What I want is you

CHAPTER 2: NOT GOOD

Lord Zee didn't leave.

That was the first sign that Richard's lie had failed.

And it made me wish that I had not followed him to this room.

I wish I had met Lord Zee under better circumstances.

In the present situation, I had to maintain a lie that I was a dizzy girl whom Richard was trying to help.

If he had truly believed I was just a dizzy girl who needed air, he would have nodded, told his son to see me back to the ballroom, and gone about his evening.

Instead, he stood in the doorway. Studying me the way a man studies a contract he suspects has a hidden clause.

"Dizzy," he repeated slowly.

"Yes, my lord," Richard said.

I had hoped that Richard would have done better.

Be a gentleman and introduce me as his lady for tonight.

But for no reason, he was afraid of his father.

I wanted a better impression.

My chance to make one.

My opportunity was sliding away right in my face.

A part of me wanted to get up and run.

But I knew this was the chance I wanted, so another part of me wanted me to stay and see the outcome.

My mind began playing different outcomes, and in all of them, I was punished for lying to Lord Zee.

I begged for this to be over and for another chance with Richard, but it was like I was pushing my luck too far.

Lord Zee's eyes moved from my flushed face to my mussed dress to the bed behind me, and something in his expression sharpened.

"And which one of you removed her shoes?"

I looked down.

My shoes were still on.

It was a test. A small, cruel little test, and I had nearly failed it out loud.

"They were never off," I said quickly. "I only sat down for a moment."

In my mind, I knew my response was lame, but I had no other choice.

I had to key in to Richard’s plot, or I would lose it all.

Lord Zee said nothing. He simply looked at me the way Alphas look at things they intend to remember.

Mira, still standing near the window, made a small sound, not quite a laugh, not quite a scoff.

"She sat down," she repeated. "Is that what we're calling it?"

"Mira," Richard said, a warning in his voice.

"I'm only agreeing with her, Richard." Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "She sat down. How very restful."

Lord Zee held up a hand, and the room went silent immediately. Mira included, which told me more about the hierarchy in that room than anything else had all night.

"Richard," Lord Zee said. "Walk with me."

It wasn't a request.

Richard glanced at me just once,

Yet it was long enough for something to pass between us that I couldn't name, and then he followed his father out of the room, leaving me alone with Mira.

I knew right away it was bad for me.

The door clicked shut.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Then Mira crossed her arms and looked at me the way you'd look at something you'd stepped in.

"You don't know what you just walked into," she said.

"I think I have a fairly good idea."

"No." She shook her head, almost pitying. "You really don't."

I straightened my dress, refusing to let my hands shake in front of her.

"Then enlighten me."

Mira studied me for a long moment, and when she finally spoke, her voice had lost its edge. It had gone quiet instead. Careful.

"Richard doesn't choose things by accident," she said. "Not dance partners. Not rooms. Not girls."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning if he brought you here, it wasn't because you were charming at a party." Her eyes flicked over me, assessing. "It was because some part of him already recognized something in you. And Alphas don't recognize things by accident either."

A chill moved through me that had nothing to do with the open balcony doors.

"Recognized what?" I asked.

Mira didn't answer right away. She walked to the window, looked out at the ballroom lights below, and when she turned back to me, her expression had changed into something almost like sympathy.

"You're not highborn," she said.

“Are you asking?” I replied.

Mira nodded, “Yes.”

"No," I replied. "I have never claimed to be one."

"Then you don't know what it means when an Alpha's wolf reacts to someone before his mind has caught up." She tilted her head. "Do you?"

My mouth went dry.

"Say it plainly," I said.

Mira smiled, not cruelly this time, but like someone about to hand over something heavier than I was prepared to carry.

"Richard didn't bring you in here because he wanted to kiss you," she said. "He brought you in here because his wolf already knew what you are to him. And now that Lord Zee has seen your face —"

The door opened again before she could finish.

Richard stood in the frame, and one look at him told me everything Mira hadn't managed to say yet.

Whatever his father had just told him outside, it had drained every ounce of color from his face.

"Richard?" I said. "What did he say?"

Richard didn't answer.

He looked at me the way a man looks at something he's about to lose, and then he said the words that made the entire room tilt sideways.

"My father wants to meet you. Tomorrow. Formally."

I felt a flicker of relief until I saw his eyes.

"That's... good, isn't it?" I asked.

"No," Richard said quietly. "It isn't."

"Why not?" I asked.

His jaw tightened.

"Because the only reason my father formally meets an unmarked girl the night after catching his son alone with her," he said, "is if he already suspects she's about to become his son's mate."

Behind me, Mira went very still.

"And my father," Richard said, "does not leave suspicions like that to chance."