Chapter 44 No More Running
Kier's POV
After Jaxon left, silence pressed heavy against the walls of my office. The city sprawled beneath me, alive and endless, but all I could hear was the echo of his parting words.
“I’m not going to let you scare her away.”
For five years, I’d let her choose the distance she thought she wanted. But the mate bond drums in her veins. It’s a blessing bestowed upon us by the moon goddess, that is built into our blood. What she really wanted—what the bond demanded—was for me to stand in front of her and make her face what she’d been running from.
I sat behind my desk, pulling up my calendar, scrolling through client sessions, team meetings, and scheduled debriefs. My fingers moved automatically, but my mind wasn’t on the screen. It was on Sable. Every word she’d thrown at me in the boardroom, every flicker of fury in her eyes, every defiant line of her body. She had no idea what she looked like when she was fighting me. Or maybe she did.
My wolf prowled inside me, restless, teeth bared. She’ll fight it. She’ll try to run.
Let her, I answered. This time she will run straight into me.
The door clicked softly. My secretary, Emma, poked her head in. “You ok in here,” she said carefully, like she was trying to gauge what kind of mood she’d walked into.
“Obviously.” I rubbed a hand over my jaw. “Do you need something?”
“You tell me.” She stepped inside, closing the door behind her. Emma had been with me long enough to read me better than most. “You’re sitting in here staring at your screen like it owes you money. You’ve been in a mood since the Everbright meeting.”
I leaned back, expression neutral. “You think I’m off my game?”
She gave a small, humorless laugh. “I think you’re working without actually working. You haven’t dictated a single memo in two hours. You’ve got three VPs waiting for sign-off on Monday’s contracts, and you haven’t even opened the file.”
I scrolled through my calendar again. “I’m making a plan.”
Emma arched a brow. “For?”
“For clarity,” I said, letting the word hang between us.
She crossed her arms. “This have anything to do with the she-wolf who walked out of here like she wanted to set the whole building on fire?”
My jaw tightened. “Her name is Sable and she’s my fated mate. She ran from the bond five years ago and fate has brought us back together.”
“Oh.” Emma tilted her head, studying me. “So why have you been staring at your calendar like you’re plotting a heist? Should I be worried?”
“No,” I said. Then, after a pause, “Not yet.”
She rolled her eyes but didn’t push. “Okay, boss. Tell me what you need from me so you can stop looking like you’re about to eat someone alive.”
I clicked open a blank email. “Draft a confirmation for me. Monday, eight p.m., Ironclad Tower Penthouse. Dinner. Only her.”
Emma blinked. “You’re calling a one-on-one with Everbright’s lead marketer?”
“Yes.”
“She’s not the CEO.”
“I’m aware.”
“You’re aware this looks like—”
“Emma,” I warned.
She held up her hands. “Fine. You’re the boss. I’ll make sure the penthouse kitchen knows. Formal dinner setup?”
“Not formal,” I said. “Private. No staff after setup.”
Her eyes flicked to my face. “You planning on closing a deal, or a kidnapping?”
I allowed a small, humorless smile. “She’s the love of my life and I need to get her back.”
She shook her head. “You’re scary when you get like this, you know that?”
“I’m not scary,” I said, voice low. “I’m focused.”
Emma muttered something under her breath about wolves in suits but typed the notes into her tablet. “Fine. Monday, eight p.m., penthouse. Dinner. S. Hale only. What about the rest of Monday? You’ve got back-to-back meetings starting at nine.”
“Move them.”
“Move which ones?”
“All of them after five. Clear the evening. And block the morning for debrief.”
“Blocking the morning too?” She gave me a skeptical look. “She must be some wolf.”
“She is.”
She hesitated, then asked quietly, “You sure about this, Kier?”
I looked at her. “I’ve been sure for five years.”
Her eyes softened a fraction. “Okay.” She started to leave, then paused at the door. “You should eat something. You’re wound up so tight you’re vibrating.”
“I’ll eat Monday,” I said.
She shook her head, muttering, “You’re impossible,” and left.
The door clicked shut, and the office fell back into silence. The city glittered below, cars snaking through streets, lights blinking. My reflection stared back at me from the glass—sharp suit, sharper eyes, storm-gray and restless.
I leaned back in my chair and stared at the draft of the email:
To: S. Hale, Everbright Marketing
From: K. Blane, Ironclad Enterprises
Subject: Continuation
Sable,
Ironclad requires clarity before next steps.
I expect you Monday, 8 p.m. for dinner, Ironclad Tower Penthouse.
Alone.
—K. Blane
No explanations. No excuses. No room for her to wriggle free.
Monday, she’d walk into my world without a buffer. No boardroom, no team, no friendly faces to stand between us. Just her and me.
I closed my eyes, letting the plan settle into my bones. My wolf prowled at the edges of my mind, restless, hungry, the sound of his approval low and dangerous. Hunt. Chase. Claim.
I wasn’t the boy she left under the moonlight. I was the Alpha who built an empire in her absence. And now I’d use that empire to hold her still long enough to finally speak the truth neither of us had dared.
She thought she could walk back into my world and keep me at arm’s length. She thought choice was stronger than fate.
She was wrong.
The bond wasn’t a leash. It was a tether forged by the moon goddess herself. And every time she tried to pull away, it only snapped back harder.
Monday night, I’d show her.
Not with polished smiles or boardroom words.
With truth. With fire. With us.
No more running Sable Hale.