Page 61 of Strawberry Moon

Didn’t mean I didn’t want to tear that asshole’s jugular out when he started trying to mess with him. But again, there Archer was to calm me down, remind me of the pancakes tucked under my arm.

Damn, they were delicious, served with a side of vengeance dealt out by my gorgeous boyfriend.

I dug into them as the former board members scrambled to the exit. Andy said something about getting a press release out, and Archer’s lawyer nodded and offered to look it over before they made any formal statements.

Then, it was just the two of us left in the board room. Archer glanced at me, and I lifted another forkful of pancakes to my mouth after smearing it through syrup. It was a big bite, the last one, and I smiled at him past my full cheeks.

“How are you doing?” His blue eyes were swimming with concern.

I swallowed and put my fork down slowly. “I’m good. Full.”

A tiny, surprised laugh bubbled out of him, and he let me tug on his hand. Stumbling, he pressed against my side, and I straightened my spine as far as it went, leaning up to steal a kiss from his sweet lips.

He smiled.

“You’re pretty damn incredible,” I whispered against his mouth, gratified a moment later to see his face flush a brilliant shade of red.

He raked his hand through his copper hair and shrugged. “I just—this place needed to change. In a big way.”

“Should’ve known you’d be the one to do it.”

I squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back. We were still leaning in close to each other when a soft knock sounded on the boardroom door.

Archer’s lawyer stuck his head back in. “Senator Doherty and Mr. Grove are here.”

I scowled up at him—I’d heard him call them, but now that Archer was in charge of the whole damn place and had taken the garbage out for good, I didn’t know what he needed Linden or Colt’s father for.

Still, he didn’t look the least bit surprised. He turned at the waist, but he didn’t pull even an inch from my side, using me to lean against as I sat in one of the corporation’s fancy chairs.

“They can come in.”

Even in front of a US Senator, while my nerves ratcheted up high, Archer only rocked on his feet. He kept his hand on my shoulder, his fingertips twisting through the wavy blond hair at the nape of my neck.

“Archer,” Linden said, his voice low but full of fondness.

“Mr. Sterling.” Colt Doherty’s father, Conroy, the first werewolf US Senator, was significantly less relaxed than our pack alpha at his side. He wore a crisp blue suit and a shirt so white it was blinding.

After the wedding last night, he was the only person in the room that didn’t look a little rumpled and tired. Weirdly, that seemed to make him stand out from the rest of us, and not in the best way.

“Thank you both for coming on such short notice. John, do you have the paperwork ready?”

“Yes, Mr. Sterling.”

The lawyer brought in stacks of paper so tall I went a little cross-eyed just thinking about them.

“What’s this?” I asked, blinking between him and Linden.

The alpha smiled down at me. “Archer’s decided to divest himself of his grandfather’s corporation.”

I stared up at Archer, blinking slow. “Really?”

Archer’s nerves spiked, adrenaline peaking bitterly in his scent. His throat bobbed. But when he looked down at me, his expression was firm and certain. “Really. Nobody needs as much money as my grandfather sat on for most of his life. Nobody should be able to decimate an entire population on a whim. So I’m splitting the company up. The Grove Trust and the Doherty Foundation will oversee what’s left. The pieces. They’ll have a hand in everything. It’s time for Sterling to work for werewolves. Not against us.”

Linden’s smile looked so much like a proud father, Archer practically fluffed his tail feathers under the attention.

And damn if it didn’t take the whole morning, but those three men signed all those papers one by one, directed by John, who seemed thoroughly in his element here.

When they were done, Linden sighed and sat back from the table, crossing his hands on his stomach.

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