Chapter 198 The Money Trail

"Thanks for the heads-up, Alpha Carter." Alpha Sebastian’s voice sounded raw.

Alpha Carter held his gaze. "Listen to me. This is the last time I stick my neck out for you. Screw up again, and you’re on your own. I carry weight with the board and the Pack Council, but I’m not spending that capital on an Alpha who can’t keep his company steady or his territory secure."

The last trace of color drained from Alpha Sebastian’s face. "Understood."

"Good. Get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be brutal."

Alpha Sebastian started to stand, but Alpha Carter waved him back.

"Don’t get up. You look like hell." He glanced around the private room. "Where’s Jordan?"

"Putting out a fire on the Snowmark account."

Alpha Carter gave a curt nod.

Finn tucked his phone into his bomber jacket. "I had someone pick up chicken noodle soup from that place you like. It should all be here within the hour."

"Thanks," Alpha Sebastian said.

Alpha Carter and Finn stepped into the hall. The moment the door closed, Finn turned to his father.

"I thought the plan was to keep him on a short leash. Why tell him exactly how much influence we have over the board?"

Alpha Carter gave him a thin smile. "Because a threat works better when the man knows it has teeth."

"And if he screws up again?"

"I’ll push the board to pull him out of day-to-day operations and put you in charge of the division."

Finn frowned. "All this because he can’t let Eira go?"

"Eira isn’t the problem. His judgment is."

"She’s not his mate anymore," Finn said.

Alpha Carter stopped and studied him. Out of everything they had discussed, that was the detail his son had chosen to correct.

"Fiona says you’re into her."

Finn’s jaw tightened. "Fiona needs to stay out of my business."

"There’s nothing wrong with wanting a good woman."

"Eira isn’t a deal to close."

"No," Alpha Carter agreed. "She’s smart, loyal, and better connected than Sebastian ever bothered to find out. Any Pack would be lucky to have someone like her as Luna."

Finn’s expression cooled. "If you’re about to tell me to claim her for the family, don’t. She just walked away from a marriage where everyone treated her like an asset. I’m not doing the same thing."

Alpha Carter went quiet for a beat. Then one corner of his mouth lifted.

"Good. At least one of you gets it."

He resumed walking.

"If you’re serious about her, don’t chase her like disputed territory. Give her space. Earn her trust. And let her decide what happens next."

--

On the top floor of Silix’s R&D center, Claire dropped into a conference chair and looked from Professor Davies to Eira.

"We’re the client here, right? I thought being in-house was supposed to be the cushy side of tech."

Davies let out a dry laugh. "Cushy? You have weekends, normal hours, and time to eat lunch somewhere other than your desk. When we were building the Sovereign processor, half the team kept toothbrushes in the lab. If the verification data came back wrong at midnight, nobody went home."

Claire winced. "Okay. Point taken."

Eira set a bottle of sparkling water in front of her.

"You and Professor Davies stay focused on the core work," Claire said. "Architecture, algorithms, verification, and IP. That’s the heart of the project. I’ll deal with budgets, vendors, and everyone who thinks marking an email urgent makes it important."

Davies chuckled. "Now you’re learning."

Then he turned to Eira. "Have you made a decision about Stanford? They’re waiting on your answer to the faculty offer."

"It can wait." Eira closed the report on her tablet. "Sovereign comes first. I gave Killian my word."

Claire’s head came up. She rolled her pen between her fingers.

"Killian now? You and Mr.Sterling sound pretty close."

"He’s my business partner."

"Just a business partner?"

Eira paused. "He’s Lila’s brother. We’re friends."

"Right." Claire nodded with a smile that said she believed none of it. "Friends."

Davies spared Eira from answering.

"If you’re going all in on Sovereign, I assume you’re turning down other projects. Remember Ryan Sullivan? He wanted to talk to you."

Eira’s hand stilled on her tablet.

"What does he want?"

"A consulting agreement. He knows your schedule is packed, so he asked me to feel you out before he contacted you directly."

Ryan was an old friend of Dr. Alaric Thorne’s. Out of respect for him, Eira wasn’t ready to turn the offer down outright.

"Sovereign needs my full attention. I can’t take on another chip project and pretend I can do both well."

"That’s what I told him." Davies leaned back. "I’ll pass along the answer. Don’t give it another thought."

Eira hesitated. "You haven’t met with Sullivan recently, have you? Dinner, drinks, anything like that?"

Davies raised an eyebrow. "No. I’ve barely had time to grab takeout, let alone sit through dinner with him."

The chance of casual contact causing any problem was almost nonexistent. Eira knew that. Still, some of the tension left her shoulders.

"He’ll find another consultant," Davies added. "Someone will take the check."

Serena’s face flashed through Eira’s mind. She and Sullivan moved in the same social circle. If Eira passed, Serena might see an opening.

A knock cut through the room.

Alpha Killian stepped inside in a charcoal suit, the collar of his white shirt open at the throat. He greeted Davies and Claire with a brief nod before his silver-gray eyes settled on Eira.

"Do you have a minute?"

Eira slid her tablet toward Davies. "The latest design files are in the secure folder. Pay close attention to the thermal results on the third architecture. I’ll be right back."

She followed Alpha Killian into the hall.

"What happened?"

"My office."

The glass skybridge connected the R&D center to Sterling Tower. Below them, rush-hour traffic crawled through Palo Alto while lights flickered on across the Sterling campus.

Pack guards secured the perimeter and underground garage. Inside the research buildings, Sterling’s private security team monitored every badge and visitor.

Alpha Killian walked beside Eira in silence. He could have called her office or sent someone. Instead, he had crossed the bridge to get her himself.

It was a small thing, but Eira noticed.

When they reached the executive floor, Kate and Natalie were packing up for the evening. Both women stopped when they saw Eira.

"Miles is back," Natalie said, handing her a small paper bag. "He brought us all souvenirs. You got the good stuff."

Kate held up a box of matcha cookies. "I got snacks. You clearly outrank me."

Eira smiled. "I’ll trade."

"Not a chance." Kate tucked the box against her side. "Miles is waiting in Killian’s office. Susan’s in there too."

The smile faded from Eira’s face.

Susan was her attorney. If she and Miles were both waiting, this had nothing to do with Sterling business.

Eira looked at Alpha Killian.

His expression remained unreadable, but his voice softened.

"Miles finished tracing Alpha Sebastian’s payments to Serena."

"And?"

"Not one dollar went into research."