Chapter 21

Aria

I knew my adoptive sister’s tactics all too well. Years of being ruthlessly bullied by a person will do that to you.

So I had come prepared.

“Just hit play,” I said, jerking my chin toward the phone in Darren’s hand. “Then you can decide for yourself just who was the aggressor in this situation.”

Darren glanced up at me, a brief look of surprise flickering across his expression. Beside him, Sarah looked positively bristling, her entire body practically vibrating with barely contained fury. I knew that look well: he red cheeks, the quivering lips, the flaring nostrils.

If we had been alone, especially as kids, she might have hit me square in the mouth.

But she wouldn’t dare do that here—not with her precious Darren around. After all, she had to look like the perfect little angel around him, didn’t she?

Finally, Darren sighed and hit play.

I folded my arms across my chest, watching with satisfaction as the recording played. It was just a voice recording, since my phone had been in my pocket. But in my eyes, the implication was clear enough even without video.

“What did you do?”

“Unless this is your version of ‘clearing the air’, I’m leaving.”

“No.” The sound of a footstep, then a gasp—Sarah grabbing my hair. “You must be the reason he broke up with me. Did you fuck my boyfriend while I was gone or something?”

There was a long pause after that, followed by a little shriek and a whimper—the sound of me grabbing her hair with just as much force as she’d grabbed mine.

Then: “I’m not the same weak little girl who you could walk all over. You have no right to treat me this way.”

Another whimper.

“I didn’t know that Darren broke up with you, and I had nothing to do with it. I’m an intern and Lucas’s babysitter, and…” A pause. “And nothing more.”

The recording ended after that, when I’d left the room. Sarah looked like she was caught somewhere between wanting to fly into a rage and retch all over herself. I just stared at Darren, whose face betrayed nothing.

“There you have it,” I said, gesturing to the phone. “Sarah grabbed my hair, accusing me of being the reason behind whatever relationship issues you seem to be having. I defended myself and left.”

My adoptive sister’s eyes were wide as saucers. “T-That’s not true!” she practically shrieked, her voice shrill. “I-I never laid a hand on Aria! I would never—”

“That’s bull, and you know it, Sarah,” I cut her off. “You’ve always been the one who—”

“Enough.” Darren’s voice was cold, his tone clipped. I’d heard that voice before, when it had come out of my own mouth in the forest. His ‘Alpha Voice’, I think they called it. Not that it worked on either of us, since we were human—not to the extent it worked on those wolves, at least.

But as a CEO, it was enough to make both of us go quiet.

Darren rose, his face weary. “This is a workplace. Whatever feelings you two have toward each other, that is your own business. But keep it out of this office.”

“But I told you how she’s always bullied me,” Sarah whined, jumping to her feet. “She… She could hurt me again. Look at what she’s already done!” She gestured to her face.

I bit my tongue, resisting the urge to tell her that I had a feeling she did that to herself. I’d grabbed her hair, nothing more. But I kept my mouth shut.

“I am well aware of your past,” Darren said, glancing at me with stone in his gaze. “But it’s not my job to play mediator when it comes to sisterly feuds. From the recording, it sounds to me as if you both antagonized one another.”

He was right, sort of; I had retaliated in the same way that Sarah had attacked me. But his apparent idea of our shared past was all wrong.

“But—”

“I’m giving you both a formal warning,” he cut me off, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “Sarah, I think it’s best if you go home for the rest of the day. As for you, Aria…” He turned to me. “I’d rather you not be in the office after this incident. But Lucas still needs someone to watch over him, so…”

I grit my teeth, but managed to reply, “I’ll spend the day with him.”

Looking a bit relieved, Darren nodded and sat back in his chair. Sarah opened her mouth and closed it a few times, her face still crimson with anger, but seemed to think better of whatever she had been about to say and simply stormed out.

Only once she was gone did I speak.

“Your understanding of our past is completely false. Did she really tell you that I was the one who bullied her?”

Darren sighed. “Aria—”

“It’s a blatant lie,” I interrupted, not caring if my insubordination got me another warning. “She tortured me for our entire childhood. Whatever idea you have of her—”

“I already told you, I don’t want to get involved in your past together,” Darren remarked, his gaze going stony again. “I’m tired of this he-said-she-said nonsense.”

I wanted to tell him that he was the one who was being nonsensical, but I snapped my mouth shut and stormed over to the door. I paused before I reached it, however, and muttered over my shoulder, “What did she even do for you when you were kids, anyway?”

“She helped me through a… tough time. I already told you this.”

I couldn’t help but scoff. “You must have seen an entirely different side of her, then. Because Sarah has never helped anyone a day in her life. Not without expecting something in return, at least.”

Darren was silent for several moments. When I turned to look at him, his head was bowed, fingers rubbing tense circles around his temples. “It’s personal,” he finally said without looking up. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t go into details.”

My jaw clenched involuntarily. “So because of whatever mysterious past you share, you’d believe her over your own mate?”

The CEO tensed at that. I flinched, too, surprising even myself—not at my candor, but that word. Mate. I didn’t even mean to say it; it just slipped out, natural as any other word.

Maybe I was getting too cozy with all this werewolf business.

Finally, painstakingly, as if the whole conversation tired him to the bone, Darren rose again. He pressed his fingertips into the glass top of his desk, his knuckles turning white with the strain.

“I hardly know you, regardless of whether you,” he ground out, and I swore I could see the sharp tips of fangs poking out of his mouth as he spoke. “And furthermore, you’ve only just learned about the existence of mates yourself. So maybe you should pause and think before you assume that I owe you loyalty simply because of our soul bond.”

Darren’s words left me stunned, frozen to the spot. His mismatched eyes stared at me, and in those moments, they looked so much like the eyes of that puppy I’d taken care of all those years ago. But they weren’t. My heart stuttered in my chest, a combination of hurt and embarrassment.

“I… You’re right,” I said after a beat, averting my gaze to the floor. “I didn’t mean to imply that you owe me anything.”

Darren sighed again, his voice softer now. “It’s alright. Just…” He circled his desk, shaking his head. “I don’t mean to make your experience out to be any less valid than Sarah’s. But you have to try to understand my point of view here. I’ve only just met you, and I have a history with her.”

I swallowed hard, unable to meet his gaze. “I get it. If I were in your position, I wouldn’t trust me, either.” Finally, I lifted my eyes, finding a mismatched pair staring back at me. “Can you just promise that you’ll keep an eye out, at least? I don’t want her bothering me when I’m trying to work.”

He blinked at me for a moment, almost as if he hadn’t expected that response.

Then, he said softly, “I’ll do my best.”

With that, I pulled my shoulders back, feeling a little bit better—although not much.

“I’ll go play with Lucas,” I said, turning. In the doorway, I paused one last time. “I think I’d like to take him out today. Get out of the building for a little while.” It felt necessary after this whole ordeal.

Darren paused, considering, then nodded. “Very well. Bring Liam with you.”

Liam… Great.