Chapter 16

JULIAN

I sat at the head of the conference table, listening to my executives explain why my company was falling apart.

Two major sponsors pulled their funding that morning, three deals were on the verge of collapse, and one investor threatened to walk if the Croft Group failed to meet its next payment deadline.

“Okay, so what exactly are you telling me?” I asked, dropping the report onto the table. “That the whole company is suddenly falling apart because two sponsors pulled out? We’ve dealt with worse than this.”

Nobody rushed to agree with me.

“We could’ve handled the sponsors,” one director said. “The problem is everything else. The Westbridge contract is stalled, the Sterling negotiations are dead, and nobody followed up with our European partners. They’ve been waiting on approvals for weeks.”

“Then why the hell am I hearing about this now?”

“Because Lyra used to handle most of those follow-ups.”

I stared at him. “And? We have an entire department dedicated to this stuff. Are you telling me nobody else knows how to do their damn job?”

The director opened another folder and pushed it toward me. “Lyra personally managed these accounts. She kept the partners updated, settled disputes before they reached the board, and made sure your approvals were ready when you needed them. When she left, those responsibilities weren’t reassigned properly.”

I flipped through the documents, growing more annoyed with every page. Her name appeared everywhere.

Contracts I barely remembered discussing, negotiations I assumed were still on track, problems that apparently disappeared before they ever reached my desk.

How the hell did one woman end up handling so much?

“She was supposed to assist me,” I said. “Not run the entire company.”

“She did more than assist you, Julian. She kept things moving when you were too busy to deal with them yourself. She also raised concerns about several of these accounts before she left.”

I stopped turning the pages.

“She what?”

“She warned you. More than once, according to the records.”

I remembered those conversations. Lyra stood in my office with a tablet in her hand, explaining some contract or another while I answered emails and told her to deal with it. Back then, I considered it part of her job.

She was good at fixing problems, so I never questioned how those problems kept getting fixed.

Apparently, I should’ve paid attention.

“So now you’re blaming me because she walked out?” I asked.

“I’m telling you where things went wrong. The board needs to know you can get this company back on track.”

Another director cleared his throat. “You have thirty days to stabilize operations and recover the confidence of our investors. If you fail, we’ll vote on removing you as executive head. Your position as Alpha will also be brought before the council.”

I stared at him, waiting for somebody to remind him who the hell he was talking to. Nobody did.

The meeting ended with a stack of reports, a deadline, and several executives who suddenly seemed reluctant to meet my eyes.

I left the room furious. My staff were incompetent, my directors were questioning my authority, and everyone seemed eager to dump their failures in my lap.

But inside the elevator, I opened the folder again.

Lyra’s notes filled the margins. She’d flagged risks, suggested solutions, and listed people I needed to call before certain agreements expired. She’d even prepared reminders for meetings I never attended.

I gripped the folder harder.

She hadn’t just helped me manage the Croft Group. She’d been holding a damn lot of it together, and I’d been too arrogant to notice.

The worst part? I’d sent her away believing I could replace her without missing a beat.

Now the company was proving me wrong.

When I got home, my head was pounding. All I wanted was a drink and some damn peace, but Vera was waiting in the living room, looking way too pleased to see me.

“Hey, babe.” She got up from the couch. “You look exhausted. What happened?”

“Nothing I feel like talking about.”

She ignored the warning in my voice. “I heard about the sponsors. I can reach out to a few people tomorrow, see if I can get them to reconsider. It might help, right? We’ll figure this out.”

I dropped my keys onto the console. “Since when do you know anything about my business?”

Her smile faded. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. All these deals are falling apart, people are pulling their money, and apparently nobody knows what the hell is going on. Were you aware of any of it?”

“How would I know, Julian? I don’t manage your company.”

“But you were around, weren’t you? You saw how much Lyra was doing. Did it ever occur to you to mention that maybe I should pay attention before everything went to hell?”

Vera folded her arms. “Hold on. Don’t dump this on me. Lyra worked for you, and you were the one who let her go. I didn’t tell you to push her away.”

