"Sure." Voren glanced at Ravyn. "Just give me a minute with Damon first."

Ravyn gave a short nod, his expression unreadable, and stepped back against the hallway wall like he had all the patience in the world, even though everything about the set of his shoulders said otherwise.

Seraphine was already moving, and then she stopped dead. "My bag." Her hand went to her side where nothing was. "I need my phone."

"It’s in my room." Voren didn’t even look up. "Go wait in there. I’ll handle Damon, then Ravyn, and then we’re getting you food. Help yourself with whatever’s in the fridge for now."

Seraphine turned to look at him slowly. One eyebrow climbed her forehead. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

She stood there for exactly two seconds, weighing her options which were essentially, wait in Voren’s room or stand in this hallway with Ravyn. She turned without another word and went back through the door.

The smallest hint of something satisfied crossed Voren’s face before it disappeared completely.

Inside, the room was quieter than she expected. Warm, lamp-lit, still carrying that faint trace of leather and spice that she was actively choosing not to think about.

She spotted her bag sitting on the edge of the bed and crossed over to it, pulled it into her lap, and dug out her phone.

Corvine picked up on the second ring.

She kept it brief, informing him about her change of plans after one more stop at the outlands for dinner, picking up Tallulah in the morning, and leaving straight after.

He had questions she half-answered and concerns she mostly deflected and by the time she hung up she was already mentally reorganizing tomorrow in her head.

Her period was almost done, a day more at most. She’d stock up on what she needed tonight and just deal with next month when next month came.

At the front of the packhouse Ravyn stood with his back to the wall and he watched Daisy moving around through the open landing railing with her four packmates, her face composed in that particular way it got when she was angry and determined not to show it.

His chest pulled in a direction he didn’t follow.

His mind kept drifting back to the hallway. How Seraphine had walked back into Voren’s room like she belonged there.

What did Damon want to talk to Voren about?

He had half a mind to eavesdrop but that was beneath him. He pressed his back against the wall and stayed where he was.

✿◕‿◕✿

Damon’s room was large enough to feel like a statement. Beta quarters were always the second biggest in any packhouse after the Alpha and Luna’s chambers, a fact Damon had never seemed particularly humble about. The furniture was solid, dark wood, expensive without being ostentatious.

Voren dropped onto the only couch like he’d been invited, stretched one arm across the back of it, and looked at Damon with the expression of someone who had already decided this conversation wasn’t going to take long.

Damon stayed on his feet.

"My question’s simple." He crossed his arms. "Are you developing feelings for Sera?"

Voren’s jaw tightened slightly. He looked at the ceiling for a moment, then back. "If you had your entire financial portfolio locked up in someone’s hands," he said, unhurried, "wouldn’t you do exactly what I’m doing?"

He didn’t wait for an answer.

"Of course you would. Same reason you signed up to be her eyes in this pack in the first place because she’s managing your assets and you’re not stupid enough to let that relationship go sideways."

Something flickered across Damon’s face. "That’s not why."

"No?"

"No." Damon’s voice came out quieter, which made it land harder. "I genuinely like her. More than I probably should. But she doesn’t see me like that. I figured that out fast enough, so I made myself useful in the way I could."

He inhaled deeply. "Every man who gets close to her ends up feeling something for her. Every single one." His eyes stayed level on Voren’s. "Except you. And that coldhearted best friend of yours."

The corner of Voren’s mouth lifted, just barely. "Then what’s the point of this conversation when you already know the answer?"

Damon shook his head slowly, the way someone does when they’re more tired than angry. "Here’s the thing. If it were anyone else, any other man acting toward her the way you do, I’d understand it completely. But coming from you?" He let that sit in the air between them. "Coming from you, it means something different. And I think you know that."

Voren stood up.

"Believe whatever you want." He straightened his collar, easy and unbothered. "What this is, is me protecting my investment. I’m taking her back to the city and keeping her there. What I need from you is to make sure nothing else blows up here that pulls her back. I don’t want her anywhere near Ravyn any more than necessary."

Damon went still.

His arms dropped from his chest. "You’re working against your own best friend."

Voren walked toward him slowly, and whatever was sitting in his eyes in that moment wasn’t something that had a clean, simple name. Something like pain lived around the edges of it, underneath all the control, buried just deep enough that you’d miss it if you weren’t looking for it.

He stopped close enough that Damon had to make a conscious choice not to step back.

"One day," Voren said, low and measured, "you might be in a position to understand all of it. But that day isn’t today." He held his gaze for another second. "What’s happening between me and Sera is not what you think it is. That’s all you need."

He clapped one hand against Damon’s shoulder, not hard, just final, and turned toward the door. For some reason, Damon felt there was something Voren was hiding and decided to test it.

"Keep denying it." Damon’s voice followed him across the room. "But when the time actually comes, which definitely would, I hope you’re brave enough to stop running from it."

Voren stopped walking.

He turned around, and whatever had been restrained and measured in him a moment ago had evaporated several degrees in a direction that made the temperature in the room feel different. His eyes had gone dark, the kind of dark that meant his wolf had stopped sitting quietly in his mind.

"This conversation is over."

"No it isn’t." Damon didn’t move. Didn’t drop his gaze either, which took something. "You already made it real clear you don’t want her like that. So, you won’t mind, then." He paused, his gaze unmoving. "If I keep trying."

For a half second the room was completely silent.

And then the growl that came out of Voren’s chest was not the kind that came with a warning, but was the warning, low and rolling. Damon moved, but it was too late.