Chapter 2.

The silence that followed my proposal was almost unbearable.

Rowan didn't laugh.

He didn't look offended.

He simply stared at me as though trying to decide whether I'd suffered a blow to the head on my journey here.

Finally, he spoke.

"I receive unusual requests."

His voice remained maddeningly calm.

"But this one is new."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"I didn't intend it as one."

"I know."

The corner of his mouth threatened to move again.

It was the closest thing to amusement I'd seen from him.

"You've crossed into enemy territory," he said, "without an escort, without a treaty, and most importantly without permission from your Alpha."

"I don't need his permission."

His gaze sharpened.

"An interesting answer."

I held his eyes.

"It's also the truth."

For a long moment, neither of us spoke.

The fire crackled quietly between us.

Rain drummed against the windows.

Rowan walked back toward his desk, poured two cups of tea, and placed one in front of the empty chair opposite him.

"I won't ask again."

I looked at the chair.

"I said I'd rather stand."

"And I decided I'd rather not have this conversation with one of us swaying from exhaustion."

"I don't—"

"You drove for hours in the rain."

He met my gaze.

"Sit."

There was no command in his voice.

Only certainty.

To my annoyance...

I obeyed.

The tea smelled of cinnamon and cloves.

I wrapped my hands around the warm cup but didn't drink.

"You haven't touched it."

"You could have poisoned it."

One dark eyebrow lifted.

"If I intended to kill you, Miss Vale I wouldn't waste good tea."

Despite everything...

A laugh escaped me.

Short.

Unexpected.

I clamped my lips together immediately.

His expression remained unchanged.

"You laugh."

"So do you."

"Its been a while."

I studied him over the rim of my cup.

He was impossible.

And somehow...

Not at all like the monster I'd expected.

He leaned back in his chair.

"Now,"

His voice lost its faint edge of humor.

"Tell me why the future Luna of Silver Crescent wishes to marry the Alpha of the pack her family has spent generations opposing."

I lowered my cup carefully onto the desk.

"I never said I wished to marry you."

"You used those exact words."

"No."

I folded my hands in my lap.

"I said I wanted you to marry me."

His eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.

"There's a difference."

"There is."

"You should explain it."

I inhaled slowly.

"Marriage is only the means."

"To what?"

"My freedom."

His gaze didn't leave mine.

"Freedom from whom?"

I closed my eyes for the briefest moment.

When I opened them again, I knew there was no point hiding the truth.

"The Silver Crescent Pack."

For the first time since we'd met...

Alpha Rowan Blackthorne looked genuinely surprised.

He didn't interrupt.

He simply waited.

It was strange.

Lucien always interrupted.

He finished my sentences.

Corrected my opinions.

Explained my own thoughts back to me as though I hadn't understood them the first time.

Rowan did none of those things.

He waited.

As though whatever I had to say was worth hearing.

"I was raised in Silver Crescent after my parents died," I began quietly.

"They became my family."

My voice caught on the last word.

"They were supposed to."

I swallowed hard.

"But families aren't supposed to plan each other's downfall."

The room fell silent once more.

This time...

Rowan didn't look at me as an enemy.

He looked at me like a man who knew there was far more to the story than I was ready to tell.

And for reasons I couldn't explain...

That frightened me more than if he'd called for his guards.

---

Rowan didn't respond.

He walked past me instead, stopping beside the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the rain-soaked city.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke.

I'd expected shouting.

Questions.

Maybe even security escorting me back to my car.

Instead, he was... thinking.

Finally, he turned.

"You understand what you're asking."

"I do."

"I don't think you do."

His voice was calm, but there was weight behind every word.

"If word gets out that the future Luna of Silver Crescent walked into my office and proposed marriage, your pack will accuse me of coercion."

"They're welcome to try."

"And mine will question my judgment."

"Will they?"

One corner of his mouth lifted.

"You seem very confident for someone standing alone in enemy territory."

"I wouldn't have come if I wasn't."

He studied me for another long moment.

"Tell me your real reason."

"I already did."

"No."

He shook his head once.

"You gave me a proposal."

"What I asked for."

"I asked for a reason."

I looked away first.

Outside, rain crawled down the glass in uneven trails.

"I need your name."

"My name?"

"Your reputation."

His brow furrowed.

"You have influence."

"I do."

"I need people to believe we're connected."

His eyes narrowed.

"You're asking me to fake a marriage."

"I'm asking you to let them think it's real."

A long silence followed.

"You've planned this."

"For forty-eight hours."

"Only forty-eight?"

"It might've been more, I work quickly."

That earned me something dangerously close to a smile.

"You drove hours to make this offer."

"Five."

"You crossed three pack borders."

"Yes."

"Alone."

"I don't trust easily."

"I've noticed."

His phone vibrated on the desk.

He glanced at the screen.

For the first time since I arrived, something in his expression shifted.

He turned the phone toward me.

The screen displayed a news alert.

HEIR TO SILVER CRESCENT HOLDINGS POSTPONES PUBLIC APPEARANCE. SOURCES DECLINE TO COMMENT.

He locked the screen without another word.

"They're looking for you."

"I know."

"You've ignored every call?"

"I have."

"You're making enemies."

"I already had them."

The answer came so quietly that even I barely heard it.

Rowan didn't speak for several seconds.

Then he crossed the room and opened a cabinet built into the wall.

Inside sat an espresso machine.

"You drink coffee?"

I blinked.

"...What?"

"Coffee."

He looked over his shoulder.

"You look exhausted. You didn't drink the tea I offered earlier."

I stared at him.

"I propose marriage, and you're asking about coffee?"

"I've found negotiations go better when neither party is sleep deprived."

A reluctant laugh escaped me.

"I thought you were supposed to be terrifying."

"I have that effect."

"You offered me caffeine."

"I can be terrifying after caffeine."

Despite myself, I smiled.

It vanished almost as quickly as it came.

He noticed.

Of course he noticed.

"Smiling comes easy to you."

My chest tightened.

"You don't know how what comes easy to me looks like."

"No."

He placed a cup in front of me.

"I don't."

The words weren't dismissive.

They were an invitation.

Tell me.

Or don't.

It was my choice.

That realization caught me off guard.

Lucien decided what they should be before I spoke.

I wrapped my hands around the warm mug.

"I don't need your sympathy."

"Good."

His answer was immediate.

"I wasn't offering it."

I looked up.

"What are you offering?"

"A chance to convince me this isn't the worst proposal I've ever received."

I almost smiled again.

Almost.

Then I reached into my purse.

My fingers closed around a thick manila envelope.

Every photograph.

Every printed email.

Every hotel receipt.

Every piece of proof I'd gathered over the last three days rested inside.

I had promised myself I wouldn't hesitate.

Yet suddenly...

I couldn't let go.

Because the moment I handed him that envelope...

The woman who believed in happy endings would be gone forever.

Rowan didn't rush me.

He simply watched.

Patient.

Quiet.

Waiting.

I took one slow breath.

Then another.

Finally...

I placed the envelope on his desk.

"I think," I said, my voice barely above a whisper, "you should see what your fiancee has been doing."

His eyes dropped to the envelope.

Neither of us moved.

The room felt impossibly still.

At last, Rowan reached for it.