Mated To The Enemy's Son

The First Dinner

She was three minutes late on purpose.

Not enough to be disrespectful. Just enough to make a point.

Sera descended the staircase slowly, one hand trailing the dark wood banister, her chin level. She had changed into the simplest thing in her bag — dark trousers, a plain white top. No effort. No performance. She was not here to impress anyone.

The dining room was easy to find. She followed the smell of food and the low flicker of candlelight spilling into the hallway.

Kaden was already seated at the head of the table.

He didn't look up when she walked in.

He was reading something — actual paper documents spread beside his plate — and he turned a page with the same unhurried energy he seemed to carry everywhere. Like the world ran on his schedule and always had.

Maren appeared from a side door and gestured to the chair at the opposite end of the long table.

Sera almost laughed.

They were seated so far apart they would have to raise their voices to hold a conversation. She pulled the chair out herself, sat down, and placed her napkin across her lap with deliberate calm.

Food was brought. It smelled incredible — roasted meat, warm bread, something with herbs she couldn't name. Her stomach betrayed her immediately, growling with embarrassing enthusiasm.

Kaden turned a page.

The silence stretched.

Sera picked up her fork and began to eat. If he wanted to pretend she wasn't here she could do the same. She had survived twenty two years in a pack that looked through her. She could survive dinner.

She was halfway through her plate when he finally spoke.

"You were late."

His voice was the same as it had been in the hall last night. Low. Unhurried. Like he had all the time in the world and none of it was yours.

"Three minutes," she said without looking up. "Hardly worth mentioning."

A pause. She felt his eyes on her then — actually on her, not the distant assessing glance from last night but something more direct.

"In this pack," he said, "when the Alpha sets a time, that time is kept."

Sera set her fork down carefully and looked at him for the first time since sitting down.

He was watching her with those grey-green eyes, documents forgotten. His expression was unreadable but his attention was absolute. The full weight of an Alpha's focus — the kind that made most wolves drop their gaze immediately.

Sera did not drop her gaze.

"I'll keep that in mind," she said pleasantly. "For next time."

Something shifted in his jaw. Not quite a clench. More like a muscle deciding whether to react and choosing not to.

"You're not afraid of me," he said. It wasn't a question.

"Should I be?"

"Every wolf who sits at this table is."

"Then I suppose I'm different." She picked her fork back up. "Is that a problem?"

The silence that followed was different from the one before. Heavier. Charged with something she refused to name.

Kaden looked at her for a long moment. Then he picked up his own fork and returned to his plate.

"We'll see," he said quietly.

Sera kept eating and kept her expression perfectly neutral.

But beneath the table her hand was trembling slightly — not from fear.

From the mate bond pulling at her like a tide, warm and relentless, the moment his full attention had landed on her.

She pressed her knee against the chair leg and breathed through it.

We'll see, he had said.

Yes, she thought. We will.