Page 13 of Plus-Size Sold Mate
And within it lies another interesting tell. He’s desperate.
It’s so subtle it would be easy to miss, but thanks to my experience, I see it despite his efforts to stifle it.
“Luke Rourke,” Dawson says smoothly, eyes narrowed just enough to be deliberate and scrutinizing. “Congratulations on your recent transition into power. You’ve wasted no time making moves already.”
“You don’t make the effort to arrange meetings for big life events, so just tell me why you’re here.”
A touch of amusement gleams in his eyes, like he’s surprised by my bluntness. “Alright, then. Let’s not waste time now either. I think you already know why I’m here.”
In a brief stretch of silence between us, I feel his anger simmering beneath the surface of his calm exterior. It isn’t a reckless thing, but loud enough for me to sense without needing to pry for it. For whatever reason, he needs her.
Of course, he’s talking about Sera. I won’t pretend to be ignorant.
“The woman crossed into your territory, but she belongs to us. In Wraith Peak.”
“She doesn’t belong to anyone,” I say, arms crossing.
“That didn’t stop you from purchasing her,” he retorts, eyes sharper now. “I caught those traitors before they could get far, and they’ll get what’s coming to them soon enough. But I’m letting my son handle that for now. In the meantime, I need her back.”
“As far as I’m concerned, the matter is settled. Your wolves were compensated, and she’s not going anywhere,” I tell him, not leaving room for persuasion.
Dawson’s expression hardens. “You interfered in internal pack matters, and she is nothing more than a wayward shifter to you. She’s under my authority.”
“She ran from your authority.”
Anger flares in his features, but he doesn’t act straight away, and that reveals even more to me.
Not surrounded by his pack, he isn’t performing for an audience here. Instead, he’s calculating the risks and weighing out what all of this could mean for him. After how badly he was humiliated by Caleb, he can’t risk another public confrontation. That’s why he’s here.
“You compensated wolves scheming behind my back, not me,” he says, as if the defense holds.
“They were representing you and your pack in the moment. If you want to contest the claim, then we can do so formally.”
He pauses at that, even more tense than he had been. We both know what that would mean, and just how messy it would get for him. He doesn’t want that.
When he hesitates further, I tilt my head slightly. “Why her?”
Something moves through his eyes, but he holds it back and clenches his jaw. “She fled.”
“That’s not a valid reason for crossing into my territory.”
The space around us grows stale in another out of drawn-out silence, then he breaks it with a sigh, feigning that this is beneath him. “You’re young, Luke. New. Don’t lose yourself in matters you don’t understand, and don’t need to.”
“Don’t patronize me,” I mutter, refusing to let him think I’m anything less than prepared.
He looks vaguely amused, but only briefly. “I’m just trying to spare you the complication.”
“I can manage.”
He doesn’t say anything, silently deliberating with himself as his jaw clenches harder.
I know he wants to attack more than anything. He’d like to be at the height of his influence and assert his dominance here and now. In an ideal world, Sera would already be in his possession without any unnecessary talk.
But things have changed. He isn’t the same unrestrained Alpha he once was before, and he already knows what challenging me right here, right now would do to him.
Instead, he shifts gears. “You don’t know what you’ve just brought into your pack.”
“Is that supposed to scare me?”
