Aria’s POV
I stared at the stack of documents Director Black had left on my desk. Maps. Charts. Reports. Pages upon pages of data that needed to be sorted, categorized, and compiled into something presentable.
My hands were still shaking. Had been shaking since she’d walked away. Since she’d dropped this bomb in my lap and left me to deal with the fallout.
Stop it, I told myself. Stop panicking. This is just work. Just paperwork. Nothing dangerous about paperwork.
Right?
I checked the clock again.
---
5:15 PM.
Almost done.
The documents were organized. Labeled. Stacked in order of importance. Everything Director Black had specified, plus a few improvements I’d added on my own.
I reached for the last set of maps.
Paused.
These were different from the others. More detailed. More recent. The ink still looked fresh, like they’d been printed just this week.
I unfolded one carefully.
The eastern border. I recognized the landmarks from the drive to Cassius’s cottage. The forest. The river. The small towns scattered along the edge of the territory.
And there, marked in red, was a new boundary line. Extended further than the current one. Pushing into what looked like unclaimed land.
Expansion plans.
Real, concrete expansion plans.
My chest tightened.
This was serious work. Important work. The kind of work that shaped the future of entire territories. The kind of work that only the Alpha and his closest advisors would ever see.
And Director Black had given it to ME.
Why?
What was she thinking?
What was HE thinking, choosing someone he’d never met to handle his most sensitive documents?
I sat back in my chair. Stared at the completed stack.
Two hundred and thirty-seven pages of territory maps, financial summaries, and expansion proposals. All organized. All labeled. All ready for delivery.
Thirteen minutes to spare.
I’d actually done it.
A hysterical laugh bubbled up in my chest. I swallowed it down.
No time for celebration. The deadline wasn’t "organize by 6 PM." It was "DELIVER by 6 PM."
Which meant I had to take these documents.
Upstairs.
To his office.
The relief I’d been feeling vanished instantly. Replaced by a cold, creeping dread that started in my stomach and spread outward until my entire body felt frozen.
His office.
I had to go to HIS office.
What if he was there?
What if he looked up and saw me and somehow KNEW?
What if three years of running and hiding and rebuilding my life came crashing down because I walked through the wrong door at the wrong time?
My hands started shaking again.
Stop it, I told myself. Stop being ridiculous.
Director Black had said he rarely came to the company. That he was always busy with pack matters. Council meetings. Territory disputes.
He wouldn’t be there.
He COULDN’T be there.
The universe wasn’t that cruel.
Right?
---
The elevator ride to the top floor was the longest of my life.
I clutched the stack of documents against my chest like armor. Like they could somehow protect me from whatever was waiting at the other end.
The numbers climbed.
15.
16.
17.
My heart rate climbed with them.
18.
19.
What if he’s there?
20.
What do I do if he’s there?
21.
Run? Hide? Pretend I’m someone else?
22.
Would he even recognize me? Without my scent? Without Artemis?
23.
Does it matter? Would I recognize MYSELF if I had to face him?
24.
The elevator slowed.
25.
Ding.
The doors slid open.
The top floor stretched out before me. Different from the executive level where I worked. Quieter. More spacious. The kind of elegant minimalism that screamed "important people only."
I stepped out. My heels clicked against the marble floor. The sound echoed in the empty corridor.
Empty.
No assistants at desks. No executives hurrying between meetings. No one at all.
Just me. And the silence. And the door at the end of the hall.
His door.
I was fine. Everything was fine.
Just put down the documents and leave.
I stepped inside. The door swung shut behind me with a soft click.
The office was massive. Way bigger than Director Black’s. Way bigger than anything I’d ever worked in.
A desk dominated the center of the room. Huge. Mahogany. Polished to a mirror shine.
Behind it, a wall of windows overlooking the entire territory. The city spread out below like a map come to life. Buildings and streets and the distant edge of the forest where wolf territory met the human world.
I walked toward the desk.
My heels sank into the plush carpet. Each step felt muffled. Dreamlike.
This was where he worked. Where he made decisions that affected thousands of lives. Where he sat and planned and ruled.
This was HIS space.
And I was standing in the middle of it.
I reached the desk. Set down the documents.
There. Done. Mission accomplished.
Now leave. Turn around and leave before something goes wrong.
But my feet didn’t move.
Something was off.
I looked around the office again. Really looked this time.
The desk was empty. Completely empty. No pens. No papers. No computer. Not even a coffee mug or a water glass.
The bookshelves along the wall were bare. No books. No files. No personal items of any kind.
The chairs arranged in front of the desk still had that showroom perfection. No wear on the leather. No indentations from bodies that had sat in them.
Everything was... pristine.
Untouched.
Like no one had ever used this office at all.
This wasn’t my concern. None of this was my concern.
I turned to leave.
And that’s when I saw it.
On the corner of the desk. Partially hidden by the angle I’d been standing at.
A small vase.
Simple. Glass. Nothing special about it.
But what was INSIDE...
My breath caught.
Moonlight flowers.
A tiny bunch of them. Delicate white petals that seemed to glow even in the fading afternoon light. Stems still fresh. Like they’d been placed there just this morning.
The scent hit me a second later.
Soft. Sweet. Achingly familiar.
The smell I used to carry. The smell that used to define me. The smell that marked me as an Omega before Artemis was taken away.
My eyes welled up with tears.

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