Evaline:
The cold marble floors of the Council building echoed beneath my boots as I walked in for the second day. I was too tired to pretend I wasn’t exhausted, too tired to hide the tension in my shoulders after yesterday. But I came anyway, because I refused to be chased out. Not by River. Not by anyone.
The receptionist glanced up at me, offered a wary smile, and nodded me toward the elevator. There was no small talk this time. Maybe she could already sense the storm brewing again.
I rode the elevator up in silence. My reflection was staring back from the polished metal walls, making me realize that I was looking paler than usual. And it was mostly because of the morning sickness that had hit me the hardest today.
I badly wanted to take a day off and just stay in bed. But I knew better than to dream about getting a day off on my second day of internship.
So, I forced myself to get ready and arrived to my current least favorite place, and to work for my least favorite person.
The hallway to his office was feeling longer today. He hadn’t messaged or summoned me, but I knew he was expecting me. That man probably timed every breath he took. Of course he would notice if I was five seconds late.
Once outside, I knocked.
"Come in," came the cool, familiar voice.
With a deep breath, I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
He was standing by the window again, a dark silhouette against the pale morning sky. His shoulders were straight, his hands clasped behind his back. He was looking... Regal. Controlled.
A devil with good posture.
"You are late," he said without turning.
"It’s 9:01," I replied dryly.
"That’s not nine."
I resisted the urge to scoff and moved toward the desk. "Next time I’ll pitch a tent outside."
That got his attention. He turned, slow and sharp like a blade unsheathed, and his eyes pierced straight through me.
"You are getting bold," he said, and I didn’t miss the edge in his tone.
"You are getting irritating," I shot back, walking to my desk. "Let’s call it even."
I didn’t miss the flash in his eyes. But I didn’t care. The only way I was going to survive this internship was by not letting him scare me.
He walked to his side of the desk and dropped a thick stack of papers with an audible slap.
"These need to be sorted, indexed, and filed by region. I want a report on the Nightwatch patrols from last week and a compiled list of flagged rogue movement in Sector Three. By noon."
I raised a brow. "And what do I get if I finish early? A gold star?"
He stared at me for three long seconds before replying, "You get to keep your seat."
I matched his stare, and muttered, "How generous."
He leaned forward slightly, and despite myself, I noticed how the muscles in his arms flexed beneath his sleeves. "Do not mistake your current position for safety, Evaline."
"And do not mistake my silence for surrender," I snapped. I wasn’t sure where I was finding this confidence from, but I sure was enjoying it.
He glared at me for a second. Another. And then, he moved.
In less than a heartbeat, he was around the desk and in front of me. I stepped back instinctively, but he followed, herding me like a predator. I hit the filing cabinet behind me with a soft thud, trapped between cold steel and his burning presence.
He braced one hand on the cabinet beside my head. His face was merely inches away from mine.
"I don’t care how special you think you are," he murmured in a dangerously low voice. "You are here because I let you be."
"No," I said, forcing my voice to stay steady. "I’m here because I earned it."
His eyes flared in anger. "You were handed an internship most wolves would kill for."
"Don’t pretend this is about the internship," I hissed. "You just want to make me miserable."
"You think I’m playing games?" His voice turned colder, if that was even possible. "You are the daughter of the man who destroyed my family and pack. You expect me to treat you like a friend?"
"No," I said, my own anger flaring. "I expect you to treat me like a person."
He didn’t move, but much to my surprise, something in his expression cracked. The edge in his anger dulled and got replaced by something else. Frustration? Confusion?
"Why are you here?" he asked, his voice quieter this time.
"What?"
"You could have run. You could have stayed hidden. Why come here... into my territory?"
I didn’t know how to answer that. Did I even have the option of running away?
"Because I’m not afraid of you." I ended up saying instead.
He stared at me, as if trying to see past my skin, past my walls. Then, before I could react, his free hand shot out - not to strike, but to grip the edge of the filing cabinet beside my hip. And then he whispered in a deadly low voice, "You should be."
I swallowed, my heartbeat loud in my ears. "Why?"
His voice dropped to a whisper. "Because I don’t know what I’ll do next."
That scared me more than a threat ever could. And yet, I didn’t look away. I didn’t flinch.
We were too close. I could feel the heat radiating off him. I could smell his familiar scent. My pulse betrayed me as it picked up speed for reasons I didn’t want to name.
He then exhaled slowly and stepped back, finally breaking the spell. "You are dismissed for the day."
"But it’s not even-"
"I said go."
I nodded stiffly and forced my legs to move as I walked past him. But just before I opened the door, I paused.
"I’m not my father," I said quietly, without turning around.
He didn’t reply.
I left the room and closed the door behind me, leaning against it for a second to catch my breath.
My legs were shaking. My throat was dry.
What the hell just happened?