Chapter 3

After the locks changed, Adrian asked to collect the things he had left behind. I gave him a code valid only for Monday evening.

When I returned home on Monday evening, two suitcases stood outside my door.

Mason entered the code while Sienna stood behind him with a pillow. My last hope sank.

“Who gave you the code?”

“Adrian.” Mason lifted a suitcase. “Sienna works late, and rogue scents were reported near her studio. This house is in central territory with nightly patrols. She’ll be safer here.”

I blocked the doorway.

“I don’t agree.”

Sienna lowered her eyes. “Only two months. Once my assigned house is ready, I’ll leave. I won’t touch anything.”

“Last time, you promised you would only borrow the living room for one day.”

Her eyes reddened as she backed toward the elevator. Caleb reached out and stopped the doors from closing.

“She already checked out of the pack’s temporary residence. Where do you expect her to go now?”

I stared at Adrian in disbelief.

“Did anyone ask me before she moved out?”

Adrian placed a new access card on the shoe cabinet.

“I told her to move. We’re future mates. Once I become Alpha, this will be our home. I can decide who stays temporarily.”

This time, the absurdity was too complete for tears.

“My mother left this house to me. What exactly gives you the right to decide?”

Adrian’s expression hardened.

Sienna murmured that she could sleep on the sofa in her studio.

Mason immediately rebuked me. “The guest room has been empty. You would rather let her sleep at work than help her once?”

They pushed past me into my studio. Mason moved furniture while Caleb carried my models and drawings toward the balcony.

“Don’t touch those!”

I rushed forward to take a model from him.

Caleb’s elbow struck the desk. My two-week exhibition model crashed down, its acrylic walls shattering. I lunged to catch it and sliced my palm, dripping blood across the white surface.

Werewolves healed faster than humans, but pain remained. The scent of my blood spread through the room. Adrian’s wolf had to smell it.

Adrian caught my wrist and turned my palm toward the light.

“Hold still.”

He brought the first-aid kit, opened a packet of gauze, and pressed it against the cut.

“Keep that there. It should close soon.”

From the other room, Sienna called his name.

“Am I supposed to sleep on this? I can feel the springs.”

Adrian glanced toward her, then put my other hand over the gauze.

“Can you finish wrapping it? Everything’s in the box.”

Before I answered, he went back to her room and pressed a hand against the mattress.

“I’ll have another one delivered tomorrow.”

I held the gauze against my palm. He stayed with her while I opened the bandages myself.

Ten minutes later, Sienna knocked on the bedroom door wearing my silk nightgown.

“I’m sorry.” She touched the hem and looked down. “Adrian took it from your closet. He thought no one had ever worn it.”

It had been his birthday gift to me, one size too small. When I asked for an exchange, he said he was busy and told me to handle it.

Now it fit Sienna perfectly.

I looked at Adrian.

“When you bought it, who were you thinking about?”

He avoided my eyes and handed Sienna a cup of chamomile tea.

“It’s only a nightgown. Stop dragging her into everything.”

Then he warned me impatiently, “Sienna already feels uncomfortable enough. Don’t make things harder for her. I’ll have a new mattress delivered tomorrow.”

I laughed suddenly, even as my eyes turned red.

“Adrian, who is the guest in this house?”

His brows drew together. “Once Sienna’s studio is stable, she’ll move out. I’ll arrange our future too.”

His tone softened slightly.

“Come home early on Friday. I have something important to tell you.”

Sienna stood beside him with the tea in her hands and smiled at me.

“You have to be here, Nora.”

“Saturday morning,” I said.

Adrian looked at me. “What?”

“She and her things need to be out by Saturday morning.”

“Nora, I just told you we’ll talk on Friday.”

“I heard you. This is about my house.”

I picked up the access card he had left on the cabinet.

“And this stays with me. If she needs letting in, she can call you.”

He sighed. “Fine. We’ll sort it out on Friday.”

I put the card in my pocket and gathered the broken model into a box.

That night, I contacted a real estate agent. I asked her to list the entire house for rent and arrange viewings for Saturday afternoon.

Then I accepted a position with an exhibition design company in Harbor City and booked a late flight for Friday night.

My hands trembled when the payment went through, but I did not cancel it.

We had been friends for years before we started dating. Leaving Adrian meant giving up a future I had already begun to plan. But I could no longer picture myself living in it.