CHAPTER 85
1298 Words
Kai worked without pause.
His office had always been a place of order—papers stacked neatly, schedules pinned where they belonged, pens aligned. Today it was chaos only he seemed to understand. Documents lay scattered across the desk, files pulled down from shelves, notebooks opened with rough scribbles across their margins. He hadn’t left the chair since dawn.
The scratching of his pen was steady, relentless. He signed, crossed out, rewrote, flipped to another page. A cup of untouched coffee had gone cold beside him.
The door opened softly. Elise stepped inside, holding her hands together like she needed to steady herself. She hesitated before crossing the room.
“Kai,” she said quietly.
His pen didn’t stop.
She waited. When the silence pressed too heavily against her chest, she tried again. “I need to talk to you.”
The only response was the shuffle of paper as he turned a page. His profile stayed hard, unreadable, eyes fixed on the ink instead of her.
Elise moved closer, close enough that her shadow fell across the desk. “Please, just look at me.”
Kai paused. For a moment, she thought he might lift his head. Her breath caught in hope. Then he dipped his pen back into the ink and continued writing as though she hadn’t spoken.
The sting burned behind her eyes, but she swallowed it. She set her palm on the edge of his desk. “I didn’t plan it. I didn’t ask them to—”
The scratch of the pen grew sharper, heavier, cutting her words short.
Her throat tightened. She stood there for another moment, waiting for him to relent, but he didn’t. With her heart sinking, she slowly drew her hand back.
“I’ll… come back later,” she whispered.
No reply. Not even the twitch of an eyelash.
She left the office with her steps careful and her shoulders heavy.
The whispers followed her as soon as she walked down the hall. They had started the night before, but now people didn’t even bother lowering their voices.
“She should be ashamed.”
“Dragging the Alpha through the mud.”
“Some Luna she is.”
Elise kept walking, staring straight ahead.
Two women standing near the stairwell leaned close together but spoke loud enough for her to hear.
“No wonder he’s ignoring her. Can’t even stand beside him without shame.”
“I’d have left by now if I were her.”
Elise’s fingers curled against her side. She wanted to keep walking, but her steps slowed. One of the women turned deliberately, her gaze sharp.
“You’ve embarrassed him enough,” the woman said flatly. “If you can’t carry the weight, at least don’t drag him down with you.”
The words hit like a slap. Elise froze, lips parting. Her face burned. She wanted to defend herself, but her voice caught in her throat.
Before she could manage a word, another voice cut through the hall.
“That’s enough.”
Lucien’s tone was calm but heavy, carrying through the silence that followed. Every whisper stopped. The crowd shifted back as he approached, his long stride unhurried. His eyes swept over the women, then to Elise.
The two women lowered their gazes and slipped away quickly, their footsteps echoing down the corridor. The others dispersed, pretending to be busy with their own tasks.
Lucien stopped in front of Elise. “Come.”
She followed him into a smaller meeting room, one with bare walls and a long wooden table. When the door closed behind them, the quiet stretched thin. Elise lowered her head, clutching her hands together.
“Tell me,” Lucien said. His voice was steady, not unkind, but it carried no warmth either.
Elise drew a shaky breath. “It wasn’t me. Becky and Luka—they planned it. They cornered me, and I… I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t even realize what they were trying until it was too late.” Her words spilled quickly, rushed as though she needed him to understand before he decided against her.
Lucien leaned his hands on the table, watching her. His expression didn’t shift.
“I didn’t want this,” she said, forcing the tremble out of her voice. “I’ve tried to explain to Kai, but he won’t listen. He won’t even look at me.”
Her chest rose and fell with her uneven breaths. “Please, you have to believe me.”
Lucien’s jaw tightened slightly. He looked at her for a long moment, his silence pressing harder than the accusations she’d just endured outside. When he finally spoke, his tone was measured.
“I believe you,” he said.
Relief broke through her for an instant, but his eyes told another story. They weren’t softened, weren’t reassuring. They were heavy with disappointment, the kind that made her stomach twist.
“You should have seen it coming,” he added quietly. “You gave them the chance.”
Her heart sank. “I—”
He straightened, cutting her off with the shift of his posture. “That’s all for now.”
Elise stared at him, stunned. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t cruel. But he wasn’t on her side either.
When he left the room, she stood frozen in place, unable to breathe evenly.
The rest of the day was worse. Everywhere she went, eyes followed. Some didn’t hide their smirks. Some whispered within arm’s reach. Others brushed past her as though she carried a stain.
By evening, she returned to Kai’s office once more. The door was closed. Light spilled faintly from beneath it, proof he was still inside. She raised her hand to knock, but hesitated.
What if he ignored her again? What if the silence hurt worse than the words?
Her knuckles hovered above the wood. She lowered her hand slowly, pressing her palm flat instead.
Inside, she could hear the faint, steady sound of papers turning.
Elise stood there, forehead against the door, her lips pressed tight to hold back everything threatening to break out.
She stayed for a long time, hoping he would sense her there, hoping he would open the door.
But the handle never turned.
When she finally walked away, the sound of his pen scratching paper began again.
The next morning, Kai arrived in the dining hall early, already dressed in a pressed shirt, sleeves rolled tight, hair still damp from a rushed wash. Elise entered minutes later, her shoulders straight though she hadn’t slept.
A hush fell across the hall the moment she stepped inside. Spoons clinked. Muffled conversations quieted.
Kai sat at the head of the table, eyes down on a document in his hand. He didn’t glance up.
Elise took her seat quietly. The silence was suffocating.
One of the younger warriors at the far end muttered low, but not low enough. “No wonder he keeps to work. Better than sitting here with her.”
A ripple of laughter followed from the same end.
Elise’s hand tightened around her cup. She willed herself to ignore it, but her face felt hot.
Lucien, seated further down, set his fork down with a sharp clink. “Quiet.”
The sound cut the air clean. No one spoke again.
Elise forced herself to eat, though each bite sat heavy in her stomach. She kept her eyes on her plate, not daring to look at Kai. He remained unreadable, eyes still on the papers, his breakfast untouched.
When the meal ended, he stood first and left without a word.
Elise sat alone at the table, the whispers rising again the moment the door closed behind him.
And for the second morning in a row, she felt more like an intruder than his mate.
- Writer
