20 Chapter 20 THE LAW OF ELASTICITY
But her voice sounded far away, muffled by the blood roaring in my ears as I glared at the fire pit, at the couple seated on the bench that curved around it.
She was enveloped by a gigantic jacket that had to belong to him, and she was smiling at him, her fingers twirling around the stem of an Evening Primrose.
I needed to stop thinking about Sera, and evidently, I couldn’t do that with my own
willpower.
My arms tightened. “She didn’t get shot in those ten years.”
“A hundred percent.”
He raised a brow at both of us. “Call it the law of elasticity, call it self-preservation. Sera reached her limit and snapped. Simple.”
It was a hidden sanctuary-walled with moon-silvered herbs and night-blooming
jasmine. Twinkling lights circled the perimeter, casting a soft glow over moongrass,
rune-marked stones, and a central fire pit that glowed like molten gold.
Luna Noire pulsed with soft jazz, velvet walls muting the outside world, pulsing lights
casting everything in a bruised-red glow. Wolves lounged on curved leather banquettes, glasses in hand, their laughter feral and unfiltered.
The distraction came quicker than I expected when Gavin and I climbed onto the bar
stools-next to Ethan.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
“We’ve also purchased the unicorns you requested. They like their new habitat with the leprechauns at the end of the rainbow.”
Ethan looked at me, his eyes heavy, and the smile I was going for came out as a grimace.
I stiffened when a hand stroked my back, the scent of jasmine wrapping around me. The familiar comfort it should have brought eluded me, replaced instead by puzzling agitation.
Papers spread before me on my desk, untouched. Architectural renderings. Expansion
blueprints. Signed contracts. All things I should’ve been focused on.
“How are things with Sera?” he asked instead of answering.
“We’ve got wolves posted at opposite corners of her perimeter at every point in time, rotating in four-hour shifts,” he said in a practiced drone, like he’d repeated this a million times-which he kind of had. “We’ve got surveillance drones in the surrounding trees. Motion sensors. Noise scanners. One of the security teams has a human ex-Marine bonded to the pack. The others are elite pack members.”
What the fuck?
As we stepped through the glass hatch into the moon-kissed night, Celeste took a deep breath, and her hand in mine tightened.
I nodded. “Sure.”
Ethan chuckled, a dry, empty sound that contrasted with the liveliness in the bar.
But every line and glossy print twisted into the curve of her frown, the cerulean blue of her eyes, the pale blonde of her hair, the bite behind her words as I replayed every interaction we’d had since the divorce, dissecting each one over and over again.
I downed the first glass in one gulp before filling it again.
What I didn’t expect was this… stranger who kicked people out of her hospital room and blocked my calls and dished out scathing remarks like they were going out of fashion.
Sera and Lucian.
Her brows knit. “How?”
“-”
I ran a hand through my hair, the tension in me not easing. “And you’re certain there’ve been no breaches?”
“She doesn’t-”
My chest tightened. Fuck. So much for a distraction.
She glanced towards the ceiling, and a faint smile ghosted her lips. “You promised to take
me on my twenty-first birthday.”
A loaded silence followed, and my mind backtracked for a second before I sighed. “Ha ha,” I deadpanned, folding my arms as I leaned back into my seat with an exhale.
“She’s… different,” he said quietly. “The Sera I knew used to be…”
“Perfect.”
The urge to shrug her hands off me hit me, and I frowned to myself. What the fuck was wrong with me? This was Celeste, the woman I loved. Her touch was welcome. She was
Gavin sighed, sliding a finger across his tablet.
I stared at Gavin in stunned silence, his words settling inside me like an anchor. Ethan let
out a low hiss, and when I turned to him, his face was tight.
“Indulge me,” I said through clenched teeth.
A minute later, a glass slid into my waiting hand. “Leave the bottle,” I muttered.
“You asked about her security this morning,” he said flatly. “And again, this afternoon.
And again, thirty minutes ago. And before that, every single day for the last week.”
I was on edge. I’d had a shitty day? Because I’d spent the entire fucking time thinking
about my ex-wife.
“There you two are,” a sultry voice broke through the uneasy silence.
Where would I start from? If I began to list all the altercations I’d committed towards Sera
over the last ten years, we would be here forever.
Ethan scoffed. “Paid her a visit about a week ago to check up on her.”
“Kind,” I added. “Demure.”
Worst of all was that she’d tactfully kept her distance. I guess it was foolish of me to expect anything less. After all, she’d spent the decade we were married like a snail, retreating deeper into her shell, even managing to keep me in the dark about her career.
“Ten years,” Gavin muttered, his tone thoughtful.
Gavin sat across from me, reading out from his tablet.
He shook his head. “You didn’t see the look in her eyes. It was like-”
I shook my head. “No, it’s not.” I cupped her face, my thumb catching a tear that escaped. “Let me make it up to you.”
Celeste leaned over, her long golden curls brushing the granite of the countertop. “Hi, babe.” She beamed, her hands stroking up my back to my neck.
