Chapter Five

Sleep did not come easily.

Sienna lay on top of the covers and watched the ceiling until the grey light of early morning pushed through the curtains. The bond had been restless most of the night. Not painful. Just present. A steady awareness of Lucas moving through the house, speaking to people, issuing quiet orders she could not hear.

When the knock finally came, she was already dressed in the same clothes she had arrived in. The green dress hung over the back of the chair, untouched since the night before.

The scout at the door did not meet her eyes. “Alpha wants you in his office.”

She followed him down the stairs. The main areas of the pack house were quieter than usual. A few wolves glanced at her and looked away quickly. Word from the gathering had already settled into the walls.

Lucas’s office door stood open. He sat behind the desk, a stack of papers pushed to one side. The window behind him showed wet trees and a sky that still refused to clear. He looked up when she entered.

“Close the door.”

She did.

For a moment neither of them spoke. The bond filled the quiet with its usual low pressure.

“Calder left at first light,” Lucas said. “He made two calls before he crossed the border. One of them was to the Alpha of Red Pine.”

Sienna stayed near the door. “You expected that.”

“I expected curiosity. Not him testing how far he could push in my own hall.”

“He pushed because you brought me to the table.”

Lucas’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I brought you because the alternative was letting rumors grow without a face attached to them.”

“And now they have a face.” She crossed her arms loosely. “Mine.”

He stood and came around the desk. The movement was controlled, but she felt the tension running under it through the bond. He stopped a few feet away.

“You spoke out of turn last night.”

“I spoke when a man treated me like furniture.” Her voice stayed level. “If that creates problems for you, they were already coming.”

Lucas looked at her for a long second. Something in his expression shifted—less anger, more calculation.

“Elena came to me after the gathering,” he said. “She wants you gone. She offered to handle it herself if I wouldn’t.”

Sienna felt a cold flicker of something that was not quite surprise. “And what did you tell her?”

“That the decision is not hers.”

“That’s not the same as protecting me.”

“I don’t need to protect you from Elena.” His tone flattened. “I need to decide how much damage you’re willing to cause before I stop giving you room to move.”

Sienna let out a quiet breath. “You locked me in a room and put me on display. Room to move was never part of the offer.”

The bond pulled tighter as he stepped closer. She held her ground.

“Why did you really come back?” he asked.

“I already answered that.”

“You gave me a line about finishing something. I want the actual reason.”

She studied his face. The control was still there, but the edges had worn thinner overnight. She could feel the effort it took him to keep the bond from dictating his next move.

“You rejected me in front of the pack,” she said. “You chose my sister. You let everyone watch. I spent five years learning how to stand without any of you. I came back because I wanted you to look at me and know that the woman you discarded is still standing.”

Lucas’s jaw tightened. “That’s pride.”

“It’s the only thing I had left to bring.”

Silence settled between them again. Outside the office, footsteps passed in the hall and faded.

Lucas turned away first. He walked to the window and rested one hand against the frame.

“The pack is divided,” he said. “Some think the claim is a correction. Others think it’s a weakness. Calder will use both.”

“Then stop treating me like a problem you can contain.”

He glanced over his shoulder. “You are a problem. The bond makes sure of that.”

Sienna moved farther into the room, stopping near the edge of the desk. “The bond was your choice this time. Not mine.”

“I know.”

The admission landed heavier than she expected. She watched the line of his shoulders and felt the corresponding pull under her own ribs.

A sharp knock interrupted them. The door opened before Lucas could answer. Elena stood in the doorway, cheeks flushed, one hand clenched around the frame.

“We need to talk,” she said. Her eyes flicked to Sienna and hardened. “Alone.”

Lucas did not turn from the window. “Not now.”

“It’s about the eastern patrol.” Elena’s voice rose slightly. “One of the scouts didn’t report in at dawn. Harris thinks someone crossed from Black Hollow side.”

That got his attention. He faced her fully. “When?”

“They found tracks an hour ago. Fresh.”

Lucas’s expression closed down into something colder and more familiar. He looked at Sienna once, then at Elena.

“Stay here,” he told Sienna. “Do not leave this office.”

He was already moving toward the door. Elena stepped aside to let him pass, then followed without another glance at her sister.

The office fell quiet again.

Sienna stood alone beside the desk and listened to the sudden increase in movement through the house. Orders being given. Boots on the stairs. The low sound of vehicles starting outside.

The bond stretched as Lucas put distance between them, but it did not break. It simply pulled longer and thinner, like a wire drawn across the territory.

She walked to the window he had left and looked out at the wet grounds. Two enforcers were already crossing the open space toward the tree line at a run.

Something had shifted beyond the borders.

And for the first time since she returned, Sienna was not the only problem Lucas had to deal with.