Chapter 6

TANYA'S POV

The boardroom smelled like old wood and money. Not the nice, lived-in kind. This was the stiff, polished version that made the air feel heavy, like the walls themselves were listening and judging. Dark panels on every side. A long table built for way more people than the five sitting behind it right now. Two empty chairs on our side. One of them was mine, and I'd been stuck in it for eleven minutes. I only knew because of the clock above their heads. I'd been watching the second hand crawl instead of looking at any of their faces. Looking at them meant remembering exactly how I'd ended up here, four days after the worst birthday I'd ever had, about to talk through a night I was still trying to shove into some back corner of my head.

The Beta in the middle, fifties, grey hair that probably came from years of sitting in rooms like this, flipped a page and glanced up.

"Miss Davis," he said. "Walk us through the start of the evening."

So I did. I'd rehearsed the whole thing at five in the morning when sleep gave up on me. Laid it out straight, no extras, just the order they wanted. The party. Kenneth showed up and acted like I'd ruined his night just by existing. Following him anyway. The bathroom. The argument. Leaving campus. The bar. I hesitated a second when I got to the guy at the bar because the Beta's eyes flicked up, but I kept going. Senior Gideon Hemisphere. I went with him on my own. His dorm room. Waking up the next morning.

When I stopped talking, the quiet felt thick. Like nobody wanted to be the first one to break it.

The younger Beta woman on the left scanned her notes. "You said all of it was voluntary. No pressure, no influence."

"Yeah."

"Even when you went back to Mr. Hemisphere's room."

"Yeah."

She kept her voice flat. "Mr. Petty's complaint claims Mr. Hemisphere used Alpha compulsion to—"

"He didn't," I said, before she could finish. My voice came out even, which surprised me. "I was there the whole time. Every single choice was mine. I was upset, and I wanted something that had nothing to do with pack rules or power plays. I found it. That's the whole story."

The center Beta made a note. The clock ticked past another minute.

Then the oldest one, the Alpha who hadn't said a word until now, lifted his head from whatever he was reading. "Miss Davis. Is there a mate bond between you and Mr. Hemisphere?"

The room went still in a way that made my skin prickle.

I'd known the question was coming. I'd practiced what to say. But sitting there with all of them watching, my wolf shoved forward hard enough that I felt it behind my eyes. And right on cue came that pull again. The same one I'd felt on the bus ride home. Like something had tied a string between us that I never agreed to hold, but it was holding me anyway.

I breathed in slowly through my nose. Let it out.

"My wolf... she senses something," I said, careful with every word. "I don't have enough to call it official yet."

He studied me for a second, then wrote something down.

"Thank you, Miss Davis," the center one said. "We'll call you back if we need anything else."

I stood, picked up my bag, and headed for the door. Almost made it. Then I stopped, turned around. All five of them looked up at once.

"I'd like to add something," I said.

The center Beta glanced sideways at the woman next to him. "This is a formal proceeding, Miss Davis. Any additions—"

"I know," I told him. "That's why I'm asking."

He gave a short nod.

I reached into my bag and pulled out the photo I'd printed that morning. Walked back to the table and set it down in front of him. My hands weren't shaking as much as I'd expected, but my heart was doing that quick, uneven thing it does when you're about to do something you can't take back.

"This is a picture of a contract Luna Victoria Blackwood-Hemisphere asked me to sign three days ago," I said. "I want the board to see the timing here. Because Kenneth filed his complaint the morning after I told her no."

The elder Alpha picked up the photo. Read it without changing his expression, but the silence around him got heavier somehow.

"Clause 14.2," I went on. "No private, romantic, or physical contact with any member of the Blackwood bloodline. If I wanted to keep my scholarship." I paused. "I said no. The complaint showed up the next day. You can connect the dots however you want."

I didn't wait for an answer. Just turned and walked out.

Gideon was in the hallway, back against the wall like he'd been standing there a while. The second the door opened, his eyes found mine, and for once, he didn't look like he was performing anything. He just looked relieved. Actually relieved, like he'd been holding his breath.

"How bad was it?" I asked.

He watched me for a long second. "They're going to call you back in. They want the full statement from you, too. I already gave them mine."

I nodded.

"Did you tell them about the bond?" I asked.

He held my gaze. "I couldn't lie."

I stood there looking at him. My wolf was still pushing; that thread between us pulled tight enough that I could feel it in my chest. Four days since the bar. Four days of trying to file him away as a mistake, a one-night thing I shouldn't have done, and the bond just kept refusing to stay in that box.

I started to turn back toward the door.

"Tanya."

I stopped.

"What you did in there," he said. "The photo. I didn't know you had it."

"I took it when your mom stepped away to take a call," I said. "Figured it might be useful later. Didn't know how at the time."

He looked at me like he was seeing something he hadn't expected. "It was smart."

"I have good instincts," I said. "People just keep acting surprised by that."

Then I went back inside.

Three days earlier.

The SUV smelled like expensive leather and whatever they used to make it feel like money. The partition slid up with that soft click, sealing me in the back like I was cargo. My ankle throbbed from the jump off the ledge outside Gideon's dorm. My hair was still damp from the shower I'd taken at four in the morning because I couldn't stand the smell of him on my skin anymore. My phone had seventeen unread messages. Most of the people I didn't feel like dealing with. One from a number I didn't recognize.

I'd already read that one three times.

Smart girl. You made the right choice tonight. Don't undo it.

I had no idea what it meant. I tucked the phone away and stared out the tinted window as campus disappeared. Wherever this car was taking me, I'd deal with it. My wolf was awake and alert, even though she'd only been around for a day. New as she was, she had opinions. And right now, her opinion seemed to be that the Alpha sitting up front was someone we could handle.