I’d neglected her, treated her as less-than, pushed her away every time she attempted to get close. She’d always been reserved, quiet, but… maybe I had snuffed out her voice,
choked her with silence and contempt, and now-
My gaze jumped to his. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” I repeated. “I’ve had a long, shitty day, and I was on edge. I shouldn’t have
taken it out on you.”
The bar gleamed like obsidian under candlelight, and, like a sailor to the call of a Siren, I
moved towards it, drawn by the promise of momentary distraction.
A muscle ticked in Gavin’s jaw as his hands dropped to his lap.
For a second, I forgot everything and everyone. All my senses honed in on the two of
them, and it was all I could do not to surge forward and rip him away from her-then rip him apart.
He shook his head. “I don’t know what changed.”
Another nod. “Good.”
“The Malibu compound’s under-”
Shit.
“It’s about time for her security shift change, right?”
“Sunset Ridge acquisition closed this morning. No press as usual-our shell company did
the buyout clean.”
“I need a drink,” I declared.
20 Chapter 20
The building that housed Luna Noire had three floors. The first two were the bar-the first floor for select humans, the second for werewolves. The third was a restaurant, and
the roof was the Moon Garden.
Sera had always been meek and reclusive, and when Celeste came into the picture, I’d expected no less from her.
He looked at me for a beat longer before he shook his head. “Nothing. Shall we
continue?”
I nodded towards Ethan and Gavin before leading Celeste out.
Her smile broadened. “Okay.”
He didn’t shrink under the weight of the stare of two Alphas, shrugging instead. “According to the law of elasticity, if a force greater than the elastic limit of an object is applied…” (1
My control snapped, and just like in the hospital when she tried to kiss me, my reaction was completely instinctive-I was jerking back with a snarl before I could stop myself.
She was rigid against me, her arms dangling by her side.
“I know why I’m here,” I started, eyeing my ex-and most likely future-brother-in-law.
“Why are you?”
Gavin wasn’t amused, though. His steely eyes were fixed on me like a mirror that refused
to flatter.
“Oh, it’s beautiful, Kieran,” she breathed.
My eyes widened, three simultaneous sharp inhales resonating around me. I could feel Gavin and Ethan’s astonishment behind me, but my eyes were fixed on Celeste, on the
way her face paled with shock and tightened with hurt.
When-how-did I turn into this… obsessive mother hen? I’d thought more about Sera in the last couple of weeks than the entire decade of our marriage, and her presence in my
mind was showing no signs of departing.
“Ice,” we said simultaneously.
I gripped her shoulders and pulled away slightly so I could look her in the eyes. They were glassy, tears brimming in their depths, poised to spill over.
Gavin scoffed next to me, and both of us turned to him, brows raised in question.
I winced. “And how did that go?”
“I’m sorry,” I choked out again.
He glanced up with a sigh. “Short of moving in with her, there’s nothing more we or you can do to ensure her safety.”
I exhaled, the leather of my seat creaking underneath me as I shifted my weight.
“Kieran?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
His hand tightened around his glass of scotch. “She hates me.” Those three words
sounded like they’d burned on their way out of his throat.
“Fine,” I bit out.
His gaze sharpened, like he could cut me open and inspect my insides. “And you’re sure
that’s all it is?”
I nodded. “Okay.”
What the hell was happening to me?
Could she feel my heart thundering against her? Could she sense the mortification that
consumed me?
I shot up from my stool and reached for Celeste, pulling her into my arms. “I’m sorry. I’m
so sorry,” I muttered, laying my head on her crown.
She pressed her body against my side and leaned in, her lips brushing the shell of my ear
as she whispered, “I’ve missed you.”
The low rumble of the city and the sharp chorus of traffic drifted through the tall windows behind my desk, but today, they carried no familiar comfort. The glowing skyline of downtown LA blurred into meaningless lights as my thoughts circled the same point again and again-Sera.
But she was gone by then. Because of what I’d done.
Gavin’s brows shot up, and his head tipped back to look at me when, instead of
answering, I stood abruptly.
Celeste sniffed, furiously blinking. “It’s o-okay.”
I sighed. “What?”
He cleared his throat and continued. “The zoning pushback you feared has been handled. Councilman Ortego got his incentive as scheduled, disguised as a campaign donation.”
I pushed that thought away and forced a smile as I slid my hand down her arm and
intertwined our fingers. “I’ll take you now.”
“You and Seraphina were married ten years, and I have never seen you so… unnerved
when it came to her.”
KIERAN’S POV
Fuck. I’d sworn to myself that I wouldn’t hurt Celeste when she came back to me, not
after what had happened ten years ago.
The words felt like sandpaper in my mouth.
I signaled to the bartender. “Whiskey. Neat.”
I smiled. “You always wanted to visit the rooftop garden here, but you couldn’t because
we weren’t old enough, remember?”
“I called her a viper,” he groaned. “I threatened her right after our father died-fuck!” He buried his head in his hands, his whole body shuddering.
He slipped a rubber band out of his pocket, hooked both thumbs at opposing edges, and,
with a sharp jerk of his hand, pulled so hard that it snapped.
