Chapter 187
Chapter 187:
A heavy, suffocating silence stretched across the line. I could almost feel the terrifying, pitch-black void of his storm-gray eyes through the phone.
“Noted,” Kain replied.
The line went dead. The dial tone echoed in my ear, a sharp, painful reminder of the impenetrable wall he had built between us. I swallowed the bitter ache in my throat and tossed the phone aside. I didn’t need him. I had an empire to run.
I pulled the thick stack of candidate files toward me. My priority was finding a new Chief Financial Officer to stabilize the Wolfe Hotel Group’s turbulent stock.
I flipped open the top folder. The resume belonged to a woman from Europe — a flawless record, impeccable references, and a history of turning around failing hospitality chains.
Carmella Golden.
Something about the name made my dormant Inner Wolf twitch — a strange, inexplicable ripple of awareness that I quickly brushed off as exhaustion.
I pressed the intercom button on my desk. “Harvey p>
𝘠𝗼𝘂r 𝗇𝗲x𝘁 𝗳𝘢𝗏o𝘳𝘪𝗍𝘦 𝗋𝖾аd 𝗂s 𝗈𝘯 𝘨𝖺lոо𝘃𝘦𝗅ѕ.𝘤𝗼𝗆
“Yes, Luna?” my Director of Operations answered instantly.
“I’ve found our top candidate for the CFO position,” I said, my voice steady and resolute. “Contact Carmella Golden. Schedule her for a virtual interview this Thursday morning p>
“Right away, Luna p>
I released the button and leaned back in my father’s leather chair. I was taking control of my Pack — completely unaware that the simple press of an intercom had just pulled the pin on a silver grenade buried deep within the heart of the Lycan royal family.
Adelina POV
For two agonizing days since the disaster at The Blood Ring, the penthouse den had been a frozen tomb. Kain and I moved around each other like hostile ghosts. The air was suffocatingly thick with his ancient cedar scent, now laced with a biting, glacial frost that felt like a physical cage. Our only interaction was the cup of black coffee I found on the counter each morning, left by a man who was already gone.
But on Thursday morning, the ice cracked.
I walked into the kitchen to find Kain standing by the marble island. Before I could retreat, his massive shoulders went rigid. His eyes glazed over for a fraction of a second — a private mind-link. For the first time in forty-eight hours, the glacial void in his expression fractured into genuine worry.
“Grant has an emergency,” Kain said, his voice a low, gravelly rumble that didn’t quite meet my eyes. “I’m keeping Jaxon here for the next few days p>
A temporary truce, forged by a seven-year-old pup.
Hours later, the freezing tension of the penthouse was replaced by the suffocating politics of the Alpha’s Council Chamber at The Wolfe Hotel.
“The stock is volatile, Luna,” Alpha Henderson wheezed, his laugh sounding like a wet cough. He leaned back in his leather chair, his scent reeking of outdated patriarchy. “We need to slow our expansion. A wolfless leader must prioritize stability over aggressive hiring p>