Page 61 of The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate
Ethan slides into the seat across from me with two cups in his hands.
“Cappuccino for the lady,” he says, pushing one across. “Extra foam. Violet told me.”
“Of course she did.” I wrap both hands around the cup just to have something to hold on to. As the warmth sinks into my palms, I make myself look at him. “Ethan, I’m sorry.”
His eyebrows lift. “For?”
“For”—I gesture uselessly at the air between us—“jumping on you like that. In Lucas’s office. I practically knocked you over.”
He laughs. It is such a normal, easy sound, and my chest aches because I haven’t heard a laugh like that directed at me in a while.
“Sienna, it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine.” I try not to let my embarrassment show. “We’ve met, what, three times?”
“Four.” He grins. “The budget review in April. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the budget review.”
My face feels hot. “I try very hard to forget that.”
“That hurts me.” His mouth tugs up at the corner. “I wore my good tie.”
I huff out a noise that is almost a laugh. It feels strange in my throat. Rusty. My wolf does not stir inside me, and I am grateful because she has been snarling and then going silent in turns for days, and I do not need her weighing in on this.
“I threw myself at you like you were my long-lost brother,” I say, dropping my eyes to the foam on my cappuccino. “I’m embarrassed. That is not how I conduct myself with colleagues.”
“Darius explained the situation to me.”
My head snaps up. Ethan is watching me with those calm, steady eyes he has. Not pitying. Just attentive.
“He sent me to check on you,” he says. “I should have led with that. I didn’t want you to feel like I was hounding you.”
“Oh.” My face is really burning now. I look back down at the foam.
Of course Darius sent him. Of course Ethan didn’t wander up to Silvercrest on a whim. Nobody pops by another pack’s territory for fun. I knew that, in some distant corner of my mind, the second I saw him standing in Lucas’s office. But the rest of me was so grateful to see someone from home that I didn’t register his true reason for coming and made up that tale about having invited him. “Darius should have told me you were coming. Or at least let Alpha Steele know.”
“As you said, you’re allowed visitors, Sienna,” Ethan says with a small smile. “Don’t worry too much about it. But I have to say, I’m relieved to see you. You are very important to Violet,and that’s why Darius doesn’t want to see you hurting. You seem to be doing better than they expected.”
“I can do my job.” I frown. “I told Darius I wouldn’t let him down.”
“Yeah, but being rejected by your fated mate is very painful, Sienna. Darius knows that from personal experience, after all. Being in such close proximity to both Alpha Steele and his intended is not good for you.”
“I know.” I take a sip of my coffee. “I appreciate all of you looking out for me. And I am so happy to see someone from home. I needed this. I didn’t realize how isolated I had begun to feel ever since the rest of the Moonvale team left a week ago. The Silvercrest folks are nice, but with how complicated things are with Lucas, staying here is not easy.”
Ethan leans forward. “Then go home. Look, Darius didn’t just send me to check up on you. If you want to hand over this project, I’ll take it. I’ve read the merger brief. I can handle this. You can be back in Moonvale in two days.” He lifts one shoulder. “You’re not trapped here, Sienna. I want you to know that. You don’t have to put yourself through all this.”
I lift my head and meet his gaze. “I want to stay. I want to prove to myself that I won’t be felled by this. Lucas orchestrated it all to drive me out, Ethan. The constant push and pull, giving me hints of hope…He wanted to teach me a lesson and send me home crying with my tail between my legs.” My jaw is hard, my insides cold. “I will not give him the satisfaction. I will see this assignment through and go home with my head held high, my pride intact.”
Ethan stares at me as I speak and then smiles slowly. “I can respect that. When you do come back, though, I think I may want to court you.”
I blink. “What?”
He folds his hands behind his head, grinning. “There’s something about a strong woman that gets me all worked up. You and I might be a match made in heaven.”
I chuckle. “Stop it.”
He studies me with an intensity that makes me look away, flustered.
“I’ll stay for two days,” he says. “I promised Violet I’d keep you distracted. And I can do the additional work of showing Alpha Steele that you, Miss Carter, are in very high demand.”
