Chapter Eleven: The Cost of Living

Asha stared at her phone screen until the display timed out and turned black.

Five hundred dollars. In the grand scheme of the universe, it was a laughable amount of money. But to her, it was the wall standing between her survival and total ruin.

She shoved her phone into her back pocket and began pacing the rug again. She couldn't sit here like a helpless heroine waiting for a tragic fate. She was a woman who had worked two jobs since she was seventeen to keep her head above water.

She walked over to the tea table and picked up the heavy silver key Kadence had left behind.

He left this for a reason, Asha thought, her dark eyes narrowing. He wanted me to know I’m not a total prisoner. So let's see how much freedom I actually have.

She stepped up to the massive oak door, inserted the key into the lock, and turned it. The heavy iron bolt slid back with a crisp, satisfying clack.

Asha pulled the door open an inch.

Standing right outside in the wide stone corridor were two broad-shouldered pack guards dressed in tactical dark gray uniforms. The moment the door creaked, both guards turned around, their hands instantly dropping to the hilts of the silver blades strapped to their belts.

"Miss," the older guard said, his voice flat and unyielding. "You are to remain inside the suite."

Asha stepped into the doorway, crossing her arms and leaning against the frame. "Your Alpha gave me this key himself. He said I wasn't a prisoner."

"You aren't a prisoner," the younger guard countered, his eyes sweeping over her with a mixture of suspicion and strict duty. "You are under maximum security protection. The corridor is off-limits by order of the Pack Council."

"I don't care about your council," Asha said, her voice rising with sharp, city-honed edge. "I need my purse. My coat and my bag were left at The Velvet Hide during the attack. My ID, my credit cards, and my house keys are in that bag. I need someone to go get it, or I need my phone connected to a charger so I can make a bank transfer."

The guards exchanged a brief, dismissive glance.

"We don't run errands for humans," the older guard said bluntly. "Get back inside."

Asha felt a hot surge of anger flare in her throat. She stepped entirely out of the doorway, standing her ground against two men who easily towered over her by a foot.

"Listen to me, you glorified security guard," Asha spat, her eyes flashing dangerously. "I have bills to pay in the real world. A world where people don't shift into giant dogs and live in marble castles! If my rent isn't paid by tonight, I lose my home! Do you understand that?!"

The younger guard scoffed, taking a step closer to physically push her back into the room. "Get back in the room, human, before we..."

"Before you do what?"

A low, terrifying voice vibrated down the stone hallway like thunder before a strike.

The two guards instantly stiffened, snapping their heads to the left.

Kadence was walking up the central staircase. He had stripped off his suit jacket, rolling the sleeves of his dark dress shirt up to his elbows, revealing thick, corded forearms laced with faint scars. His tie was loosened, his hair slightly disheveled, and his golden eyes were fixed entirely on the younger guard's raised hand.

The guard swallowed hard, immediately taking two steps back and dropping his chin to his chest. "Alpha. We were just enforcing the council's perimeter order."

Kadence didn't look at the guards as he stepped between them. His aura pressed down so hard on the narrow hallway that the torches mounted on the stone walls flickered violently.

He stopped right in front of Asha, his tall frame blocking the guards from her sight completely.

"What is the problem?" Kadence asked, his raspy voice dropping into that dark, quiet tone that made her skin tingle with electric static.

Asha looked up at him, refusing to let her posture break. "The problem is that your guards think my life outside these walls is a joke. I have a life, Kadence. An apartment, bills, a landlord who is going to throw my things onto the street by tonight if I don't pay five hundred dollars."

Kadence stared down at her face. He saw the faint, dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep, the tight strain around her mouth, and the sheer, agonizing effort it was taking for her to stand here and fight for five hundred dollars while standing inside a mansion worth forty million.

A deep, strange ache pulled at his heart, a sudden, sharp pang of guilt that made his wolf whimper in his chest.

She has been fighting alone, his wolf whispered softly. No pack. No family. No protection.

"You don't need to worry about your rent," Kadence said quietly.

"Yes, I do!" Asha snapped, her voice cracking slightly with frustration. "Because unlike you, I don't have a castle or an army! If I lose my apartment, I have nowhere to go! I am not going to stay here and be your house pet while my life rots!"

Kadence reached into his front pocket, pulled out his leather wallet, and extracted a sleek, unbranded black card. He held it out to her.

Asha stared at the card in his large, scarred hand, her jaw clenching tightly.

"I don't want your money," Asha said, her voice dropping into a razor-thin whisper filled with fierce, unbroken pride. "I don't want your charity, Kadence."

"It's not charity," Kadence said, taking a step closer, his eyes locking onto hers with intense seriousness. "Your bag and your belongings are being retrieved right now. Ronan went back to the border club an hour ago to secure the perimeter and fetch your things. He will be here with your purse before noon."

Asha blinked, caught completely off guard. "He... he went to get my stuff?"

"Yes," Kadence said, setting the card down on the small wooden ledge beside the door anyway. "And as long as you are under this roof, your financial obligations in the human district will be taken care of. Not as a gift. But because I pulled you out of your life and put you in danger."

Asha looked from the black card up to his dark, conflicted hazel eyes.

She wanted to scream at him. She wanted to slap his hand away and tell him she didn't need his protection. But beneath his cold, stoic Alpha mask, she saw the genuine, heavy weight of responsibility he was carrying.

"I am paying you back," Asha said, her dark eyes flashing. "Every single cent."

The corner of Kadence’s lips twitched, a subtle, almost invisible ghost of a smile that vanished as quickly as it came.

"I would expect nothing less from you, Asha," Kadence said softly.

He turned to the two guards, his voice instantly snapping back into icy Alpha authority. "Go down to the lower courtyard and report to Ronan for perimeter duty. I am standing guard here myself."

The two guards bowed quickly, clearly relieved to escape his crushing pressure, and hurried down the stairs.

Kadence turned back to Asha, stepping into the doorway of her suite.

"Go inside and sit down," Kadence said, his voice lower now, almost gentle. "Your belongings will be here soon."

Asha stood in the doorway for a long moment, staring at him. The tension between them hadn't dissolved, but the sharp, murderous edge had softened into something deeper, heavier, and far more dangerous.

"You're an arrogant bastard, Kadence," Asha whispered, stepping back into her room.

"I know," Kadence replied quietly, pulling the door until it was resting on the latch, leaving himself standing guard in the silent stone hall.