05

I had no idea how long he had been standing there. The corridor was silent except for the faint crackle of a distant fireplace and the steady rhythm of my own heartbeat.

I should have stepped back into my room and closed the door. Instead, neither of us moved. It felt as though the world had narrowed until only the two of us remained.

Alpha Jacques finally broke the silence, rubbing the back of his neck with a sigh. "Elsie... I’m going to be completely honest with you. I’ve spent the last three days trying to stay as far away from you as humanly possible."

Hearing those words should frighten me, yet they brought an unexpected sense of relief because I was no longer carrying this impossible confusion alone.

"I know," I whispered. "I've been doing exactly the same thing to you. Every time I hear your voice in a room, I literally turn around and walk the other way."

"It’s not working, is it?" he asked, a faint, humorless smile touching his lips. "Every time we end up in the same space, it feels like... I don't know. Like the air gets pulled right out of the room.

“Ever since you picked me up at the airport, nothing has felt normal. I came back to Moonridge expecting to confront old memories, not to create dangerous new ones." I said.

Alpha Jacques lowered his eyes for a moment, his broad shoulders shifting as he leaned back against the paneled wall. "When my mate died, I convinced myself that the part of my heart capable of feeling anything beyond duty was just gone. I’ve spent years just existing. For Willow, for William, for the pack. I never allowed myself to imagine another future. But having you here... it’s completely upended everything I thought I knew about myself. I love you, Elsie."

His honesty caught me completely off guard. I never expected the powerful Alpha everyone respected to look so conflicted, almost as though he was apologizing simply for feeling something he never wanted.

"Alpha, this is crazy," I said, my voice trembling slightly as I looked up at him. "You’re Willow’s father. You’re the Alpha. You deserve peace after everything you’ve been through, and the last thing you need is a distraction like me. None of it makes sense."

"I know it doesn't," he murmured, taking a slow step toward me. "Believe me, I know."

We stood only a few steps apart, yet the distance suddenly felt impossible to ignore. Jacques slowly reached his hand out toward me, stopping his fingers just an inch away from mine. He didn't close the gap. He just waited, silently asking permission without speaking a single word.

I didn't step away. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding and tilted my hand forward. Our fingertips brushed, sending the same strange, electric warmth rushing through me that I had been trying so desperately to forget.

This time, neither of us pulled back. Instead, our fingers slid together, locking in a firm grip as though they had always belonged that way. I lifted my eyes to meet his, and for one suspended moment, neither of us seemed capable of remembering why this was wrong.

He lifted his free hand and carefully cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing over my cheekbone. His touch was so gentle that it almost felt unreal. My breath caught before I even realized it.

"Elsie," he whispered, his eyes dropping to my lips. "If you want me to walk away, tell me right now, and I swear I will."

"I don't think I want you to stop," I breathed, my voice barely audible in the quiet hallway.

Instead of drawing back, I found myself leaning closer into his warmth. Jacques closed the remaining distance with painful hesitation, giving me every last chance to change my mind.

When our lips finally met, it was nothing more than a soft peck, tentative, uncertain, and incredibly sweet, yet it carried enough raw emotion to leave me trembling.

We slowly parted, only to find ourselves searching each other’s faces as though confirming the moment truly happened. Neither of us spoke. The silence said everything words could not.

Without thinking, I rose slightly on my toes, wrapped my free hand around the back of his neck, and returned the kiss.

This one lingered just a little longer, deeper and hungrier, both breathing a little harder than before. Reality finally began creeping back into my mind. We should not be here. We should not be feeling any of this.

I opened my mouth, cleared my throat softly and said through the kiss. "Alpha, we need to stop this before we make a mistake we can’t undo. If someone sees us—"

"Dad? What the hell is going on here?" A familiar voice suddenly cut through the silence from farther down the corridor.

My entire body stiffened into ice. Jacques turned at exactly the same moment I did, his arm instinctively moving slightly in front of me.

Standing at the end of the hallway, bathed in the dim light of the stairwell, was William. A small leather travel bag hung loosely from his right hand, as though he had only just returned to the manor to collect something he forgot before clearing out for the week.

His eyes remained fixed on us, wide with absolute shock. Then, slowly, his gaze fell to our still-joined hands. Every single trace of color drained from his face. The corridor became so quiet that I could hear the frantic rushing of my own blood.

Alpha Jacques immediately let go of my hand, but the movement came far too late.

"William," Jacques said, his deep voice remarkably steady, though I could feel the sudden, rigid tension radiating from his frame. "It's not what it looks like. Let's go down to the study and talk about this."

"Not what it looks like?" William repeated, his voice dangerously low, a bitter, breathless laugh escaping his throat. He dropped the travel bag, and it hit the hardwood floor with a thud. "I just saw my father kissing my... kissing Elsie. In the middle of the night. What exactly is it supposed to look like?"

No denial felt possible. William didn't say another word. He simply stared at the two of us with an expression I couldn't fully read, a devastating mixture of utter disbelief, betrayal, and heartbreak.

In that crushing silence, I realized my worst nightmare had already become reality. We had crossed a line, the secret was out, and nothing inside Alpha Manor would ever be the same again.