Chapter 19: UNINVITED
KEISHA’S POV
The news moved through the pack the way it always did.
Nobody announced anything. Nobody gathered everyone together and explained what had happened. It just spread quietly and fast. The way things spread when they were serious enough that people instinctively kept their voices down about it.
By the time I got into the office that morning, I could already feel the tension in the building.
People moved through the corridors with their heads slightly down and their conversations dropped low the moment anyone got close enough to hear.
What the hell had happened overnight?
I pieced it together from fragments over the course of the morning.
A border wolf was caught and killed on the Alpha’s order.
I sat at my desk and stared at my screen and let that settle in my chest for a moment.
So that was where they had been.
Four days without seeing either of them and I had been telling myself I wasn’t counting but I absolutely was. Not like it was on purpose. The bond had been running its quiet signal every time I paid attention to it and coming back with distance each time meaning they weren’t anywhere close. Now at least I had a reason for it.
But what had happened? Who was the person?
Snap out it, Keisha. None of your business.
I pulled up my files and got to work because there was nothing else useful to do with that information.
The day moved slowly. I delivered two sets of records to the east wing like my boss ordered, sat in a filing review that ran longer than it needed to and by the time I finally stepped out of the building the evening air brushed past my face like something I hadn’t realised I was desperate for.
Finally.
All I wanted to do was go home, take a cold bath and sleep for the rest of the evening—
"Keisha."
I froze and turned.
Orin was coming up the path from the west wing still in his patrol gear, cheeks flushed from the cold. He looked as worn out as I felt but he smiled when he saw me.
Oh.
"Haven’t seen you around." He fell into step beside me.
"Things have been hectic." I replied, smiling slightly.
He nodded, looking ahead. "For everyone." He went quiet for a beat. "You okay? After the thing in your office the other day?"
I let out a small breath. "I’m fine. It wasn’t really about me."
He glanced at me sideways like he wasn’t entirely sure he believed that but he let it go, not pressing any further. We walked in easy silence for a moment, our footsteps quiet against the path.
"Can I ask you something?" He said eventually.
"Go ahead."
He kept his eyes forward. "My birthday is in two days."
I looked at him. "Oh. Happy early birthday."
Orin gave me a small smile. "Thanks. I was thinking— nothing big. Just dinner somewhere quiet. I’d really like it if you came."
Oh.
I looked ahead and felt the familiar urge of wanting to say no but not having a clean reason that didn’t require explaining my entire situation. He was asking simply and genuinely with nothing manipulative about it. It was just dinner. Just his birthday.
"Dinner." I repeated.
"Just dinner." He confirmed. "You can even pick the place."
I looked at him. He was patient and looking at me hopefully.
"Okay." I heard myself say before it registered.
His whole face shifted. "Yeah?"
"Just dinner." I pointed at him with a smile.
He laughed, low and relieved. "Just dinner. I’ll sort the details."
We reached my door and he stopped at the bottom of the porch steps the way he always did, never pushing past that point and said goodnight with that easy smile before he headed back down the path.
I watched him go for a second with a small smile, then I went inside.
The house was quiet and dark as I dropped my bag on the chair by the door and rolled my neck and headed straight for the kitchen because I needed water. I also needed to sit down and not think about anything for a solid hour.
I reached up for a glass from the cabinet, humming softly to myself.
"You’ve been spending a lot of time with that boy." A voice echoed behind me and I froze.
The glass slipped as I jerked.
A hand shot out from behind me and caught it before it hit the counter, closing around it and setting it down in one smooth motion, and I spun around so fast I nearly lost my footing.
Callum.
He was right there. Close enough that I had to take a step back and my back met the counter behind me immediately, nowhere to go. His dark coat was still on like he hadn’t been here long and his eyes were on mine with an expression I couldn’t read in the low light of the kitchen.
My heart was slamming in my chest. "How did you get in?" My voice came out smaller than I wanted it to.
He looked at me and said nothing.
"Callum." I pressed myself further back against the counter even though there was nowhere further to go. "How did you get into my house?"
Still nothing.
He just looked at me with that expression and took one slow step closer and the bond pulled immediately, and I felt my breath dissolve somewhere in my throat.
"The back latch." I said, more to myself than him. I always forgot the back latch.
Shit.
He took another step and now he was close enough that I had to tilt my head up to look at him properly and the kitchen felt like it had shrunk to half its size.
His eyes hadn’t moved from mine once. "He walked you home." His voice was low. "Again."
"He was being polite—"
"He’s been being polite a lot lately." Something in his voice was very controlled but his tone told me that he was holding back words.
I swallowed. "It’s just dinner. His birthday. It doesn’t mean anything."
His eyes dropped to my mouth for one second and came back up and my stomach turned completely over.
"Callum." His name came out unsteady and I hated myself for it. "Say something. You can’t just stand there and—"
He reached up slowly and his palm pressed flat against the cabinet beside my head, his arm bracketing me in and whatever I was about to say dissolved entirely. Because he was looking at me now like he had stopped trying to manage anything and the look on his face was doing something to me that I had absolutely no defence against.
My fingers gripped the counter behind me and my knees wobbled.
He leaned in slightly, his eyes still on mine, and I opened my mouth to say something, anything—
His breath brushed my skin as he finally spoke. "You and I. We need to talk."
