KEISHA’S POV

I got to the meeting early and found a seat along the side wall where I opened my notebook and reminded myself that everything would be over soon. Close the proposals. Send Riven home. Move on.

Pren sat beside me. "Short one apparently." He grunted.

"Good." I said.

"Your documentation from last session was clean." He turned to me. "No corrections."

"Thank you." I smiled.

I kept my eyes on my notebook and felt the bond pull from across the room the moment Callum arrived. I didn’t look at him once.

"Do you think they’ll push back on the toll structure?" Pren asked.

"No." I muttered thoughtfully. "The numbers work for both sides. They’d be foolish to push back."

"Agreed." He agreed as he flipped a page. "The passage joint project is the more complicated one. Implementation timeline alone is going to require—"

Someone was looking at me.

I didn’t need to look up to know that someone was staring at me.

I could feel the weight of the person staring and it made the hair on the back of my neck rise. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

I looked up.

Vanessa was near the entrance in a pale coat with her hands folded and her eyes directly on me. She had been there long enough to have been watching for a while. When I looked up she didn’t flinch or look away.

Oh.

She had seen something when Callum and I arrived. That half second before either of us controlled our faces.

The look that passed between us. She had seen it. But I didn’t know what she was thinking about, or what she even thought about when she saw it.

Her heels clicked across the floor toward the front of the room.

"Good morning." Her voice was warm and bright. "I was hoping to sit in on today’s meeting." A small pause. "I’d love to start familiarising myself with how pack business is conducted. For the future."

I didn’t look up.

Callum opened his mouth to say something but didn’t get far before he was interrupted.

"Vanessa!"

Nadia appeared from the side corridor moving at a pace that suggested she had been positioned just out of sight waiting for exactly this moment. She walked straight to Vanessa, took both her hands and beamed at her with a large smile.

"I’ve been looking for you everywhere." She said. "I wanted to take you through the east gardens this morning before it gets too cold." She tilted her head. "Becca made something warm we can take. Come on, I feel terrible we haven’t had proper time together yet."

Vanessa looked at Callum, her smile turning stiff and irritated. "I actually wanted to stay for the—"

"The meeting will be so dry." Nadia said cheerfully. "Numbers and implementation timelines. You don’t want to sit through that." She was already steering her toward the corridor. "Come on. Tell me about yourself. Where did you grow up? What do you actually enjoy? I feel like I know nothing about you yet."

Vanessa glanced back at Callum one more time. He gave her a brief nod.

She looked at me but I looked at Pren’s folder.

"Alright." Vanessa said pleasantly. "That sounds lovely."

Nadia walked her out with one arm linked through hers and I heard her voice going bright and interested down the corridor. "So tell me everything, what was growing up in your pack like—"... and then they were gone.

I kept my eyes on my notebook.

Pren leaned slightly toward me. "She seems nice." He said quietly, referring to Nadia.

But I knew she only did it to get Vanessa away from her father.

"She is." I agreed.

"The other one I’m less sure about." He said.

I said nothing and he went back to his folder while the room filled in around us as more people arrived.

Callum came to the head of the table and Elder Garic opened the session formally.

Riven’s side of the table presented first. His council member confirmed the terms as discussed while Callum listened without interrupting until he was done.

"The electricity routing." Callum said. "We accept the fixed term easement. Twenty years with renewal options. Coldridge bears full cost of installation and maintenance." He looked at his own council. "We’ll implement a percentage-based toll on all infrastructure use of the corridor. Starting rate to be negotiated before installation begins."

Elder Garic nodded as Riven’s council member wrote something down.

"The passage." Callum said. "Joint project. We accept the principle. Implementation timeline to be drafted collaboratively over the next month. Ashveil retains first access rights to all goods moving through the corridor." He paused. "Non-negotiable."

Riven’s council member looked at Riven briefly and Riven nodded once.

"Agreed." His council member said.

"Good." Callum said. "We’ll have the formal documentation drafted and sent to Coldridge within the week for signatures." He looked across the table. "Your delegation is free to depart at your convenience. We appreciate the visit."

Riven inclined his head. "Thank you for receiving us, Alpha." His voice was measured and formal and his eyes moved across the room once and they found me.

And it remained there.

I wrote something in my notebook that made no sense so that I didn’t have to look at him.

His eyes moved away.

Chairs scraped back and the room broke into movement as people trudged out.

I gathered my things, stood and moved out the door with my head down and my bag on my shoulder and I was close to the next hallway that was quiet and empty, I was genuinely close—

"Keisha."

I stopped and turned around.

Riven was right there.

My heart jumped and I folded my arms. "How can I help you?"

His gaze didn’t falter. "Let’s talk."

"I have to go back to my office actually. There’s a lot of work to do with all the meetings and likely changes. You know how all this works and all."

His jaw tightened. "Two minutes." A pause followed. "That’s all I ask."