Chapter 494

Nathan

“Nathan, I need to speak with you in private. Now.”

Dan stood in front of me on the porch, a manila envelope tucked under his arm. I wasn’t expecting him to stop by, and we didn’t have another association meeting scheduled for the next two weeks.

“Dan,” I said, still a bit too shocked to let him in. “What brings you here?”

He held up the envelope. “Can we speak in your study?”

“Uh—yes, sorry,” I said, stepping aside to let him in.

When he stepped into the foyer, he paused for a moment, looking around. I closed the door behind him and then led him over to my study—a small, cozy room situated toward the back of the house, with a large bay window overlooking the ocean.

Once we were alone, I turned and shuffled some papers around on my desk. I had been messy lately, what with being so busy taking care of Olivia and the twins.

My desk was covered in paperwork and open books, with a coffee cup that had dark brown drips down the side, staining the paper underneath it.

“I must admit, I wasn’t expecting you,” I said as I cleared the desk. “Apologies for the mess.”

Dan merely grunted in response as he watched me. When I looked up to meet his gaze, I could sense the judgment in his eyes. Swallowing, I gestured to the plush chair opposite my desk.

“Please, sit.”

But Dan made no move to sit down. He merely held the envelope out to me. “This is for you.”

I knit my eyebrows together and took the envelope. Upon opening it, my eyes widened; another check was inside. Another $15,000 dollars; my stipend. But I hadn’t been expecting it for another month.

“What’s… What’s this for?” I asked, slowly raising my gaze to meet his. “I thought—”

“It’s an advance,” Dan interrupted coolly. “It has come to my attention that you and your wife have been having some… complications.”

“Oh.” I set the check down and blinked up at Dan, who seemed all too large for the small room. “I, um… Thank you, Dan. That’s very kind of you.”

But as I looked at Dan, I could sense something; he wasn’t giving me this advance out of the kindness of his heart. He wanted something. Of course there were always strings attached.

Dan, as though sensing my apprehension, slowly began to smile at me. It was more a smirk than a smile, rather.

“Your exit from the meeting two weeks ago created quite the stir,” he said, crossing over the window to look out at the ocean. “I must admit, I cannot quite decide if I’m perturbed or impressed.”

“Perturbed?” I asked.

Dan nodded. “Yes. It’s rather unconventional, especially for a youngling Alpha such as yourself, to walk out on a meeting.” He said all of this without turning away from the window, but I could just barely make out the hint of a grimace in his faint reflection.

I pulled my shoulders back. “My wife was in the hospital,” I said. “She’s having pregnancy complications.”

“Of course,” he replied calmly. “To be expected, for a woman of her… breeding to have a child with an Alpha such as yourself.”

Dan’s words left my head spinning. I opened my mouth to answer, but no words would come out. Was he insulting my wife? Was he calling her low-class, unfit to carry my children?

Before I could manage to get any words out, Dan suddenly turned to face me. “Despite your insolence at the meeting, I do still see potential in you, Nathan. In a month’s time, I will be traveling north to attend a summit with the northern faction’s Alpha association. You will attend with me.”

My eyes widened slightly. “A month?” I asked.

“Yes. A month.”

My mind began to whirl at this news. I couldn’t leave Olivia here for even a day, not when our baby was going to be born in just a few days. There was no way I was leaving her with a premature baby so early on.

“Problem, Nathan?” Dan asked, sensing my trepidation once again. “You look pale.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s just… Well, our baby is going to be born prematurely in just a few days,” I explained. “The doctors will be performing an emergency c-section.”

“A few days, you say?” Dan asked. “I hardly see how that impacts our plans a month from now.”

“I can’t leave Olivia alone with the baby like that,” I said.

At my words, Dan’s eyes seemed to flash. He took a step forward, almost seeming to grow larger in the cramped space. I wanted to step back, to put some more space between us, but I didn’t. I held my ground and puffed my chest out a bit, tilting my chin up to meet Dan’s gaze squarely.

I wasn’t going to let him scare me.

Much to my surprise, though, Dan simply brushed past me and walked over to the door—scooping up the check from my desk as he did so.

“Hey,” I said, reaching for the envelope. “What are you—”

Dan suddenly spun around, waving the check in the air as he spoke. “I fear your head is not in the right place, Nathan,” he said. “Perhaps my kindness in giving you this advance on your stipend was unwise.”

I frowned. “That’s low, Dan,” I said. Even for you, I wanted to add. But I didn’t.

“What’s ‘low’ about it?” he asked. “It was an olive branch; a gesture of faith, accompanied by a simple request. If you cannot answer when duty calls, then perhaps I shouldn’t be so quick to offer my generosity—my generosity which, mind you, has benefited you tremendously already.”

“I appreciate the gesture, Dan,” I said, “but my wife needs me. Surely you understand.”

“Surely you understand,” Dan said calmly, “that an Alpha’s duty should be first and foremost to one’s pack. And from what I understand, your pack has been suffering from some trade disagreements, has it not?”

As Dan spoke, I felt my heart sink. “How do you know that?” I choked out. No one knew about the trade routes that we had lost due to political disagreements over the past few months; not even Olivia.

I had kept that matter as hushed as I possibly could, only informing my closest advisors. I had planned to resolve it quietly, without causing panic.

And yet, somehow, Dan knew.

“I have my sources,” Dan said, tucking the envelope into his pocket. “And I have solutions as well. But I simply cannot, in good faith, extend my generosity to an Alpha who clearly has little interest in the association—in his pack.”

There was a long pause. I was still too dumbfounded to speak. Finally, what I managed to croak out was hardly more than a whisper.

“You’d ask me to put money and trade agreements over my wife and children,” I said softly. “I’m sorry, Dan, but I’m not sure if I can do that.”

“Then perhaps I am not sure if your seat on the association will remain yours,” Dan replied.

With that, he turned toward the door. I felt panic rise up into my throat like hot bile; my pack relied on the association. With the trade routes failing, we needed that help.

“Wait, Dan—” I reached out for him, but before I could say anything else, a sudden sound caused us both to freeze; a thump outside the door. Hard and heavy, like…

A body.

I felt instinct take over. With my breath catching in my throat, I suddenly shoved past Dan and flung the door open. I felt a startled yell escape my mouth, followed by words coming off my tongue that felt far away to my own ears as I fell to my knees. “Call an ambulance! Hurry!”

Olivia laid at my feet, pale and almost lifeless.