Chapter 27
Luna Hannaði had found her in the hallway outside of Jenna’saloor, her knees to her chest, trying not to cry. It was all so stupid. Why in the world alad she feel like oying over a box? Oka so maybe he wasst alsy. Maybe he was a man. And maybe it wasn’t just any old man. He did happen to De der Alpha of the pack she was visiting—and the fated match the Moon Goddess herself lud chosen for her. But still He had rejected her, and the way that he wasnt with crying ovEL
Techiscally, he bodic‘) rejected her yet, but he’ll told her that he would, so it was all just the same. Sienna stood under the warm water of Laina Hamnalov shiomeça, leting her salty tears mingle with the war water, and attempted to get a grip on herself. Why was this so upsetting to her? For her entire life, shell been rejected by everyone Evenlerown father had walked away from her. Granted, he hadn’t had much of a choice. But wouldn’t be have found a way to come back for her? To take her with him! In all of these years, luid he ever even wondered what had happened to
het? Nom, she was a ghowit up, and men were sull walking away from her.
It was just part of who she was, and she was going to have to get used to it.
Hannaly was very kund. She’ll insisted that she come and take a shower and get dressed in some clean clothes–her own again, of course. Sienna had protested, but here she was, washing her hair with the fragrain rose–scented shampoo and washing her bruised body with floral body wash. Hannah had gottender a new loota to use, as well as a toothbrush, a hairbrush, some deodorant, and other toiletries. She’d even given her lip gloss. Lip phons” Sarima had never used any kind of makeup in her ble, and she didn’t intend to use it now, but it was nice to think that someone wanted to make it feel special
It was just too bad Hannah Luna’s grandson didn’t feel the same way. All Alphus were strong and domineering. They had to be. But there were times when she thought she saw a flash of something else in Kaden’s eyes. Some sort of softness. Clearly, that had been a mirage. He had offered to help her, but that was out of pity, not out of kindness. If Stenna had to guess, she’d wager Hannah had told him to say that. If he did say something to kent, it wondd make things a hundred times worse for Sienna, so she hoped he didn’t
Leaving the warm shower was just as difficult today as it had been the day before, but chances were dut Jenna was up by now. She’d want to spend the day getting ready for the ball, even though it wasn’t until the next night Jenna’s list of things that needed to be done in preparation would be the length of Sienna’s arm. Standing in the shower was not going to make the list any shorter.
She got out and dried off, thinking of how embarrassed she’d been when Kaden had walked in on her with only a towel on. At least she had that Images of his perfectly sculpted body came to mind, and the grimaced, remembering how she’d just wanted to run and hide but hadn’t been able
Hannah had a full–length mirror in her bathroom. When Sienna dropped her towel, she saw her ribs sticking out. Her legs were too skinny, and she hardly had any hips at all. Working out with Joel had made her arm muscles more defined, and her abs were detectable, but she needed to pack on some more muscle. That was hard to do without protein, something she never got enough of
Putting on the jean shorts and pink blouse over fresh underclothes made her feel like a million bucks. She brushed out her hair and tied it back in a pometail, something she rarely did, but Hannah had left her the cutest tie. Putting on deodorant was a luxury she hadn’t done in a while, and brushing her teeth with a new toothbrushs felt incredible. She’d been using the same one for years.
Once she was dressed, she studied herself in the mirror. The girl staring back at her didn’t look like the image she had of herself in her head. Sure, her blir eyes were still way too big for her face. That smattering of freckles made her look like she was a child instead of a twenty–one–year–old young kontuan, and she was too skinny. But her hair looked glossy and clean. Her clothes weren’t dirty, and her face didn’t look sallow or sunken since she’d been allowed to eat since she’d gotten here.
Sienna Elliott wasn’t quite as awful as she’d thought she was,
Now, everyone else might still think she was awful, but she couldn’t convince anyone else that she had value until she convinced herself. With Luna Hannah’s help, she was beginning to see that she was worthy of more than she’d been given. She deserved to be treated like a person
And if Kaden Stone couldn’t see that, then maybe the should be the one rejecting him.
Kadru
Burying himself in work had been a coping mechaniun he’d been using for years. Most of the time, it worked well. Today was not one of those days. Even with a nup spread out on his desk depicting all of the places where Alpha Zane or his men had been spotted recently, Kaden couldn’t concentrate. All he could think about was that girl. How he’d made her cry. How he’d watched her run away from him when every fiber of his being was saying she should be running to hlin
And then their was Grandma Hannah. He luted it when she was disappointed in him, as she clearly was today. There had to be a way to fix all of this without accepting or rejecting Sienna, but he didn’t know what it was Thinking about it had him distracted from all of the work he needed to
be doing
A knock on the door made him glad for an actual distraction until he called, “Come in,” and it was Sylvia who came through the entryway with a large sanile on her pretty face. Kaden wanted to drop his head onto the desk and shout, “Not now!” but it was too late. She was already standing in Tront of him, grinning like a Cheshire cat
10.02 AM D
Chapter 27
“What’s up, Sylvia!” he asked, returning his attention to the map with a pencil in his hand like he was actually able to get some work done.
Π
“Hi, Alpha” she purred, sitting down in the seat across from him. Her skirt was way too short and creeping up her thighs. He kept his eyes on the map. “I was hoping we could chat for a moment.”
Knowing she wasn’t going to leave him alone until he gave her a few moments of his time, Kaden set the pencil aside and looked up. “What would you like to chat about, Sylvia?”
She shifted in her seat, crossing and recrossing her legs, biting her bottom lip. Kaden knew that expression. “Well, I wanted to talk to you about the ball, that’s all”
“What about it?” The two of them had been playing this little game for a few years now, and Kaden was more tired of it now ever.
Her grin widened. She tossed her blonde hair over her shoulders. “You’ve already promised me a dance, but I want more, Alpha Kaden.” She batted her eyelashes at him.
He knew that asking her to clarify would be a bad idea, yet he found the words coming out of his mouth before he could stop himself. “What do you want. Sylvia!”
Slowly, she got up out of her seat. Placing her hands on the edge of his desk, she leaned forward toward him, her shirt falling open at the top. He kept his eyes locked on her face. In that voice she always used when she was trying to seduce him, she said, “I want your guarantee that you and 1 will be leaving the dance together.” She leaned a little closer to him and then winced, glancing down at her hand, which still had some tape on it from the injury she’d suffered the day before. She was still trying to be sexy, even with that pained look on her face.
Kaden sucked in a deep breath and stood. Slipping one finger beneath her chin, he leaned in close, his breath warming her face. She blinked a few times, her bottom lip quivering like she thought he might be ready to kiss her.
He leaned closer so that his lips hovered just above hers. In a sultry voice, he said, “Sylvia?”
Her lips almost brushed his, “Yes, Kaden?”
“I want you to get out of my office.”
