C4

Rowan Everly POV

"Um..." I blink my eyes fast at him, and I cannot find any words to say.

Alpha Declan pushes his cigarette down into the glass dish on the table until the fire goes out. I stare at his long fingers. They look so neat and strong. My body shivers because I remember how those exact same fingers held my big waist in the elevator today.

I swallow hard and look down at my lap. "Yes, I have been married for two years now."

My heart feels like a wolf bit it. I feel so bitter inside because my marriage is a big mess. But Declan does not look like he cares about my sad face.

"You come from the Everly pack, Miss Everly," Declan says, and his dark eyes look straight at me. "Your husband must be a very big, strong wolf to match your family. I am sure he loves you very much."

I do not know why this scary Alpha is asking about my life. It makes me feel angry and hurt inside, so I force a fake smile onto my face. "Alpha Declan, did we not come here to talk about the Silver Creek Pack Territory project?"

He is about to light up another cigarette, but he stops when I say that. He starts clicking the top of his silver lighter open and shut. Clack. Clack. Clack. The loud metal noise fills the quiet room.

The air feels super heavy and scary now.

"Do you think I brought you here just to ask about your boys?" Declan says. He smalls his lips together and lifts one eyebrow up like he is very mad at me. "Since you want to talk about pack work so badly, tell me what you plan to do with the territory."

He drops the silver lighter onto the table. Thunk!

My skin feels hot and itchy because I am so embarrassed. The loud noise of the lighter makes me jump. He is definitely mad at me. I think to myself that maybe he was just trying to be polite by asking about my husband first.

I clear my throat and open my big folder. "Alpha Declan, if you look right here, I added some new ideas for the human houses in the pack territory..."

We start talking about the drawings, and he does not yell at me anymore. But I am still super scared because he keeps tapping his big fingers on the wood table while I talk. Tap. Tap. Tap. I do not relax for a single second until I am totally finished.

"Your drawings have very good ideas for our pack, Miss Everly," Declan says, and his face looks like stone again. "The Hawthorne Mooncrest Dominion will pick one pack out of three to do the final work. But because of your good drawings, the Ashbourne Alpha Holdings is now in the top three."

He stands up from his chair as soon as he finishes speaking.

He is so tall that I have to tilt my big head all the way back just to see his face. I am so happy and shocked by the good news that I jump up from my seat too.

"Thank you, Alpha Declan! I—"

But Declan does not want to hear me talk. He grabs his dark suit coat from the chair, turns around, and walks right out the door before I can finish my sentence.

My face burns red. I know I made him mad earlier, but I am happy he is a fair Alpha. He did not throw my drawings away just because he dislikes me.

The heavy door shuts loud. Bang. I look at the big table full of expensive meat and food. Neither of us took a single bite.

I shrug my big shoulders, grab my bag, and walk out of the Ritz Manor. I get into my white car, and I do not see the big, tall Alpha standing in the dark shadows of the tall bamboo trees. He has a cigarette between his fingers, and his dark eyes watch my car roll away.

Holden Mercer is standing right next to the Alpha, watching me leave too. Holden feels very weird inside. He remembers that the Alpha's assistant told him to use the Silver Creek project just to get this human girl to come here. Holden thinks in his head, Whoever this fat human girl is, I have to be super nice to her!

"Master Holden," Declan's voice sounds like pure ice.

Holden stands up straight like a soldier. "Yes, Alpha Declan?"

"Have your eyes seen enough?"

Declan's voice is very quiet, but it makes Holden start shaking and sweating real bad.

"Oh, look at the time!" Holden says fast. He pulls out his phone and puts it to his ear like someone is calling him. "Hey Jamie! Is that you? Hold on, the pack link is bad here..." He talks fast and runs away into the dark building.

Declan pushes his cigarette into the dirt and watches my white car disappear down the road. His dark eyes look very deep and thoughtful.

My phone rings loud while I am driving home. It is Piper, and she wants to know everything that happened with her favorite Alpha.

I tell her about the top three spot, but I leave out the part where I fell on him and where he asked about my marriage. Piper starts screaming and cheering through the phone line, and she will not let me hang up until I tell her how handsome he looked.

I feel a little bit happy too because a giant pack like the Hawthornes actually liked my drawings.

It is almost ten o'clock at night when I drive through the big iron gates of the Ashbourne Moonkeep. Autumn must be sleeping by now.

But then I see the black sports car parked in the driveway. I turn off my car engine, and right away, I hear loud, girlish giggles and weird noises coming out of the sports car.

I know that voice. It belongs to Cassidy Vale.

All my happy feelings go away fast, and my whole body feels freezing cold and heavy. I sit in my seat, and my arms feel like giant rocks. My heart feels like it is dying.

I turn off my car lights. The sports car across from me is dark too, but the bright garden lamps shine right on the front seat. I can see everything.

I watch Cassidy pull her short skirt down and fix her jacket. She gives Grayson a dirty look, and then they grab each other real tight and start kissing like crazy inside the car. It feels like someone is cutting my heart open and putting salt inside the wound.

I do not know how long I sit there watching them. My heart just goes totally numb. Finally, Grayson starts the engine and drives the black car out of the gates. He is probably taking her to a cabin to spend the rest of the night with her.

I open my car door and stumble out. I walk into the big house like a dead zombie. I go straight into the bottom bathroom and turn the water tap on to wash my face.

But as soon as the water starts running, my big legs give out. I drop right down onto the cold floor and bury my face in my knees.

Grayson was not always this mean to me. A long time ago, he was very sweet and soft. Even when I followed him around like a puppy, he never yelled at me or said mean things.

But then he changed into a monster without any warning.

He does not see anything good I do for him anymore. He just breaks my heart every single day.

Suddenly, cold water touches my legs and snaps me out of my brain. I shake all over and see that the sink is overflowing! The water is running over the side and spilling onto the floor, making my dress soaking wet.

I scramble up fast and twist the tap shut. I look at myself in the big mirror. My face looks super white and small. I try to smile at myself, but I look like a scary ghost.

I walk out of the bathroom, and right then, the big front door of the Moonkeep swings open.

I hear his heavy footsteps, but I do not turn around to look at him. Why should I try to make him happy when he hates me so much?

I start walking up the stairs, but the footsteps come after me real fast. Before I can run, a huge hand that feels like a heavy rock grabs my right wrist and yanks me to a stop.

"Where did you go tonight, human?" Grayson barks. His voice is freezing cold, and he squeezes my wrist super hard.

I feel like my bone is going to snap in half. I swallow the pain and turn around to look at his mean face. "I went out for a pack dinner," I say, and my voice sounds totally dead.

"With what male wolf?" he demands, glaring right into my eyes.

My eyes are big and bright. They do not look sneaky or bad; they just look smart and quiet. My face is soft and does not have any mean lines on it. Usually, looking at me makes people feel nice and calm.

For one second, Grayson looks like he is stuck in a dream. He thinks to himself, If this girl was not so bad, maybe I could try to be her husband.

But he throws that thought away real fast.

His face gets super dark and ugly again. "Were you eating with a bunch of random wolves? Was it really pack work, Rowan? Or were you playing around behind my back with other males? Why don't you tell me what you really do in those meetings, huh?"

His voice gets higher and louder, and he sounds so disgusted with me.

I look right back into his angry eyes. I know exactly what bad things he is thinking about me. I feel so empty inside that I want to laugh at how silly he is being.

I pull my arm out of his heavy grip real hard, making myself stumble back a step on the stairs. "Why do you care so much, Grayson? Are you mad because I talked to a male client about pack work?"