Alexander


    I was buried in quarterly financial reports when my phone rang. The pack’s trade contracts. needed reviewing, and Gabriel’s recent unauthorizedmunications had left me double- checking every single agreement we had in ce couldn’t afford to make mistakes now, even if I was exhausted from working on this paperwork all day.


    “Alexander speaking,” I answered the phone, expecting a pack official or my Beta.


    “Hey, it’s Liam. Are you busy?”


    1 sat up at the sound of Liam’s voice and nced at the stack of papers on my desk. “Always. Did you need something?”


    “I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner tonight. Talk about some things.”


    Surprised, I blinked. Liam had mentioned wanting to go out and talk before, but I didn’t expect him to actually go through with it. I thought it was just one of those things that people. say to each other, something in the same vein of Yeah, we’ll definitely still be best friends. after high school!”


    I had to admit, though, I was exhausted after today. My eyes were bleary from looking at paperwork all day and my hand was cramping from writing. Maybe getting out for a bit wouldn’t be the worst thing, even if thepany was… interesting.


    “Alright,” I sighed. “Where do you want to go?”


    “There’s a new ce downtown. I’ll send you the address. Meet me in forty-five?”


    An hourter, I surprisingly found myself sitting next to Liam at the bar of a new restaurant in town. The ce was busy, as it was their grand opening today. I was cutting off a piece of an admittedly delicious steak, my usual ss of bourbon sitting beside me.


    We’d ordered our food and drinks and made small talk about pack politics for about twenty minutes, and I had to admit, Liam wasn’t badpany. But I could tell from the look on his face that there was more to say, and finally, he got to the point.


    “Alexander, I have to ask you something directly and I need an honest answer.”


    1 set down my ss of bourbon. “Go ahead.”


    “Do you n on marking E?”


    Fantastic. Of all the things I’d expected Liam to ask about, that was definitely one of them, but I’d hoped he would have the intelligence to not bring it up in a public ce.


    “Why do you want to know?”


    Liam shifted in his seat. “Because I care about her. And I think you do too, even if you won’t admit it.”


    “It’splicated.”


    “Everything’splicated with you two.” Liam huffed, clearly frustrated. “But she’s dying, Alexander. You know that now. So I’m asking you straight up-are you going to mark her or not?”


    I stared at him for a long moment, trying to read his expression. Why was he pushing this so hard? What did it matter to him what I did with my mate?


    And then it hit me.


    Liam had been in love with E since they were kids. He’d made that clear enough over the past months, even if he’d never acted on it while she was married. But if I divorced her, if I rejected her instead of marking her…


    She’d be free. Avable. And Liam would be right there waiting.


    The realization made something dark and possessive unfurl in my chest. My wolf snarled at the thought of another Alpha touching what was mine.


    “I see,” I said coldly. “So this is about you, not her.”


    Liam frowned. “What do you mean?”


    “You want to know if I’m going to mark her so you can n ordingly. Make your move after the divorce goes through.”


    “That’s not-”


    “You’ve been circling her like a vulture for months, ying the concerned friend. But really you’re just waiting for your chance, aren’t you?”