yes." Simon's reply was equally subdued. "Though she doesn't fully understand why yet. I'll explain more before we leave tomorrow."
"The matter we discussed earlier? About Seraphina's backing?"
When Simon spoke again, his voice had gone cold.
"Belinda's new husband is a businessman. Fairly successful, with good connections in the business world. But he alone couldn't give Seraphina the confidence she showed today—daring to openly challenge someone under my protection. For her to do that, to humiliate my person in front of so many witnesses, means there's someone else behind this. Someone is using Seraphina as a pawn to test my limits."
My back went cold as I listened, my hand covering my mouth to keep from making a sound.
This wasn't just about me, wasn't just about putting Seraphina in her place.
This was pack politics. This was a power struggle. I didn't wait to hear more.
Before either of them could emerge from the study and discover me eavesdropping, I fled up the stairs, heart racing, mind in chaos.
When I finally reached my room and closed the door behind me, I leaned against it, trying to catch my breath, trying to process everything I'd just heard.
Someone was using Seraphina to test Simon.
Tomorrow's meeting wasn't just about me—it was about politics and power, and I would be standing right in the middle of it, whether I was ready or not.
But beneath the fear and confusion, beneath the anxiety about tomorrow and what it meant, there was something else.
The image of Simon holding me, the feeling of his heartbeat beneath my palm, the warmth of his breath in my hair, the almost possessive tightness of his embrace.
That hadn't been a father comforting a daughter.
That had been something else. Something dangerous. Something complicated. Something neither of us could afford to acknowledge.
Tomorrow, everything would change.
Tomorrow, I would step out of the shadows he'd kept me in for eight years.
But tonight, all I could think about was how he'd held me, and what it meant that the embrace had felt nothing like a father's love.
That night, I lay in bed for a long time, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. The storm raged outside, and my mind refused to settle.
I finally fell asleep in the darkest hours before dawn, dreaming of golden eyes and strong arms and a sense of belonging I'd never dared let myself want.
When I woke, the morning light was pale, and last night's storm had passed.
For a moment, I lay there, wanting to pretend today was just another ordinary day.
But the pretense didn't last long.
The memories came flooding back—Simon's embrace, the conversation I'd overheard, and the knowledge that in a few hours I would walk into that pack meeting.
They would judge me, use me as bait to test Simon's authority.
Everything was about to change.
I didn't know if I was ready for it.