Chapter 228

Grace

There was a soft click as the door closed, leaving me standing alone in the hallway, feeling like I'd been slapped. Shock warred with anger inside me. How dare he shut me out? A retort bubbled in my throat, but something in the sincerity of his tone held me back. As my fury ebbed, the seeds of self-doubt began to sprout.

Had I overreacted? Had I just been itching for a fight? Maybe, but... But I had real reasons to be upset. A gnawing sense of unease settled in my stomach. Maybe he was right. I was too volatile, too consumed by my own frustration, to truly communicate.

Then, I shook my head. He was the one who'd been missing for practically two days only to come back with no explanation. If he didn't want to talk to me, I damn sure wasn't going to stand around in the hallway and wait for him to change my mind. I'd find someone else to spend my time with. Someone else to talk with.

After all, it was how we'd met in the first place. I turned away from the closed door and went to my room. I went searching for the sexiest dress I owned, the tallest heels, and the tiniest bag. I put on makeup and strutted out, calling a cab to take me to the best bar in the city.

I had never expected that the bar the driver would take me to would be the same bar as the one where I met Charles. I got out and walked through the cool air of the night and inside.

The familiar scent of hops and spilled beer assaulted my senses as I pushed open the doors. The cacophony of chatter, laughter, and clinking glasses washed over me, momentarily numbing the bit of anger still in me. The night I'd met, Charles felt like so long ago, when I'd been in that dress Eason picked out for me and just trying to forget Devin. Funny how Devin drove me to the bar with his actions, and not even a few months later, his father, adoptive or not, was doing the exact same. I looked around. The decor hadn't changed much from the last time I'd been here.

Back then, it had felt like a burden to be here. It had just been me trying to appease Eason. Tonight, it felt like a mask, a flimsy attempt to escape the truth of my life.... I guess this trip wasn't all that different than the last one. Despite the urge to disappear into a quiet corner, I found myself gravitating towards the bar, seeking solace in the familiar routine of ordering a drink. The bartender, a burly werewolf whose nametag said "Gus," greeted me with a nod.

"What can I get you?" he rumbled, his gaze flicked up to my face briefly before dropping down to the counter.

He picked up a glass and started shining it.

"Whiskey. A double."

"Coming up."

Soon, he slid a glass of amber liquid towards me, and his silence felt heavy with unspoken words. He didn't look at me and continued cleaning up the area. Raising the glass to my lips, I took a long, slow sip, the whiskey burning a comforting trail down my throat.

Around me, the bar buzzed with activity. A group of werewolves cheered wildly as the lycan team on the screen scored a goal on the large screen hanging above the bar. Beside them, a group of werewolves countered with equally enthusiastic growls, and the werewolf team was losing by a large margin. It felt too much like deja vu, but I didn't let myself hope that Charles would walk up behind me and ask me to dance again.

I clenched my jaw, remembering the way Charles had closed the door in my face, leaving me with his words and the silence. Once upon a time, he wouldn't have done that. Was it because of that woman from his mother's coven or something else?

Was our bond, once so strong, crumbling under the weight of unspoken truths and mounting pressure?

Another loud cheer pulled me from my thoughts. One of the players streaked across the field, taking the lead. He was wearing the werewolf jersey.

"Look at that half-breed..."

I flinched and tried to drown out the commentary and the game. My gaze drifted from the screen to the faces around me. Strangers were all lost in their own conversations, their own troubles. Yet, in their presence, I found a strange sense of solace. They were a reminder that I wasn't alone in having a hard day. I almost wanted to know if one of them was having a worse day than me.

Had someone gotten fired? Maybe someone had just gone through a breakup. Misery loved company, but I would have loved to feel a bit better about my situation by focusing on someone else's.

But no one came up to talk to me. The bartender didn't even linger around me.

Finishing my drink, I signaled for another, the familiar burn a welcome distraction. The night stretched before me, filled with uncertainty and a gnawing sense of something being off. I probably shouldn't be drinking so heavily again. That potion had gotten me through most of the day without a problem, but there was no guarantee it would get me any further.

The game on the screen raged on, a cacophony of cheers and groans filling the air. It was pretty clear that even though the werewolves had a half-lycan player, it wasn't enough to deal with the lycan advantage.

As I nursed my second drink, my gaze drifted to the corner of the bar where a familiar news channel broadcasted. My breath hitched in my throat as the screen displayed a news report focused on Mooncrest, a headline glaring in bold letters: "Mooncrest Struggles Under New Debts: Can Alpha Wolfe Pull Through?"

A wave of nausea washed over me. Even here, I couldn't escape all the commentary on what I had and hadn't done. The newscaster's voice droned on, analyzing the Senate's ruling against me, speculating whether or not the charge would be levied against Mooncrest in the form of increased taxes and what it meant for Mooncrest's overall financials. I winced. The speculation wasn't kind.

Suddenly, the sound of the remote clicking broke me out of my internal spiral. The news turned to another television show. I looked back to the bar. Gus stood behind the counter and set the remote down.

"Rough night to be out, Alpha," he said, his voice gruff yet gentle.

I offered a weak smile, unable to meet his gaze. "Rough night, period," I admitted.

He nodded, setting the remote down. "Heard about the ruling," he said, wiping down a glass with a practiced hand. "Things that shaky you needed two doubles?"

Shame burned in my throat, making it difficult to swallow. I didn't want to think about the bottle I'd finished last night.

"I'm working on it," I mumbled, the words lacking conviction.

"And the citizenship issue?"

I frowned and looked up at him. "What?"

He worked his jaw. "Not on the docket, hm?"

"How do you know about that?"

He leaned close. "How do you think?"

I blinked, searching his face. I didn't recognize him. Had he been a police officer once? Was he someone who also didn't have a citizenship record, like Eason?

"A few years back, Mooncrest's Alpha tanked a venture capitalist firm, claiming it engaged in illegal activities." I frowned. I vaguely remembered that. "Seized every dollar, and anyone who tried to fight it got struck... We were accused of funding a rebellion against the current alpha."

I remembered Devin telling me about it. I remember being proud that he'd gotten them and run them out.

"Case never made it to Senate-level court," he said. "Would have been thrown out, but an alpha doesn't need to send something like that anywhere. Judge, jury, and executioner."

I swallowed as he set the glass down. His eyes glinted.

"It was my parent's company," he said. "I was working there. Studying business law... on the verge of becoming an attorney."

His words hit me like a physical blow.

"We lost everything," he continued, his voice low. "Savings, career prospects, even my reputation. My citizenship was just the final straw..." I swallowed as he paused. "Some relatives took my parents for their last years, but my siblings and I were stuck out. Our inheritance is gone." He smirked. "I never got to finish my degree. You should count yourself lucky because if I was in the courtroom against you, you wouldn't be here."

I swallowed past the dryness in my throat. Great, someone else who hated me.

"Though," he chuckled. "When I heard that your college fund was taken by that bastard, too, I had to laugh. Doesn't matter who is paying for it now. Just knowing that you had that terror of being so close and never finishing it because of what you had already done made my whole day."

He chuckled. "And here you are... In my bar."

I blinked and looked down at my drink. Fear settled heavy and sickening in my gut.