Chapter 0003

Lorenzo’s POV

Lorenzo was busy in his office, sorting through papers trying to clear his mind. The thought of the woman in the street played in his mind relentlessly, like a never ending movie.

It may have been his imagination, but the woman he had seen in the street looked vaguely like Eleanor. And the more he thought about it, the more it looked like her.

Then a knock came at Lorenzo’s door, pulling him back to reality. He coughed and grabbed a few papers to try and appear busy.

“Come in,” he called in a deep tone.

“Sir, I have just come to remind you that you’ve been invited to Cate’s banquet today,” his beta spoke up shyly from the door. The second he heard Cate’s name, Lorenzo began to tune out. He had fallen completely out of love with her and now their entanglement was purely political. Lorenzo continued to space out until he heard the restaurant’s name.

“That’s over near where we saw that woman yesterday, correct?” Lorenzo asked, a bit too eagerly. He tensed as he saw the surprised, yet slightly knowing look on his beta’s face.

“Yes sir,” the beta replied. Lorenzo nodded and agreed to attend. He wasn’t sure why, but the possibility of seeing Eleanor intrigued him greatly. He of course wondered if that even was really her in the street, but whoever she was, he felt drawn to her.

Lorenzo had rejected Eleanor a long time ago, for her own sake. At the time he was a broke mess, and Eleanor had other options. It was reasonable for her to want someone better than a broke mess.

Besides, Lorenzo had the life he dreamed of now and he had women throwing themselves at him all the time. Why would he care if Eleanor didn’t have the didn’t have the wonderful life he expected her to?

Eleanor’s POV

The restaurant buzzed with activity as we finished up the final preparation for the banquet. Bussers put finishing touches on the tables, the greeters had begun letting guests inside, and the kitchen staff bustled about garnishing appetizers. Since she had talked to the agent in charge, Adeline had been assigned the lead on the banquet. I dodged waiters and found her in the server's corner.

“Can I help in the kitchen?” I blurted the second I saw her, grabbing her by the arm to keep her focus on me. A look of surprise passed over her face until she softened realizing it was me.

“Of course Ellie,” Adeline said reassuringly, but then her look turned puzzled. “Any particular reason why?

You usually stick to waitressing so I have to say I’m surprised.”

“I don’t want to see Cate,” I confessed. “She was my highschool classmate.” Adeline’s eyes widened as I launched into my history with the city’s most famous ballerina.

Cate and I were both from the Blue Moon pack so I was no stranger to her and her antics. The restaurant was in the center of Blue Moon territory and my apartment was on the edge so I always ran the risk of seeing her during a commute. Thankfully now that she was attached to the Black Moon pack my chances of seeing her were lower, but I always tried to avoid her at all costs. Cate wasn’t like a wolf, she was more of a lioness: always on the prowl and ready to embarrass me at any opportunity. She had been this way ever since we were younger and it always drove me to train harder, but once she took Lorenzo from me it felt like the fire in my spirit went out. My love for ballet was extinguished along with my love for him.

“Goodness she sounds awful, definitely stay back here in the kitchen, I completely understand,” Adeline said, patting my shoulder and sending me off to get gloves and a full apron.

I worked for the next hour chopping vegetables and letting myself get lost in the routineness of the kitchen, only being pulled from my trance when Adeline burst in. She looked intently around the room until her eyes settled on me and she rushed over, eyes alight like a kid in a candy store.

“You’ll never guess what’s going on. Lorenzo never showed up and the high-and-mighty Cate is having a total freak out!” Adeline said gleefully, with a hint of deviousness shining in her smile.

“Really?” I answered in a lighter tone than I meant to. Adeline nodded with excitement. She opened her mouth to say more, but as she took a step closer her shoulder bumped a tray that came toppling down, spilling tomato soup all over her uniform. Before either of us could register the accident, the head chef shouted at us from his station.

“Dammit Adeline, this is why you stay out of this kitchen! Eleanor, take that apron off and go fill in in the front hall. We’re about to serve the main course and I can’t afford to be short-staffed,” the chef shouted.

I froze there for a second. I guess anything that can go wrong will go wrong eventually.

Adeline gave me a sheepish apologetic look. I sighed and walked towards the servers station, hanging up my apron and checking my hair in the reflection of the plastic-covered menus.

I had no choice but to get back to waitressing, so I did the best to turn my messy bun into a presentable knot at the nape of my neck before grabbing a tray of entrees and following a line of other waitresses out to the front.

As I entered the dining room, I kept my head down praying nobody would recognize me. It had been five years since I’d run into anyone so the chances of people remembering me were low — but apparently not zero.

I made the mistake of scanning the room, and of course I locked eyes with the one woman I hoped to avoid.

Cate stood in the center of a crowd of adoring fans, all of whom seemed to be congratulating her for getting the opportunity to perform ballet at the Lycan Luna’s birthday celebration. Dancing for the queen was clearly a high honor, but not high enough to keep Cate’s attention.

I watched her brush off her entourage and saunter over with a smug look on her face. The sly grin spreading on her face signaled she clearly knew me and that the chance to publicly shame me was more exciting than a banquet in her honor.

She toyed with her wine glass and gave me a long look up and down.

“Well look who it is.”