Chapter 94 Fresh Grounds

Alpha Killian sat down first. Everyone else followed his lead.

Eira ended up between Alpha Killian on her left and Kate on her right.

The second she sat, she started passing out the gifts she’d hauled all the way here.

Alpha Killian first, since he was the boss. Everyone else got theirs at the same time, one in each hand.

Natalie clocked the packaging instantly. Her eyes went huge. "Eira, can I open mine right now?"

Nobody in this crew ever waited to open a gift.

Eira didn’t care either way. "Go for it."

Green light given, everyone tore in.

"The talking Baphomet plushie!" Natalie clutched the blind box to her chest, practically buzzing. "Thank you, Eira! Wait, here, this one’s yours!" She shoved her own gift across the table.

Kate looked down at the row of sleek black lipstick tubes in front of her, eight of them, her exact shade family. Her mouth curved. "These are perfect. Eira, this one’s mine."

"And this is from me." Miles slid his gift over, all business. "Thanks for the glasses chain."

Natalie grinned, evil. "A glasses chain fits Miles so well. You know none of his glasses even have a prescription, right?"

Eira blinked. Wait, what? Fake?

Miles pushed his glasses up with one finger, the ghost of a smile on his face. "Glasses give off an invisible intelligence boost."

Eira almost lost it right there.

That left Alpha Killian’s gift, still sitting untouched. His was the only one that came in two parts.

Something a little too pleased flickered behind his eyes.

He opened the first box.

A bag of coffee beans, some small-batch roast.

Then the second.

A portable espresso maker, small enough to fit in a backpack.

Kate’s jaw dropped. "Okay, hold on. Alpha Killian has been living off vending machine coffee for like three weeks straight and you just, what, fixed his entire personality?"

Natalie slapped both hands over her mouth, grinning behind them. "This might be the most thoughtful gift at this table and it’s not even close."

Miles muttered, just loud enough to catch, "Yeah, nobody else stood a chance."

Eira felt her face heat up.

"You’ve been running on maybe four hours of sleep," she said, aiming for casual. "Figured the stuff from the break room was doing you dirty."

"It has been." The corner of Alpha Killian’s mouth curved. He turned the espresso maker over in his hands, actually looking impressed. "This beats anything I’ve bought for myself."

The table let out a round of oohs that Eira very much did not appreciate.

Alpha Killian let it die down on its own, clearly enjoying it a little too much.

Then he pulled out a gift box and set it in front of her. "Open it."

She opened it right there. Inside sat a neat stack of bound documents.

She lifted them out.

Natalie, sitting across from her, couldn’t see the print, just blank white paper from the back.

"Alpha Killian, who gives someone a stack of paperwork as a gift? What happened to normal presents?" Natalie’s voice trailed off fast the second Alpha Killian’s stare cut toward her.

"What Natalie means," Miles jumped in, save of the century, "is that you two clearly think alike. Great minds."

Alpha Killian’s stare eased off Natalie, landed back on Eira, the amusement from a second ago settling into something quieter.

She hadn’t caught a word of that exchange. Her eyes were locked on the file.

Every payment Alpha Sebastian had made to Serena during the marriage, laid out in black and white.

Forget the three million a month in research funding, that was just the baseline.

In the month and a half since Serena got back stateside, the numbers ran into the hundreds of thousands, over and over again.

Alpha Sebastian really didn’t hold back. Not even close.

Four years married, and the biggest thing he’d ever spent on their life together was the down payment on their condo. That was it. That was the ceiling.

Guy would shortchange himself before he’d shortchange Serena.

Real romantic.

Eira’s fingers tightened slightly around the papers before she set them back in the box. She looked up, voice steady. "Thank you, Alpha Killian. Really."

Alpha Killian’s easy mood from a minute ago was gone, something harder underneath it now. He took a sip of water. "Just a fraction of it. Sterling’s reach doesn’t cover everything he’s got, but it’s enough." A beat. "Keep it somewhere safe."

Leverage. As long as she had something on Alpha Sebastian, she’d never have to worry about him trying anything down the road.

Might come in handy someday.

"Got it," Eira said.

--

Dinner started rolling out in waves, all of The Eden Garden’s signature dishes. A bottle of white wine showed up with the meal.

As the server moved to pour Eira’s glass, Alpha Killian’s voice cut in, casual on the surface. "Light pour."

Everyone on his team could drink circles around a bar. Except Eira.

She wasn’t quite a one-glass lightweight, but two glasses in, she was done for the night. Alpha Killian had seen her drunk exactly once, glassy eyes, pink nose, looking like she’d shatter if anyone breathed on her wrong.

Once was enough. He wasn’t about to sit through that again.

Everyone raised their glasses.

Eira’s phone buzzed. She took a small sip of wine, then glanced down at the screen.

Beatrice: Oh my God, I just heard from Susan, your divorce is officially final. Congratulations, sweetheart.

Eira typed back fast, smiling at her phone. [Thank you, Beatrice. Couldn’t have done any of it without you and Susan.]

Alpha Killian caught the message out of the corner of his eye.

The divorce was final. Officially done.

The corner of his mouth curved, just barely, and he drained his glass in one smooth motion.

Eira set her phone down and pushed her chair back, rising to her feet. "Quick toast." She lifted her glass. "Thanks for having my back this past month, all of you. Seriously."

She took a small sip.

Then she turned to Alpha Killian. "Alpha Killian, I owe you way more than a thank you—"

"Nah, you don’t." He looked up at her, something easy in his eyes. "Just don’t forget it. That’s payment enough."

She blinked. "Deal."

"Good." He nodded once, took another sip.

He usually had an iron stomach when it came to alcohol. But something about tonight, the flush in her cheeks from the wine, the way she kept stealing small bites like she was pacing herself, had him feeling a little off his game anyway.