After She's Terminal The Alpha Regrets (Elaine and Lucas) novel Chapter 13

Chapter 13

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Chapter 13

Lucas stood frozen.

For a long moment, he couldn’t breathe. Elaine had signed the divorce papers.

Had she lost her mind? This wasn’t some petty rebellion. She had actually gone through with

She chose the worst timing too. Lucas was at a critical point in his life, one where it mattered that his Luna, agent or not, was standing beside him. He was on the verge of securing his position as Alpha President, and then she goes and stirs the pot. 8

His pulse hammered and fury threatened to rise, something else surfaced. He remembered her face and how calm and detached she was when she’d faced him for the last time.

Kyle stood stiffly, his eyes locked on his Alpha.

“She’s ungrateful. We knew it. She’s finally showing her true colors.” 1

Lucas didn’t respond.

Lucas raised a hand. “No.”

“Alpha?”

“She is going to come back when she gets tired, Kyle. We have a council vote in thirty minutes that decides whether this pack hosts the summit. We are not stopping it for a tantrum.”

“With respect, Alpha. This is not a tantrum.”

Lucas did not look up. 1

“Then we will deal with what it is when the room next door is not full of alphas who count my marriage when they count my votes. Stand near. Don’t get the lawyers.” 1

“Alpha. Has the Alpha – discovered feelings for the Luna.”

The thing he kept on his face did not break. The smallest cold moved in his chest underneath it.

“Stand down, Kyle.”

Kyle stood down.

Lucas slid the petition into the inside of his jacket against the lining of his ribs. He turned back to the room and let Ayla place her hand back on his sleeve. He had a gala to win.

He had spent seven years calling her his wife in this room and seven years not, in any private way, meaning it. The last twenty-four hours had shown him she had been meaning it the entire time and had finally stopped. The order of those facts kept arriving in the wrong

sequence.

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Chapter 13

He pushed the order out of his head. He counted votes.

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Across the floor, near a column with too much gold on it, Elaine had her water in one hand and was nodding politely at the wrong elder when Liam found her.

He grinned. “Well, look who fate threw back my way.”

Elaine recognized him. “Liam.”3

He made his way over with two drinks in his hands, all casual charm and quiet mischief. “ Twice in one day? I’m starting to think it’s destiny.”

“You sound like someone who’s forgotten I’m married,” she replied smoothly. He extended one of the drinks to her, and Elaine accepted it gracefully. She pressed the edge of the glass to her painted pink lips. Liam’s eyes remained focused on her every movement as if he was captivated.

“Oh, I haven’t forgotten,” Liam murmured, a slow, teasing smile playing on his lips. “But a beautiful woman holding a drink makes a man lose his memory for a second.”

Elaine let out a soft, amused chuckle. “Why are you here?”

“Helping a friend,” Liam replied. “He’s a good guy. Loyal. Tragic, really-got dealt a rotten hand. His own family never backed him. Married someone who, by all accounts, was cold and manipulative, working with outsiders, even feeding info back to her family…”

Elaine’s smile stiffened slightly. 1

“…Poor guy thought she was shy, turns out she might’ve been a spy.

Elaine said nothing, but her eyes flickered in recognition. At the moment, she didn’t know where all this information could be coming from, but it sounded strangely familiar.

She shook her head. Whatever was happening within the packs was little concern to her now. It would be better to let anything said roll off her back.

Liam raised his brows, reading the change. “I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

“Maybe a little,” she said coolly. “But it’s always interesting hearing how people write someone else’s story.”

“Fair enough. Then let me ask a safer question. Are you here alone?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He smiled again. “That means I can still ask for a favor.”

Elaine arched a brow. “What favor?”

“Come in with me. Just for the opening.”

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Chapter 13

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She turned toward him fully. “You’re asking me to be your date?”

“I’m asking you to stop me from looking pathetic.”

That earned him the faintest laugh.

She should have refused him.

But he had helped her that morning. He had stood up for her against her brother. And most of all, he made no demands on her. He asked plainly, smiled when she hesitated, and waited for her answer. 2

Her phone vibrated in her clutch.

Adrian.

She glanced at the message.

Reception room at the end of the east corridor. Before the speeches.

Elaine slipped the phone away. She still had time.

“I need to leave later,” she said. “I have something else to do before the speeches.”

Liam brightened. “So that’s not a no.”

She shook her head, half amused despite herself. “It’s not a yes either.”

“Elaine.” 4

“What?”

“You are making me work very hard for a man who’s usually effortless.”

She let him suffer for another second, then sighed. “Fine. I’ll walk in with you. Only for the opening.”

Liam’s grin flashed, open and boyish. “You’re saving my life.”

“Don’t make me regret it.”