Chapter 4

SOLANA;

Five Years Later

Five years was a long time. I was able to build a new life and convince myself that I had made the right choice. I had given birth to my lovely daughter, Luna, now five years old.

But memories of Braun still haunted me here and there. Because Luna was a carbon copy of him, and the only thing she inherited from me was my bright blue eyes. I could almost forget him. Almost.

"Solana, this is huge." Isla, my assistant and best friend, who co-founded my interior design company said to me. 

We were overlooking contract documents spread across my desk. "Steele Industries wants us to redesign their entire corporate headquarters. We, a small interior firm." She looked up, excitement twinkling in her eyes. "Do you understand what this means for our firm?"

She saw the pensive look on my face and her smile crashed. "We're going to take this, right?"

I stared at the Steele Industries logo on the letterhead and felt my stomach drop. Even now...the past wasn't giving me a break. My stare becomes a glare as the name only makes my heart bleed the more.

"I'm not sure."

"What? Why not?" She berated me taking a seat across me while I felt jinxed.

"I just can't. It doesn't fit our objectives right now. Find a reason to decline. Tell them that we're booked." I ordered but in a low tone as I attempted not to raise my voice.

My head already had a lot.

Isla looked at me like I'd lost my mind. "We're not booked. We need this contract. Our lease is up in three months and we're barely making rent as it is." She adjusted herself "What's really going on?"

What a great way of reminding me that I still needed to partner with a bigger company.

I couldn't tell her the truth. I couldn't explain that Steele Industries belonged to my husband...ex. 

The man I'd run away from five years ago while pregnant with his child. I couldn't even call him my ex-husband because the divorce was never finalized.

"I have history with the company," I said carefully. "It would be awkward."

"Awkward doesn't pay our bills. This contract is worth two hundred thousand dollars. That's more than we made all last year combined." Isla crossed her arms as she studied me like a difficult puzzle 

"Unless you have a really good reason, we're taking this job."

I did have a good reason but I didn't want to share it with her so I nodded slowly. "Fine. But I'm not going to the first meeting."

"You absolutely are going. You're the lead designer. They specifically asked for you by name." She declared as excitement beams on her face.

My head snapped up. "They what?"

"They asked for you, that they'd heard great things about your work." Isla smiled. "See? This is meant to be." She pressed on not even minding my reaction as I felt a sharp pain in my chest.

Nothing about this was meant to be. If Braun knew where I was, if he'd found me after all this time, then everything I'd built was about to come crashing down.

I stared at her and she was smiling with so much hope in her eyes.

The meeting was scheduled for Thursday morning at nine. I spent the entire week trying to find a way out of it. I tried to convince Isla to go alone or come up with excuses. But she would not budge and that means I had to mentally prepare myself for seeing him again.

When Thursday morning came, I dressed in my most professional outfit. The first impression I wanted him to have of me was that of a businesswoman. Someone who had moved on and built a successful life. Nothing like the weakling that he could toss about five years ago.

"You look great," Isla said when I met her in the lobby of the Steele Industries building. 

The building was massive. The tallest in downtown Portland and it reached up to the sky. I'd driven past it so many times in the last five years but never let myself look too closely. Now I was walking inside.

I gave her no response as I had tried to harden my heart, just to prepare for what's to come but then she never minds and directed me to the elevator we'd be using.

The elevator ride to the twentieth floor felt like it lasted forever. Isla chattered about the project details but I couldn't focus on anything she said. My heart was pounding so hard I thought everyone could hear it.

The doors opened and a receptionist led us down a hallway to a large conference room. Every step I took felt like my heartbeat as I dart my gaze to and fro.

Through the glass walls I could see people already seated around a long table. Men in suits. Women with tablets. All of them looked professional and important.

And at the head of the table sat Braun.

He looked older. But that was all that was different about him. He was still the intimidating, drop-dead gorgeous man from five years ago. He still had that immaculate sheen to him and an aura that made everyone else in the room seem smaller. He was talking to someone next to him and he hadn't seen us yet.

"Ready?" Isla asked.

No. I would never be ready. But I nodded anyway.

The receptionist opened the door and as soon as she got in, she announces;

"The designers from Bresco Interiors are here."

I grasped the tablet in my hand tight as everyone turned to look at us, including Braun. Our eyes met across the room and everything stopped. The shock, as he stood up slowly as though he just discovered something new that will either benefit or destroy him.

His jaw dropped and I saw the storm that raged in his eyes and my wolf stirred with discomfort

My breath hitched as I caught his gaze not with the same affection as the past but with pain and detest.

"Everyone out." His husky voice echoes. The first I've heard since five years apart. His eyes were transfixed on me and for a moment, I forgot I had lungs.

The people around the table looked confused as they exchanged glances at each other.

"Now," Braun said. His voice was quiet but harshly. Everyone moved without questions.

They gathered their papers and tablets and filed out quickly. Even Isla looked uncertain.

"Should I stay?" she whispered to me in a shaky voice.

"No. Wait outside." I snapped not even glancing at her but staring at him.

She left with the others and then it was just Braun and me in the conference room. The door clicked shut.

"Solana." He said my name like he was testing it, like he wasn't sure I was real.

"Alpha Julie." I kept my voice professional. "I'm here about the redesign project."

He clenched his fist, still surprised and then I saw him swallow.

"You're here about the project." He walked around the table toward me. "You disappear on me, suddenly for five years and the first thing you want to talk about is a project."

"I'm here in a professional capacity. If you'd prefer to work with another firm, we can arrange that." I muttered cheating out and not letting my eyes waiver.

He laughed but there was no humor in it. The fire in his eyes made my wolf whimper. She was scared and so was I. "Another firm. Right." He chuckled. "Where have you been?"

"That's not relevant to this meeting."

"Not relevant?" His voice got louder. "You left me, disconnected your phone, vanished without trace, without an explanation for why you left, without a note!" He slammed his palm on the desk and I flinched. "And you think that's not relevant?"

I forced myself to stay calm, even though my breathing started to come fast. "What happened between us was a long time ago. The contract is over. We both moved on."

"Moved on." He stepped even closer and I had to tilt my head back to look at him. "Is that what you call it?"

His Alpha aura pressed down on me. It was a werewolf thing. Alphas could project their dominance and make other wolves submit. I'd felt it before during pack meetings but never directed at me like this. 

My knees wanted to buckle. My wolf wanted to bare her throat in submission. Every instinct screamed at me to lower my eyes and apologize.

But I felt a fire rise up inside me, a prickly feeling that overrode his Alpha pheromones. I met his eyes and didn't look away. "Back up."