Chapter 101 The Hidden Certificate

Alpha Sebastian barely made it through the doorway before his mother rushed past him, practically tripping over herself to beat him to the desk.

Luna Margaret snatched up the two folded certificates sitting on the mahogany surface and jammed them straight into her sleeve.

"Mom. What are you hiding?"

Alpha Sebastian closed the gap in three strides, nostrils flaring without him even meaning to. Something was off.

Luna Margaret’s stomach dropped. "N-nothing. It’s nothing."

"I saw it. And I can smell you’re lying." His eyes locked onto the awkward bulge poking out of her sleeve.

Luna Margaret’s face went white. "You... you saw?!"

Alpha Sebastian nodded slow. "Why are you hiding it from me?"

Her throat went tight. She swallowed hard. We are so screwed.

Alpha Roger had made it an order, not a request, Alpha Sebastian was not to catch wind of the dissolution paperwork. Not now, not while he was buried neck-deep in the biggest contract negotiation of his career.

She should’ve buried the damn thing in the pack vault. Anywhere but the study desk.

But how was she supposed to know her son would randomly need something from the study? He’d been grinding around the clock for weeks straight, barely answered a single family message.

"What’s taking so long to grab our bond certificate?" Alpha Roger’s voice cut through the tension as he strolled in, calm and heavy the way only an Alpha could manage.

He looked at his Luna. "You find it?"

Luna Margaret nodded so hard her neck hurt. "Yeah! Got it right here."

"Your bond certificate?" Alpha Sebastian’s brow furrowed.

Luna Margaret’s heart skipped a beat. She rushed to her husband’s side, yanked the folded certificates out of her sleeve, pressed them into Alpha Roger’s hands like they were burning her fingers.

Alpha Roger took them without missing a beat, tucked them straight into his coat.

"Why do you two suddenly need it?" Alpha Sebastian’s eyes narrowed, suspicion creeping into his voice.

"Your mother and I are marking thirty years since the bond ceremony." Alpha Roger’s tone stayed level, controlled. "The Pack Elders are hosting something for it. Need the certificate on hand for the record."

Something in Alpha Sebastian’s gut prickled at that, the same instinct that had caught his mother red-handed thirty seconds ago. But he shoved it down.

His dad ran half the empire on instinct and always had a reason for everything, no point grilling him over a piece of paper.

"Oh. Makes sense."

"Quit overthinking things." Alpha Roger read him like a book, the way any Alpha could read the tension rolling off his own son. "Your mother and I are solid. You and Isabella are the ones who need to stop snapping at each other where the whole pack can hear. Makes us look weak."

Alpha Sebastian’s voice went firm. "I don’t want to hear Isabella say one more word about breaking the bond between me and Eira. Ever."

Luna Margaret opened her mouth to argue. Alpha Roger shut her down with one look, no words needed.

"I’ll handle her myself," he told Alpha Sebastian. "Don’t sweat it."

Keeping Alpha Sebastian’s head clear mattered more right now. Bid was less than a week out. Zero room for drama.

Alpha Sebastian trusted his old man, gave a short nod. Alpha Roger waved Luna Margaret out. Once the door clicked shut, he asked, "Bid prep on track?"

"Yeah. On track."

Alpha Sebastian scanned the shelves, hunting for one book, the one Eira left in his car years back, her notes scrawled through the margins. That book was what pulled them together in the first place.

"Serena says her grandfather’s putting in a word for you at the evaluation." Alpha Roger leaned against the desk. "Once you land this, go thank Alpha Victor face to face. And Serena too."

Alpha Sebastian’s hand froze on a spine. "She never mentioned that to me."

"You’ve been buried. She’s cutting you slack."

Alpha Roger’s voice sharpened a notch. "She backs you because she actually cares. Don’t take that for granted. Text her back once in a while. Won’t kill you."

Alpha Sebastian knew he’d been ghosting her. Every time he opened his phone to reply, the words just wouldn’t come.

Stuck. Torn between something he couldn’t even name.

Or maybe he just couldn’t face her anymore.

"Deal’s all that matters right now," Alpha Sebastian said, mostly to himself. "Rest can wait."

"Career comes first, sure." Alpha Roger nodded. "But don’t sleep on the people in your corner. Serena’s pulled a lot of weight for you."

"Eira’s pulled weight too." Out before he could stop it.

Alpha Roger waved it off. "Cooking dinner’s not exactly the same league."

Alpha Sebastian let it go, tucked the book under his arm. "Heading out."

"Go."

The second he was gone, Luna Margaret rushed back in. "One more second and I would’ve cracked! Thought he actually saw them. Nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Saw what?" Isabella wandered in.

"Grown-up stuff. Not your business," Alpha Roger said.

"Fine." She pouted.

Alpha Roger turned on both of them, tone gone hard. "Listen up. Nobody messes with Alpha Sebastian right now. Nobody stresses him out. Biggest deal of his career’s on the line. Hate Eira all you want, keep it locked up. We clear?"

His eyes cut to Isabella. "You especially. You never know when to shut it."

Her lip quivered. "I know, okay?"

--

On the drive back, Alpha Sebastian called Eira again.

"You’re staying at Mrs. Thorne’s place tonight?"

"Need something?" Eira stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in Lila’s sixty-sixth-floor suite, staring out at the city lights sprawled below.

"I’ll swing by and pick you up."

"It’s late. Don’t want to bother anyone." Her tone stayed flat. "Got an early class tomorrow anyway. Easier if I just crash here. Aren’t you swamped right now?"

"I know. Sorry I’ve been so MIA lately."

"You haven’t been."

You haven’t done anything wrong, she thought, cold.

"We’ll celebrate once this deal’s done, right? Like we planned?"

"Yeah. Already got your gift sorted." Alpha Sebastian pictured the car he’d bought her, sleek, pricey, six figures. She’d love it. She had to.

Eira couldn’t care less about gifts.

"Working at the office again tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Since you haven’t been home, I haven’t really gone back either." His voice went soft. "Eira... I miss you."

"Do you?" Her voice came out cold, hollow, not a shred of warmth or belief in it. "I’m exhausted. Going to bed."

"Okay. Night."

Alpha Sebastian hung up. She still sounded distant. Probably still worked up over the whole Isabella thing.

Better to give her space.

He turned the car toward the office instead.

Back in the suite, Lila said, "Gotta give the guy credit, he works hard."

Eira nodded. That drive, that ambition, that was part of what made her fall for him in the first place.

"Too bad his character’s absolute trash," Lila added.

Eira grabbed her phone, texted Rachel: Starting tomorrow, no more hiding. Mask and hat can come off.

Rachel shot back instantly: Got it.

Eira looked up. "Heading back to the house tomorrow. He’ll be out all weekend, so I’m grabbing my stuff then."

"I’m coming with."