Chapter 29 Fractures
Sable POV
The second the boardroom doors shut behind me, my composure cracked.
I didn’t run—not with Donovan, Jenna, and Sam waiting just down the hall—but every step felt unsteady, as if the ground might split beneath me. My lungs burned, my heart thundered, and the mate bond still throbbed hot in my chest, as if the meeting hadn’t ended at all.
He was here.
Kier.
Not just alive, not just thriving—he was this. Ironclad. An empire with his name written all over it. And somehow, I had walked straight into his world.
Coincidence, I’d told myself. But deep down, I knew better. The moon goddess didn’t deal in coincidences.
“There you are!” Jenna’s voice jolted me back to the present. She hurried over, practically vibrating with excitement. “You were incredible in there, Sable. Donovan was beaming the whole time. If anyone lands this client, it’s us.”
I forced a smile, nodding. “Thanks.”
“You okay?” Sam asked, studying me with those steady eyes that always seemed to catch too much.
“I’m fine.” The lie slipped out too easily. “Just adrenaline.”
Jenna grinned, oblivious. “We should celebrate tonight! Drinks, karaoke—my treat.”
“Maybe,” I said quickly, dodging. The last thing I needed was to sit in a crowded bar with the bond ripping me apart.
By the time I reached my apartment that night, exhaustion pressed heavy over me, but my mind wouldn’t quiet.
I kicked off my heels, dropped my bag on the counter, and collapsed onto the couch. The city hummed beyond the windows, lights flickering against the glass.
And all I could see was him.
The way his eyes had burned into me, darker than I remembered, hungrier too. The way he’d nearly touched me before pulling back. The way his voice had cracked on my name, as if five years hadn’t dulled it at all.
And then there was Liora.
Her scent. Her hand on his tie. The way she sat at his side like she belonged there.
Betrayal cut sharp, even though I had no right to feel it. I had left. I had run. And yet the thought of her with him made my wolf snarl, made my stomach twist, made me want to shatter something just to release the fire clawing through me.
My phone buzzed. Jenna.
You alive?
I stared at the screen for a long moment before typing back: Yeah. Just tired.
Her reply came fast: You crushed it today. Whatever happens, you’re going places.
I swallowed hard, staring at the words until they blurred.
Because I was going places. I’d built a career, a life, a future I chose. And yet here I was, shaking on my couch like a girl caught between two worlds—wolf and human, freedom and bond, past and present.
I pressed my palms to my face, breathing ragged. “I can’t do this,” I whispered. “I can’t.”
But the bond answered anyway, pulsing like a heartbeat against mine.
And deep down, I knew the truth.
I could walk out of that boardroom. I could walk away from him again.
But I would never be free of him.
The phone buzzed again.
Not Jenna this time.
Sam.
His name lit up my screen, and for a heartbeat, I almost let it go to voicemail. I didn’t have the strength to pretend right now. But then it buzzed again, longer this time, and something in my gut told me to answer.
“Hey,” I said, trying for casual. My voice came out thin.
“Hey Sable" His tone was low, cautious. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I lied automatically. “Just wiped out from today.”
Silence stretched on the other end, broken only by the soft static of city noise wherever he was. When he spoke again, his voice had an edge. "So what was that about after the meeting.”
My stomach dropped. “What?”
“In the boardroom,” Sam said. “After everyone started filing out. He held you back—Kier, right? The Ironclad guy?”
I pressed a trembling hand to my forehead. “It was nothing.”
“It didn’t look like nothing.” Sam’s voice sharpened. “He kept his eyes on you the whole time—like he knew you. More than I knew you.”
“It’s complicated,” I murmured, my throat tight.
“I’m sure it is,” Sam said quietly. “But you don’t look okay, Sable. You looked—shaken. I’ve never seen you like that.”
I swallowed hard. “I’m fine,” I repeated, but the words rang hollow even to me.
“Are you?” he asked. “Because you don’t have to be. If he’s bothering you, or if he’s—”
“Sam.” My voice cracked like glass. “Please. Just…drop it.”
There was another long silence, then a soft sigh. “Alright. But you can call me. Anytime. Even if it’s two in the morning. Just—don’t shut me out.”
His sincerity stung, cutting through the haze of the bond like cool air. For a second, I almost told him everything. About Black Pine. About Kier. About the mate bond that wasn’t supposed to follow me into this life.
But instead, I whispered, “Thanks.”
“I mean it,” Sam said gently. “You don’t have to go through whatever this is alone.”
When the call ended, I stared at the ceiling for a long time, my phone still warm in my hand.
Kier’s scent still lingered in my memory.