Chapter 302
Chapter 302
ALEXANDER
The door opened before I could dial her number.
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I lowered the phone instinctively, though I didn’t turn around immediately. I didn’t want her to see the hesitation in my posture. I didn’t want her to see the name glowing on my screen.
Her footsteps were quiet but unmistakable.
I turned then.
Faye stood just inside the doorway, her hand still resting lightly against the handle. Her expression was composed. Not tearful. Not furious. Not even wounded in the way I had half–expected.
She was calm.
Her gaze dropped briefly to the phone in my hand before lifting to my face.
“Were you looking for me?” she asked.
Her tone was neutral… like it was a casual conversation.
There was no accusation in it.
That unsettled me more than anger would have.
“ No,” I said.
The answer came too quickly, but I didn’t retract it.
Her lips curved slightly.
Not a full smile… just a knowing smirk.
It was subtle, but it was there.
She knew. Of course she knew I must have been trying to reach her.
Faye read me more easily than anyone else in my life. More easily than Helen or Irene. Sometimes, I
suspected, more easily than I read myself.
But I couldn’t let her know directly that I had been about to call her.
I couldn’t let her know that the silence had begun to weigh on me.
That I had stood on the balcony longer than I should have, waiting for her footsteps.
That I had pictured her alone and angry and felt something tighten in my chest.
No.
It was enough that she was here.
< Chapter 302
Back in our chambers. And safe.
That was enough.
And to my surprise, she didn’t even look as upset as I had imagined she would be.
If anything, she looked… resolved.
She walked past me without another word, brushing close enough that I caught the faint scent of her perfume… soft and familiar… and continued into the closet.
I remained where I stood, phone still in hand, listening to the quiet rustle of fabric as she moved inside
There was something unnerving about how easily she had regained her composure.
Or perhaps she had never truly lost it.
Perhaps I had been the only one unsettled.
I slid the phone back into my pocket slowly.
Faye had a way of doing that.
Of exposing my weaknesses without ever naming them.
Of standing firm without raising her voice.
Sometimes I wondered if she understood just how much influence she held over me.
Or perhaps she understood perfectly.
That was hard to deal with. Because if there was one thing I guarded fiercely, it was control.
Over the pack, over decisions, over myself.
And yet when it came to Faye…
She knew where the cracks were.
I knew that if I admitted I had been feeling bad about earlier if I admitted I had been looking for her to apologize… she would press there.
She would soften her tone. She would tilt her head slightly. She would remind me, gently and rationally. why she needed more time.
And I would feel my resistance weaken.
It had happened before.
More than once.
Whenever I tried to stand my ground against Faye’s desires, she found a way to make me question whether I was being too rigid, too harsh, too unyielding.
And sometimes, she was right.
< Chapter 302
That was the most dangerous part.
If I allowed her to see that I was already second–guessing myself tonight, she would use it… not to manipulate me in some childish way, but to appeal to the part of me that was a mate, not an Alpha.
And I could not afford that shift right now.
Not over this Roman situation.
I folded my arms across my chest and stared toward the closet door.
The faint sounds continued… hangers sliding, drawers opening and closing softly.
She was changing.
Preparing for the night as though nothing significant had occurred between us.
As though I hadn’t raised my voice at her in the presence of staff.
The memory made my jaw tighten.
I should not have let my voice rise.
That was a mistake.
Not because I was wrong in my decision… but because I had lost composure.
That was not the example I intended to set.
Still, apologizing immediately would shift the balance.
It would blur the line between regret for tone and reconsideration of the decision.
And I needed those lines clear.
Very clear.
So I resisted the urge to walk into the closet.
Resisted the urge to say her name… resisted the urge to explain myself.
I’ll let the situation breathe.
That was what I told myself.
Let it breathe.
If I tried to talk now, she would push.
And if she pushed… and she would… I might either bend too quickly or harden too much.
Neither outcome would help.
I would speak to her later.
On my terms.
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< Chapter 302
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When the edge of emotion had dulled and I could approach the matter as Alpha, not as a man unsettled by his mate’s silence.
I moved toward the desk near the window, picking up a few papers without truly looking at them.
The room felt different with her inside it.
Even from within the closet, I could feel her presence. Faye had always filled space without effort.
And that, too, was a weakness of mine.
Because when she withdrew, even slightly, I felt it.
The quiet pressed heavier.
I cleared my throat lightly, more to break my own thoughts than to get her attention.
“I’ll be at the office,” I said, loud enough for her to hear.
The words sounded steady.
Casual.
As though I were simply informing her of a routine shift in location.
There was a brief pause from inside the closet.
Then, calmly-
“Okay, ” she said.
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< Chapter 302
+25 Points
When the edge of emotion had dulled and I could approach the matter as Alpha, not as a man unsettled
by his mate’s silence.
I moved toward the desk near the window, picking up a few papers without truly looking at them.
The room felt different with her inside it.
Even from within the closet, I could feel her presence. Faye had always filled space without effort.
And that, too, was a weakness of mine.
Because when she withdrew, even slightly, I felt it.
The quiet pressed heavier.
I cleared my throat lightly, more to break my own thoughts than to get her attention.
“I’ll be at the office,” I said, loud enough for her to hear.
The words sounded steady.
Casual.
As though I were simply informing her of a routine shift in location.
There was a brief pause from inside the closet.
Then, calmly-
“Okay,” she said.