Chapter 13: I will have you.

My father’s best friend.Rolf~Eva held my gaze without flinching. She did not look down, or offer the small nod of acceptance that pack discipline required. The silence between us extended while she stood there and refused to agree. That refusal shook me harder than any argument she could have spoken. I kept my expression blank, but something in my chest tightened at the proof that every boundary I set only made her more determined. The corridor remained empty. The warning hung between us, unanswered, and the unsettled feeling it left behind stayed with me after I stepped aside and let her pass.Night had fully taken over the resort when the knock came.Rosemary did not wait for permission. She stepped inside, closed the door behind her, and crossed the room with the same elegance she always carried. The dress she wore was already half-undone at the shoulder. She reached me before I could speak, mouthed against my neck, and pushed my jacket off in one motion.“I told you I would hav

Chapter 14: Things were getting intense.

My father’s best friend.Eva~Rolf’s warning followed me back to my room, repeating itself until I could hear his exact tone without trying.The games ended now.He had spoken with the certainty of a man accustomed to being obeyed, and maybe that was what bothered me most. He had decided how things must be for both of us. One warning, one severe stare, and I was supposed to return to being the sensible daughter of his oldest friend.I lowered myself near the foot of the bed, resting my elbows on the bed.A sensible woman probably would have listened and I wasn’t proud that I couldn’t.What bothered me was not the rejection itself. I could survive rejection. What kept pulling at me was everything surrounding it. Rolf watched me too closely for a man who wanted nothing to do with me. He noticed when I entered a room and what I wore. He watched other men approach me even while pretending his attention was elsewhere.Then he would retreat and speak to me like attraction was a childish ide

Chapter 15: I’m ready to lose it all

My father’s best friend.Eva~My stomach contracted. “We argued,” I told him, smoothing my palms over my dress. “It’s over.”“It didn’t seem over from where I was standing,” my father replied, and the patience in his tone warned me that he already knew I was withholding more. “You’ve been different since we arrived. You disappear, and also avoid Mac. You barely speak to anyone unless you have to.”I lowered my eyes. “Mac keeps asking what he did wrong.”My father paused.“And what did he do wrong?”“Nothing.” The answer came too fast and I bit my tongue.My father studied me more carefully. “Then what happened?”For one crazy second, I considered telling him part of the truth. But not Rolf’s name. Could Never be that. Maybe I could tell him there was someone else, and maybe that would be enough.But what if he asked me who the new man was?I imagined lying again. I imagined the moment he eventually discovered that the man occupying his daughter’s thoughts was the friend he trusted more

Chapter 16: The Answer He Never Gave

My father’s best friend.Eva~The knock came before Rolf could answer me, and irritation surged through me because I had spent days trying to drag honesty out of him, only for another person to interrupt when he was finally on the verge of giving me some.“Alpha Rolf?” a man called from the corridor, politeness softening his question. “Is the restroom available?”Rolf released my wrist at once, and the sudden absence of his hand left me unsteady enough that I had to shift my footing. He moved away from me and rubbed a hand across his face, putting room between us with an urgency that told me more than another warning could have.A breath ago, his attention had been on my mouth.He had been close enough that I could study the tension around his jaw and the struggle in his eyes while he searched for an answer to the question I had forced on him.If I mean nothing to you, why are you still holding me?Now he refused to meet my gaze.Disappointment twisted through my anger because I under

Chapter 17: When I Stopped Chasing Him

My father’s best friend.Eva~Rosemary’s fingers moved along Rolf’s arm again while his attention remained on my wrist, and the contradiction challenged every explanation I had been building since I left the restroom. I had spent the afternoon questioning whether desire had made me read too much into his reactions, but now, with another woman beside him and half the summit gathered around us, his attention had gone directly to the place his fingers had marked. He remembered what happened, and that knowledge should have comforted me, but remembering was not the same as choosing. Rolf could stare at my wrist all evening and still leave the hall beside Rosemary, just as he could remember how close we had been, remember the question he had almost answered, and continue keeping me away whenever other people were watching.Rosemary touched him again, and when he finally faced the speaker at the front, resentment moved through me before I could stop it because the anger was never truly abo

Chapter 18: The Name He Wasn’t Supposed to Say

My father’s best friend.Eva~The new dinner chart placed my name three seats from Rolf’s, and the promise I had made the night before became harder before dinner had even begun.The Alpha of the North had ordered a full reseating after a security concern, forcing ranking members to rewrite place cards late in the afternoon. I had gone to the hall expecting a seat among the younger wolves, somewhere far enough from Rolf that keeping my attention away from him would be possible without effort. Rosemary’s name still rested beside his, while mine was now close enough that one glance could betray more than I wanted anyone to see.I remained beside the chart only long enough to understand what the change meant. I had decided to stop chasing Rolf. Tonight was supposed to be different. If he wanted distance, I would give it to him, and if he wanted anything beyond that, the next move would have to belong to him.The seating arrangement made the decision harder, but it did not change it.When