Soren’s assistant Lyra didn’t even wait in the foyer of his home. I had to wander through the place until I found him in his conservatory, laid out on a lounge chair. It was the middle of the day and the sun was beating down, humidity making my hair frizz.
“Your omega’s heat ended, I take it?” Soren asked, peering at me out of the corner of his eye but not getting up.
He wasn’t wearing the contacts today. His gold eyes were on display.
“It has,” I confirmed.
I gave a nod to Soren’s bodyguard—he was one of Soren’s sons and knew my brother and his pack. We weren’t well acquainted, but had run across each other before. Both in Soren’s employ and at my brother’s many social events. I thought his name was Wilder.
“You’re ready to start work for me, then?”
Shaking my head, I strode over to a bench and sat down. Ambrose had dropped me off at my apartment, and I’d worn the red suit I had specifically for meetings with Soren.
I’d also stopped on the way here and gotten him an exotic fish. Maybe not the extravagant gift he’d demanded from me when I’d insulted him, but the man did enjoy pretty fish. I’d left it at the desk in the foyer, knowing Lyra would be back soon to put it in a tank.
I was doing my utmost to butter him up.
“We have to discuss the terms,” I said.
“Your new pack dealt with terms,” Soren said, chuckling.
“They’re not the ones that have to live with them. I don’t want much.”
With a sigh, Soren sat up. Wilder handed him a blended beverage with a little umbrella and twirly straw, and he sipped it casually, watching me. He always did things like that. Staring and watching until the person he was trying to intimidate gave in.
I wasn’t easily intimidated. He should know that by now.
Crossing one leg over the other, I lounged back on the bench.
“Tell me what you want, Leigh-Leigh, and I’ll see if I can make it work.”
“I want to know what you brought Noah Connolly in for.”
“Well, I can’t give you all my secrets. Next.”
“I want you to make sure Tobias never gets near Kiara again.”
“What do I look like to you? A bodyguard?” Soren rolled his eyes. “Ask me for something I can actually make a reality.”
He could make all of my requests reality, and hewouldby the time I walked out of here. I gave him my final request. “Buy out my mother’s debt to the Connolly family. I want her indebted to you, instead.”
Soren laughed, standing from the lounge and twirling in the maxi skirt he wore. “Oh, see? Nowthat,I can do. It’s already done. I don’t appreciate when people blackmail the people I’m blackmailing. I’m a little selfish. Your mother is mine—and that’s a piece of your other request. It’s one of the things I spoke to dear Noah about while he was on his visit. She’s not going to breathe a word about my son or his… condition. I, however, still might.”
His eyes glinted in the sunlight, the gold seeming to glow. It made me uncomfortable to be sitting while he stood, but I considered it a power move to stay on this bench.
“You’re not blackmailing me anymore, Soren. I found every single one of your little hideaways. I’m sure you’ve changed them up by now, given yourself some new escape plans. I’ll find them too, and considering I’m now a member of a pack as rich as you—” I didn’t want to flash Dash’s money around, but I would make an exception for Soren. “—I’m a real danger to you.”
Wilder didn’t often react to things. He was impassive by necessity. At my words, though, his lips quirked up for a split second, eyes softening.
“Are you threatening me?” Soren asked.
His casual air dropped, arms crossing over his chest.
“Yes. I’m aware it’s not your favourite, but I’m going to choose protecting myself and my pack over making you comfortable,” I said.
Reaching into my small purse, I slid out a card from the side pocket. It had a picture of the fish I’d gotten him on it, along with a short description. I handed it to Wilder, who turned it over once before passing it to his boss.
“I got you a fish. Peace offering. If we can make this work, I’ll head back to the specialized pet store and bring you another one. I was having trouble deciding between a freshwater stingray and a dinosaur bichir, but I figured the stingray went better with your current tank aesthetic.”
