Chapter 8: Peace Offering

Emma stared at Lucien as he left. Was he serious? "Wait."

"What?"

"I need a credit card."

"Charge it to the room, but don't be lavish."

He closed the door behind him and Emma gaped at it. He was leaving her, not letting her participate in the night's activities. Again. Her empty stomach emboldened her. She yanked open the door. "Lucien."

He stopped in the hallway. "What?"

"You're seriously going to leave me here to fend for myself?" she asked

He waved a hand. "You'll figure it out Emma. Pick up the phone in the room and call room service. It isn't rocket science."

He strode away from me. Before I closed the door, I caught a glimpse of Dex. He wore a gray pin-striped suit that set off his blue eyes. His blond hair was slicked back, neater than when she'd seen him in the kitchen. The sight of him looking so handsome took away her breath. He'd paused in his doorway, which was just down the hall.

She cast her gaze downward, her cheeks warming. She wished Dex hadn't seen that, hadn't seen that Lucien was abandoning her. She closed the door and leaned against it. "Crap."

She grabbed the menu from the table by the door. She should spend a lot of money just to get back at Lucien, but it wouldn't solve anything. She would be full, but no better off in her relationship with him. He might even use it to prove she would never make a good Luna and shut her out even more.

She would be a grown-up about this. Perusing the menu she saw a few things she wanted but chose the least expensive item. She picked up the phone, pushing the button for room service as she sat on the edge of the bed. The phone rang a few times then cut off.

"Darn," she said and tried again.

The phone rang and kept ringing. Her mind drifted back to Dex and how good he looked. What harm was there in just thinking about him? As long as she didn't act on it she was fine. The phone kept ringing.

She hung up. "I'll call the front desk."

She did and they answered promptly. "Hello. I'm in cottage nine and I'm trying to get through to room service. They aren't answering."

She could hear party noises in the background. Her stomach rumbled. Was this some test from Lucien? No, she doubted he'd thought about her situation for very long.

"They are very busy. You should keep trying."

"Could you get an order to them?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm here by myself. I can't leave."

"Is there another line I can call?" she asked. She was getting food tonight if she had to walk to the kitchen herself. She couldn't risk Lucien seeing her in the main building, so she would have to figure out another plan. She could be a good Luna and still have her dinner too.

Maybe there were rabbits or squirrels outside. She could turn and hunt them. Maybe as a last resort.

"No, I'm sorry. We have this banquet going on all evening and we're short-staffed as it is."

"Okay, thanks."

Those rabbits outside were calling to her. As far as she knew there wasn't any protocol that said she couldn't hunt. Lucien hadn't forbidden her. Could she do it without getting caught? It wasn't as if the staff weren't also wolves.

She bit her lip, deciding what to do next.

She called the kitchen again, but no one answered as before. She sighed.

Before she could make another decision, she heard a noise outside of her room. She looked through the peephole but didn't see anyone. She frowned. Hunting might be her only answer.

She sat on the edge of the bed to make sure she had exhausted all of her options. Then she searched on her phone to see what animals were around the resort.

Someone knocked on her door. She rose and opened it. Down at her feet was a tray of food. It didn't look like room service; it looked like it had been taken off a table. She looked up to see the back of Dex disappearing down the steps.

"Dex."

He didn't stop. She stepped over the tray and raced to the top of the steps. He was gone. "Dex?"

She listened, but she only heard footsteps outside. "Okay."

He was gone. When she turned around, she eyed the tray. Her heart warmed, heat rising to her cheeks

When she sat down, the food was surprisingly still warm.

She wondered how she would thank Dex. He had clearly tried to help her secretly after hearing her yell at Lucien; she was embarrassed that he had to see her shout, but grateful that he had helped her.

She settled into her meal. When she finished, she put the tray in the kitchen, trying to keep things as tidy as possible.

She returned to her room and got ready for bed.

Lucien closed the door loud, waking Emma out of a sound sleep. She pretended not to be awake, but Lucien turned on the light. His tie was askew and she could smell the meat he'd eaten. He licked his chops and smiled at her. Was he going to rub it in?

"Did you need to be so loud?"

"Am I disturbing your beauty sleep?" he asked.

She frowned and rolled over, pulling the covers up to her neck. Lucien settled on the edge of his side of the bed. "Emma."

"What? I'm trying to sleep, here."

"Can you get my shoes off?"

"What?"

He was drunk. He would pester her until she did it so she rose from her spot and walked around the bed. She could admonish him for drinking so much, but it would do no good. The smell of a brewery wafted off of him. She cringed as she knelt to take off his shoes.

"Why is the room spinning?"

"What did you drink?"

He cocked his head. "Only a few beers, but something in the food went to my head."

Great. "Lay down, Lucien."

"I can't."

He rose and staggered to the bathroom. Was he going to see the irony in the fact that he was losing the feast he'd eaten while she sat in the room? No, that would be too deep and too introspective for Lucien. She waited until the retching noises stopped.

"Elk never agrees with me," he said over the sound of the flushing toilet.

She stood in the doorway. He wiped his face on a tissue and dropped that into the commode. "Then why did you eat it?"

"I didn't realize what it was." He put a hand on his stomach. She scurried out of the bathroom, not needing to see him lose his dinner.

When he'd stopped making noises, she returned. "You done?"

He weaved as he left the bathroom and flopped onto the bed. "Do you know how hard it is to be an Alpha?"

What a strange thing to say. Alphas were bred to rule and conquer. How hard could it be if he was a true Alpha? Lucien lay back on the bed as she took off his socks. His feet were dirty.

"You were outside," she said.

"None of your business."

He was feeling better and back to his old self. She rose. "Then you can take off the rest of your clothing by yourself. I'm going back to bed.