My Dearly Beloved Luna

Chapter 19

A sudden bang from Sylvia’s workstation pulls me out of my thoughts.

I look up sharply and find one of the senior analysts standing beside her, a folder tucked against her hip. She sets it on Sylvia’s desk and points toward something on the screen before explaining whatever problem brought her over. Sylvia listens without interrupting, then asks a question that makes the woman pause before answering.

I watch Sylvia jot something down. She doesn’t look overwhelmed. If anything, she looks interested, so I turn toward my computer and pull up the file they’re discussing.

It’s a territorial dispute involving two neighbouring packs, with several old agreements attached to the case. I expect to find Sylvia struggling through them, but she moves through the documents with surprising confidence. She checks one alliance clause, compares it with another agreement, and scrolls through the older records until she suddenly stops.

Four minutes is all it takes for her to find the clause that settles the entire dispute.

I stare at the clause on my screen, then look back at her. Something tightens in my chest, but this time it isn’t concern. It’s pride. I expected her to need guidance, and I thought her lack of experience would force me to step in sooner or later, yet she’s already proving that she can learn faster than people give her credit for, including me, especially me.

I told Father she wasn’t ready but maybe I was wrong.

Before I can dwell on that thought, a familiar figure approaches Sylvia’s desk. Darla arrives with two other women lingering nearby, their expressions making it obvious they’re waiting to see what happens. I’ve noticed them hovering around Sylvia throughout the day, finding little things for her to do that nobody else seems interested in handling. Old documents that need sorting, reports that suddenly need copying, and small errands passed to her simply because she’s new.

I want to intervene but stay where I am because Sylvia made her position clear. She doesn’t want me stepping in every time someone gives her trouble, and after watching her handle Martha yesterday, I know she can stand up for herself so she doesn’t need me rushing to her defence every time someone decides to test her.

At least, that’s what I tell myself.

Darla leans against Sylvia’s desk and whispers something I can’t hear from my office. Sylvia’s fingers stop above the keyboard while she listens, then she gives a small nod. She closes her laptop, picks up her phone, then reaches into her bag for her wallet.

My hands tighten around the edge of my desk.

Darla has sent her for coffee again, and this time she expects Sylvia to pay for it herself.

Sylvia rises and heads toward the elevators, but it isn’t where she’s going that catches my attention. It’s the way she carries herself. Her shoulders have lost some of their usual tension, and the strength she has been showing everyone all morning seems to have drained away. She doesn’t look angry. She looks tired, the kind of exhaustion that comes from knowing exactly what people expect from you and eventually deciding that fighting every single battle isn’t worth the energy.

At the sight, something twists inside my chest.

My chair scrapes against the floor as I stand, and before I can think better of it, I cross the office toward the door. I reach it just as Sylvia passes, but before I can call her name, Darla notices me.

Her entire expression changes. The smugness disappears as she straightens and hurries toward me, adjusting her posture as though she has suddenly been given an opportunity she intends to use.

“Elias,” Darla says, reaching for my arm. “I’ve been trying to catch you. There’s a clause in the Blairwood contract that needs your signature.”

Her fingers slide higher along my arm as she moves closer.

“We could go through it together,” she adds, lowering her voice as she leans toward me. “Privately?”

Normally, I would ignore her. Darla has always behaved like this. I never encouraged her, but I never considered her advances important enough to confront either. But today, I can’t ignore it. Sylvia is walking away while Darla is touching me, and my wolf reacts before I can control him.

I pull my arm free.

Darla stumbles back, staring at me in surprise, but my attention has already shifted toward Sylvia.

“Sylvia,” I call, loud enough for my voice to carry across the office.

Conversations around us die down as heads turn.

Sylvia’s heels halt near the elevators, but she doesn’t turn around.

“Where are you going?” I ask, forcing my voice back under control.

Before Sylvia can answer, Darla lets out a soft laugh and gestures toward her.

“Oh, don’t worry about her,” Darla says. “She’s just handling the afternoon coffee order. I needed someone to pick everything up, and she seemed available.”

I slowly turn toward Darla.

“Who gave you permission to send an employee on coffee runs?”

Her smile disappears.

“I thought…” Darla starts, but I cut her off.

“Are your legs broken?” I ask, taking a step toward her. “Or are you simply too incompetent to get your own coffee?”

Darla’s face flushes as she takes a step back.

“She’s hardly an employee,” she snaps, gesturing toward Sylvia. “She’s barely even a shifter. She doesn’t belong in this office.”

The words settle over the entire floor, and I feel the change in the room immediately. Nobody moves. Nobody speaks. Even the people who had been pretending not to listen have stopped pretending.

I look toward Sylvia, expecting her to turn around. I expect the same steel she showed Martha yesterday, the same sharpness she used on me outside the house.

But instead, she remains where she is, her back to us, saying nothing.