Chapter 77
ELODIE’S POV~
I hung up the phone and just… stood there for a second. Staring at the screen. The driver couldn’t make it. Of course he couldn’t. Nothing was working today. Nothing had been working for weeks, actually, but who was counting?
“I’ll have someone handle this for you p>
Harry’s voice cut through the fog in my head. I looked up, startled. He was already pulling out his own phone, fingers moving across the screen with that casual efficiency that came so naturally to wolves in his position.
“Where are you going? I’ll take you p>
I blinked. Once. Twice.
“I—” My mouth opened but nothing came out at first. “You don’t have to p>
“It’s fine p>
It wasn’t a question.
Five minutes later I was sitting in the backseat of his car and I wanted to crawl out of my own skin.
We sat with distance between us. Enough space that I could’ve fit another person there, maybe two. The leather seat was cool against my legs, cold almost, even through my dress. I pressed my palms flat against my thighs, tried to focus on that. The texture. The temperature. Anything but the awkwardness sitting in my throat like something I couldn’t swallow.
“Thank you,” I said. My voice sounded small and I hated that.
“It’s nothing.” He said.
I frowned and looked out the window. Watched the city blur past, all the glass and steel and people who probably had their shit together. People whose husbands actually wanted them. People who didn’t spend their nights wondering if the bond was supposed to hurt this much or if it was just—
Stop.
I bit the inside of my cheek. Hard enough to taste blood.
Harry wasn’t… well we weren’t close. We’d never been close. Most times before this he’d barely looked at me. Like I was part of the furniture in whatever room we happened to be in. And that time at the racetrack, goodness, that had been—
Uncomfortable. Tense. He’d looked at me like he was trying to figure something out and I didn’t want to be figured out. Didn’t want anyone seeing too much.
Though last time we’d run into each other he’d actually greeted me. Said hello like a normal person. That had been… strange. Unexpected.
Still… This was worse. This small space.
Harry started making calls. His voice low, and clipped, and all business. Something about a contract. Something about the Packs in Eastern Europe. I stopped listening.
I was grateful, actually. That he was busy. That he wasn’t trying to make conversation because I didn’t… no I couldn’t p>
My phone buzzed in my lap.
I looked down. A message from Cara.
‘Where are you? Everything okay p>
My fingers hovered over the keyboard. What was I supposed to say?
I simply typed, ‘I’m fine. On my way p>
I sent it before I could overthink it. Locked my phone. Pressed it against my thigh and stared out the window again.
Forty minutes felt like four hours.
The silence between Harry’s calls was suffocating. I could hear everything. The hum of the engine. The whisper of air conditioning. My own breathing, which I was trying to keep even and quiet and normal even though my chest felt tight. Like something was wrapped around my ribs and squeezing.
Finally… thanks goodness… The car stopped.
I looked up. We were at the exhibition. The building all lit up against the darkening sky, people in expensive clothes filtering through the entrance. The tech world and the Pack world colliding like they always did in this city.
I needed to get out. Needed air. Needed to not be in this small space anymore with my thoughts eating me alive.
“Thank you,” I said again as I fumbled for the door handle. My hands were shaking. Just slightly. Just enough that I hoped he didn’t notice.
Harry nodded. Didn’t smile. Didn’t really look at me.
I gave a brief nod back, too quick, too stiff and turned to leave.
________________
Elodie had barely made it ten steps when another car pulled up.
It was a black and expensive car. The kind of car that made people turn their heads.
Sienna was still standing there with her parents, about to head inside, when she noticed. Squinted at the car and At the license plate.
Wait.
No, that couldn’t be p>
But it was.
She walked over with her heels clicking, and knocked on the window. It rolled down, slowly.
“Harry?” She bent down, peering inside. “It’s really you p>
Harry looked… tired. Or maybe just done with the day. Hard to tell with him.
“What brings you here?” Sienna asked.
He got out and Straightened his jacket. “Was dropping a friend off p>
Sienna’s eyebrows went up just a fraction, but she didn’t ask. Didn’t push.
Her father and aunt, Logan and Lauren had noticed now too. They approached, and when they realized who it was, their whole demeanor shifted into something Respectful. The way wolves got around other powerful wolves.
“Harry,” Logan said with a nod.
