KENNA

I finish work without any further drama. Chaney comes in to check on me a few times. I can practically hear her brain working. She has a thousand questions about Kaden and me, but she's giving me space. I respect that.

As I walk home, I feel frazzled. My mother chastises me as soon as I walk into my cabin, saying something about ladies not slouching.

I wonder when she'll realize I missed the 'lady' train. In fact, it ran me over. I look the part, too, since I put no effort into my appearance other than shoving a comb through my hair in the mornings.

Since she's leaving tonight, I spend some time with her in the living room. We watch TV, where she criticizes actors without realizing her daughter is watching the screen with a-thousand-mile stare.

I eat the warm pasta she made and thank her for looking after me. The food reminds me of my childhood. How my cheeks would be painted in a greasy orange, and how I'd run outside to play with our dog in the equally orange sunset.

Although I sound gothic most of the time, my childhood wasn't too dark. It's why, although my mother and I have our differences, I keep her around. I'm grateful.

I lead her to her car, bobbing my head to the advice she gives about every topic she can think of. When she drives off, I go back home, where I'm entertained by my anxiety.

The folder containing the transfer papers has been ruined, so I re-print the papers and fill them out. I think of Kaden's challenge, but can't find the strength to get off my chair and go to him.

Instead, I text Chasey a 'thank you' for keeping an eye out on me, take a bubble bath, and search for the bottom of a wine bottle.

I go to work the next day with a banging headache, and it's like nothing happened. No one looks at me funny, even Chaney.

After two days, I've calmed down enough that I'm no longer emitting heat from my ears. I know that I'll have to answer Chaney eventually, but first, I need to step on Kaden's toes one last time. The transfer papers are ready to be signed. I know that this evening will be colorful.

I finish work in the afternoon and head for the pack house in hopes of finding him. He's nowhere to be found, and I know better than to check his home. My only option is to slip the folder under his office door.

Then I go home, feeling proud of myself for walking away. It's not easy. Kaden gave me a thrill. He brought color to my life— passionate reds, and explosive yellows. It feels like with every step I take toward my home, I'm welcoming back the boring grey.

Bored or not, I'll be alright. I'll keep helping pack members, and somewhere along the way, I'll learn to help myself, even if it takes years.

I send a text to Chaney, inviting her out on the weekend. She's instantly convinced my phone was stolen or compromised, because the "normal me" would exchange her soul to escape a social outing..

After I send a selfie proving that it's me, and telling her that she's ridiculous for demanding that I take a drug test, the date it settled.

"I thought our agreement was that you'd hand the papers to me."

I jump out of my skin, see the Moon-Goddess, enter outer space, change dimensions, and slam back to Earth.

"For fuck's sake, Kaden. You nearly killed me." I palm my chest and grip my armchair.

He's in my cabin. Somehow, he entered undetected.

"You can't trespass into my home."

Technically, this is his home. He owns the whole territory as Alpha, but those are details.

"I knocked."

"Not hard enough. I guess those huge hands of yours are just for show."

He steps closer and sits across me, on the same couch my mother sat on as she glowered at me.

"Not only for show. They're also great at maneuvering your hips. You would know."

If I could blush, I would be the shade of passion red right now. This man knows how to play me like a harp.

"Why are you here? I sent the documents."

"I found them on my office floor." He leans back. "I didn't think they would come."

I intertwine my fingers over my abdomen. "Yeah, well, that's life. Things come unexpectedly."

Just like me. Weeks ago, if someone told me I would be cuming(i) on my alpha's dick, I would laugh in their face and have them admitted to a ward.

Kaden's eyes lock on my hands over my belly with so much intensity that it unnerves me. What does he see there? What's that warm expression on his face?

Wanting to break his trance, I unravel my fingers and bring them away from my stomach.

I clear my throat awkwardly. "Is there a mistake on the transfer papers, or..."

"The transfer papers are a mistake, Kenna." He taps his hand on his thigh impatiently. "I don't want you to go. I will not sign the transfer papers easily."

"Why?"

That's all I can ask at this point, really. We've been through so many games and fights of will that we've proved our relationship to be a joke.

"I will miss you."

My lips thin, like I've sucked on a sour fruit. Affection coming from Kaden seems unnatural. We are sitting many feet apart, my cabin is cold, and his expression is harder than the logs that surround us.

Besides all this, however, I know he isn't lying. Kaden is a hard nut to crack, but once he's open, a liar is not a characteristic I would find.

"Miss what?" I counter. "I'm only a warm pussy to you. There are millions of those."

He doesn't miss a beat. "I enjoy you. Your body, your challenges. Don't go."

Even now, he doesn't plead. He commands.

"It makes no sense. What could I do here beside you?"

"Don't act like there's no chemistry between us. We just didn't talk this through enough. I will admit, I thought it would be easier than this, but I've been proven wrong."

He can't be serious.

"You want to try sexual arrangement again?"

"Precisely. If being hidden is what's complicating this so much, then I'm willing to publicly acknowledge you as mine."

"Kaden." I rub my forehead. "You wanted me to walk home with my mouth full of your cum. For the whole pack to smell you on me and know what we have been up to. That's not... normal."

He shrugs. "I was not concerned with the pack knowing that I have you in my bed, sated and exhausted. I gave you the option to walk away from me, and you..."

I smirk. "I played you with my little detergent trick. That's what I did."

"Yes." His lip quirks. "Now I need to even the score. In bed. Your insolence must be addressed."

I shake my head. "We can't."

"Think on it." He presses.

"Whatever my answer is, it will never include stepping into the spotlight with you. I will never be your arm-candy. Trust me. The only thing I have in my closet are hospital scrubs. I don't think I'd look camera-worthy beside you."

"Why is this so important to you?"

"Because I like silence, Kaden. You are the furthest thing from silence. You're an alpha— loud and heard. If I stand beside you, the eyes that follow you will shift to me. I have no interest in being a public figure. There's nothing I have to offer the pack other than medicine."

There's a long stretch of silence. This is the last we may see of each other.

Finally, Kaden stands from the couch, and wow, it's like the cabin shrinks from how he fills it up.

He walks over to me, grips my arm chairs, and plants a gentle kiss on my forehead. "Think on it," he repeats.

Then he's gone as silently as he entered.