84

ALEXANDER

Claude didn’t bother looking up right away when I stepped into his office. His voice came flat and unimpressed when he spoke.

“You’ve finally decided I’m worth listening to.”

I ignored the jab for now, letting my eyes wander across the space. The room was exactly as I remembered it, same worn leather chair, same polished dark desk, even the same slightly crooked painting on the wall.

It had been months since I’d been here, but Claude wasn’t one for change. He clung to the familiar like a man hanging onto a rope over a cliff. Every item here spoke of his need for control and stability, right down to the way his pens were aligned in a neat row.

That alone told me something important, he wouldn’t try anything with Alina. Change wasn’t in his nature. And she had already said there was nothing between them. I should believe her. I should take her at her word. But the knot in my chest refused to loosen, no matter how much logic I threw at it.

“I’m here to apologize.” The words came out before I could stop them.

I hadn’t planned to say that, hell, I’d been rehearsing something else entirely on my way here but apparently my mouth had its own agenda.

Claude’s head finally lifted. His dark eyes, same as our father’s, locked on me, and I caught the flicker of doubt there. A hint of surprise lay there. He genuinely didn’t know what I was talking about, and for some reason, that only made me feel worse.

“I’m not following,” he said slowly.

I rubbed the back of my neck. My paranoia had been clawing at me ever since the last few days went to hell. Maybe it was the attack from my mother’s side of the family, her relatives trying to take my pack from me. Maybe it was the way the people I called family were starting to feel like strangers. Either way, I’d let it get to me.

“For everything,” I admitted. “For even thinking you’d try something with Alina.”

It made no sense, the weight of that worry. She was my mate, but I’d never been the type to romanticize the idea. Finding her had always been a practical matter in my mind, good genetics for the future heir, no matter her lineage or status. The fairytale crap wasn’t for me. I was supposed to be logical about it. Calculated.

But ever since she stepped into my life, logic had taken a backseat.

“I shouldn’t have gone into her room when you weren’t there,” Claude said after a pause, voice low but steady. “And I shouldn’t have stayed as long as I did. It won’t happen again.”

“It was selfish of me to stop you two from talking,” I admitted.

When she first arrived, Claude had been the one she warmed up to first. He had that easy charm, the kind that made people drop their guard. I’d always been aware he had that advantage over me, but I’d never stopped to think how it must have felt for him when I shut that door.

We weren’t strangers to betrayal. Our father had killed my mother, and Claude’s mother had recently tried to kill him. She’d abandoned him as a child, only to come back with blood on her hands. Our family history was a mess. The kind that left scars you didn’t always see.

It was because of that history we trusted each other more than anyone else. We had always been each other’s constant, the reason our pack was as strong as it was. I hated that I’d let a woman—even my mate—become a wedge between us.

“I have no right to tell you who to be friends with,” I said quietly.

“And Alina? Does she get the same freedom?” Claude’s tone sharpened.

I shot him a look, but he didn’t flinch. He never did.

“It’s important she doesn’t know too much,” I told him. “If she ever leaves—”

“But you don’t plan on letting her go.”

“She’s mine.” The words came out sharper than I intended, more possessive than I liked.

I wasn’t holding her prisoner, but I wasn’t letting her walk away either. She had more protection here than anyone before her in these walls. That was a fact.

Men in my family had a history of destroying their mates, whether through neglect or obsession. Most of those women ended up dead. That wouldn’t be me and Alina. That was the reason I’d kept my distance at first, because if my enemies caught wind of how much she mattered, they’d use her against me. They’d torture her, break her, kill her just to get to me.

I could still see her in my mind, looking up at me with those soft, heated eyes, trusting me completely without realizing what that trust could cost her. That kind of trust was dangerous. I wanted her badly, and I didn’t exactly hide it.

“Yes, we all know that,” Claude said, as if reading my thoughts. “And you know that’s not safe for her. She could easily become your weakness.”

“She won’t be.” I met his gaze with conviction.

He studied me for a long moment, then gave a single nod. “I hope so. I like her too much to watch her end up dead.”

A low growl rumbled in my chest at the thought. I didn’t like the way those words sat in my gut.

“And,” he added with a pointed look, “she’s the one who finally made you get rid of Keisha. That woman was always more trouble than she was worth.”

“Keisha is nothing,” I muttered.

“Exactly. Which is why she was a problem,” Claude shot back. “You didn’t think her husband would just shrug and congratulate you when he found out you’d been sleeping with his wife, did you?”

“Good thing she’s smart enough not to tell him,” I replied, wanting this conversation over with. Keisha had been out of my mind the moment she was out of my sight.

“My focus is Alina—”

“And that’s our problem,” Claude interrupted. “She’s becoming your main focus when it should be our goal. Look at what happened with that mutt who came here. For whatever reason he showed up, the point is you can’t let her come first. Not if we’re going to finish what we started.”