Claimed Twice

Chapter three

Chapter Three: Monday Morning

I did not sleep well. My body ached more than usual, the kind of ache that comes when I am stressed. I took an extra pill. I told myself it would be fine.

Priya noticed the second I walked into the office.

"You look like you saw a ghost," she said.

"I might have," I said, only half joking.

"Is this about the New York thing you never talk about?"

I did not answer. She did not push. That is why she is my best friend.

At 9:45, I walked toward Conference Room B with a folder of blood work data in my hands. My heart was beating too fast, faster than it should for a normal work meeting. I told myself it was nothing. I told myself Voss is a common name.

I opened the door.

The room smelled like coffee and expensive cologne. There were five people already sitting at the long table. My boss stood up to introduce everyone.

"And this is the head of the Voss Group delegation," she said, "Alpha Alexander Voss."

The man at the head of the table turned around.

It was him.

Older now. Sharper jaw, tired eyes, a small scar near his eyebrow that had not been there before. But it was him. The same man who once held my hand like I was something precious, and then let go of it in front of two hundred people.

His eyes found mine, and I watched his whole face change, the same way it did five years ago, except backward this time. Not turning cold. Turning shocked. Turning pale.

"Nora," he said, so quiet I almost did not hear it.

The folder in my hands started to shake.