Aria’s POV
I stared at the stack of docunts Director Black had left on my desk. Maps. Charts. Reports. Pages upon pages of data that needed to be sorted, categorized, and compiled into sothing presentable.
My hands were still shaking. Had been shaking since she’d walked away. Since she’d dropped this bomb in my lap and left to deal with the fallout.
Stop it, I told myself. Stop panicking. This is just work. Just paperwork. Nothing dangerous about paperwork.
Right?
I checked the clock again.
---
5:15 PM.
Almost done.
The docunts were organized. Labeled. Stacked in order of importance. Everything Director Black had specified, plus a few improvents I’d added on my own.
I reached for the last set of maps.
Paused.
These were different from the others. More detailed. More recent. The ink still looked fresh, like they’d been printed just this week.
I unfolded one carefully.
The eastern border. I recognized the landmarks from the drive to Cassius’s cottage. The forest. The river. The small towns scattered along the edge of the territory.
And there, marked in red, was a new boundary line. Extended further than the current one. Pushing into what looked like unclaid land.
Expansion plans.
Real, concrete expansion plans.
My chest tightened.
This was serious work. Important work. The kind of work that shaped the future of entire territories. The kind of work that only the Alpha and his closest advisors would ever see.
And Director Black had given it to .
Why?
What was she thinking?
What was HE thinking, choosing soone he’d never t to handle his most sensitive docunts?
I sat back in my chair. Stared at the completed stack.
Two hundred and thirty-seven pages of territory maps, financial summaries, and expansion proposals. All organized. All labeled. All ready for delivery.
Thirteen minutes to spare.
I’d actually done it.
A hysterical laugh bubbled up in my chest. I swallowed it down.
No ti for celebration. The deadline wasn’t "organize by 6 PM." It was "DELIVER by 6 PM."
Which ant I had to take these docunts.
Upstairs.
To his office.
The relief I’d been feeling vanished instantly. Replaced by a cold, creeping dread that started in my stomach and spread outward until my entire body felt frozen.
His office.
I had to go to HIS office.
What if he was there?
What if he looked up and saw and sohow KNEW?
What if three years of running and hiding and rebuilding my life ca crashing down because I walked through the wrong door at the wrong ti?
My hands started shaking again.
Stop it, I told myself. Stop being ridiculous.
Director Black had said he rarely ca to the company. That he was always busy with pack matters. Council etings. Territory disputes.
He wouldn’t be there.
He COULDN’T be there.
The universe wasn’t that cruel.
Right?
---
The elevator ride to the top floor was the longest of my life.
I clutched the stack of docunts against my chest like armor. Like they could sohow protect from whatever was waiting at the other end.
The numbers climbed.
15.
16.
17.
My heart rate climbed with them.
18.
19.
What if he’s there?
20.
What do I do if he’s there?
21.
Run? Hide? Pretend I’m soone else?
22.
Would he even recognize ? Without my scent? Without Artemis?
23.
Does it matter? Would I recognize MYSELF if I had to face him?
24.
The elevator slowed.
25.
Ding.
The doors slid open.
The top floor stretched out before . Different from the executive level where I worked. Quieter. More spacious. The kind of elegant minimalism that scread "important people only."
I stepped out. My heels clicked against the marble floor. The sound echoed in the empty corridor.
Empty.
No assistants at desks. No executives hurrying between etings. No one at all.
Just . And the silence. And the door at the end of the hall.
His door.
I started walking.
Each step felt like a mile. Each breath felt like drowning.
The door got closer.
And closer.
And closer.
I stopped in front of it.
Heavy oak. Brass handle. A small naplate that read "CEO" in elegant script.
No sound from inside.
That was good. Right?
If he was in there, I’d hear sothing. Voices. Movent. SOTHING.
But there was nothing.
Just silence.
I raised my hand to knock.
Stopped.
What was the protocol here? Knock and wait? Knock and enter? Just enter without knocking?
Director Black hadn’t told . The docunts hadn’t specified.
I was standing here like an idiot, holding a stack of papers, frozen in front of a door I was too scared to open.
Pathetic.
I lowered my hand.
Raised it again.
Lowered it.
God. What was WRONG with ?
It’s just a door, Aria. Just a room. Just an office.
He’s not in there. He CAN’T be in there.
Just open the door. Put down the docunts. Leave.
Simple. Easy. Done.
I took a deep breath.
Held it.
Let it out slowly.
And pushed the door open.
---
The office was empty.
Thank God. Thank GOD.
I stood in the doorway, heart pounding, eyes scanning every corner of the room like I expected him to materialize out of thin air.
Nothing.
No one.
Just furniture and windows and the fading afternoon light streaming through floor-to-ceiling glass.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.
Okay. Okay.
I was fine. Everything was fine.
Just put down the docunts and leave.
I stepped inside. The door swung shut behind with a soft click.
The office was massive. Way bigger than Director Black’s. Way bigger than anything I’d ever worked in.
A desk dominated the center of the room. Huge. Mahogany. Polished to a mirror shine.
Behind it, a wall of windows overlooking the entire territory. The city spread out below like a map co to life. Buildings and streets and the distant edge of the forest where wolf territory t the human world.
I walked toward the desk.
My heels sank into the plush carpet. Each step felt muffled. Dreamlike.
This was where he worked. Where he made decisions that affected thousands of lives. Where he sat and planned and ruled.
This was HIS space.
And I was standing in the middle of it.
I reached the desk. Set down the docunts.
There. Done. Mission accomplished.
Now leave. Turn around and leave before sothing goes wrong.
But my feet didn’t move.
Sothing was off.
I looked around the office again. Really looked this ti.
The desk was empty. Completely empty. No pens. No papers. No computer. Not even a coffee mug or a water glass.
The bookshelves along the wall were bare. No books. No files. No personal items of any kind.
The chairs arranged in front of the desk still had that showroom perfection. No wear on the leather. No indentations from bodies that had sat in them.
Everything was... pristine.
Untouched.
Like no one had ever used this office at all.
This wasn’t my concern. None of this was my concern.
I turned to leave.
And that’s when I saw it.
On the corner of the desk. Partially hidden by the angle I’d been standing at.
A small vase.
Simple. Glass. Nothing special about it.
But what was INSIDE...
My breath caught.
Moonlight flowers.
A tiny bunch of them. Delicate white petals that seed to glow even in the fading afternoon light. Stems still fresh. Like they’d been placed there just this morning.
The scent hit a second later.
Soft. Sweet. Achingly familiar.
The sll I used to carry. The sll that used to define . The sll that marked as an Oga before Artemis was taken away.
My eyes welled up with tears.
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