Chapter 142

Fiona

She’s here again, batting her eyelashes and hanging on his arm. Her perfectly curled hair and tight pencil skirt helping her show off her assets disgust me. Ethan continues typing on his keyboard, saying something to Angela occasionally, but she’s the main one talking.

I hold my breath when she reaches for Ethan’s face, and just as her fingers brush his cheek, the pencil in my hand snaps.

Ethan hesitates, glancing at Angela before slightly moving away. Though, she doesn’t let him. The rolling chair she sits in allows her easy access to follow him as he moves, which grates on my nerves.

Can’t he just tell her to leave?

It’s not hard. All he would have to say is that he’s working or that she’s distracting him. Then she could leave, and he’d be with me… I shake my head. No, he’d be alone, then.

Alone enough to work and not be distracted by annoying women.

When Ethan still doesn’t show signs of getting rid of Angela, I sigh and brush the broken pencil bits off my palm and into the trash can by my foot. How can one man be so hot and cold? One minute he’s all about being with me only and telling me I’m the one he wants to be with, and the next, he’s letting another woman hang around.

Is there something going on that I’m not aware of?

There must be. Ethan has to have left out some important piece of information that would explain this whole mess, which has me wondering, why would he leave me out of something so important?

Does he not trust me enough, or is there more to it?

The confusion and worry bundles together behind my eyes and creates a strained pain that has me rubbing my temples. If he would just tell me what’s happening, I could at least stop worrying, or at least I think I could. At the very least, it would help me understand.

Movement catches my eye, and I look up, immediately regretting it.

Angela leans in and hugs Ethan as she stands, practically shoving her breasts in his face as she grins and says something. There’s nothing I wouldn’t give to go in there and demand that she leaves.

She has no right to be touching all over him like that, and he has no right to be letting her.

As she walks toward the door, I try to calm my anger because the last thing we need is for me to hit her. We don’t need any more violence, and I know I wouldn’t win. She’s stronger than me, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to whack her in the head.

The slimy grin Angela shoots my way as she exits Ethan’s office is full of arrogance and triumph, like she’s won something. She doesn’t say anything as she leaves, but I can tell she wants to.

When the elevator doors finally close, I breathe a bit easier and stand, grabbing my lunch as a plan to get Ethan to finally talk to me. Maybe if we eat lunch, he’ll open up.

“Do you want to eat lunch?” I ask after knocking and quietly entering. He nods and exhales loudly. A sigh of relief or stress, I’m not sure, but he stands and walks toward me. His tall, broad form sways with the confidence of a strong man, and I wish he would wrap me in his arms, tell me everything is fine, and ease all my worry.

But what does he do instead?

He sits in the chair furthest from me and says nothing.

The silence rings in my ears, loud and dizzying.

“I’ve had enough,” I mutter, dropping my lunch on the little coffee table. “Can you please tell me what’s going on?”

Ethan glances at me then at his watch, like he has somewhere to be. He doesn’t. There’s nothing on his schedule but calls for the rest of the afternoon and those don’t start for another two hours.

“There’s a lot of stress and dealings that come along with the Lycan King selection process,” Ethan says, and just as I think he’s going to explain more, he sits back and closes his eyes.

“Is that it?” I ask, not believing him. “There’s no way having Angela hang all over you is part of the selection process. What else is going on, Ethan? Is something happening between your packs again? Do you need my help with anything?”

When he still doesn’t answer, I clench my teeth together, trying to hold in the frustration. It all boils within me, filling up so high that my vision blurs from frustrated tears.

But I have no time to cry, so I blink them away.

“I need you to talk to me. I don’t know what’s going on or why you’re letting someone who hurt me hang around without being punished, Ethan. There’s so much I don’t know, and I feel like you’re leaving me out on purpose, which I don’t think it fair,” I tell him, scooting forward. I reach out to touch his hand that lays on his knee but stop when he opens his eyes and looks directly at me.

“You don’t need to know, yet. I’m dealing with it.”

Ethan

“Dealing with it? Like how you dealt with Angela?” Fiona seethes, the words hissing past her teeth. The bitter, tangy scents of anger and frustration stain the air and have me nearly choking as I look at her. “Why is she still around after what she did?”

“There’s more to peace than just punishing someone who did wrong,” I tell her, but she holds her hand up.

“If you can’t tell me what’s truly going on or at least explain why you haven’t punished her, then I’m leaving,” Fiona says, standing.

There’s so much that happened while I was home that I want to protect her from.

“Even with your invite to the Selection, Alpha Montgomery, there is no guarantee that you’ll be accepted into the election because of your human mate. Final decisions have not been made yet, but you should be aware that the council is discussing the matter with great concern,” the emissary had said.

I couldn’t get the words out of my head. If Fiona knew this, she’d see it as her fault. I can’t let the weight of the council’s bias and prejudice weigh on her. I’d rather her be unaware and angry than drowning in guilt.

If I tell her the truth, she’ll only be more upset. Either way, Fiona will be hurt unless I can find a way to change everyone’s minds, and as much as I want her to be by my side, I can’t subject her to the possible danger that may come with fighting for our mate bond.

“There have been some complications, but as I said, I’m taking care of it because it’s nothing you can do.”

“Because I’m human or because I’m weak?” She spits the words at me as if I’d cursed her.

“That’s not what I meant,” I growl, shoving a hand in my hair and tugging at the roots.

“Either way, it’s no reason to allow Angela to hang all over you, Ethan. You know what she did to me.”

Nodding, I grit my teeth. I hadn’t been here when Fiona was hurt but Ryan had told me, and I’d nearly gone after Angela myself. That is, until trouble with her parents popped back up, and now I have to play nice.

“I am aware of her actions, Fiona, but let me handle this so no more problems form between our packs,” I tell her, and I can tell each word stabs at her and heightens her distress. Though, when I step toward her to try to ease her stress by touching her, Fiona stumbles back, moving away from me.

“Then we have nothing else to talk about—”

“Fiona, I won’t let this go unpunished. I just need more time to fix things,” I tell her, stepping closer again, and again, she moves away.

Tears swim in her eyes, and my chest tightens, my wolf growling in my head at the sight. She shakes her head when I try to get closer and then turns, running out of the room.

“Chase,” my wolf growls, trying to force me forward, but I stop him.

“She doesn’t want us to chase her,” I tell him, holding him back from taking over. “She doesn’t want us right now.”

“She needs comfort!”

“We’ll only make things worse,” I try to tell him, but he only growls in protest as we watch the elevator doors close between us.