Chapter 148
SOPHIA’S POV
I arrived at the courthouse at seven fifty-eight in the morning.
Damien was already there.
His black car was in the parking lot with the engine off. I could see him through the windshield before he noticed me.
He was on a call. One of his hands gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles had gone pale. His jaw was tight. His eyes were fixed on nothing.
I stood outside for a moment and just watched him in shock.
He was never early. In seven years of marriage, Damien Stone had been late to everything that involved me – dinners, hospital appointments, Ashley’s school events. He was always early for board meetings, for pack gatherings, for anything that actually mattered to him. The fact that he was sitting in that parking lot before eight in the morning told me everything I needed to know about how badly he wanted this done.
It should have hurt.
I walked up to the car and knocked on the window.
His eyes found mine through the glass. He said something short into the phone, then ended the call and stepped out.
We stood facing each other in the morning light. His scent reached me first – cedar, stress, and something like sleeplessness. My wolf noticed it all automatically.
“You’re early,” I said.
“So are you.” His voice was flat.
We walked into the courthouse side by side without another word.
The clerk at the front desk looked up when we approached. I spoke first.
“We’re here to file for divorce p>
She nodded and reached for a form. “I’ll need both your identification documents, your marriage certificate, and your signed divorce agreement p>
I turned to Damien.
He looked back at me. “Did you bring the marriage certificate p>
I stared at him. “It’s at Stone Villa. You live there. Why would I have it p>
His expression didn’t change. “I assumed you’d collected it p>
“You assumed.” I pressed my fingers against my temple and took a slow breath. The clerk watched us quietly. “Damien, the certificate has been sitting in the document drawer in the master bedroom for four years. You’ve walked past that drawer every single day p>
He shrugged “I haven’t needed it until now p>
“Neither have I, and I don’t live there anymore.” I exhaled. “So neither of us brought it p>
The clerk cleared her throat gently. “I’m sorry, but we can’t process the filing without all required documents present. You’re welcome to return when everything is in order p>
And that was it.
We walked back out with nothing accomplished. I had taken an hour of emergency leave from the hospital for this. That was one hour I couldn’t afford, for a trip that produced nothing.
I sighed. Then I sighed again. I couldn’t stop.
Damien walked beside me toward the parking lot, hands in his pockets. He looked totally unbothered. His heartbeat was calm. His posture was relaxed. The man had just wasted both our mornings and he looked like he was taking a Sunday stroll.
“Does nothing bother you?” I asked.
He glanced at me. “Getting worked up won’t produce the certificate p>
“I’m not asking you to get worked up. I’m asking you to look like you care that we just wasted an hour p>
“I care,” he said simply. “I’m not performing it p>
I stopped walking. He stopped too, turning to face me, and for a moment I just looked at him – this man I had loved completely, hopelessly, for years, this man who had made me invisible without even trying. And I felt nothing. I didn’t even feel angry anymore.
My mind was just quiet.
It surprised me more than anything else had.
“I’ll find the certificate tonight,” I said. “We go again tomorrow morning. Don’t forget this time p>
“I won’t forget p>
I turned and walked to my car.
By afternoon, I had pushed the morning to the back of my mind and buried myself in work. My arm ached beneath the bandage but I ignored it. Staying busy was the only thing that kept the noise in my head manageable.
I was in the middle of updating a patient chart when my office door opened.
The nurses outside went quiet first. I looked up.
Lance stood in the doorway.
He was dressed simply —-dark trousers, a grey shirt, jacket folded over one arm – but he had that quality that certain wolves carried, a quiet authority that people felt before they understood it. Two of the nurses at the station behind him were already pretending to be busy while watching him through the glass.
“You look tired,” he said with a smile.
“Hello to you too.” I set down my pen.
He smiled, crossed the room, and picked up my bag from beside the desk “Come on. I wanna take you to dinner p>
“Lance p>
“You skipped lunch. Don’t deny it. I checked with the cafeteria.” He held the bag out to me. “One hour. You can go back to saving lives after p>
I hesitated. The chart in front of me wasn’t finished. My arm hurt. I was tired in a way that sleep didn’t fix.
“Fine,” I said, standing. “But I’m paying p>
The restaurant was warm and softly lit. Lance and I got a table.
I was halfway through the menu when I felt it. I felt the prickling at the back of my neck that my wolf did whenever a dominant presence entered a space.
I looked up.
Damien walked in through the front entrance. Tiffany was on his arm, smiling widely. The shiny red dress she wore caught every light in the room. She laughed at something he said as they waited to be seated.
Then she saw us.
Her laugh didn’t stop. It just changed shape. She steered Damien toward our table. Her smile widened as she came closer.
“Dr. Lance,” she said warmly. “What a coincidence p>
Lance looked up from his menu. “Hello p>
Tiffany either didn’t notice Lance’s coldness or chose not to. She tilted her head “Actually, I’ve been hoping to run into you. I have a research question I’ve been struggling with. You’re the best person to ask p>
I tightened my grip on the menu.
Lance set his down slowly. He looked at Tiffany with a calm expression.
“If your question is related to our joint academic project,” he said, “I can’t help you with that. It wouldn’t be appropriate.” He paused. “And if you’re struggling with the fundamentals of your research area, then the honest thing to do is consider whether the program is the right fit. Withdrawing early isn’t failure. Continuing without the ability to keep up – that’s a different problem p>
The table went silent.
Tiffany’s smile faded. The color that rose up her neck wasn’t embarrassment – it was humiliation, the deep kind. Her eyes went glassy. She pressed her lips together and looked down at the tablecloth.
Damien stepped forward. His alpha energy filled the space around him. I felt it like a pressure change in the air, the kind that made lesser wolves want to lower their eyes. He glared at Lance intensely.
“Be careful,” he said quietly. “The higher you climb, the harder the fall p>
I felt my stomach turn – not with fear, but with something much worse.
Exhaustion.
I had watched this man defend Tiffany in front of Ashley, in front of his family, in front of strangers. And now here, in a restaurant, he was threatening a good man for simply telling the truth.
I gripped the menu and said nothing.
But my hands were no longer still.