Mated to My Intended's Enemy novel Chapter 137

Chapter 137: Chapter 137 I Need Her

Jasper

I stared at the quarterly reports spread across my desk, the numbers blurring before my eyes. Three weeks. It had been three goddamn weeks since Freya walked out, and Stone Lake was crumbling beneath my fingers like wet sand.

"Alpha, the Henderson contract needs your signature immediately." My new assistant—what was his name again? Mark? Mike?—hovered anxiously in the doorway, clutching a folder that should have been organized, vetted, and summarized days ago.

"Put it with the others," I growled, gesturing to the mounting pile on the corner of my desk. My wolf, Leon, paced restlessly inside me, unsettled and irritable since Freya’s departure.

The assistant’s eyes widened. "But sir, the deadline is—"

"I said put it with the others!" The force of my Alpha voice made the young wolf flinch and scurry to obey, nearly tripping over himself in his haste to escape my office.

The moment the door closed, I dropped my head into my hands. This was the third meeting I’d missed this week alone. The finance department was in shambles. The council was breathing down my neck about territory negotiations I’d completely forgotten about. And my office...

I glanced around at the garish Pink and mint green walls—Mia’s attempt to "brighten up the space" after I’d asked her to take on some of Freya’s administrative duties. The color made my eyes hurt, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell my mate that her decorating choices were giving me migraines.

*Your mate.* The words felt hollow in my mind. Leon gave a dissatisfied growl, confused by my conflicted emotions.

The intercom buzzed. "Alpha Kane, the Northern Alliance called again about the missed conference call. And Beta Timothy says the budget projections are... um... completely wrong."

I slammed my fist on the desk hard enough to crack the polished mahogany. "Tell Beta Timothy to fix it!"

"He says only Gamma Stone knew how to—"

"We don’t have a Gamma Stone anymore!" I roared, knowing I was being unreasonable but unable to contain the storm of frustration building inside me. "Tell him to figure it out!"

The silence from the intercom told me my new assistant had wisely decided to retreat. Leon continued pacing in my mind, agitated and confused. *Find her,* he urged. *Bring her back.*

"She left us," I muttered to myself, ignoring the twinge of something uncomfortable in my chest. "She chose to leave."

The door to my office burst open without warning, and Elena stormed in, her eyes flashing with fury. My sister had returned from Paris three days ago, only to announce that she wanted out of Stone Lake entirely—to "find herself" or some such nonsense.

"You can’t keep me prisoner here, Jasper!" she snapped, her golden eyes—so like our father’s—blazing with indignation.

I rose to my full height, towering over her. "You’re not a prisoner. You’re a Kane, and Kanes have responsibilities to this pack."

"Responsibilities?" Elena laughed bitterly. "Like how you ’responsibly’ drove away the best Gamma any pack has ever had? Like how you’ve ’responsibly’ run this place into the ground in less than a month without her?"

The truth of her words stung like salt in an open wound. "Watch yourself, Elena."

"No, you watch yourself," she fired back, unafraid of my Alpha status in a way only family could be. "Have you even tried to contact her? To apologize?"

"Apologize?" The word tasted foreign on my tongue. "She abandoned her position, her pack!"

Elena’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "After eight years of you using her, four years of you fucking her while making her hide in the shadows, and then humiliating her in front of the entire pack. Yeah, I wonder why she left."

I couldn’t deny the truth in Elena’s words. Still, I wasn’t about to admit that to my rebellious sister.

"You will call her," I commanded, my voice cold and controlled. "Tell her to come back. She’ll listen to you."

Elena’s laugh was sharp and brittle. "Call her yourself, coward. Oh wait, you can’t, because she blocked your number, didn’t she?"

My control slipped, and I felt my eyes flash Alpha gold. "This isn’t a request, Elena. As your Alpha—"

"You’re pulling rank on your own sister? Really?" She shook her head in disgust. "You know what? Freya was right about you. You don’t deserve her loyalty. You never did."

The door opened again, and Mia floated in, wearing a flowing sundress that made her look ethereal and fragile. My mate’s eyes widened at the tension in the room.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, her voice soft and concerned as she sidled up to me, placing a possessive hand on my arm.

"Your mate is trying to force me to lure Freya back," Elena said coldly, glaring at Mia with undisguised contempt.

"I don’t understand why we need her back," Mia said, leaning into me. "I’m your mate, Jasper. I should be by your side, helping you run things." Her lower lip trembled slightly. "Don’t you trust me to support you?"

The wolf bond between us tugged at my heart, making me instinctively want to comfort her, to erase that wounded look from her face. But Leon remained strangely silent, almost... resistant.

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