CHAPTER 6: FIRST DAY

CHAPTER 6: FIRST DAY

I walked into Thorn Tower as someone new. The receptionist didn't recognize me. Neither did my coworkers. But he did. Oh, how he did.

The lobby was already bustling at 7:55 AM, employees streaming toward elevators with coffee cups and briefcases. I stepped through the revolving doors and the world shifted.

My heels clicked against the marble floor a confident, rhythmic sound that announced my presence before anyone looked up. The navy sheath dress moved with me, hugging every curve I'd hidden for years. My hair, loose and flowing, caught the overhead lights with each step, the auburn highlights gleaming like hidden fire.

No glasses. No bun. No frumpy clothes swallowing my frame.

I held my head high. Shoulders back. Eyes forward.

And I walked toward the reception desk like I owned the building.

Miranda was on the phone. She glanced up automatically, ready with her professional greeting, then stopped. Her eyes went wide. The phone slipped from her fingers and clattered against the desk.

"Can I help…" She squinted at me, head tilting. Recognition flickered. Confusion. More recognition. "Wait. Sera?"

I smiled. "Good morning, Miranda."

Her jaw dropped so fast I heard it click. "Oh my GOD."

"Close your mouth, dear. You'll catch flies."

She was already standing, leaning over the desk to stare at me like I'd grown a second head. "Sera? SERA Sera? The Sera who came in here three days ago, looking like" She gestured vaguely at her own frumpy outfit. "THAT Sera?"

"The very same."

"Holy SHIT."

Her outburst drew attention. Heads turned. Conversations stalled. By the time I reached the executive elevator, at least a dozen people were staring, whispering, pulling out phones.

I stepped into the elevator and let the doors close on their shocked faces.

Liora was eating it up.

The elevator opened onto the executive floor, and I immediately understood why they called it that. Glass offices, modern art, a waiting area that looked like it belonged in a design magazine. And everywhere, people stopped what they were doing to stare at the woman stepping off the elevator.

I'd made it approximately ten steps when Lyra Thorn exploded out of a side office.

"Holy shit."

I stopped. "Good morning to you, too."

She circled me like a shark, eyes raking over every detail. Hair. Face. Dress. Heels. Hair again. "You're the stray my brother adopted?"

I extended my hand, fighting a smile. "I'm Sera. And I prefer 'rescue' to 'stray.'"

Lyra stared at my hand for half a second, then burst out laughing. The sound was huge, genuine, echoing off the glass walls. She grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously.

"I like you already. I like you SO much already." She pulled me into a hug that stole my breath. "Oh, this is going to be FUN. Do you know how boring it is around here? Kaelen's all brooding and serious 24/7. You're exactly what we need."

"Lyra." A voice behind us. Deep. Controlled.

We both turned.

Kaelen stood in the doorway of his office, and the sight of him stole every thought from my head.

He was devastating in a charcoal suit that fit him like it had been painted on. Dark hair swept back. Silver-gray eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my skin tingle from ten feet away.

But it was his expression that stopped my heart.

He was frozen. Completely, utterly frozen, one hand still on his doorframe, the other hanging at his side. His eyes traveled over me slowly, achingly slowly, taking in every change. The hair. The face. The dress. The curves the dress couldn't hide. The legs and heels made endless.

His nostrils flared.

He was scenting me, I realized. Drawing in the new me; jasmine and vanilla from my perfume, but underneath that, something uniquely mine. Something his wolf would recognize.

His hands clenched at his sides.

"Lyra." His voice was rough. "Give us a moment."

Lyra looked between us, a grin spreading across her face. "Oh, I wouldn't miss this for…"

"Now, Lyra."

She winked at me and retreated, dragging two other employees with her. The executive floor emptied with remarkable speed, leaving just the two of us standing in the sudden silence.

Kaelen still hadn't moved from his doorway.

I forced myself to walk toward him. Each step felt like wading through water, the air between us growing thicker, heavier, charged with something I couldn't name.

I stopped a few feet away. Close enough to see the pulse jumping in his throat. Close enough to smell him, winter forest, cedar, that electric thing that made my skin feel too tight.

"Good morning, Alpha Thorn." My voice came out steady. Miraculously steady.

His eyes met mine.

Electricity crackled. The world fell away, the office, the city beyond the windows, everything except this man and the way he was looking at me like I was the answer to a question he'd been asking his whole life.

Raw want. Barely controlled. Burning in those silver depths before he slammed a mask down over it.

"Ms. Moonhollow." His voice was rougher than I'd ever heard it. "My office. Now."

He turned and walked inside, leaving the door open.

I followed.

The door clicked shut behind me, and suddenly we were alone, just him, me, and the tension that had been building since the moment we met.

He stood behind his desk, but he wasn't sitting. Wasn't pretending this was a normal business meeting. His hands gripped the back of his chair, knuckles white, as if he needed something to hold onto.

I stayed by the door, giving him space. Giving myself space.

"You changed." His voice was still rough.

"I did."

"Why?"

I considered lying. Considered a dozen professional responses. Instead, I told him the truth.

"Because I spent five years making myself small for a man who never deserved me. Because I walked into this building three days ago looking like someone who'd given up. Because I have a son to fight for and an ex-husband to destroy and a life to build." I lifted my chin. "Because I'm done hiding."

Something shifted in his expression. The mask cracked, just slightly, letting me see what lay beneath.

Awe. Hunger. And something terrifyingly like worship.

"You're going to kill them," he said quietly. "Aren't you?"

"I'm going to do more than that." I met his silver eyes. "I'm going to make them wish they'd never been born."

The words hung between us, heavy with promise.

Kaelen moved then. Came around the desk, slow and deliberate, giving me time to retreat. I didn't. He stopped inches from me, close enough that I had to tilt my head back to meet his eyes.

"You have no idea what you're doing to me," he murmured. "Walking in here like this. Looking at me like that. Saying things like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you're already mine and you don't even know it yet."

My heart stuttered.

He reached up slowly, so slowly, and touched my hair. Just the ends, just barely, but the sensation shot through me like lightning.

"I've been patient," he said. "I've given you space. I've watched you rebuild yourself from nothing, and every single day I've fallen more in love with you."

I couldn't breathe.

"But I need you to know something, Sera." His eyes held mine. "I'm not going to be patient forever. When you're ready, truly ready, I'm going to pursue you like the treasure you are. And I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure you never regret choosing me."

I should have run. Should have made excuses. Should have reminded him I was his employee, a mess, a mother, a woman still bleeding from wounds that hadn't healed.

Instead, I whispered: "What if I'm already ready?"

The control in his eyes snapped.

He kissed me then, not gently, not tentatively, but like a man claiming something he'd been starving for. And God help me, I kissed him back.