Chapter 5

Wendy's POV

The moment I stepped back into the sales department, the whole floor was buzzing about the new Alpha.

Everyone was talking over each other, spinning theories, throwing out details as if they'd known the man for years instead of catching a single glimpse of him an hour ago.

Anne spotted me and hurried over, dropping her voice like we were sharing a secret. "Wendy, you lucky thing. You got to stand right beside him before any of us even got a proper look."

I gave her a faint smile. "It was just work. If you think standing next to the Alpha is such a prize, tell Lucy to send you the next time something like this comes up."

Anne threw up her hands, shaking her head fast.

"Oh no. He's gorgeous, sure, I'll give him that. But that look in his eyes, that presence—wolves like us don't just walk up to a man like that. My knees nearly gave out."

"The Alpha's coming through for a routine walkthrough soon." Lucy, our department manager, strode in and clapped her hands at us. "So everybody back to your desks and look like you actually do something around here."

A few minutes later, the elevator chimed. Cassian appeared again, surrounded by a cluster of executives, right there in front of me.

Thank the Moon he only nodded a greeting to the department, listened to Lucy's quick rundown of our numbers, and moved on with his entourage in tow.

The second he was gone, the room came alive again. Even Lucy, who usually kept her composure locked down tight, couldn't resist leaning in for a little gossip.

The only real question on everyone's lips was whether an Alpha that unfairly beautiful had a mate or not.

I listened and said nothing. I just sat there wondering what these women would do to me if they knew whose name was written on the Alpha's marriage license. Right there in the space marked spouse: mine. They'd probably peel me alive.

The workday crawled by in that knot of nerves and dread. Only after every last coworker had cleared out did I finally pack up my things.

The daytime part was over. But how was I supposed to face Cassian tonight?

I honestly didn't know. I wasn't even sure I should go back to that apartment. The place the two of us were now calling home.

I checked the time. Barely past five.

Since I still hadn't figured out how to face him, I decided to walk. It would give me space to think about the two of us and whatever this marriage was supposed to become.

Back at the building, I stopped at the little grocery on the corner for some vegetables and meat. No matter how big the problem, a wolf still had to eat. That came first.

I picked out what I needed and carried the bags home.

I was still a good distance from the elevators when I saw him—that silhouette that was somehow both a stranger and something my wolf already knew.

He stood perfectly still, every line of him balanced and easy. From across the lobby he looked less like a man and more like a view you'd stop to take in.

"You're home," I said, walking up and trying to sound as normal as I possibly could.

"Mm." Cassian turned to look at me. His expression didn't change at the sight of me. Still calm, still unreadable.

I offered him a small smile and came to a stop beside him.

This man had strung together more than a handful of sentences only once, back on our second meeting. The rest of the time he doled out words like they cost him something.

I wanted to close the distance between us, to reach for him somehow, but I didn't have the first idea how.

And now, on top of everything, I knew this staggering truth about who he really was. It made the thought of reaching for him feel even more impossible.

I was still turning it over when Cassian suddenly reached a hand toward me. On instinct, I took a small step back, putting space between us.

"Let me carry those," he said evenly. He didn't seem the least bit bothered by the distance I'd put between us. He simply took the bags out of my hands like it was nothing.

Heat rushed up my face. He'd only wanted to help with the groceries, and here I was, letting my mind spin off somewhere it had no business going.

I looked down and watched that powerful hand of his lift the heavy bag like it weighed nothing at all. Something warm stirred in my chest before I could stop it.

We stepped into the elevator together. Neither of us said a word the entire way up.

Back inside the apartment, I set down my purse, shrugged off my coat, and tied an apron over my clothes. "You go do whatever you need to. Leave the food to me."

"Thank you." He said it lightly, almost formally.

"You don't have to thank me." I forced a smile that came out more awkward than I'd meant it to.

We were husband and wife now. And yet we circled each other like two strangers sharing a rented space.

To me it was simple. A wife cooking dinner for her husband was just how things were supposed to work. But the way he spoke to me, so careful, so polite, kept putting an invisible wall between us.

Even a marriage with no love at its foundation, I thought, shouldn't feel this distant. This formal.

I didn't let myself dwell on it. I turned and went into the kitchen, washing the vegetables under the tap with quick, practiced hands.

A little while later, I caught that tall shape in the corner of my eye, standing there in the kitchen doorway. I turned my head. "Did you need something?"

"Wendy. Your status is still listed as renounced. Lone wolf. No pack protection under regional law. Join mine. Officially."

Cassian stood there straight and still, his voice as even as ever. But underneath it, if you listened closely, there was the faintest thread of something uncertain. Almost bashful.

I looked at him for a long second.

That was exactly why I had said yes to this marriage. A wolf bound to another Alpha's pack was a wolf no one could simply reach out and take. Pack belonging. A real shield. Distance from everything I had run from.

I had come into this wanting nothing more than that quiet safety, and he was handing it to me without conditions.

"Yes," I said. "I'll join."

A faint shift crossed his face—satisfaction, carefully banked. "Good. Jovan will handle the paperwork. Our pack's name is Silver Moon Pack—don't forget that."

Silver Moon Pack? I'd been a lone wolf for three whole years, and even before that, I'd been treated as an outsider—a scentless wolf who knew little of the world beyond her own pack. So when I heard the name, even though it sounded familiar, I didn't think much of it.

My husband was an Alpha capable of providing the protection I needed—that alone was enough. As for what kind of pack it really was, I didn't need to know much more.

I turned toward the kitchen, already calculating.

Tomorrow I would come home earlier. Better cuts of meat. Fresh herbs. Something worth the trouble he had just taken for me.

He had given me a name and a place. The least I could do was feed him well and keep the quiet home I had asked for. I was going to do this marriage properly.