Chapter 63 Blackwood Tower
The clock on my office wall read 7:29 p.m., the hands ticking softly in the otherwise silent room. The city lights glittered beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows of Blackwood Tower, a sea of twinkling gold and blue against the ink-black sky, but I barely saw them. The air in the office was cool, sterile, carrying the faint scent of leather from my chair and the sharp tang of printer ink from the reports scattered across my desk. I'd sent my assistant, and secretary home hours ago.
"Go on," I'd told them, waving a hand without looking up from my laptop. "I'll leave when I'm done. No need to stay late."
Lena had hesitated at the door, her coat draped over her arm. "You sure, Mr. Blackwood? It's getting late."
"I'm fine," I replied, forcing a smile. "Enjoy your evening."
They'd left, the door clicking shut behind them, leaving me alone with the hum of the computer and the distant rumble of city traffic below.
But concentration was a joke. The spreadsheets on my screen blurred, numbers swimming like shadows in water. My mind kept drifting to Maddie. She'd been distant since the cabin, avoiding me with excuses that felt thin as paper: studying, headaches, not feeling well. The bond pulsed with it, a constant undercurrent of confusion, fear, something she was hiding. I could feel it, like a knot in my chest, tightening every time she cracked the door just enough to say she was fine. Was it Ben? His accusations on the deck Christmas morning still rang in my ears. He'd been sniffing around since, but I'd handled the investigator he'd hired. Ben had no proof. But if he was the reason for her withdrawal, I'd make him pay. Or was it something else? The awakening? The bond hinted at deeper fears, but she wasn't ready to share. I needed to make her understand, I could handle Ben, handle anything that threatened us. The pack, the company, the world. She didn't have to carry this alone.
And Tamara, God, Tamara. I knew she'd said something she shouldn't have. The way Maddie's face had paled when Tamara kissed my cheek, too close, too familiar, and flashed that smug smile. The tension in the air had been thick as smoke, Tamara's words hanging like a noose: I told her all she needed to know about me... or perhaps about us. I'd shrugged her off with a stern look, but Maddie had seen it as something more. I could feel the hurt through the bond, sharp and raw. Tamara and I had been friends since childhood, our mothers best friends, our fathers allies in pack wars. Our parents had hoped we'd end up together, but I'd made it clear years ago I wasn't interested. We'd slept together a few times in the past, lust, nothing more, stolen moments after Eleanor died when grief had made me reckless. But it was over. I'd told her as much. Tamara kept pushing, though, subtle, persistent, like a thorn you couldn't pull out.
I wasn't in the right frame of mind to handle her now. The pack rite had been a success, the energy of the renewal still hummed in my blood, but the cabin and the estate felt like a powder keg. Drama was the last thing I needed.
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, firm, unhurried. I looked up. "Come in."
The door opened, admitting an older man in his early sixties, Williams Brown, board member, my father's old friend. Tall, silver-haired, dressed in a tailored gray suit that spoke of old money and older alliances. He carried a cane, though he didn't need it, tapping it lightly on the floor as he entered.
"Williams," I said, leaning back in my chair. "How did you know I was still here?"
He smiled faintly, taking the seat across from me without invitation. The leather creaked under him. "I have my ways, Alexander. You know that."
I chuckled, low and without humor. "Not surprised."
He leaned forward, cane balanced between his knees, eyes sharp. "I don't want to know what's going on in your personal life, son. Nor do I care about the beef you have with your stepson. But you need to put him in check."
I stiffened, the chair's leather suddenly too tight against my back. "What do you mean?"
Williams sighed, rubbing his thumb over the cane's head. "Ben's spreading rumors. Or facts, depending on how you look at it. He's saying you're sleeping with his wife, your daughter-in-law, that it makes you unfit for the role of the CEO. I know it's true; don't deny it. But resolve it. In his need to break you down, if the rival packs hear of this office war, they'll find a way to use Ben in pack-related issues. And Ben should be the last person to know your true self."
The words landed heavy, the air in the room thickening. I leaned forward, elbows on the desk. "I have it under control."
Williams stood, cane tapping the floor once. "Handle it soon, before it escalates. Your father would expect nothing less."
He left without waiting for a response, the door clicking shut behind him.
I sat there, staring at the closed door, frustration boiling in my chest. Ben, spreading rumors to the board. Williams knew. Others would too. But it wasn't the board that worried me; it was Maddie. If Ben used this to hurt her... I closed the laptop with a snap, the sound echoing in the empty office. The rite's energy had faded, but the pack was strong. I was strong. Ben was no threat.
I stood, grabbing my coat. Time to go home. Time to handle this.
The driver waited downstairs, the car engine purring softly. I slid into the back seat, the leather cool and familiar. As we drove through the city, lights blurring past, I leaned my head back, closing my eyes.
Maddie was the priority. The distance, the avoidance, it ended tonight