Chapter 159 The Nose That Followed

Alpha Killian started up the walk. Lila appeared in the doorway, shoulder against the frame, and sing-songed, "Killiaan, come on iiin—"

His eyes cut to her. "Stand up straight."

"Cut the act." Lila rolled her eyes.

They sat down. Mrs. Jones ran through the whole menu dish by dish, and it clicked for Eira what she was really up to. Selling her. Every plate was another line in the pitch. See how she cooks? See how she’s settling in? You’d be crazy to let this one go.

"One dish tonight’s extra special, Killian."Lila carried it out like a trophy. "Loaded mac and cheese. Eira made it from scratch. Lucky you."

Alpha Killian raised a brow. "Hm." The end of it tipped up, just barely.

"It’s mac and cheese." Eira thought they were both ridiculous. "It’s not fancy."

"Nothing she makes is basic." Lila held it out of reach, chin up. "And she made it for me. I said I was craving it. You’re eating it because of me, so get that straight."

Alpha Killian let out a low laugh, and on his first move at the table dragged two-thirds of it onto his own plate.

Lila gaped. "You have got to be kidding me."

He ate slow and neat, looking like he enjoyed her outrage more than the food. When she lunged for the dish, he pinned the serving spoon flat on top of it. "Grab it and you’ll wear it."

"Then let go—Eira, do something!"

Alpha Killian looked at her too, and his eyes said, handle the one on your right.

Eira sat wedged between them and made the only sane call. She got up to make a second batch.

She’d barely reached for a pot when the light shifted behind her.

A shadow fell across the counter, and then he was there, close enough that she felt the warmth of him before she heard a word.

Warm fingers lifted the spoon out of her hand and set it down.

"Go eat." His voice came low, right against her ear.

Eira didn’t turn around. She stared at the cutting board, suddenly aware of her own pulse. "I’m not fighting your sister over mac and cheese."

His hand came to rest on her shoulder and turned her around to face him. He was closer than she’d expected, close enough that she had to tilt her chin. The kitchen felt smaller all at once, the noise from the next room fading to nothing.

He brushed a strand of hair off her cheek, his palm curving briefly around the back of her neck, unhurried, like he had every right to be there. Then he reached past her waist for the apron strings.

Eira went still.

He didn’t look down. He kept his eyes on hers, watching the color climb into her face while his hands worked the knot loose at the small of her back, one slow pull and then the next. His knuckles grazed her spine through the fabric, and she felt it all the way up.

The apron came free between them. Neither of them moved for a second longer than they should have.

"Where’s it go?" he asked, quiet.

It took her a moment to find her voice. She pointed to the hook on the wall.

He hung it up, and the space between them opened back up, the ordinary sounds of the house rushing in to fill it. He tipped his head toward the table.

She followed him out on legs that felt a half-second behind.

Lila was watching them come back with a slow, knowing smile. "You know what? I’m out. He can have the whole pan."

She propped her chin in her hand. "Poor guy only gets to eat with Eira once in a blue moon."

Alpha Killian understood, with grim clarity, that the single biggest obstacle on his long road forward was his own sister.

--

Meanwhile, Alpha Sebastian had been camped outside Number Twenty for going on four hours.

Lights on inside. But no matter how he leaned on the bell or what he called out, nothing moved. The place felt hollow.

Once the doubt set in, he quit the doorstep and started circling the house.

Dragging a hand along a shut window frame, he felt it. A thick coat of dust. Everywhere else was spotless. This one corner wasn’t.

That wasn’t Eira. She had a mild obsessive streak about cleaning and never missed a corner. And if a housekeeper worked the place, they’d have come down by now and run him off. Nobody had.

He stepped back and looked again. No warmth, no life. Nobody lived here.

Either Jordan had it wrong, or Jordan had been fed a lie and this whole house was bait. And he didn’t have to guess who’d set it.

The day he came to lease, Alpha Killian had shown up in person, a housekeeper trailing him.

The whole development was Sterling-built, and Alpha Killian lived in the crown jewel, the only address marked with a capital One.

Worth a shot.

He’d never clear the gate at Number One, so he pulled up to the guard booth. "Looking for the housekeeper who runs Number One. She left something at my unit last time I leased."

"Mrs. Jones?" One guard glanced at the other. "She’s not at Number One much these days. Usually over at Number Nine."

Alpha Sebastian drove straight for Number Nine.

Immaculate yard. Every window lit. He rolled his window down, and through the glass caught a silhouette that stopped him cold.

It looked exactly like Eira.

He was out of the car before he’d thought it through. The iron gate had a walk-through door set into it, standing open, and he let himself in. The closer he got, the clearer the sounds through a white door left ajar. Voices. Laughing.

"Mrs. Jones, when’d the cherries show up?" Lila plucked a dark one off the stem and dropped it on Eira’s plate. "Try it. Stupid good."

"Came this afternoon." Mrs. Jones set down a bowl. "There’s more where that came from, so don’t be shy."

Eira turned the cherry over between her fingers before she ate it. She’d priced fruit like this once, in a display case at some upscale market she’d only ever walked past. She hadn’t bought it. She’d put it back and picked up the bag on sale.

Here it just showed up in a bowl, and nobody at the table so much as blinked.

Old habits. She caught herself doing the math on a single piece of fruit and made herself stop.

Juice slid to the corner of her mouth before she noticed.

Alpha Killian’s hand was there before it could drip. He caught it with a napkin and wiped her lip, calm, like it was nothing.

Eira went still.

"You’re a hundred miles away," he said, low, close enough that only she caught it. His thumb rested a beat at the edge of her jaw. "It’s just cherries. Eat."

She blinked up at him, and only then did it land, how close he was, that it was his hand at her chin.

That was the exact second Alpha Sebastian reached the window.

Something in him snapped. His eyes went red and he slammed his knuckles against the glass.

Every head at the table turned.

Eira saw him and frowned.

Alpha Sebastian hit the white door, found it unlatched, and shoved through. He crossed to Eira, hand already reaching to haul her up. "What the hell is this?"

Alpha Killian’s arm went around Eira’s waist in the same breath his boot drove into Alpha Sebastian’s gut. One clean motion.

Alpha Sebastian staggered back two steps, eyes wide with disbelief.