CHAPTER 4: WHAT HE LOOKS FOR

Maren

I wonder if my father knows I have a face, or if he just sees a space where a son should have been.

He walks heavy, his boots digging into the dirt, while he shows off the Ashveil borders to Alpha Caius. I followed five steps behind them because I was told to. Not because my father wanted me there, but because Caius’s Beta made it a point to ask for the "Alpha’s daughter" to join.

My father, Aldric, didn't even look at me when he gave the order. He just looked through me.

"The timber in this sector brings in most of our trade," Aldric said. He pointed a thick finger toward the treeline. "We keep the patrols tight. No one gets in without me knowing. No one leaves without my word."

Caius didn't say much. He just watched. He had this way of looking at things... not like he wanted to own them, but like he was trying to figure out how they worked.

The wind picked up, smelling like pine and damp earth. My father kept talking about maps and numbers.

Aldric stopped to point out a bridge, and for a second, the space between us shifted. Caius slowed down. He didn't stop, but he let his pace drop until he was walking right next to me. He didn't look at me at first. He just looked at my father’s back.

"He walks like a man who thinks the ground owes him something," Caius said.

His voice was very quiet. I didn't think he was talking to me until I realized there was no one else around to hear him. I didn't say anything for a long time. I counted three heartbeats.

"Most men who own land do," I said.

I kept my eyes ahead. I didn't want to see the look on my father’s face if he caught me talking back to a guest.

Caius cut a look at me from the side of his eye. I could feel the heat of his gaze. It wasn't the way my father looked at me... like I was a broken tool. It was something else.

"Most Omegas don’t say things like that," Caius said.

"Most Omegas don’t get asked to walk territory reviews," I replied.

He let out a short breath. It wasn't a laugh, but it was close. "Fair point."

That was it. The whole talk lasted maybe thirty seconds. But my chest felt tight, like I had just run a mile. He had noticed. He had noticed the way my father walked, and he had noticed that I was thinking about it too. It was the first time in my life a man had spoken to me like I was actually standing there.

The sun was starting to go down by the time we got back to the main compound. My father went off to his office to drink and talk more business with the other Alphas. I went to the kitchen to help with the evening prep. My mother, Sera, was already there. She was cutting bread, but her hands were shaking just a little bit.

"He paid attention to you today," she said. She didn't look up from the loaf.

"He was being diplomatic, Mom," I said. I grabbed a bag of potatoes and started peeling. "He’s a guest. He has to be polite."

"Maren."

She stopped cutting and looked at me. Her eyes were full of something that looked a lot like fear. She sat down at the wooden table and patted the seat next to her. I sighed and sat.

"He wasn't being diplomatic," she whispered. "I saw the way he watched you when you came back through the gates. He wasn't looking at a daughter of a business partner. He was looking at you."

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked.

"I thought your father was the sun and the stars when he first came for me," she said. Her voice was very small. "He was so charming. He looked at me like I was the only girl in the world. He made me feel like I had a voice. That is how he got me here, Maren. That is how I ended up in this kitchen, waiting for a man who hasn't looked me in the eye in ten years."

I felt a cold shiver go down my back. "Caius isn't like Dad."

"How do you know?" she asked. "Because he’s handsome? Because he’s quiet? Power does things to men."

I didn't have an answer for her. I just nodded and went back to the potatoes. But her words stayed in my head, buzzing. Was Caius just a better actor than my father? Was this all a trap?

Later that evening, after the dishes were done and the house was quiet, I went out to the storage yard. I had to finish cataloging the herbs for the winter. It was boring work, but it was quiet. I liked the smell of the dried lavender and mint. It helped me think.

The yard was dark, lit only by a single lantern hanging from a post. I was counting bundles of rosemary when a shadow moved.

"Do you want this?"

I jumped, nearly dropping the herbs. Caius was standing near the gate. He didn't have a jacket on, even though the air was freezing. He looked bigger in the dark.

"Want what?" I asked. I tried to make my voice steady.

"The arrangement," he said. He walked closer, stopping just outside the circle of lantern light. "The mating. The move to Iron Ridge. Do you want it?"

I looked at him. Really looked at him. No one had ever asked me what I wanted.

"Does it change the outcome if I don't?" I asked.

I waited for him to get angry. That's what my father would do. He would tell me I was ungrateful. He would tell me I was lucky anyone wanted me at all.

Caius didn't get angry. He just stood there. His eyes were dark, but they weren't cold.

"That’s not an answer," he said.

"It’s the honest one," I said. "In this pack, Omegas don't get to 'want' things. We just do what we're told until we die. You know that. You're an Alpha. You're the one making the deal."

He took a step into the light. He looked at me for a long time. It wasn't the way a hunter looks at prey. It was more like... recognition. Like he saw someone he knew.

"I'm not your father, Maren," he said softly.

He didn't wait for me to say anything else. He just turned around and walked back toward the main house, his footsteps quiet on the gravel.

I stood there in the dark for a long time. My hands were still holding the rosemary, and the smell of it was everywhere. I wasn't thinking about the mating or the pack or my mother's warnings.

I was thinking about the fact that he asked. He asked me if I wanted it.