Chapter 59

A knock at the door surprised me. I doubted it was Ryan, and when I answered, to my delight, it was Dylan.

I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him.

He was grinning at me, squeezed me tight for one moment, then released me. I slid away from him, my hands lingering on his forearms for a second. "Dylan! I'm so happy to see you! What a great surprise," I said cheerily, inviting him into my apartment.

We wrote to each other often about business, but I had missed his happy demeanor. Even as he entered, the entire room lightened up by his aura.

He greeted Michelle kindly as I had him sit down at the table to serve him some tea and a bite to eat.

"You can't imagine how badly I've missed you," I said, his openness was contagious. That silly smirk that followed my words warmed my heart.

"Maybe I should stay away more often," he teased. "If this is the welcome I get."

"Please don't stay away too much," I said. "You're one of my best friends."

He laughed, "I would think that you've been lonely if this is your response. I hope that you haven't been too lonely."

When he said it, I realized I had felt lonely a lot of the time, pretty much any time that I was not with Ryan.

With a more serious tone, he said, "You look tired, and thin? Have you not been eating or sleeping well? Has something happened?"

I covered my face bashfully to hide the truth he noticed so quickly. It was true, my appetite had been low, and I tossed a turned every night that Ryan was not with me. I was haunted by Jennifer as if she watched me, and I was paranoid about it. But mostly, I could not stop worrying about Diana, which was only worse when I added jealousy to my concern with her.

"It's a little hard for me here sometimes," I said. Dylan did not know of my past, and I would not tell him.

"Has Ryan been good to you?" He questioned, a rare edge to his voice as if he might actually take on Ryan if he discovered otherwise.

"Yes, Ryan and I are still good. But we're keeping the relationship a secret." I confessed.

"Why?" Dylan relaxed at my confirmation, but frowned with curiosity. 'If Ryan is accepted as an Alpha candidate now. Yes, I heard it. Then you should be ok, right? And you're Clan Clark?"

"There are a lot of rules around here. And I am not owning any connection to Clan Clark," I said. While I had never recall explicably stating that I was a Clan Clark she-wolf to Dylan, he must have inferred as much. He had seen quite a lot of Ryan and I back at Starstream.

"Hmm," he said thoughtfully. "And all this seems to be taking a toll." He said.

"Perhaps," I said. "But I'm so glad that I'm here, and to have my job and apartment."

He leaned in, his hazel eyes were darkened, "be that as it may, you do not look like the Alyson I knew. Are you sure you're ok here? You could come back home with me. My mother would love to have you visit again."

I hesitated, my wary eyes shifting all around my home. It was almost tempting to get away from all this for even just a little while. Sometimes, the weight of my revenge and the secrecy that jeopardized Ryan and I was too much.

I knew in my heart though; it would hurt me more to be away from Ryan than anything.

"Thank you for the kind offer," I said. "But I will remain here."

"The kind offer?" He mocked my formality. "As if we're not great friends and your company would enhance my life tremendously." He sat back into the chair, watching me with his inquisitive eyes. "If you change your mind at any moment, or if you don't feel safe here, then please let me know. I will come for you straight away."

Oh Dylan, always so charming and chivalrous. I patted his hand fondly with a sweet smile crossing my lips as I thought that I was lucky to have a friend like him.

"I will keep it in mind," I said. To change the subject, I asked, "How's the stash?"

"Very healthy and producing as much as ever. Starstream Pack has been very accommodating to me and my employees. I will have to thank Ryan for that." He said.

"That's great," I said. "And how much is currently going to the Alpha and Luna of Crowalt."

'They like it so much that they don't want it from anywhere else." Dylan professed. "I'm offering them enough for two- surely for the Luna and Alpha themselves."

Except, I thought bitterly, that the Luna has no need for it since she's not Jacob's blood provider. Obviously, Dylan had no idea of this.

"I'm glad it's so high of quality." I said.

"Yes, they pay a lot for it. We should become rich with this trade," he said merrily. "I will have to throw another party one of these days."

I was using the stash for Jacob to poison him. Despite how amazing it sounded to take a vacation from this dangerous life, I had to stick around for that as well. I had to see this through, risking my life and position to poison the Alpha of Crowalt.

"A penny for your thoughts," Dylan whipped out a bronze coin and slapped in on the table.

I laughed.

"You're lost in thoughts again, and I would love to know what you're thinking about." He said. "If I may say it, you're still breathtaking whenever you get that serious pensive look like that."

I blushed. "If I didn't know any better, Dylan, I would think you're flirting with me."

He corrected, "I'm admiring you for sure, and sharing that fact with you. I mean no disrespect to you and Ryan. He's a scary wolf, and I would never challenge him… unless of course I found out he was mistreating you. Then all bets are off."

"He's not," I assured.

"Well, If I cannot tempt you away with me, I supposed I should stay for a bit so that we can catch up on everything."

"Everything?" I smiled at him.

He leaned in and whispered with emphasis, "Everything."

Again, I shook my head and retorted, "There you go again."

"Besides, we've always had fun together, perhaps I could lighten your grim mood."

"You already have."

"Good. What do you do for fun these days?"

"Fun?" I said, laughing hard now because we'd had this exact same conversation once before.

"Oh, my goodness, don't tell me that there's nothing fun to do in Crowalt territory either!" He exclaimed dramatically.

I shrugged, enjoying the shake of laughter ringing through my body. He glanced over towards Michelle who was smiling at us from the kitchen where she worked. "This apartment is way too stuffy, let's get out of here. You too, Michelle."

My maid put her hand over her chest with the honor of inclusion. "I don't think that I should…"

"Nonsense!" he didn't allow her to reject his invitation. Waving to her to follow us, Dylan grabbed my hand and pulled me eagerly towards the door. "Let us go! We will find some fun today if I have anything to say about it!"