Page 91 of The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate
The first sunlight of the day is now streaming through the window, shining on the rug, hitting the spine of a book on the shelf behind me. Around me, the estate is starting to stir. A bell rings somewhere far down a service corridor.
After a few seconds, I pick up my desk phone and press the button for Lydia’s office.
She picks up on the second ring. “Yes?”
“Lydia. It’s me. Could you come to my office, please?”
There’s a pause before she says, “Five minutes.”
When she walks in, her expression is calm, but there is an undercurrent of tension within her frame.
She knows. Of course she knows. She manages this entire household. The staff would have told her.
“Congratulations on your mate bond.” It comes out warm. Steady. Pitched at a register a good friend would use.
I get to my feet. “Thank you.”
After a brief silence, Lydia crosses to one of the chairs in front of my desk but does not sit down. “I just wanted to say it properly, in your office, before the announcement at breakfast.”
“And I wanted to thank you,” I murmur, “for the discretion. Sending dinner up without questions. Keeping the staff quiet.”
“Of course.” Her mouth lifts at the corners. “It is what I do, Lucas.”
“I know.”
A longer silence.
Then, she tilts her head. She has known me long enough to read when there is more on my mind than gratitude.
“Was there something you needed?”
“Yes. I’m sorry to bring it up at this moment, but it has been on my mind since yesterday, and I would rather raise it now than let it sit.”
“Go on.”
“When Sienna first arrived, did you brief her on the forest? The patrols, the rogue activity, the areas she was not to enter alone.”
Lydia’s eyes blink once. Her eyebrows draw together very slightly. “I’m…Yes. I’m sure I did. As part of the standard estate orientation.”
“Sienna says you didn’t.”
The pause this time is longer. Lydia looks down at the tablet in her hand. Her thumb passes over the screen. When she lifts her face again, there is color in her cheeks that was not there a moment ago. Embarrassment, not panic.
“Lucas.” Her voice has gone soft. “I may not have. I truly thought I did, but if she says I didn’t, I may not have.”
“Lydia.”
“I walked in on the two of you in the library and got distracted. I was supposed to give her the briefing that night, and it’s possible I forgot. I’m sorry.” She presses her lips together. “I might have told myself later that I had done it, when actually, I hadn’t.”
Her honesty is uncomfortable to watch. Lydia does not embarrass easily.
I let out a slow breath. “Alright.”
“It’s not alright. I should have given her the briefing. If something had happened to her before she learned about the perimeter rules, that would have been on me.”
“Lydia.”
“I am sorry, Lucas. I’ll apologize to her.”
