C5

Rowan Everly POV

"Grayson, I thought you did not care about my pack business," I say with a small, cold laugh. "Maybe I should ask—do you still care about me at all?"

Grayson smashes his lips together real tight and does not say a single word back to me.

My heart falls deep down into my stomach, but I keep my face totally blank like stone. I turn my big body around and walk right up the stairs without looking back at him.

Because I spent so much time in that freezing pond water, my skin starts burning real bad with a fever. For the first part of the night, I see so many scary dreams. I dream about the very first time I met Grayson, and how I had to watch him hug and kiss other she-wolves. Then I dream about our wedding day.

In the dream, Grayson looks so tired, and his eyes are completely red and full of pure hatred. "Tell me the truth, human!" he screams at me in the dream. "Have you ever done something bad to me?!"

I squeeze my hands into fists and shake my head no.

"Fine," Grayson growls in my sleep. "You got what you wanted."

His mean face wakes me up fast with a big jump. Gasp!

I sit up in the dark bed, holding the blanket tight to my chest while I breathe like I ran a race. The clock says 4:00 AM, but my brain will not let me go back to sleep.

When the sun comes up, I look in the mirror and see big dark circles under my eyes. I have to rub a super thick layer of makeup on my face just to hide them.

Downstairs, Grayson is eating meat at the long table, and his mother Autumn is sitting next to him nagging loud.

"You need to come back to the Moonkeep early every night, Grayson," Autumn says, shaking her finger. "Rowan is just a human girl, and she gets so lonely in this big house all by herself!"

Usually, Grayson gets mad and tells her to stop talking, but today he stays totally quiet. He looks up and sees my plus-size body coming down the big stairs. "I understand, Mom," he says soft.

Autumn looks so happy. She turns around and waves her hand at me with a giant smile. "Rowan, come quick! Sit down and eat breakfast with us!" She thinks her son is finally being a good husband.

My face stays totally blank. I give Autumn a small bow and speak in a very low voice. "Mom, I have some pack work to do in the village this morning, so I cannot eat here."

I walk straight out the front door before she can even answer me.

Autumn snaps her head around and glares at Grayson. "This is all your fault! You always push Rowan into the dirt, so now she is mad at you! You better make her happy today. If you don't bring her back to the Moonkeep tonight, you can pack your bags and leave this territory!"

Grayson looks out the window at my back, and his face looks very mixed up and strange.

By afternoon, everyone at the Ashbourne Alpha Citadel is talking. They all know the Hawthorne pack put our team in the top three for the Silver Creek project, and they know I am the one who did it.

I feel so weak and sick all morning. I had to buy some fever medicine on my way to work, and now the pills are making me super sleepy. But I force my eyes to stay open so I can fix the numbers on my drawing plans.

Suddenly, a giant stack of heavy folders slams right onto my desk. Thud!

I lift my heavy head up. Cassidy Vale is standing right there, glaring at me like she wants to bite my face off.

"What do you want?" I ask, pulling my chair back a little bit. I am not nice enough to smile at her after what I saw in the car last night.

"Are you seriously asking me that?!" Cassidy screams. Her face has so much makeup on it, and her eyes look like they have fire inside them. "Why did you run off to the Hawthorne Dominion Hall yesterday without waiting for me?!"

I cough two times because my throat hurts, and I set my pen down. "We had a strict time to meet the Hawthorne project wolves. Even if I sat around waiting for you, do you think a great Alpha pack would wait for a late girl?"

Cassidy looks a little bit guilty because she knows she was late yesterday from playing around with Grayson. But then she sees my face and gets even madder. She thinks I am trying to take all the credit from her.

"Fine! But what about last night?!" Cassidy yells, pointing her finger in my face. "Why didn't you invite me to the big pack dinner with the Hawthornes? We are both supposed to rule this project!"

"Oh, so now you remember we work together?" I say, and my eyes feel very cold because her loud screaming is making my headache way worse. "Where were you yesterday afternoon, Cassidy?"

"I—I had to talk about big Alpha things with Director Grayson!" she stutters, turning red. "Go ask him if you think I am lying! Stop turning the story around! I am asking you why you hid that dinner from me!"

She looks around and sees all the pack courtiers coming over to watch us fight. A super mean look comes into her eyes. "Oh, now I get it! I wondered why the Hawthorne pack liked our drawings so fast. Is there something dirty going on between you and Master Holden from the Hawthorne pack?..."

All the other workers start looking at me like I am a bad girl. Cassidy looks super happy with herself.

"Rowan, Master Holden is as old as your own father!" Cassidy laughs out loud. "He is an old, ugly wolf, but you are willing to give your big body to him for a project! What a waste if we don't get the job! I thought you liked Director Grayson? Since the Alpha doesn't want you, I guess you have to take old, ugly males now—aaah!"

"Have you closed your mouth yet?!" I yell.

I lift my coffee cup and splash the hot brown liquid right onto her front. Cassidy jumps back, screaming and shaking her clothes. I feel so disgusted looking at her. This is the girl Grayson likes—a dumb girl who says horrible lies. He would rather hold her than look at his own wife. It makes me feel so small.

"Aaah! Rowan, you... you fat b*tch!" Cassidy screams.

She is wearing a super expensive designer outfit that Grayson just bought for her. It costs as much as a regular human earns in a whole year. She looks at the wet brown stains running down her clothes and goes totally crazy.

"Stop telling lies," I say. My hand is squeezing into a tight fist at my side because the room is turning around and around from my fever. "I was shocked when they picked my drawings too. I sat with Alpha Declan himself last night, not Holden. Maybe you want to go show everyone how you catch an Alpha's eyes? You say you run Team B, but have you ever drawn a single good plan? If you cannot do the work, go do something you are actually good at! Nobody is stopping you."

Everyone in the room knows Cassidy only got her job because she sleeps with Grayson. My words are like a big slap to her face. Her cheeks turn completely white. "You... Rowan... you..."

"Why is everyone standing around slacking? Don't you wolves have pack work to do?"

A very deep, scary voice cuts through the room. It is Grayson. Nobody saw him walk into the design den.

He is so tall and looks so mad that everyone runs back to their desks right away. Only me and Cassidy are left standing there.

Cassidy starts crying fake tears as soon as she sees him. She runs over and grabs his big hand.

"Gray—Director Grayson, you have to punish her!" Cassidy roars, squeezing her eyes shut. "I just asked Rowan why she went to the Hawthorne pack without telling me. But she told me I am stupid and have no skills, and then she threw hot coffee all over me! This is the beautiful dress you bought me, and it is my favorite one..."

She looks so small and sad, biting her lip with the big brown stains all over her front.

I touch my forehead with my fingers. It feels hot like a stove.

I do not wait for Grayson to yell at me because I know he always takes her side anyway. I just sit down at my desk, pull my big drawing paper over, and start doing my math again.

"I will take you to the pack market after work to buy a new dress," Grayson's deep voice says right above my head, and he sounds so soft and gentle to her.

My pen stops moving on the paper. My eyes get super hot and wet. Even when you know the bad thing is going to happen, it still breaks your heart into pieces when you hear your husband being sweet to another girl.

Cassidy wants to yell more, but Grayson speaks soft to her again until she finally walks away with a happy face.

Once she is gone, Grayson walks right up to my desk. He knocks his big knuckles on the wood three times. Tap. Tap. Tap. "Mom wants us to go back to the Moonkeep together tonight. Do not leave the building without me later." His voice is not sweet anymore; it sounds super annoyed.

"I have other plans tonight," I tell him, and I do not even look up at him.

Grayson pinches his eyebrows together real tight. "What plans, human?"