My jaw clenched. “You think I don’t know that?”

“Then stop acting like everyone else is responsible for what happened.”

I let out a sharp breath and turned away. “You don’t understand what Lyra meant to me.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

Vera went quiet.

I hated that silence. I hated the way she looked at me, like she’d just caught me admitting something I wasn’t supposed to say.

“Not that I need her,” I added. “She’s replaceable. I’ll find someone else to handle the work.”

“Then why are you so upset?” she asked. “Julian, she’s with Zade now. You can’t keep chasing her. You’re going to wreck everything you have left.”

“Don’t say his damn name.”

She reached for my arm, and I shoved her hand away.

“Stop talking about Lyra like she’s gone for good!”

Vera stumbled back a step. Her expression changed, and she slowly lowered her hand.

I barely noticed. My mind was stuck on Lyra walking away from me, choosing Zade without even looking back.

She hadn’t asked what I thought. She hadn’t waited for me to change my mind.

She’d simply decided I no longer mattered.

That was what I couldn’t stand. Not the company falling apart, not even the fact that she’d left me.

She’d made that choice without me.

And somehow, I still couldn’t accept that she was free to make it.

Elder Thorne showed up at my residence that evening without so much as a warning. I was halfway through a glass of whiskey when the staff announced him, and honestly, I almost told them to send him away.

The last thing I needed was another old man showing up to lecture me about my failures.

Still, I let him in.

“Quite a mess you’ve got yourself into, Julian,” he said, settling into the chair across from me.

I took a slow sip. “If you came here to gloat, save it. I’m not in the mood.”

“Gloat? No. I’m simply pointing out the obvious. Your investors are losing faith in you, your debts are piling up, and the council is already discussing whether you should remain Alpha.”

My grip tightened around the glass. “You seem awfully interested in my problems.”

“Because I can fix them.”

That got my attention.

Thorne leaned forward, his expression unreadable. “I can restore your standing, settle your debts, and make certain the council backs off. But I need something in return.”

“Let me guess. You want my loyalty?”

“I want you to bind Lyra’s soul to yours before your thirty-day separation period expires.”

For a second, I thought I’d misheard him.

“Bind her soul?” I set my glass down. “What the hell does that even mean?”

“It means creating a connection she cannot simply walk away from. She may remain with Zade, live under his roof, and insist she wants nothing to do with you. The bond will still exist.”

“And she’ll come back to me?”

“I never said that.”

His answer pissed me off more than it should’ve.

“So what’s the point?”

“The point is that she won’t be entirely free of you.”

I stared at him. That wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, but it wasn’t nothing, either.

“And what does this little miracle cost?”

“You’ll learn the details when you meet the person performing the ritual. You can walk away before then, but once we begin, there will be no turning back.”

Every sensible part of me told me to throw him out. Whatever he was offering, it sounded dangerous as hell.

Then I thought about the board threatening my position, the debts I couldn’t cover, and Lyra leaving me for Zade like I meant absolutely nothing.

I wasn’t about to let another man keep what belonged to me.

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

Thorne rose from his chair. “Then come with me. There’s someone you need to meet.”

We drove beyond the main pack territory to an isolated property surrounded by tall trees and iron fencing. Inside, the air smelled of herbs and smoke. An elderly woman sat beside a long wooden table, her silver hair braided down her back.

“Mother Agatha,” Thorne introduced her. “This is Julian Croft.”

She barely acknowledged me before turning her attention to Thorne. After hearing the details, she finally faced me.

“You want to bind a woman’s soul because she chose another man?”

“She’ll understand eventually,” I replied.

“No,” she said flatly. “You simply believe your desire matters more than her choice.”

I didn’t answer.

“The ritual requires three things,” she continued. “Lyra’s blood, the life force of her unborn child, and your remaining Alpha power.”

My entire body went still.

“Her child?” I stared at her. “She is not even pregnant?”

Mother Agatha leaned forward, her cold eyes fixed on mine.

“Now you know the price, Alpha Croft. Do you still want Lyra badly enough to pay it?”