DINNER
1558 Words
Chapter 6 Part 2:
7pm.
I didn’t go.
I sat on my guest room bed, staring at the door. My palms still had red marks from his jacket. My wolf kept replaying his arms around me. Solid. Safe.
Coward. I called myself that 5 times.
Then a knock. Soft.
“Favour?” Damien’s voice. “Dinner’s ready. If you changed your mind.”
I opened the door a c***k. He stood there without his suit jacket. White shirt sleeves rolled up. Holding two plates.
“I made it,” he said. Looked almost nervous. “Suya and plantain. Extra spicy. Like you like it. And jollof. I’m… not great at jollof. But I tried.”
My heart did something stupid. “You cooked?”
Alpha Damien Blackwood. CEO of a 5 billion dollar company. Cooked for me.
“My mother taught me before…” He trailed off. “Before the pack stuff mattered more. Come on. It’s getting cold.”
I followed him. Because my legs moved before my brain said no.
His private dining room was smaller than the boardroom. Just a table for 2 by the window. Lagos lights below us. Candles. Not romantic candles. Just… warm light.
He pulled out my chair. Like I was someone important.
We ate in silence for 2 minutes.
Then he broke it. “You were brave today.”
“I was stupid.”
“You were both.” A ghost of a smile. “Stupid brave. Like when you were 16 and jumped into the river to save that pup during training. Everyone said you’d drown. You came up laughing with the pup in your arms.”
I froze. “You remember that?”
“I remember everything about you, Favour.” He set his fork down. “The way you wrinkle your nose when you lie. The way you hum when you’re typing fast. The scar on your left knee from when I dared you to climb the oak tree.”
Tears stung my eyes. “Stop.”
“Why?” His voice went soft. “Because it hurts? It hurts me too. 3 years of remembering and having nothing. No you. No us. Just… this empty penthouse.”
He stood. Walked to the window. Back to me.
“You know what the worst part is?” He pressed his forehead to the glass. “Every night at 2am I’d wake up. Same time you used to have nightmares. And I’d go to your door. Even though you weren’t there. Habit. Grief.”
My chest hurt. “Don’t say things like that.”
“Why not? It’s true.” He turned. Eyes silver in the candlelight. “I rejected you in front of 300 wolves. I chose status over love. I chose wrong. And I’ve been paying for it every single day since.”
The air got thick. Mate bond pulling us again.
I stood abruptly. “I should go.”
“Wait.” He moved fast. Blocked my path. Not touching. Just… there. “5 minutes. Talk to me for 5 minutes. Not as Alpha and secretary. As Damien and Favour.”
“Damien and Favour died 3 years ago.”
“Did they?” He took one step closer. “Because the woman who jumped after me today… she’s still in there. I saw her.”
I couldn’t breathe. His scent was overwhelming. Pine, storm, and now… desperation.
“Please,” he whispered. “Look at me.”
I looked up.
Regret. Pain. Love. All in his silver eyes. Raw. No mask.
His hand lifted. Slowly. Giving me time to slap him again. I didn’t.
His thumb brushed my cheek. Same spot as the boardroom. But softer now. Like I was something precious he’d broken and was trying to fix.
“Favour,” he said. My name like a prayer. “I don’t deserve forgiveness. I know that. But let me earn your trust back. One day at a time. One meal at a time. One ‘may I’ at a time.”
My wolf surged forward. Whining, desperate. She remembered him. Missed him.
I closed my eyes. Leaned into his touch for 1 second. Just 1.
“Damien—”
The sound of shattering glass cut through the room.
We both spun.
My phone on the side table. Screen cracked. A message lit up through the cracks.
Unknown number: _Stay away from Damien. He’s mine. If you don’t leave Blackwood Tower by midnight, you’ll regret it. -V_
Vanessa.
Damien saw it too. His whole body went rigid. Then gold. Alpha rage filling the room.
“Give me your phone,” he said. Voice low. Dangerous.
I handed it over. Hands shaking.
He read the message. Jaw clenched so hard I thought his teeth would break.
“Call security,” he told Kemi who appeared in the doorway. “Trace this number. Now. And double her floor’s security. No one gets to 45 without my approval. No one.”
“Yes, Alpha.” Kemi vanished.
Damien turned back to me. Rage gone. Replaced by something worse. Fear.
“Did you know she’d do this?” he asked quietly.
“No.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “But I knew someone would. Women like her don’t share.”
“You’re not a toy she can threaten,” Damien said. He took my phone, tossed the cracked one in a drawer, and pulled out a new one from his pocket. “This is secure. Encrypted. Only my number and security. Answer nothing else.”
He pressed it into my palm. His fingers closed around mine.
“Favour, listen to me.” He got down on one knee. Right there on the dining room floor. Alpha of Blackwood Industries. On his knees for me.
“I failed you once. I won’t fail you again. No one threatens what’s mine and lives. And you…” He swallowed hard. “You’re mine. Mate or not. Rejected or not. My wolf chose you 3 years ago and he’s never chosen anyone else since.”
Tears fell before I could stop them. “Don’t. Don’t say that when you can’t—”
“I can.” He stood. Pulled me into his arms.
First real hug in 3 years.
It wasn’t s****l. Wasn’t desperate. It was… home. His chin on my head. My face against his chest. His heart hammering against mine.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured into my hair. “No one touches you. No one hurts you. Not Vanessa. Not Chief Adebayo. Not even me. Not again. I swear on my wolf.”
I should’ve pushed him away. Should’ve remembered the pain.
Instead I cried. Quietly. Into his shirt. 3 years of loneliness, fear, surviving… pouring out.
He didn’t let go. Didn’t rush me. Just held me. One hand rubbing slow circles on my back like he used to when I had nightmares as a teenager.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered over and over. “I’m so sorry, Favour. I’m so sorry.”
When I finally pulled back, my face was a mess. He wiped my tears with his thumbs. Gentle. Reverent.
“Better?” he asked.
“No.” I laughed through the tears. “But… less broken.”
“Good.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Come. Eat. Before the jollof turns to cement. I’ll tell you embarrassing stories about 17-year-old Damien to make you laugh.”
“I don’t laugh at you anymore.”
“You will tonight.” He led me back to the table. Sat me down. Then sat beside me, not across. Close enough our shoulders touched.
For the next hour he talked. About how he failed Alpha training 3 times because he kept sneaking out to see me. About how he burned his first steak trying to impress me. About how he still had the mixtape I made him at 15.
I laughed. Real laughs. The kind that hurt your stomach.
At 10pm, Kemi texted: _Number traced. burner phone. Disposed. Vanessa at her father’s estate. Security doubled._
Damien read it. Looked at me. “You’re safe. I promise.”
“I know,” I said. And for the first time, I meant it.
He walked me to my guest room door. Stopped there.
“1 month,” he said quietly. “But Favour… if you want to leave before that, you can. Anytime. No contract. No 2.3 billion. Just… go. I won’t stop you.”
He was giving me freedom. Real freedom.
“Why?” I asked. “Why give up control?”
“Because control is what made me lose you.” He smiled, sad. “Love doesn’t control. It chooses. Every day. And I choose you. Every day. Even if you never choose me back.”
He reached for the door handle. Then paused.
“Goodnight, Favour.”
“Goodnight, Damien.”
He left. Door clicked shut.
I slid down the door and sat on the floor. Clutching the new phone to my chest.
My wolf wasn’t purring anymore.
She was hopeful.
And that was more dangerous than Vanessa’s threat.
Because hope… hope meant I could get hurt again.
But for the first time in 3 years, I didn’t slam the door on it.
I let it in.
End of Chapter 6
- Writer
