1.
“But you already have half the estate!”
Dean Resner slammed his fist down on the table, and the two lawyers and his ex-wife looked up at him frowning.
“Apparently, the lady feels she is entitled to more,” Dean’s lawyer said, kindly touching his shoulder; his silent way of telling him to back the fuck off before you ruin what good has been done. Letting the wolf out wasn’t going to get him anywhere, and everybody in the room knew it. Were maybe even counting on it.
But Dean wasn’t the kind of man who was used to compromise. Not only was he the alpha of his pack, he was the single most successful businessman in Stonybrooke. He’d had magazine articles and television specials devoted to him, even being labeled the sexiest entrepreneur alive (which he didn’t consider much to brag about considering the competition, but still). He had traveled the world and educated the humans on both shifters and good leadership for the past twenty-five years. And now he was being told wordlessly to reign it in, because this was a battle he might not win.
To put it mildly, it was a lousy fuckin’ feeling.
“Well, we will have to consider the offer and set up a time for negotiations,” Jake, Dean’s best friend and lawyer, said firmly.
Kiera smirked at Dean and stood, and despite himself, Dean found himself staring at the woman he’d thought would be the love of his life. Tall, blonde, with long legs and a body he would kill for, but eyes as cold as steel. If he hadn’t been so preoccupied with his own feelings, he would have known it. Usually, he didn’t let himself get so close that he was blinded like this. He’d done everything in the book with every woman he’d wanted to do it with and had managed not to get attached. But, somehow, Kiera had snuck under his radar. She’d seen things in him others hadn’t, and he’d let himself get suckered.
Maybe it was karma. Maybe he’d been forced into paying for sins he hadn’t cared he was committing. He’d had more than his fair share of young women who thought he might love them if they played along with his fantasies; and the truth was, he hadn’t exactly left a lot of clean breaks when he was playing the field.
Still, Kiera left him feeling lost. Even now, he could picture what she might look like with his child inside of her; the smile on her face when he came home after a long day and they lounged together, making plans for the future…he’d never let himself feel so happy.
It had always been a secret dream of Dean’s to be a father. To have a child and pass on his legacy. He thought that he’d have his litter of pups with Kiera and raise them into amazing beings. He was wealthy enough to give them everything he’d never had as a young boy. But it was a future that he and Kiera weren’t meant to share. That was the harsh reality.
“I know you’re not going to want to compromise,” Kiera said, slicing into Dean’s thoughts with a cruel little smile. “But you should really consider it. You have a lot more to lose than you might think.”
Dean’s face contorted in confusion and anger, and he opened his mouth to reply. Fortunately, Jake was on the ball and put his hand on Dean’s shoulder just in time to cut his words off. They weren’t out on the field, brawling to the death. This wasn’t the kind of fight that the wolf was good at. This was bureaucracy. Kiera was using the rules of the human world to get under his skin, and if he played into it and let the wolf have its way, he might as well be letting her win.
“You can think what you want, Kiera, but there’s one thing I know for sure,” Dean said. He felt everybody’s eyes turn back to him, and he smiled brightly. “You can blow me.”
Kiera’s face distorted in disgust and irritation and she huffed, turning her back on Dean and stalking out the door.
Her lawyer followed with a slight nod to Jake, and Dean leaned back in his chair.
“I think that went well,” Dean said cheerfully once they’d disappeared down the hallway. “How did you read it?”
Jake sighed.
“Same as always,” Jake said. “They’re aiming to kill.”
“No shit.”
“Don’t worry though, it’s just material. There’s nothing she can take that we can’t replace.”
Jake slapped Dean on the back and left the meeting room.
Nothing they couldn’t replace?
Dean frowned and stood, walking to the long, narrow window and looking out. He spotted Kiera outside beneath him, walking briskly to her little red car and turning the engine. He had actually opened himself up to this woman. She was everything he had ever hoped for; the only woman he had ever wanted to settle down with.
Kiera was gorgeous, smart, and wild in bed. She was high-maintenance as shit, which was nice for the alpha in him, who always wanted to be working hard for others. Kiera’s hot and cold ways always left him guessing, constantly on the hook and eager for just one more smile. He had been more excited to promise the rest of his life to her than he had been to drink his first beer. That wasn’t the kind of thing you could just replace.
Dean sighed and turned away as Kiera’s car peeled out of the parking lot. He could live without her. He had no other choice.
His cell phone rang suddenly and he answered without thinking.
“Yeah?”
“Mr. Resner, Dr. Grahame is here to see you now.”
“Shit, I’ll be right there.”
“Of course.”
Dean put his phone away and sighed. He’d completely forgotten about the meeting; nobody had updated his schedule. He missed having a real intern. It was getting tiresome being understaffed. Lately, since the divorce scandal had hit the tabloids, he’d been having issues with interns that were simply around to get the gossip up close and personal. He’d fired three interns in a matter of weeks. It was getting old.
His business was slowly unravelling, and it was time to start getting serious. There were more important things in this world than Kiera Michaels-Resner. He would just have to be more careful next time, both with his interns and with his heart.