006 ~Unwanted guests~

Seline was ready before anyone else.

The clock read 6:45 in the morning, and she was fully dressed, standing in the entrance hall of a house that was about to stop being hers in any meaningful sense.

Somewhere between 3 a.m. and dawn, she decided that if this was happening then she was going to be the one already standing when it did not waiting to be caught off-guard.

The staff moved around her, everyone doing their thing. They replaced fresh flowers, scrubbed the floor till it reflected, even the reception rooms were thrown open for the first time since the last political performance Victor had required of her.

She watched them work and held her coffee with both hands and did not think about Friday... Today.

Victor appeared at the top of the stairs at seven, wearing his favorite Alpha jacket and performance. He looked at her in the entrance hall and a surprise, one quickly managed, flashed across his face.

“You’re up,” he said.

“I live here.”

"Whatever," He scoffed and came downstairs, straightening the cuff at his sleeve. “They arrive at nine and I want you visible.”

“Hmm... visible. I'll be visible.”

“damn the goddess, Selene! We discussed—”

“I heard you the first time.”

He held her gaze for a moment, looking for the crack in her composure he always looked for, the crack he never found.

He left for his study while she took her time to finish her coffee.

By Eight- thirty three, the low roll of heavy vehicles just outside the Ashfang mansion, the particular sound of serious money and serious power arriving without apology. Selene stood at the top of the entrance steps— visible, as instructed— with her hands clasped loosely in front of her and her face arranged into the expression she reserved for occasions that required her to be present without being real.

Victor stood beside her while their staff stood below, in their order of importance... Perfecting the performance this household knew how to stage too well.

The first car in Silverclaw pack colours, dark grey, with a silver insignia stopped.

The door opened and Damien stepped out. Despite mentally preparing for this moment, seeing him in the flesh after five years did something to her she hadn’t fully planned for.

He was bigger than she remembered. Broader through the shoulder, harder in the jaw, carrying himself with the weight of a man who had spent five years leading warriors and had let the work shape him into something formidable and quiet.

His eyes found hers immediately. They were dark and direct, carrying something she couldn’t read from this distance and wasn’t sure she wanted to.

Then he looked away like a man exercising control over where his gaze went, which was its own kind of message.

He feels it too, a piece of the ache that never left her chest. Good. Let him.

She bowed her head to greet him, like she was meant to and he returned it, making her heart skip a beat since she thought he would ignore her.

The second convoy arrived not long after the first one did in, deep green and black, the colours of Thorncrest pack. Ryker’s car door opened and he came out with the unhurried timing of a man who understood that the longer you made a room wait, the more of it you owned when you finally arrived.

Once outside the car, he smiled. Not at Victor or at the assembled staff, but at her.

It was the smile of someone who understood a private joke that only the two of them were in on, except Selene didn’t know the joke, which she suspected was entirely the point.

He looked exactly like she remembered and nothing like it at the same time. His sharp face, same dangerous ease in his own body, same quality of attention that made you feel uncomfortably seen, were not so easy to ignore.

He was still beautiful and she hated it. So much, she bit her tongue, hoping the pain will distract her from his alluring prescene, till he called to her.

“Luna Ashfang.” He said her title like he was tasting it for the first time, finding it interesting.

You're screwed Selene! The annoying high-pitched voice in her head screamed.

“Alpha Thorn.” She managed to keep her voice perfectly level even tho her insides were about to explode.

A creepy smile which stretched to his ear crossed his face before he moved inside.

Phew! She breathed a sigh of relief. With him gone, the madness in her head will calm down for now... Or so she thought till she the third convoy arrive.

She heard it before she saw it and felt it before any physical signal confirmed it.

Soon six SUV's in black and gold, the colours of Blackwood pack stopped and for a breath or two after, nothing moved.

Then the door opened and Kieran Blackwood stepped into the morning light. All of a sudden, the entrance hall, the driveway, the manicured grounds and everything on them seemed to make a collective, involuntary decision to rearrange themselves around him.

He was exactly as she’d broken and made him him up in her head from five years of trying to forget— tall, wearing a dark shirt that was left unbuttoned at the top, hot!

He looked at Victor first, stretched his hand and said something formally correct that she didn’t hear because her heart was beating too loud. How it managed to stay in the confines of her chest till the moment passed, she had no idea.

Then he turned and his eyes found her.

They were grey, darker than she’d remembered. She couldn't think or breathe. And for about two seconds, nobody in the world moved.

Then something happened in his face, something small— the way earthquakes were small at the surface and enormous underneath. His jaw tightened by a fraction, and he looked away.

She breathed... Barely.

"Please everyone, come in," Victor had started moving everyone inside, as the staff followed, luggage after luggage behind the guests, except her. She stood at the top of the steps and did not move.

Kieran stopped beneath her, just outside the door.

She shouldn't have but she found herself staring at his back, one she found herself remembering every detail of despite not wanting to.

His hands rose to the doorframe, fingers curling against the wood. He stopped and turned his head slightly, as though some forgotten scent had drifted through the air.

He remained there, breathing once... then again before letting go to step inside.

Selene couldn't bring herself to go in after him. It all felt like she was in a bad dream she needed to wake up from. So she started to count, "one... Two..." Hoping to go in when she reached ten. However, when she reached seven, she couldn't hold back again, and rushed in.

Behind her, Damien watched without a word just like he always had. His gaze followed her until the door swallowed her whole, while the same question carved deeper into him.

If he'd spoken that night...

If he'd chosen courage over silence...

Would they still be carrying the ruins of that one moment?