Chapter 107
Logan
I hadn’t meant to be late.
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The security meeting had dragged–something about border smuggling and a merchant with counterfeit tech licenses—and by the time I stepped out onto the terrace overlooking the courtyard, the press event was already in full swing.
And Emily was already speaking.
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I paused in the shadow of the stone archway, one hand resting lightly against the pillar, and let myself watch her.
She stood at the center of the raised platform with nothing but a simple folder in one hand and a microphone in the other. No script. No teleprompter. Just her voice. Calm. Steady. Effortlessly in command.
“The reforms are not only fiscally sound, they’re a moral imperative,” she was saying. “If Titanfang wants to lead the modern Packs, we need to act like it. That means legacy doesn’t get to be a shortcut to power anymore.”
A ripple of reaction moved through the crowd: small applause, approving nods. Even the nobles on the edge of the circle were paying attention.
I stood frozen, hanging onto her every word.
She handled a pointed question from one of the veteran reporters next–something thinly veiled about nepotism and her own claim to her family estate.
I tensed instinctively, but Emily stayed calm. She smiled.
“If standing up for my birthright, after a decade of silence and systemic sabotage, makes me an opportunist… then perhaps the real problem is how rarely you’ve seen women succeed without apologizing for it.”
That comment put the reporter in his place more than any policy statement could have. The crowd murmured their approval. I heard someone nearby say, “She’s good,” under their breath.
And they were right. She was damn good.
I hadn’t done this. I hadn’t coached her, prepped her, staged this. She didn’t need me to prop her up anymore, if she ever had. I’d given her a place at the table. But she’d carved out her own authority.
The next question was personal.
“There’s been speculation about your relationship with Alpha Logan. Any truth to the rumor of it all just being for show? Or when can we expect wedding bells?”
The crowd laughed softly. I didn’t.
Emily didn’t miss a beat. “We’ve always been good together,” she said with just enough warmth to sound sincere. “And I’m grateful for his support.”
Support.
Not affection. Not future. Support.
She played the line perfectly. Not too eager, not too distant. Just enough to keep them intrigued….and just enough to keep me wondering.
My gaze stayed fixed on her, and when her eyes finally met mine across the space, it felt like something cracked beneath my
ribs.
She smiled.
Not for me. For the cameras. For the crowd. For the performance she was still maintaining, even with me standing there
Chapter 107
watching
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She stepped down from the platform a minute later, flanked by aides and reporters hungry for side quotes. Her back was straight, her voice composed.
And all I could think was: she’s still holding back.
From them. From me.
And I didn’t know why that struck me so damn hard until the thought slid through, sharp and unwanted: She’s not staying for
- me.
She’s staying because it makes sense. Because we have shared enemies and shared obligations and a very well–managed public narrative.
But when all of this ends, when the contract is up, what then?
Would she stay? Would she choose me?
I stepped back from the railing, the stone suddenly cold beneath my fingers. The crowd continued to thin. The voices faded.
And in the silence, the truth settled in with a weight I hadn’t prepared for.
If she walked away, it wouldn’t be a political setback. It would be personal.
It would break something I hadn’t realized I’d started to build. Something I didn’t have a name for yet.
And I wasn’t ready for that. Not at all.
The light in my office had shifted by the time I returned, stretching long and gold across the stone floor. The shadows of the mullioned windows fell in sharp angles, slicing through the rug like silent reminders of how much time I’d already lost today.
I dropped the event briefing folder on the desk, but I didn’t open it. I couldn’t concentrate, not really.
My mind was still in that courtyard.
Still watching Emily speak with so much confidence, so much quiet fire, that the press couldn’t help but lean in. She’d commanded them, turned their questions into kindling and burned through every doubt with a single, gorgeous smile.
She wasn’t the same woman who’d first arrived at Titanfang’s gates. She didn’t need protection. She didn’t even need backup. She needed space. Space to wield her own voice like a weapon.
I sat down behind the desk, fingers threading together, jaw tight.
What would it take for her to stay?
Not out of obligation. Not because of the contract. Not because the press now called us the future of Titaniang.
But because she wanted to.
Because I was enough–just me.
I exhaled through my nose, dragged a hand over my face, and leaned back.
She was guarded. Always had been. Even now, after the press praise and the small, stolen moments between us, she never fully let her walls down. Not with me. Not with anyone.
Except maybe when she was laughing in the kitchen over spilled wine, or teasing me for my reading habits, or humming absentmindedly when she thought no one was listening.
That version of her–the one that was there when she thought nobody was looking–I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
I wanted that Emily to choose me.
Chapter 107
Not the contract partner. Not the woman playing Lama for public favor, for my benefit I might add.
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The woman who stood barefoot on the garden path because she said she felt closer to her dormant wolf that way. The one who didn’t smile often, but when she did, it lit up the room.
I wasn’t sure I ever could earn that smile.
Because I’d given her reasons to doubt me. To keep her distance. I made decisions without her. I’d let others question her in front of me without consequence at first.
I thought it didn’t matter. I thought the contract was enough. I thought we maybe comfort would follow. Maybe that was all we needed.
I build something strategic and effective, and
But now?
Now I wanted more.
And that terrified me in a way I hadn’t felt since I was too young to understand what it meant to be heir. Since Hearned how easily something loved could be taken.
My chest ached with it. That quiet, gnawing knowledge that if she left, it wouldn’t be a headline. It wouldn’t be a policy failure or a dent in Titanfang’s public standing.
It would undo me in ways no political scandal ever could.
I stared down at my hands, noticing how tightly I’d curled them into fists. This wasn’t about control anymore. It hadn’t been for a while. It was about her.
And the question I couldn’t get out of my head: What if she never chose me?
What if I’d already lost her, and just didn’t know it yet?
I stood, walked to the window, and watched the sun dip behind the courtyard where she’d spoken so powerfully just hours ago.
“Women succeeding without apology.”
Gods help me, I didn’t want her to apologize.
I just wanted her to stay.
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