Chapter 38: A MAN NOBODY LIKES
DANE’S POV
I was wrapping up the evening patrol rotation, standing at the northwest checkpoint with Fen going over the handover notes, when my phone buzzed.
I read the message once, looked at the checkpoint and looked at my phone again.
Dinner at the mansion. All senior staff. Guests included. Seven o’clock.
I handed the notes back to Fen. "You’ve got the rest."
He looked at the message over my shoulder before I pocketed the phone but said nothing.
I walked back toward the mansion with my hands in my coat and thought about how it would be— sitting across a dinner table from Riven Cole for an hour and felt nothing particularly easy about it. A week. They were staying a week and every day of that week there was going to be some version of this.
Meaning I would have to be civil for a whole week unless I wanted Callum to fix a problem he didn’t make.
A week, Dane.
I could do that. Probably.
The front of the mansion was lit up when I got there and I heard voices before I saw anyone. I came around the side path and found them all gathered near the entrance— Riven and Mara heading up the steps, two of his council members behind them and Nadia standing off to the side near the stone pillar with her phone in her hand, giggling at something on the screen.
She looked up when she heard me, gave me a brief wave and went back to her phone.
Riven saw me at the same time I saw him and we looked at each other.
"Beta Wolfe." He nodded, his voice neutral but his gaze assessing.
"Alpha Cole." I nodded, my voice flat.
A beat passed where neither of us said anything.
"Good evening." He said.
"Hm." I replied stiffly.
Riven glanced back at his council members. "Go ahead inside."
They moved past us and up the steps and then it was just the four of us and Nadia at the pillar who had looked up from her phone again.
Mara leaned slightly toward Riven. Her voice was low but not loud enough for me to hear. "Is that not the one who broke the sister’s heart?" She said it almost casually. "Keisha’s sister. Lyra."
Riven looked at me. "That’s him." He tutted.
My jaw twitched at their words and I resisted the blinding urge to put my fist into his pretty face.
One week, Dane.
I looked back at him. "Interesting thing to bring up." I folded my hands. "From the man who stood in front of his entire pack and said another woman’s name while the woman he’d been with for three years was standing in the crowd." I paused. "How is Keisha, by the way? You got a good look at her today. Seemed like you had a lot to say to her in that corridor."
Irritation flashed across his face.
"At least I didn’t string someone along for three years." I continued. "I made a decision and I stood by it."
"Did she feel that way about it?" Riven replied and his voice had cooled slightly. "Lyra. When you ended it."
"That’s between me and Lyra." I tilted my chin.
"Hm." He said in exactly the tone I had said it. "Funny how that works."
"Okay." Nadia’s voice came from the pillar. She had put her phone away and was looking at both of us with her arms folded. "Both of you have hurt people I care about so neither of you gets to stand there and score points off each other about it." She looked at Riven. "Especially not you. You came here on a diplomatic visit. Act like it."
Riven looked at her for a moment. "You’re right." He said quietly. "I’m sorry."
Nadia raised her brows. "Don’t apologise to me."
He held her gaze, then he looked at me one more time and the diplomatic mask was back in place. "Shall we?" He said, turned and went up the steps with Mara beside him.
I watched him go with a scowl.
That little bastard was definitely trying to get on my nerves. And for what? To make himself seem like a better saint but he was nothing but?
I always found it funny when people misunderstood what happened between Lyra and I. Made it sound like I betrayed her and dashed her heart against the rocks. But it was nothing like that. They just never cared enough to find out what truly happened.
And honestly? I couldn’t bring myself to be bothered.
Nadia appeared at my side. "You’re also not much better." She said, her voice stiff.
"I know." I said.
She looked at me for a second. Then she sighed and headed up the steps and I followed.
We went inside to the dining hall was already half full. Pack council members, senior staff, Riven’s delegation arranged along one side of the table.
The room was bustling with energy and people were making small talk, glasses clinking as they drank some wine.
Exactly the kind of scene that I wasn’t interested in right now. Well— at least I got to see Keisha again. She looked pretty upset after the whole Mara and Riven scene. So it only made sense if I used this opportunity to properly check up on her.
I found my seat and looked around the table.
Callum was at the head, already there, talking quietly to Elder Garic beside him. He caught my eye briefly and I gave him a short nod before he looked back at Garic.
I looked at the empty chairs.
One in particular.
That was Keishas’ seat. What wasn’t she on it? My chest twisted with something tight and I just stared at it for a long second, before glancing around as though I hoped she would just walk in.
Nadia noticed too because she was already pushing her chair back.
"She’s not here." She said to nobody in particular. "I’ll go get her."
