Arthur


    I watch Iris storm out of the office, her yellow cardigan fluttering behind her like a shaft of sunlight. In a sh, she''s gone, leaving behind nothing but a single chestnut hair and a trace of the scent of oil paints. The frosted ss door ms shut behind


    her


    For several long moments, all I can do is stand there, staring at the spot where she just stood. Then, my eyes flick down to the hand-shaped smudges she left on my desk.


    My wolf whines with yearning just at the sight of those small hands, those slender fingers.


    I sigh and sink down into my chair, pinching the bridge of my nose wearily. What the hell is wrong with her? She''s seriously turning down five hundred thousand dors a year for the foreseeable future? Has she gone mad?


    When I met Iris, she was... not in the best financial position. She was waiting tables and scrounging up tips just to afford rent and art supplies, and the thought of art school was like a distant dream for her. I was from a wealthy Alpha family, and when, after dating for a little while, I offered for her to move into my family home with me, she jumped at the opportunity.


    She didn''t even have to work when we were together. She could spend her days painting to her heart''s content, and I never minded footing all the bills for our living expenses.


    And that was then. Now, I have even more money. I could literally give her the moon on a string if that''s what she wants, and


    yet...


    She doesn''t want it. Even when I multiplied my offer five times over, she refused. She doesn''t want ten times more than most people''s sries, she doesn''t want an entire estate of her own, and she doesn''t want all theforts that money can buy.


    It doesn''t make any fucking sense.


    Her apartment is nice, I suppose. Not nearly as nice as a mansion, though, and she doesn''t have any staff. Plus, it''s just a rental; even with her newfound sess as an artist, she seemingly still can''t afford owning property outright


    Why?


    Shaking my head, I grab the ss of water on my desk and take a sip, letting the cool liquid soothe my frayed nerves. The water and ss catch the morning sunlight streaming in through the enormous windows overlooking the city below, sending tiny rainbow-colored fractals across my fingers and the surface of my desk.


    I consider the small array of light for a moment, turning the ss in my hand. Then, my eye catches the handprints left on my desk once more, and my chest tightens ufortably.


    Those hands once held me at night. Those fingers once fit so perfectly between mine. Like two pieces of a puzzle.


    +20 Bonus


    Unless Iris has be a negotiating extraordinaire over the past five years, I''m beginning to think that maybe I was wrong about


    her. Maybe money isn''t her main driving force.


    Still, Miles is my son. I may not have performed a paternity test yet, but I can sense our kinship in his blood-my wolf can sense


    1. it.


    And right now, I want nothing more than this sweet little family. I''ve always desired a family like this, one built on love. My own parents, rest their souls, hated each other until their dying breaths. They only ever cared about money and material things,


    something that I guess I assumed everyone only wanted until this very moment.


    Tris...


    I shake my head, setting the ss down. I don''t know what Iris really wants, but that''s of no consequence right now. Right now,


    all that matters is bringing her back to me. Bringing my son into my life.


    I have to win them back.


    Iris


    1 pace the kitchen, stirring the pancake batter so furiously that it sloshes out of


    the bowl and stters onto the front of my shirt. It''s been twenty-four hours since


    Ist saw Arthur, and I''m still fit to be tied.


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