After She's Terminal The Alpha Regrets (Elaine and Lucas) novel Chapter 6

Chapter 6

+5 BONUS

Chapter 6

Kyle’s hand was damp on the folder when he held it out.

“Alpha. The Luna’s medical report. From the Healer’s office.”

Lucas took it without looking down. He was still looking at Elaine, watching her back vanish at the far end of the hallway.

The corridor door swung open on the long carpet and the soft chime of glassware from the hall, and then it swung shut.

Lucas stood with the folder. It was the wrong weight for what was inside it.

“Alpha,” Kyle said, very carefully. “The Healer was clear that — ”

“The Healer trained under her grandfather. He’s a kind man with a soft spot for the family.”

Heels approached up the lit corridor.

Ayla came around the corner in her pale rose silk with two cups of coffee balanced between her fingers. Her smile arrived first. A worried smile. T

“Oh, my love.” She pressed one cup against his palm before he had decided whether to take it. “I saw her come out. Is she – ”

“She’s fine.”

“Of course she is.” Ayla reached for the folder with her free hand. “Let me set this down for you, darling. You shouldn’t have to carry three things — ” 2

Her sleeve clipped the rim of her own cup.

The coffee bloomed across the cardstock in one slow ugly stain.

“Oh – Goddess. Lucas, I’m so sorry –

“Leave it.”

“Let me clean it. Truly. It’s nothing important, is it?”

“It’s nothing she didn’t already tell me herself.”

Ayla blotted the folder against the side of her own dress like a woman desperate to be useful. Then, without asking, she tucked it under her arm.

“I’ll have a copy made and put on your desk in the morning,” she said. “Don’t think about it tonight.”

Kyle opened his mouth. 2

Lucas was already turning back toward the hall.

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Chapter 6

+5 BONUS

Inside, the long table had been reset for the post-recess round. Lucas took his seat. Ayla took the chair he had not offered her and let her hand find his sleeve.

Across the room, at the back, Elaine was already in place. She was watching the speaker on the dais. She did not turn her head.

Ayla leaned close to his ear.

“She’ll come back. She always does. Tonight is just a louder version of it.”

Lucas did not answer. Three tables over, Alpha Hadley of Crescent Peaks was watching him. So was his own father-in-law, who had finally stopped pretending he wasn’t.

“Maybe,” Ayla said, “send her home, my love. For her own sake. Before she does anything more.”

He did not answer her. His eyes were on the back of the room. On the slim shape of his wife refusing him without lifting her face. The rejection demand he had brushed aside that afternoon. The dress. 1

For the first time in seven years he felt the heat of having been contradicted by his own wife. In public. 1

Ayla’s hand was still on his sleeve. He did not move it.

The chair of the council called the recess.

Lucas crossed the room.

Elaine had not stood. She was holding a small pearl glass of water she had not drunk from. The pink at her mouth was gone; she had powdered her face in the bathroom. The bond gave one weak pull when he crossed the room. She kept her eyes on the dais. They met his only when he was at her chair, before he could pitch his voice.

“On your feet,” he said, low. “We’ve been seen apart for forty minutes. Come and shake hands.

11

“When are we divorcing, Lucas?”

He went still.

“Lower your voice.”

“I’m not raising it.” She folded her hands in her lap. “I’m asking. You like clean answers. Name a date.”

At the next table, an alpha coughed at his phone and pretended his screen had a problem.

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Chapter 6

+5 BONUS

Lucas felt the heat at the back of his neck again. The wife who had not asked him for anything in seven years was asking him for this. In a room. 2

His mouth twisted into something that was not a smile.

“Fine,” he said. He turned his head over his shoulder. “Kyle.”

Kyle was at his elbow in three strides.

“Draft the separation petition tonight. Standard terms. At the villa by ten.’

“Tonight, Alpha?”

“Tonight.”

He turned back. He waited for her face to crack. For an apology. For a hand on his sleeve.

She nodded once and looked past him toward the dais.

“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll be home to receive it.”

He walked away. 1

Kyle caught up to him near the side bar.

“Alpha. Should I really – ”

“Draft it. Send it. She will not sign.”

“She seemed – ”

“She has been my wife for seven years for a reason, Kyle. Let her have her tantrum. She’ll change her mind before the steward unlocks the door.”