Chapter 257
DEREK
I hadn’t slept much.
+25 BONUS
Which wasn’t unusual lately. Not since the sentencing. Not since ena had looked me dead in the eye and told me that she wanted nothing more to do with me.
The words still echoed. Still hit like a shifting blade to the chest every time they replayed in my mind. And they replayed constantly.
I’d tried calling her again. Once. Just to say… I didn’t even know what. That I missed her. That I was sorry. That I’d never meant for things to happen this way. But she didn’t answer.
Aiden did.
He chatted like nothing had changed. Asked if I’d seen the new Moonstone banners going up at the community center. Told me about the snacks they’d had after Mason’s ceremony and how he thought maybe he’d want to be Alpha someday.
And then he’d asked if I was coming over that weekend.
I hadn’t even known what to say.
Now I found myself standing at the door to the old Alpha’s study. Not Mason’s–the one their father had used for years. The one with the heavy wooden desk and the stone fireplace and the mounted crest over the mantle. The scent of old leather and pipe smoke still lingered faintly in the air.
He looked up as I stepped in.
“Derek,” he said simply.
I nodded. “Do you have a minute?”
He gestured to the chair across from him. “Of course.”
I sat. It felt strange, asking a favor from a man who’d once practically ordered me to stay away from his daughter. And stranger still knowing I was doing it after she’d already told me she didn’t want me in her life.
But I had to try.
“I know I’m probably the last person you want to hear from right now,” I began. “But I was hoping… hoping you might talk to her. Just let her know I didn’t mean for things to go the way they did.”
Moonstone’s former Alpha studied me for a long time.
“I respect you, Derek,” he said at last. “I always have. What you’ve built, what you’ve survived… it speaks to your strength.”
My jaw tightened. “But?”
“But Elena is an adult,” he said simply. “And she’s not mine to direct anymore. She hasn’t been for a long time. I can love her, and guide her when she asks. But I can’t choose her path. And I wouldn’t want to.”
I sat back, jaw working.
“She won’t even speak to me,” I admitted. “She won’t give me the chance to explain. I just… I didn’t think having dinner with Cassandra would be the thing that cost me everything.”
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk.
“Don’t ask me to defend Cassandra,” he said. “But I know what it’s like to be young and foolish. To think you can fix something by doing what’s ‘practical.‘ Sometimes our attempts to smooth things over only create more cracks.”
Chapter 257
He paused.
“I wish I could help you. I do. But I’m not the Alpha anymore. Maybe you should talk to Mason.”
A strange bitterness welled in my throat. Mason. Of course. He was Alpha now. And closer to Elena than ever.
I nodded stiffly and stood.
“Thank you for your time,” I said.
He gave a slow, respectful nod in return. “I do hope it works out, Derek. For what it’s worth.”
+25 BONUS
I didn’t go to Mason. Not yet. Not until I had something more than words to bring him.
Instead, I returned to my office and shut the door. Pulled out the folders I’d been gathering–maps, zoning documents, records of building permits and council minutes. If Elena wouldn’t talk to me, I’d find another way to support her
She needed permits. She needed access.
The rogue foundation building Jacob had found for her was brilliant, strategically placed just across the bridge into roguelands— but it was a bureaucratic nightmare. Three different neighborhood councils held overlapping jurisdiction on that block. Two of them were in the middle of reelections. The third had just fired its planning director for mishandling grant funds.
It was a mess. But it was the kind of mess I could clean up.
I’d done this before–fought for approval on more complicated developments, worked council back channels, and found the right people to nudge a vote in the right direction.
I made calls. Took meetings. Greased the wheels.
Even if she never knew… I would still help her build it.
Still give her this.
Even if I never got to see her name etched on the front of the building, I’d know.
