PACK BUSINESS

CHAPTER 13

"You're coming with me."

Roman slid a formal invitation across the table before I'd even sat down.

I looked at it, then at him.

"Coming where?"

"An allied-pack gathering. Three days from now."

I picked up the invitation and glanced at the embossed seal.

"That's not really an invitation if you're just telling me."

"It's not optional."

He didn't look up from the papers beside him.

"You'll need to be presented properly. Blackthorn needs to appear stable."

I set the invitation down.

"Presented?"

Roman finally looked at me.

"So I'm going to be displayed like evidence?"

"That's not what I said."

"It's what you meant."

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Then something shifted in his expression.

Not anger.

Recalculation.

As though he were hearing his own words from someone else's perspective for the first time.

"Fine," he said.

"Fine?"

"You choose the dress."

I stared at him.

"That's it?"

"What else?"

"I don't know. I expected more of a fight."

One corner of his mouth lifted.

"You made your point."

His voice was almost amused.

"I'm not incapable of hearing one."

Apparently, that was Roman's version of compromise.

I decided to take the win.

"How many packs are coming?"

"Six. Maybe seven, depending on travel."

"That's a lot of strangers deciding what they think of me."

"They'll be deciding what they think of Blackthorn."

He paused.

"You're part of that now, whether either of us likes it."

I studied him.

"You're taking this more seriously than you're letting on."

"I take everything seriously."

"Not like this."

I gestured toward the stack of notes on the table.

There were more papers there than I'd seen him prepare for anything since I'd arrived.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing that concerns you yet."

"That's not reassuring."

"It wasn't meant to be."

He reached for a folded guest list.

I leaned over before he could pull it away.

Most of the names meant nothing to me.

Territories I'd never visited.

Alphas I'd never met.

Then one name caught my eye.

Kase Thorne.

I didn't recognize it.

But Roman did.

His fingers stopped against the paper.

His jaw tightened.

It was quick.

Almost imperceptible.

But I'd learned enough about him lately to notice.

"Who's Kase Thorne?"

"An Alpha."

Roman pulled the list toward himself and folded it before I could see anything else.

"That tells me almost nothing."

"It tells you enough."

"Roman."

"It's pack business."

His voice had changed.

Colder.

More controlled.

The warmth from a moment ago disappeared behind the careful walls I was beginning to recognize.

"Nothing you need to worry about."

"You went rigid the second I said his name."

I held his gaze.

"That's not nothing."

He didn't answer.

Instead, he set the folded list aside, deliberately, as though putting the paper away could put the subject away with it.

"Did something happen between you two?"

"History."

One word.

A door closing.

"That's not an explanation."

"It's the one you're getting."

I crossed my arms.

"You just told me I'm going to represent Blackthorn at this gathering."

"Yes."

"Then I think I'm allowed to know if there's a reason I should be nervous."

Something flickered across his face.

Not fear.

Not exactly.

But enough tension to tell me the answer mattered.

"He's ambitious," Roman said at last.

"That's hardly a crime."

"No."

His expression hardened.

"But he's tested boundaries before."

"Territorial ones?"

"Those too."

I waited.

Roman's gaze dropped briefly to the table.

"Personal ones."

My stomach tightened.

"Personal how?"

"Mira."

"Roman."

He exhaled slowly.

"He'll be watching you at the gathering."

"Why?"

"Because you're new to Blackthorn."

"That doesn't explain why he'd care about me."

"No."

His eyes met mine.

"It doesn't."

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then his voice lowered.

"I'd rather you know he's watching than walk into that room unaware."

"Watching me for what?"

"An opening."

The word sent a chill through me.

"What kind of opening?"

"Any kind."

He leaned back slightly.

"Kase has a habit of testing people until he finds where they're weakest."

"And you think I'm his target?"

"I think you'll attract attention."

"Because I'm carrying your heir?"

"Because you're standing beside me."

The answer came too quickly.

I went still.

Roman seemed to realize what he'd said.

His expression shifted.

Then he continued, more carefully.

"You're part of Blackthorn's future now. Some people will see that as an opportunity."

I looked at him.

"And what do you see?"

His eyes held mine.

"Someone I have a responsibility to protect."

Something about the way he said it made my chest tighten.

Responsibility.

That was the word.

Safe.

Practical.

Except his voice hadn't sounded practical.

Not entirely.

"There's more you're not saying," I said.

"There always is."

A faint smile touched his mouth, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"You'll have to trust that I have my reasons."

"That's a lot to ask."

"I'm aware."

We sat in silence.

The folded guest list lay between us.

Kase Thorne's name was no longer visible, but somehow it seemed to occupy the entire room.

I studied Roman's face.

Whatever history existed between those two Alphas, he wasn't ready to tell me.

Not yet.

And I had the uncomfortable feeling that I wouldn't have to wait long to discover it.

Roman reached for the invitation.

"Just stay close to me at the gathering."

I looked at him.

"Why?"

He hesitated.

For the first time since we'd started talking, he seemed genuinely uncertain about what to say.

When he finally answered, his voice had changed.

No strategy.

No Alpha authority.

Something quieter.

"Whatever happens."

I waited.

He didn't explain.

But the words stayed with me.

Whatever happens.

Not if something happened.

Whatever.

I looked down at the invitation in my hands.

Three days.

Six or seven allied packs.

A room full of Alphas who would be watching me.

And one name that had changed Roman's entire demeanor the moment I'd spoken it.

Kase Thorne.

I had thought this gathering was about appearances.

About proving that Blackthorn was stable.

About showing the other packs that Roman's arrangement with me was working exactly as planned.

Now I wasn't so sure.

Because whatever history lived behind Kase Thorne's name, Roman clearly expected it to follow him into that room.

And for the first time, I realized I wasn't simply walking into a political gathering.

I was walking straight into Roman's past.