Chapter 127 An Uninvited Guest

"Alpha, if she’s not at the house and she’s not at the Thorne place, that’s three options." Jordan came through the car speakers. "A hotel, somebody’s guest room, or she went home."

"She only goes back to the home at Thanksgiving and Christmas. And she’s running the follow-on with Sterling now." Alpha Sebastian didn’t have to think about it. "She’s not leaving Palo Alto."

Hotels or a friend, then.

He put Jordan on the hotels. Every decent one in the city plus the two out by the airport.

The friend he’d take himself. There was only one. Lila Sterling was the only person Eira had spent real time with in two years, and it occurred to him, going through the gate, that he had never once asked what the two of them did together.

"One more thing." He thought about Martin standing in that doorway. He thought about the closet. Fine. He could do that too. "Call the personal shoppers downtown. Give them her measurements and have them start pulling things. Cool colors. You make the calls yourself."

"Yes, Alpha."

Behind him, the gate was already rolling shut.

Martin watched the taillights from the upstairs window until they turned onto the road, then came back down the hall.

"He’s gone."

Beatrice hadn’t moved from the chair by the lamp.

"Don’t tell her he was here." She turned a page. "She’d go meet him just to keep him off our lawn. You know she would."

--

Number Nine, Southridge Estates

Eira and Lila had buried the dining table in takeout. Thai, a pizza, and a rotisserie chicken neither of them could explain. Lila had the champagne open. They were thirty seconds from eating when the doorbell went.

Lila checked the screen by the entry.

Her brother.

Hard pass. She killed the feed.

He rang again. She killed it again.

Then her phone lit up.

"Lila. Open the door."

She nearly dropped it. "How do you even know it’s me?"

"Now."

She hung up, scowling. Because Eira wouldn’t leave anybody standing on a porch, that’s how. And because their mom had told him at breakfast where Lila was spending her night.

The door opened.

Alpha Killian’s hand came up to flick his sister in the forehead. Lila had seen that coming since she was nine and was already behind Eira.

Eira was the one who’d opened the door.

So his hand hung there, a foot from her face, fingers half curled.

She looked up at him. What.

Behind her, Lila stuck her head out and lifted her chin. Got Eira now. Can’t touch me.

Alpha Killian gave her a look that could strip paint.

Then he put his hand down on top of Eira’s head, ruffled her hair, and walked past her.

Eira didn’t move.

He followed the smell into the dining room and pulled a plate out of her dishwasher.

"Unbelievable," Lila said. "Guy acts like he pays the mortgage."

Eira was still at the door.

He’d patted her head. Last person who did that was Miss Gwen, and Eira was eleven.

She came to the table at her own pace.

"Mr. Sterling."

"Dr. Crawford."

Hers was polite. His had something under it.

She didn’t explain and he didn’t ask. At the signing he hadn’t blinked. He’d known before she said a word, and half the country knew now anyway.

"What brings you by?"

"Yeah, what are you doing here?" Lila dropped into her chair. "You came straight from the office. Don’t tell me you drove across town for our chicken."

He set a heavy envelope in front of Eira.

"The gala. Delivering this one myself, Dr. Crawford."

She’d figured Miles would drop it off. Or Kate, who’d volunteered twice.

"Thank you." She got up to put it somewhere it wouldn’t get sauce on it.

When she came back her glass was full again.

Lila’s hands went up. "Wasn’t me."

Which left one person.

Alpha Killian tapped his glass against hers.

"Congratulations, Eira."

Not Dr. Crawford this time.

He put away half of it in one pull.

"Congratulations to you too, Mr. Sterling." She drank half of hers.

Lila frowned. "Killian, she can’t drink. Why are you pouring like that?"

He knew she couldn’t. He also knew what she was like once she had.

Seven years sitting on who she was, four more sitting on everything else. She’d earned an hour off.

Last time she got drunk she stopped being careful. Talked like a regular person with things that hurt and nowhere to put them.

Champagne is still alcohol. Half a glass and her face went warm. She touched the back of her hand to her cheek.

Lila shot her brother a look. Nice going.

Alpha Killian looked at his sister, still glaring at him across the table.

"Eat your food."

Lila got two bites in before her phone went off like a fire alarm.

Dez, her floor manager. Her brother knew about the bar. Everybody knew about the bar. She still took it by the window with her back turned.

"He’s making a scene?"

"Wants the owner. Says he’s not leaving till he gets the owner."

"Twenty minutes."

She came back to the table and both of them said it at the same time.

"What happened?"

Lila looked at one, then the other. When did you two start doing that.

"Nothing. Something I’ve got to go handle." She hugged Eira quick and said into her ear, "Throw him out. Soon."

Then she got in her brother’s face and dropped her voice. "You try one thing while she’s like this and you’re not my brother. You’re a guy with a restraining order."

She made a fist about it.

Alpha Killian didn’t look up. "Trouble at the bar?"

"NO." She grabbed her bag and was gone.

"Don’t scare her," Eira said.

"You two are close." Flat.

He says that like a husband.

"We’re friends." She went back to her food. Small bites, slow, the way she did everything.

"And what are we?"

"Business partners."

Alpha Killian didn’t say anything.

Right. Why’d he ask.

He picked up his glass and finished it.

Eira didn’t know the first thing about how any of this worked. He emptied his, so she emptied hers.

He stopped. Then the corner of his mouth went up.

Fine. He’d let business partners slide. For now.

It hit her faster than she planned on.

The room tipped. Her fork slid out of her hand and went off the table, and she leaned down after it, straight into the table edge.

Alpha Killian was up before it landed. Her forehead came down soft into his palm.

His knuckles took the edge instead. Hard. He breathed in through his teeth.

His sleeve caught the soup on the way. The bowl went over and started running toward her side.

He came around, got an arm under her, and lifted her clear of it.

Eira made a sound she hadn’t planned on. Her hands came up flat on his shoulders.

She was sitting on his forearm, head tipped down, still working out how she got there.

"Any of it get you?"

He turned to look.

Their noses brushed.

Champagne on both of them. Nobody was breathing separately anymore.

Alpha Killian swallowed.