Free Web NovelChapter 80: Chapter 80 Lunch Meeting
Sylvia’s POV
I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, but after a quick glance at his message, I slipped it back without responding. Let him wait.
I focused instead on the unexpected lunch meeting before me. Across the table sat Noah, his dirty blonde hair catching the light from the restaurant window, and beside him his little sister Melody—a quiet, wide-eyed girl who seemed to study my every move.
"Truly, Sylvia, this means more than you know," Noah said, carefully wiping a bit of food from Melody’s chin. "This is the first time since returning home that she’s actually asked to meet someone. You’ve made quite the impression on her."
I smiled, feeling my wolf stir with unexpected maternal instinct. "She’s adorable. There’s absolutely no trouble at all in meeting with you both." The young girl’s presence somehow soothed the raw edges from my fight with Caesar. She had a calming energy that even my wolf responded to—unusual for my normally territorial inner beast.
What Noah didn’t know—couldn’t know—was how much I appreciated this distraction. The argument with Caesar had left me feeling hollow. My wolf had been restless all morning, sensing the mate bond stretching thin between us, but I refused to be the one to cave first. Not this time.
"So, can we make this a regular thing?" Noah asked, his expression hopeful but cautious. "I know you’re busy running Frostline, but Melody really seems to open up around you."
I leaned forward, meeting his gaze. "Of course we can. We’re partners in business and friends beyond that. Plus," I winked at Melody, "how could I say no to spending time with this little lady?"
A small smile crept across Melody’s face as she ducked her head, her cheeks flushing pink.
The leather of the steering wheel creaked under my grip, my knuckles bone-white from the pressure. I couldn’t seem to loosen my hands, not when my entire body was coiled tight with frustration. Through the tinted windshield, I had the perfect view of the restaurant’s window. And through that window... I saw her.
Sylvia.
Even in broad daylight, even separated by glass and distance, she was magnetic. Her dark hair caught the sun like silk, and the line of her jaw was sharp, proud—infuriatingly perfect. She sat there, radiant and composed, as if last night had never happened. freeweɓnovel.cøm
And she was laughing.
The sound didn’t reach me, but I could see it in the way her lips curved, the way her shoulders eased. That smile—open, warm—wasn’t for me. It was for him.
I felt Orion, my wolf, surge to the surface, claws scraping against the walls of my chest.
Mate. Ours. Challenge him. Take her away.
“Who the hell is he?” I growled, voice a low rumble that filled the confined space of the car. My reflection in the rearview mirror was all sharp edges—my jaw clenched, eyes bright with an animal light I couldn’t suppress.
The blonde man leaned closer, brushing a crumb from the little girl’s cheek, and I felt my stomach twist. My rational mind whispered, He has a kid. He’s harmless.
But the wolf didn’t care.
He’s sitting where we should be. He’s the one she’s smiling at. He’s the one her wolf isn’t fighting.
Last night’s memory crashed into me.
Sylvia’s eyes, blazing with fury, standing in the middle of my apartment like she owned the place—like she owned me.
“You brought Hannah here?!” she’d hissed, her voice trembling with a mix of anger and hurt.
I’d tried to explain, told her it was business, that the meeting couldn’t wait. I hadn’t touched Hannah. I didn’t even see her the way Sylvia thought I did. But none of it mattered.
Her walls had slammed up, her wolf bristling, the mate bond between us like a taut rope fraying on the edges. She’d stormed out without a word of goodbye.
And now, instead of answering my calls or messages this morning, she was here. With him.
The little girl said something—probably something sweet, something innocent—and Sylvia’s face lit up with a warmth I had never seen directed at me. Not like that. Not with that softness.
It cut deeper than I expected.
My phone buzzed on the passenger seat, the harsh vibration breaking the spell.
Beta, via mind-link: Alpha, urgent meeting in thirty minutes.
I ignored it. My entire world was behind that window.
I pressed my forehead briefly against the steering wheel, exhaling a long, uneven breath. “Would you really betray me, Sivi?” I whispered, using the pet name that usually melted her resistance. I could almost hear her voice in my head, teasing and soft, when I called her that. But now, even the memory of it felt hollow.
She’s ours. Orion paced restlessly in my mind. She feels us. She knows we’re here.
I lifted my gaze in time to see her posture shift ever so slightly. She froze, then tilted her head like a hunter sensing movement in the underbrush.
She felt me.
Our bond might have been stretched to its limit, but it was still there, alive and electric. I could practically taste the moment she sensed my presence, the invisible tether pulling taut. For a heartbeat, I thought she might rise, come outside, confront me—or maybe, just maybe, come to me willingly.
Instead, her eyes skimmed the window. Searching.
I ducked instinctively, my pride warring with the raw, stupid vulnerability of the moment.
I was Caesar Conrad—Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack, the unchallenged ruler of every werewolf territory in the northeastern states. I did not lurk in cars like a rejected suitor. I did not wait for anyone to choose me.
And yet... here I was.
I heard Orion snarl in disgust at my hesitation, at her rejection, at my restraint. But I stayed low, silent, letting her gaze sweep past without landing on me.
When she turned back to the man and his child, I felt the loss like a physical wound.
My fingers tapped the steering wheel. I could go in there, claim my mate, end this charade. Drag her out if I had to. Every wolf in the state would understand. The mate bond was sacred—untouchable.
But Sylvia wasn’t a woman who could be handled like any other she-wolf. She was Frost. She was fire and ice, pride wrapped in silk. If I tried to claim her now, without her consent, I’d drive her further away.
The thought made my teeth grind.
I turned the key in the ignition, the car humming to life. I’d give her this moment. Let her think she’d won this round. But tonight... tonight would be different.
