Chapter 42 The Choice He Made

Alpha Killian looked down at Eira. "Are you hurt?"

Eira glanced at her scraped wrist and bleeding heel. "I’ve been better."

Alpha Sebastian reached for her again.

Eira stepped back before he could touch her. "I already warned you."

At the same moment, Alpha Killian shifted between them.

"Try it," he said. "Let’s see how far you get."

Alpha Sebastian stopped. "She’s my wife, Alpha Sterling."

Alpha Killian looked at Eira’s bare, dirty feet and the blood running down her heel.

"Then why are you hauling her around like checked baggage?"

Alpha Sebastian finally noticed the blood.

"Where are your shoes?"

Alpha Killian raised the heels in one hand. "They came off while you were dragging her across the ballroom."

Alpha Sebastian ignored him.

"I’ll have someone bring you flats," he told Eira. "Next time, don’t wear heels if you can’t walk in them."

"The heels weren’t the problem. You were."

His face hardened. "Do you have to turn everything into a fight?"

"You grabbed me after I told you to stop. That’s not a fight. That’s you refusing to take no for an answer."

Approval flickered in Alpha Killian’s eyes.

Alpha Sebastian caught it.

"Is this because Alpha Sterling is here? You finally found an audience, so now you’re putting on a show?"

"Leave him out of this."

"Then why did you come with him?"

Alpha Killian answered before Eira could.

"What’s wrong with an executive assistant attending a business event with her boss?"

Eira glanced at him. He had not actually brought her, but he clearly had no intention of correcting Alpha Sebastian.

Alpha Sebastian opened his mouth, but Alpha Killian looked past him.

"There’s your date. Maybe you should explain why you left her waiting while you manhandled your wife."

Serena stood at the end of the hallway, her eyes shining with tears.

Alpha Sebastian followed Alpha Killian’s gaze.

"She’s not my date. Serena is a friend."

Eira gave a humorless smile. "Of course she is."

Serena flinched.

Alpha Sebastian turned back to Eira. "You know there’s nothing going on between us."

"I know what you tell people."

Her voice carried clearly down the hallway.

Serena’s face went pale. She lowered her eyes and walked away.

"Serena."

Alpha Sebastian took a step after her, then stopped.

He looked between the two women.

Eira stood barefoot with blood on her heel, bruises forming around her wrist, and lipstick smeared across her mouth.

Serena was leaving in tears.

For one moment, the choice could not have been clearer.

His phone buzzed.

I’m going home. Sorry I got in the way.

Alpha Sebastian’s jaw tightened.

"Eira, wait here."

She stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"I need to make sure Serena’s okay. We’ll finish this conversation later."

"There’s nothing left to finish."

Alpha Sebastian ignored that and lowered his voice.

"What did you mean earlier when you said not everyone was like me?"

"You heard me wrong."

"No, I didn’t."

"You were angry. You heard what you wanted to hear."

He studied her face, but Eira gave him nothing.

She glanced toward the ballroom.

"You should go. Your friend is upset."

Alpha Sebastian searched her expression for jealousy.

There was none.

That bothered him more than anger would have.

"We’ll talk at home."

Then he went after Serena.

Eira watched him disappear.

He had seen the blood on her heel and the marks on her wrist. He had still chosen Serena.

It hurt less than it should have.

Maybe because, by now, it was exactly what she expected.

A pair of white ballet flats landed softly in front of her.

Eira looked up.

Alpha Killian stood beside her, his expression unreadable. Miles waited a few steps behind him with a small first-aid pouch.

"You keep emergency shoes at a black-tie gala?" Eira asked.

"Miles does."

Miles gave her a polite nod. "The event team plans for wardrobe problems."

Alpha Killian took the pouch from him.

"That’ll be all."

Miles left without comment.

Eira reached for the flats.

Alpha Killian moved them out of reach.

"Sit down first."

"I can handle a blister."

"Clearly."

She gave him a cool look. "You’re very helpful when you’re being insulting."

"I have a wide range of skills."

Despite herself, Eira almost smiled.

A bench stood against the hallway wall. She sat and reached for the first-aid pouch, but Alpha Killian opened it before she could. "I can do it myself."

"I know."

"Then give me the bandage."

"No."

Eira raised an eyebrow. "Are all Alphas this controlling?"

"Only when someone is about to put a sock over an open blister."

She looked down at her heel.

He had a point.

That made him more annoying.

--

Serena waited in the foyer between the ballroom and the terrace until she saw Alpha Sebastian coming.

Then she turned away.

"Serena."

He caught up with her near the doors.

She wiped quickly beneath one eye.

"You should go back. If Eira sees us together, she’ll get the wrong idea."

"She’s still in the hallway."

Again, it was the wrong answer.

Serena wanted him to say that Eira did not matter. She wanted him to choose her without hesitation.

Instead, he had left her waiting all evening, then followed his wife out of the ballroom.

"If you wanted to spend tonight with Eira, you could have told me," she said. "I would’ve brought someone else."

Alpha Sebastian’s expression changed.

"You’re not bringing another man."

"Why not?"

"Because I don’t want you to."

"That isn’t an answer."

His jaw tightened.

"Fine. I’d be jealous."

Serena lowered her eyes to hide her satisfaction.

"Now you know how I felt watching you with your wife."

"She didn’t come with me."

Serena looked up.

"What?"

"She came with Killian Sterling."

It was the explanation Alpha Sebastian had already chosen to believe, despite what both Eira and Alpha Killian had told him.

Serena’s eyes widened. "Alpha Sterling brought her?"

"They’re not together." His answer came too fast.

Serena heard the fear beneath it.

So did Alpha Sebastian.

Alpha Killian Sterling had noticed Eira.

The Alpha of the Sterling Pack could have almost any woman he wanted. Why would he choose a Wolfless Omega with no powerful family or social connections?

Serena forced herself to breathe.

It had to be temporary. Curiosity, perhaps. Men like Alpha Killian sometimes became interested in women who were different from their usual circle.

That did not mean he would claim her. It certainly did not mean the Reed Pack would welcome her.

The thought calmed Serena.

She slipped her fingers through Alpha Sebastian’s.

"Come outside with me. I need some air."

He let her lead him onto the terrace.

Most guests had remained inside because of the evening chill. The far end of the terrace lay in shadow, screened from the ballroom by tall potted trees.

Serena stopped there.

"Serena, what are we doing?"

She stepped into his arms.

"Something we should have done a long time ago."

She kissed his neck, then his jaw.

When her mouth found his, Alpha Sebastian caught her waist.

For a moment, he kissed her back.

Neither of them noticed the figure standing behind the glass doors at the far end of the terrace.

A phone rose quietly.

The red recording light came on.