The Alpha's Filthy Secret.

- CHAPTER FOURTEEN -

Sloane.

The news hit the industry feeds at eight in the morning.

'ROAN RHYS PARTNER'S WITH EVA WEST'S AGENCY'

'WHAT A SURPRISE LAUNCH.'

Every phone on the fourth floor rang at the same time. Assistants rushed past the glass partitions with a stack of revised schedules, and Julian spent two hours on the phone with our European distributors, locking in the fall runaway slots.

Roan's fifteen million dollars is in the escrow account. The contracts are signed and filed with the state board. For the first time since I left Blackridge, I have legal protection against a corporate takeover.

I stood near the water cooler in the break room, holding a paper cup of hot chocolate. I should feel relieved, and also call Sarah, tell her to buy something nice for Zane.

Instead, I watched the glass doors of the lobby.

I knew how Raul operates. A man like him does not lose fifteen million dollars and walk away. He waits for an opening, and when he finds one, he takes everything.

At noon, I head out to the side terrace on the third floor to get away from the noise. Raul is already standing by the railing.

He has his hands in his trouser pockets, looking down at the street traffic below. He smells of pine and rain, a heavy scent that hits the back of my throat the second the door clicks shut behind me.

He turns around, looking at me with those dark green eyes, unbothered, as if he owns the building.

I stopped five feet from him.

"You lost." I said.

He looks at me calmly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "Oh, did I?"

I hate that answer. I hate that he doesn't shout or throw a tantrum.

I'm aware he isn't a kid, but still. His calmness scares me.

"Roan's investment protects my interest," I replied. "The papers are signed. Your legal team can't buy my remaining shares,"

"For now,"

"You won't own me Raul," I countered, stepping an inch closer. "Never again will I let you cage me."

His gaze settles on my face. "I don't need to."

I swallow the lump in my throat. "Then why are you here?"

His eyes drop to my collarbone, right where the scar from his bite sits under my blouse. The skin there gives a tiny, dull throb.

"Because you keep forgetting that business isn't the only reason I am here." he says in a low dark tone.

My chest tightened at his words.

I hate him.

I hated the way he said things.

I hated how he stood in the Great hall with his arms crossed while the guards dragged my mother down to the cells.

I hated that he let them execute her for a crime she didn't commit.

And I hate that my own skin still heats up when he stands this close.

The heavy door to the terrace clicks. I smelled his scent before I saw him.

Roan.

He walks out into the concrete. He doesn't hesitate and walks straight over to where we're standing and stops beside me, his shoulder brushing mine.

"What's going on here?" He asks.

Raul turns to him. His jaw sets hard, his green eyes narrowing into sharp slits, luckily the change was subtle so Roan didn't notice it.

Or I pray he didn't.

The air between them turns stiff and heavy. Even for a human, I was shocked at how Roan didn't flinch under Raul's intense dominant aura.

"That doesn't concern you." Raul warns, his voice turning deadly.

Roan looks back at him without blinking. "Then you shouldn't have made it public."

Neither of them moves or says a word. Raul is taller, built like a brick wall, radiating pure dominance. Roan is leaner, but he doesn't back up an inch. He stands there, his hands tucked inside his trouser pockets, completely unimpressed.

I stood between them, watching the silent war.

I don't know which one scares me more.

Was it the man who hunted me down to drag me back to a cage? or the man who has no idea what kind of monster he's picking a fight with?

Raul holds Roan's stare for three long seconds. Then he looks down at me, his eyes now dark. "See you at the next meeting, Eva."

He walks past us, pushes the door open and disappears into the hallway.

The silence on the terrace is loud. The wind blows off the street, carrying away the smell of pine and leaving only the faint scent of Roan's cologne.

'This is even better than those silly melodramas you watch.' Ivara snickers in my head.

'Shut up.' I warned silently, making her hiss in response.

Lately, she's been loud and it scared me. Being a human - werewolf hybrid meant my wolf was supposed to be dormant, and Ivara had been like that for long.

Why was she so active now?

Was it because of Roan?

Or was it because of Raul?

Or in a worse case scenario....was it because of both men?

Roan turns to face me. He looks at my hands, which are clenched tight at my sides, then back to my face.

"Do you want me to walk away?" He asks.

I stare at him. "Why would you?"

"Because you say it's nothing, yet it feels like everything..." He stops, running a hand over the back of his neck. "I don't want to become another cage....."

My chest aches.

A cage.

That is the exact word for what Raul had built around me. A cage made of guards, territory lines and pack laws.

Roan isn't doing that. He's offering me a partnership and giving me room to breathe. For the first time, I wonder what it would be like to be with someone who doesn't treat me like an asset to claim.

"I just need to go home."

"I'll have the driver pull my car around," he says softly. He doesn't try to reach out, he simply nods and heads for the door. "Get some sleep, Eva. You need it."