“Uncle. Aunt,” Harry replied, politely but distant.
They exchanged pleasantries. The weather. The exhibition. Something about the Bellini Pack expanding, about how Logan had heard things, wanted to know if the rumors were true.
Harry’s phone suddenly buzzed.
Once and then Twice.
He glanced at it, with his Jaw tightened just barely.
“Excuse me,” he said, already lifting the phone to his ear.
Sienna caught her aunt’s eye. Lauren gave a small shrug. They’d been dismissed. Politely,
“We should head in,” Sienna said. “Exhibition’s starting soon p>
Logan nodded, already turning toward the entrance.
But Sienna lingered. Just for a second.
Harry was on the phone now, voice low. Talking about Business. Always business. He wasn’t even looking their way anymore.
Sienna’s gaze drifted toward the exhibition entrance.
“Sienna?” her aunt called.
“Coming,” she said.
__________________
ELODIE’S POV~
I saw Johnny at the entrance and my chest loosened just a little.
He smiled when he spotted me, waved me over. I walked faster, my heels clicking on the marble, and tried to arrange my face into something that looked normal.
“Hey,” I said. Breathed it out more than said it.
Johnny leaned in. Close enough that I caught the scent of his cologne.
“The professor’s here,” he whispered.
My heart stopped.
Just. Stopped.
“What p>
“Professor Liam,” Johnny said, pulling back to look at me. His eyebrow went up. “He’s attending the exhibition. Didn’t you p>
“No, I—” My hands were shaking. I clasped them together. Tight. “I didn’t know p>
Of course I didn’t know. Why would I know? I’d been so focused on just getting here, on not falling apart, on preparing myself to see Dante and pretend I was fine that I hadn’t even—
The professor.
Oh God.
Johnny’s expression shifted. Less teasing now. “It’s a good thing you found someone to help you then,” he said. Softer. “If the professor knew you were late, he’d probably p>
He didn’t finish. Didn’t have to.
I knew.
I knew exactly what the professor would do. What he’d say. That look he’d give me, the one that said ‘I expected better from you. I trained you better than this p>
Being late wasn’t just being late. Not to him. It was disrespect. Carelessness. Proof that you weren’t serious about the work, about the field, about anything that actually mattered.
And he already thought that about me.
Already looked at me like I was a disappointment. A waste of potential.
Ever since—
My throat tightened.
Ever since I graduated and got married. Ever since the Liora. Ever since my life became this thing I didn’t recognize anymore.
He’d been furious. I’d never seen Professor Liam angry before that. He was always so controlled, so measured. But when I told him, when I showed up to his office with the ring on my finger and tried to explain that—
“You’re throwing it away,” he had said. His Voice flat and Cold. “Everything we worked for. Everything you could’ve been p>
And I’d stood there, stomach barely showing, my bond humming under my skin, and tried to tell him it wasn’t like that. That I could still work, still contribute, still—
But he’d just looked at me.
And I’d seen it. The exact moment I stopped being his protégé and became just another woman who chose a man over her career.
Just another failure.
I shivered.
Couldn’t help it. The memory was too bitter to recall.
“Hey,” Johnny said, touching my elbow a little. “You okay p>
“Yeah,” I lied. “Yeah, I’m p>
Fine. I was going to say fine.
But the word stuck in my throat.
Johnny gave me this look. This sad, knowing look that made me want to scream or cry or both.
“It’s good you weren’t late,” he said instead. Gently. Like he was trying to throw me a lifeline. “Really. He would’ve… yeah p>
I nodded. Swallowed hard.
“Right. Good. That’s—” My voice cracked. Just slightly. I cleared my throat. “That’s good p>
A pause.
People were streaming past us. People in their Expensive suits. Designer dresses. Wolves from Packs all over Europe, the northern territories, even some from overseas. All here to network, to see and be seen, to make deals that would shift power in ways humans would never understand.
And I was just. Standing here. Trying not to break.
“Have you seen him yet?” I asked. My voice sounded strange. Hollow. “The professor, I mean p>
“Not yet. He’s inside somewhere. Probably near the algorithm displays, you know how he is p>
Yeah. I knew.
I used to know everything about how the professor thought. Used to be able to predict which projects would excite him, which theories he’d want to explore. We’d worked together for three years and I’d been good. Really good.