Chapter 19 Chapter 19
MIRA
Warm steam followed me out of the bathroom, curling around my ankles as I wrapped my towel lazily around my chest. My chest was still damp, drops sliding down between my breasts as I padded across the room toward my phone.
Sofia said we would talk today.
She promised.
And instead she ghosted campus completely.
My jaw clenched as I snatched the phone off the bed. She always had her phone glued to her hand, so ignoring my last message… and the one before that… and the one before that… It wasn’t like her. Even when she was mad, she never pretended I didn’t exist.
I typed anyway—sharper this time: ~I came to school. You didn’t show. Are we talking today or not?~
My thumb hovered a beat, then I hit send.
The message sat there.
Delivered.
Not opened.
I let out a dry, humorless laugh. “Fine. Ignore me again.”
I tossed the phone onto the bed. The movement made the towel slip a little lower across my chest. I caught it with one hand, tugging the fabric back up just as a knock snapped through the room.
I froze.
For a heartbeat I just stood there, towel crooked on one hip, hair dripping down my back, pulse thudding in my throat. I should’ve put something on—anything—before answering.
But my brain was still half tangled in irritation, half tangled in steam. And without thinking it through, I walked right to the door and pulled it open.
Luca stood there.
His breath caught—audibly. His eyes flicked down before he could stop himself, landing squarely on my chest. His whole body went still, like he’d run into a wall he wasn’t prepared for. The way his Adam’s apple jerked as he swallowed made heat shoot straight up my neck.
I clutched the towel tighter across my chest. “Oh… Luca,”
His gaze jerked upward immediately, cheeks tinting a warm, betraying pink. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to— I wasn’t—” His hand shot up, pushing his glasses up his nose even though they hadn’t slipped. “I’m sorry.”
The apology made me flush harder.
“It’s fine,” I muttered. It wasn’t. But the embarrassment had locked my joints, and the easiest way out was to pretend everything was normal.
I stepped back. “You can come in.”
The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them.
Bad decision. Very bad.
But Luca nodded, stepping inside with the kind of careful movements you’d use when entering a sacred place. He kept his eyes politely averted, hands clasped behind him like he was terrified they’d reach for me on their own.
He cleared his throat, gaze fixed somewhere over my shoulder. “I need to talk to you.”
The way he said it made something go tight in my stomach.
I folded my arms over my chest. “About what?”
Instead of answering immediately, he shifted his weight—nervous. Rare for him. His fingers brushed the edge of my desk before he pulled his hand back sharply, as if the wood burned him.
“It’s about next week,” he finally said. “The… the meeting.”
My heartbeat stuttered. He didn’t have to keep talking. I already knew I wasn’t going to like this.
Luca exhaled slowly through his nose, then met my eyes. “You have to come with us.”
I blinked. “Come with you where?”
“To the Alpha gathering,” he said gently. “Father expects you to attend.”
The word Father made my skin prickle.
The word Alpha made my stomach drop.
“No,” I said immediately. “Luca, absolutely not.”
He flinched, not because I raised my voice, but because the panic in it hit him first. His brows drew together as he took a small step closer, palms lowering but not quite reaching for me.
“Mira—”
“I can’t go there,” I snapped, trying to keep my breathing steady. It didn’t work. “I’m not— I’ve never even left the pack. I’m not meant to be paraded in front of—”
A memory slammed into me with no warning.
The collar.
The chain.
The thin humiliating dress that wasn’t meant to cover me but to just display me.
The boys in my past life pulling me along like a pet. Zane smirking when another Alpha touched my waist. Jax looking bored. Luca looking away.
My throat closed. I pressed a hand to my chest as if that could stop the squeezing.
Luca’s expression shifted instantly.
“Mira.” He stepped closer. “Hey, look at me.”
I shook my head, but he wasn’t having it.
His hand hovered near my arm—not touching, but close enough that I felt the warmth. “Please. Look at me.”
So I did.
His eyes were dark, tight, and not cold, not even close. They were soft, worried, almost aching with something he didn’t know how to express.
“If it were up to us,” he said quietly, “you wouldn’t go anywhere near that meeting. Not for anything.”
I swallowed hard.
“But it’s Alpha’s order.” His jaw tightened. “And we can’t defy him. Not directly.”
A sick feeling curled through me, but Luca wasn’t finished.
“We won’t let anything happen to you.” His voice dropped to a rough whisper. “Do you understand? You’ll be between us the entire time. No one will touch you. No one will even get close enough to breathe in your scent.”
My heartbeat slowed. Not by much. But enough to keep me from spiraling.
I let out a shaky breath. “I don’t like this.”
“I know,” he murmured. “I don’t either.”
Silence stretched, warm and uncomfortable. I could feel him watching me even when he looked away. The weight of everything unsaid settled between us like humidity.
Luca finally exhaled and moved toward the door. “I should let you get dressed.”
His hand closed around the doorknob but paused. His shoulders lifted in a small, nervous breath before he turned his head back toward me.
“Mira?”
My fingers tightened on my towel. “Yeah?”
His eyes softened in a way that made my chest flutter and ache at the same time.
“Thank you,” he said quietly. “For helping us during our rut.”
Heat rushed up my neck.
He looked down briefly, almost shy. “We needed you more than we realized. And I just…” He exhaled shakily. “I hope you don’t regret being there for us.”
I didn’t answer.
I couldn’t.
Because the way he looked at me… It didn’t feel like the past. Not even close.
It felt dangerously like something new.