Chapter 23

Nathan POV

I left the clinic feeling on edge, my wolf restless. We had been with Claire again, held her, tasted her - and been rejected by her.

Knowing Claire didn’t really mean the rejection didn’t lessen the physical pain I had felt, or the hollow emptiness that lingered after it.

I went back to work after leaving the clinic, tried to bury myself in tasks. There was my campaign to become Alpha President, after all, and on top of that all the many daily tasks an Alpha needs to do or oversee in order to keep his pack happy and healthy, strong and safe.

Being an Alpha was what I was raised to do. It was who I was. I couldn’t afford to let my personal life interfere with that.

And yet, I struggled to focus the entire day. I regularly lost track of conversations, and more than once I caught my Beta looking at me with a questioning look on his face.

When I went home it wasn’t much better. Andy had been clingy ever since Claire left, needing more and more of my attention every evening. I’d gotten into the habit of sitting with him after his evening bath, reading a book or two until he fell asleep.

But that night I had no patience, and only read a single book before excusing myself and simply telling him to go to sleep.

By the time I woke up the next morning, telling myself that I was calmer, I decided I couldn’t leave things with Claire unfinished. It was interfering with my ability to be both a leader and a father.

And that was unacceptable.

After a morning meeting, I went to the clinic, determined to talk to Claire further.

But when I walked back to her office, I saw that man, Oliver, walking in ahead of me, containers of food in his hand.

Claire POV

I looked up at the quick friendly knock on my office door. I’d been writing up my patient reports from my morning rounds, and was happy for a break. I thought it was probably Amelia, stopping by for our midday coffee and chat about work.

When I realized it wasn’t Amelia but Oliver, I blinked in surprise.

“Hey there, gorgeous,” he said, his tone and smile friendly. I knew the nickname he used for me was harmless, but it always made me roll my eyes.

“Hello, Oliver. It’s nice to see you. What brings you to the clinic? Is everything alright?”

“Oh yes, everything’s fine. No need to worry. But I made too much for me and Beth earlier, and thought you might appreciate a nice hot lunch. I know how busy things can be here, and didn’t want you to forget to eat.”

I was surprised, and touched. Oliver continued to show me that he was a good man, a thoughtful father, and I was happy to call him my friend. And yet…

“Thank you, that’s very kind. But I’ve already had lunch.”

Kind and friendly though he was, there was no mistaking the hopeful look in Oliver’s eyes whenever we talked. I knew that if I seemed open to it he’d ask me out again.

And I just wasn’t interested in a relationship. Not when my situation with Nathan was still so confused and uncertain.

I hadn’t actually had lunch, and my stomach now told me just how long it had been since breakfast, but I didn’t want to encourage Oliver. And I didn’t want to hurt him or play with his feelings by accepting the meal.

Still, I could tell not taking the food was a let down for him. Though I tried to chat with him, he excused himself quickly.

Leaving me still feeling hungry, and now guilty as well.

Nathan POV

My footsteps slowed as I watched Oliver walk into Claire’s office.

The man was bringing her food, just casually stopping by in the middle of the day to share a meal with Claire.

Just how close were the two of them? And was this part of why Claire continued to insist she couldn’t be with me?

Looking back, I remembered how often, on my busiest days, I would look up to find Claire standing in the doorway of my office, food containers in her hand and a smile on her face. At the time I thought she was doing it because she loved me and wanted to take care of me.

Now, thinking about her rejection and how quickly she seemed to have moved on, I wondered: Was any of it real? Had I been fooling myself this whole time?

Unbidden, I heard Sabrina’s voice in my head: She’s a typical sneaky Omega. They’re all a bunch of criminals. She was just using you for your status, to protect herself and gain access to all your privileges.

I knew better - I had thought I did - but thinking about Claire and Oliver sharing an all-too-friendly lunch burned like a cold fire in my chest.

Did Claire ever really love me at all?

I turned around and left the clinic without even trying to speak to Claire. Clearly she wasn’t bothered by what happened between us the day before, and there was work I needed to see to at my home office.

Carrying that icy heat inside of me, I went home and lost myself in work for hours. I’d been neglecting my duties as an Alpha, and as a result many of the daily tasks had fallen to my Beta to oversee. I read through his notes carefully, adding my own here and there and all the while feeling more determined to put Claire out of my mind.

I had much more important things to deal with. I needed to keep that in mind.

The butler’s knock at my office door interrupted my thoughts, and I realized that rather than working I’d been staring off into space for at least twenty minutes.

Angry at myself, I called out for him to enter.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Sir, the evening meal is ready.”

I grunted, my gaze going back down to the papers in front of me. When had my office become so disorganized? All afternoon, while trying to work, I constantly had to search for the right paper, or folder.

“Colin, the state of this office is unacceptable. Why hasn’t it been cleaned, or organized?” I demanded.

Colin raised an eyebrow, surprised. “Sir, we were told not to come in here. You deal with a lot of very sensitive information, and it wouldn’t do for the household staff to handle or be around such private data.”

“But it was always so organized before, and I know it was regularly cleaned. Who was responsible for that?”

Colin’s expression went carefully blank, and suddenly I knew what he was going to say before he said it.

“Miss Claire saw to it herself, Alpha. She was very firm about the kind of care you and your spaces needed. She insisted on seeing to your needs herself.”

But she had only supposed to be the nanny. That’s always how I had seen her, assuming all the other things that made the household run were seen to by the staff.

What else had Claire been taking care of without me knowing it?

I thought about the rest of the house - the meals, the cleanliness, even the ruthlessly efficient organization of my closet - and now I realized that I recognized Claire’s touch in every inch of space.

For years now Claire had been running the house like her own little pack, seeing to its needs and requirements, all without saying a word.

If she hadn’t been an Omega, and wolfless, she would have made an incredible Luna.

“Sir?” Colin’s voice broke into my thoughts. “If you don’t mind me saying, you seem to be in a bad mood. Might I be of assistance in some way?”

I looked up at him, surprised where my thoughts had drifted. I’d never seriously thought about Claire as Luna, since the idea was simply impossible. And it didn’t matter now anyway, since Claire wanted nothing to do with me.

And had apparently already moved on to someone else.

I pushed away from my desk roughly, pushing my thoughts away just as sharply.

“Not at all, Colin. I’m perfectly fine.”