Page 21 of Fated to the Enemy Alpha

“Lina?” I called after her. “Wait a moment.”

She paused, and we both stopped, catching our breath as the air around us thickened with unspoken words and lingering heat. In the quiet of the corridor, the moment felt loaded as if anything might still happen. But then, Lina pushed through the door to the stairs, and I hurried after her.

Once in the stairwell, she turned around. “Can we just…forget that happened?” She couldn’t meet my eyes. The distance she placed between us felt like a chasm, but I felt how right she was.

“Yes, that’s for the best,” I agreed.

Lina’s gaze snapped to mine now, and whatever she saw there only caused her resolve to strengthen because she looked even more distant. “See you Monday, Stephen.” Her tone was clipped, devoid of warmth, but I still heard the way she’d uttered my name in the darkness.

“See you, Monday,” I echoed. The familiar weight of our strained dynamic settled between us as if another presence were here, stifling us.

It is—Magnus’s.

My father’s presence weighed down with all the force it always did, smothering all chance of a life with my mate. I’d tasted her sweetness again, but I had to remind myself that life wasn’t mine. I let Lina’s footfalls fade as the distance opened up between us.

I regretted losing control back in the elevator, allowing my instincts to guide me in ways that didn’t make rational sense. I reminded myself that the cold fire of vengeance against Magnus was the one that fueled my life, not the passionate blaze that had consumed me in the elevator.

Once alone, I descended the stairwell. By the time I entered the parking lot, Lina’s car was gone. My resolve not to involve myself with her was once more in place. I couldn’t jeopardize Magnus’s trust in me.

Yet, as I drove back to my apartment in the city, the lingering memory of our encounter in the darkness flickered to life within me, teasing me with whispers of how desperately right it had felt. My heart still pounded with the furious protectiveness that her fear had ignited in me. I knew deep down, alongside my quest for vengeance against Magnus, I’d stop at nothing to ensure Lina was protected.

Friday night loomed ahead as I arrived at Club West, where the weekend buzz hummed quietly. Magnus was back in town, and I had a meeting with him. I ordered two Manhattans, my father’s drink, partially to steady my nerves but also to remind myself of the bond I was expected to honor.

When Magnus arrived, the maître d’ served our drinks, and I felt the weight of tension settle between us as Magnus kicked off the conversation I’d been dreading.

“Carson and Finn found signs of habitation at the power plant Lina claimed she’d been held in,” Magnus informed me. “Her story checks out, but something in it still isn’t sitting right with me.”

The sharp twist of unease flared low in my gut, a reminder that I’d slipped up the night I’d interrogated Lina in front of my father. I’d demanded to go to investigate the power plant too eagerly. I knew from tonight’s events that had been my wolf’s protective instinct flaring.

I knew I’d displayed more emotion than I should have that night, something I intended to rectify. Once again, my body language was too tense, betraying too much emotion, and I knew I had to give an explanation.

“Lina Silvermoon is your intended,” I said, forcing the words out. “If these rogues did abduct her, then it’s a direct insult against you and our pack.” I clenched my jaw before taking a sip of my drink. “Just like Mother’s murder was.”

Magnus’s bushy eyebrows shot up, surprise flickering across his face. “You don’t talk about her often, son.”

I grimaced at his use of the word “son.” No matter how many years passed, the gaping wound of my mother’s loss never closed. “This situation with Lina reminds me that our enemies succeeded in taking her from us. We must remain vigilant. I swear I won’t fail you again in protecting your mate.”

Magnus regarded me, an unsettling intensity flickering in his dark brown eyes. “I know you won’t, Stephen,” he replied.

I forced my fingers to relax around my glass. I’d been away at Yale when my mother was murdered, but the painful memories clashed with those of my visits home in the months leading up to her death. Magnus had pressured her to change long-held traditions within the pack—changes she disagreed with vehemently. I remembered how her gaze had grown increasingly jaded, the light fading in her eyes as he pushed against her will. Just days after her death, he had enforced the changes she had been holding out against with no shame.

The same rage that had simmered within me back then flared now as I pictured my mom walking along our private beach, where her savaged body had been found. The story Magnus had spun—about how she was the victim of a “rogue wolf”—was one I’d later turned to my advantage as I established my secret rogue pack against him, relishing establishing the very enemy he’d concocted.

Yet here I was, tangled in a web of duty again—ever the dutiful son seeking his father’s approval. I had to pivot the conversation back to something I could control. “Even if those rogue wolves didn’t imprison Lina, they killed her parents. I think we’re her allies because we share a common enemy.”

“Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary working with her?” My father pressed.

Out of the ordinary? Lina was anything but ordinary. Her aptitude for working through business dealings was like nothing I’d ever seen.

I found her extraordinary in everything she did, but I only said, “She’s been quick on familiarizing herself with our deals and helped a lot. As you know, she brought Hamilton on board.”

Magnus sipped his drink, his eyes distant as he mulled things over.

“She carries herself with confidence,” Magnus said, “But at times, I think she’s a little uptight, like she’s hiding something. It shows in her body language, don’t you think?”

“Yes,” I said, carefully. “But that could be trauma from the rogue attack at the ceremony,” I suggested.

Magnus had seen Lina a few times this week in meetings and presentations at Blackthorn Corporation before he’d flown to Los Angeles.

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