The silence that followed Lina's departure was more violent than the slap itself. Nicole stood frozen, the heat on her cheek a dull throb compared to the cold void opening in her chest. Alex remained poised like a statue of death, her eyes fixed on April with a lethal intensity that made the human woman finally take a step back, her bravado flickering for the first time.
"You are lucky my daughter has more restraint than I do, April," Alex said, her voice a low, terrifying whisper that seemed to vibrate the very air. "But do not mistake her mercy for weakness. If you lay a hand on her again, there will be no Lyon legacy left to protect."
April gathered her dignity like a tattered cloak, though her hands were shaking. "Keep your brat away from my daughter, and we won't have a problem. Lina is a human. She belongs in a world of light, not the shadow you people live in."
April turned and marched toward the boardroom, leaving Nicole and Alex alone in the hallway. Nicole let out a long, shaky breath, her knees feeling momentarily weak. The weight of the world, the pack, and the secret she was keeping from herself felt like it was finally crushing her.
"She knows, Nicole," Alex said, her eyes returning to their normal hue, though the sharpness remained. "April knows. The game has changed."
"There is no game, Mother," Nicole replied, her voice hollow. "Lina hates me. And after today, I don't blame her. As for April, she has no clue we are actually of the dark, let her be mother."
"She doesn't hate you," Alex countered, stepping closer to fix Nicole's disheveled collar. "She is terrified of the pull. Just as you are. But Thoros is moving, Nicole. He will use this. He will see Lina as your Achilles' heel. If you don't claim her and bring her into our world where we can protect her, he will use her to destroy you."
Nicole didn't answer. She couldn't. She turned away and walked in the opposite direction, needing to find air that didn't taste like corporate politics and ancient bloodlines.
Lina didn't go to class. She couldn't sit in a lecture hall pretending to care about macroeconomics while her life was splintering into pieces. She drove aimlessly for hours, the diamond necklace Nicole had given her sitting in the glove compartment like a live coal.
The image of Nicole's face when she said 'I felt too much' wouldn't leave her. It wasn't the face of a corporate shark or a predator; it was the face of someone who was drowning. And the way Nicole's mother had looked at her own mother, it wasn't just anger. It was something older, something primal.
Lina pulled her car into a secluded park near the river, the same area she had criticized in the meeting. She stepped out and walked down to the water's edge. The ripples were dark and sluggish, a physical manifestation of the rot she had accused Nicole's company of causing.
"I can't do this anymore," she whispered to the wind. "I can't be their pawn."
She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, seeing a dozen missed calls from her mother and her grandfather. She ignored them all. Instead, she opened her browser and searched for something she had been thinking about for weeks: International Culinary Institute, Paris.
If the world she lived in was a lie, and the woman she was falling for was a monster, then perhaps the only way to survive was to leave it all behind. But even as she thought it, her heart gave a traitorous tug. She could still feel the phantom sensation of Nicole's hand on her arm, the jolt of electricity that had made her feel more alive than she had in twenty years.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the rustle of leaves behind her. She didn't sense the shadow looming until it was too late.
"You really shouldn't be out here alone, little Lyon," a rough, unfamiliar voice said.
Lina spun around, her heart jumping into her throat. Standing a few feet away was a man she didn't recognize. He was tall, dressed in rugged clothes that didn't fit the city, and his eyes had a strange, hungry glow that reminded her terrifyingly of the wolf in her dreams.
"Who are you?" Lina asked, her voice trembling as she backed toward the water.
"A friend of the family," the man said, a cruel smile spreading across his face. "Go home, this place isn't safe for you. Go Now."
Lina turned and ran to her car. As she drove off, the man was no longer there.