Chapter 152
The meeting room door clicked shut behind Tristan as he strode out, his back ramrod straight despite the public humiliation he’d just endured. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his retreating figure.
What the hell was I doing?
I slipped out of the secretary’s desk and followed him, keeping a safe distance. My heart hammered against my ribs as I ducked behind a massive marble column, peeking around its edge to watch Tristan’s officials file out after him. Their faces were twisted with barely contained rage, muttering among themselves about my brother’s unprecedented disrespect.
I pressed my back against the cool stone, struggling to understand my own actions. Why was I following him? Why did watching my brother tear him apart in front of every important Alpha make my chest ache with something dangerously close to sympathy?
This is Tristan Wolfbane, I reminded myself. The man who made my life hell for years. The man who rejected his own children.
But even as those thoughts crossed my mind, I couldn’t shake the memory of Tristan’s face–the iron control he’d maintained while Alaric systematically dismantled him. The Tristan I’d been married to would have flipped the table, possibly broken someone’s jaw. This calculated restraint was… unsettling.
“Found you.”
Strong fingers wrapped around my wrist, yanking me from my hiding place. I barely suppressed a yelp as I came face to face with Tristan, his steel–blue eyes burning with an emotion I couldn’t place.
Without a word, he began pulling me down the corridor away from the meeting hall. I frowned but didn’t cry out, acutely aware that causing a scene would only damage Alaric’s reputation further. Everyone had witnessed his shocking breach of diplomatic protocol–I didn’t need to add to the spectacle.
Tristan dragged me to a secluded alcove far enough from the meeting hall that no one would accidentally stumble upon us. Before I could demand an explanation, he shoved me against the wall, pinning me with nothing but the intensity of his glare.
“How could you just sit there?” he demanded, voice vibrating with barely controlled fury. “Watching me be humiliated and doing nothing to stop it?”
“Why would I?” I shrugged, fighting to appear nonchalant despite the adrenaline coursing through my veins. “It’s not my problem.”
Tristan’s brow furrowed, jaw tightening. “Do you know why I controlled my anger in there? Because of you. I thought you
would…”
He trailed off, shaking his head like he was disappointed in me.
‘Sorry?” I scoffed, indignation flaring. “How could you possibly expect me to speak up for you?”
Tristan’s gaze sharpened, piercing through my defenses with unnerving accuracy. “So you didn’t care how I felt meeting room?”
at
The question blindsided me. I stared at him, completely thrown off–balance.
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Chapter 152
“Are you insane?” I finally managed, finding my voice. “Why would I care? Who are you to me that I should give a damn about your feelings?”
Something flickered across his face–something that might have been hurt if I believed Tristan Wolfbane capable of such an emotion. He said nothing, leaving my questions hanging in the air between us.
I shifted, trying to slide away from the wall, desperate to escape this bizarre confrontation.
Before I could move, Tristan slammed his hands against the wall on either side of my head, caging me between his arms. The position was eerily similar to our encounter in the Mistwood hallway, and fear prickled along my spine at the memory.
“If you try something like last time, I’ll-
“What? Claw me?” He cut me off with a derisive snort.
I fell silent, unnerved by his mockery. My eyes darted to his chest, wondering if the marks I’d left still hadn’t healed. The knowledge that I’d inflicted wounds even his Alpha healing couldn’t fix gave me a twisted sense of satisfaction. Then I remembered he’d been at the hot springs to heal–had it worked? Not that I cared.
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