Without batting an eyelid, Griffon said, “I just want to see how the Sterling Alpha is going to deal with Roman’s leftovers. Aren’t you afraid of being infected?”
Jackson’s face darkened. “I thought you were more of a gentleman than to slander a woman.”
Griffon pushed off the pillar and straightened his back. He walked up to Jackson and stared him in the eye. “And you’re the judge of what is ‘gentlemanly”?”
Jackson didn’t reply. Instead, he looked at Griffon with a scrutinizing gaze.
“Alpha Knight, you seem to have been targeting me.”
Griffon had singled him out at the bidding, here in the dining room, and even the first time they met.
Jackson had never seen Griffon before, let alone done anything to offend him. Why was the Knight Alpha so focused on him? Perhaps…did he think Jackson was a threat?
Something flashed in Griffon’s eyes, but it was gone too quickly for Jackson to place it.
“I was just afraid that you would be fooled.”
”
Griffon didn’t reply, and his expression remained neutral.
Jackson knew he had asked the right question when Griffon didn’t have a response. Just what was going on here? Was Griffon’s issue with Jackson…or with Taya?
“I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood. I’ve known Ms. Palmer for many years, and I know her well. She has no reason to lie to me.”
He emphasized the last sentence as if he was talking to himself.
In the past, when she knelt at the door of the Sterling pack manor and begged him to come out and meet her, he’d been annoyed at her and embarra*sed for her.
Then, after he’d discovered information about her that made him think she was dishonest, he’d completely ignored her and pretended she didn’t exist.
But after these few days of spending time with her, he didn’t think Taya was the person he’d thought she was five years ago.
Jackson’s words made a trace of anger appear on Griffon’s face, and his eyes darkened this his wolf’s, his brows furrowing.
“You’ve known each other for many years?”
“I’ve known her since I was a child.”
There was a sudden surge of hostility in Griffon’s eyes.
Griffon opened his mou th and was about to ask Jackson something when Tara walked in.
“Griffon, here you are!”
Jackson looked at Ms. Thorin, then turned to Griffon. “I’ll leave you to have lunch with your girlfriend.”
Instead of schooling his tone, Jackson allowed the sarcasm out. After all, Griffon was the one who’d mocked him for bringing his girlfriend to the bidding.
At this point, it was more than clear Griffon held some sort of secret grudge against him, so nothing Jackson could say or do was going to affect the outcome of the bidding.
Jackson turned his back to Griffon and resumed getting food for Taya and himself.
Just as Tara was about to ask if Griffon wanted to have lunch with her, he walked out of the restaurant without even a glance at her.
D amn the wolf. He was infuriating.
For a man who had pined after he while she’d been away, he acted as if he couldn’t stand the sight of her now. What had happened?
When Jackson returned with lunch, Taya was sleeping on the single sofa.
Her fists were curled up under her chin, and her dark hair spread across the pillow. Long eyeslashes rested on her cheeks, and her face looked serene, all of the worry lines that crossed over it while she was awake now erased.
Jackson didn’t want to disturb her. However, he feared she would feel uncomfortable from the half-sitting posture. Surely, the position would put a kink in her neck. After thinking for a while, he picked her up to lay her on the larger sofa across the room.
Several images flashed through his mind as he held her in his arms. It felt familiar, like he had done this many times before in the past.
Jackson looked down at the tranquil and beautiful face in front But how could she have belonged to him when he didn’t remember her?
H ell, he couldn’t remember anything. And the more he thought about it, the more his head hurt.
The pain was gnawing, as if there were a thousand jackhammers all pounded at every crevice in his head.
He tried to grasp at the broken pieces of his memories, tried to flail out in his mind to clutch just the smallest sliver of something he could remember. All it did was make his head hurt even more.
No doctor he’d been to could figure out his memory loss, and no wolf shifter medical book or history book shed any light on what had happened to him and why he couldn’t regain his memory. Something like this was so rare for shifters, no one knew what to do.
He was in so much pain that his face turned pale, and he broke out in a cold sweat. However, he held Taya tightly and was reluctant to let go.
It was as if he would lose her as soon as he let go of her, and a sense of dread, if impending doom flooded him.
It was not until there was a knock on the door that he came to his senses. He quickly put Taya on the long sofa as if he had a guilty conscience.
“Come in,” he said after he’d taken a second to straighten himself and re-focus his mind.
Beta Smith pushed the door open and entered.
“Alpha, the bidding has started early. We need to get back to the auditorium.”
Jackson glanced at his watch. “Isn’t it resuming two o’clock in the afternoon?”
“It was supposed to be two o’clock, but the Knight pack suddenly announced a change in plans.”
Jackson frowned. This was ridic ulous and unprofessional.
“We need to hurry. The Knight pack said that anyone to arrive late will be eliminated.”
“Only they would do something so unreasonable,” Jackson snorted.
He was about to leave when he looked back at Taya.
“Do you want to wake Ms. Palmer up?” his Beta asked.
“No need.”
Jackson took off his suit jacket and covered her petite body with it Onlye then did he turn around and follow Beta Smith to the venue, quietly closing the door behind him so as to not disturb her.
As soon as I fell asleep, I fell into a daze and couldn’t wake up, no matter how hard I tried.
It was like something was pulling me down, and I was stuck in a weird limbo between waking and dreaming.
It felt like someone was patting my face, but I couldn’t tell if it was happening in real life or in my dreams. I managed to pry my eyes open in a daze.
My vision was blurred, and I blinked multiple times, trying to clear the fogginess. After focusing for a long time, I still could only vaguely see an outline of someone standing over me.
“Is that you, Alpha Sterling?”
As soon as I asked the question, I was picked up.
As the sky and the earth spun, a man’s face grew closer and larger. I could make out strong features and an angular jaw.
“Take a good look at me!”
My stomach dropped to the floor as I realized who had picked me up.
The person in front of me was not Jackson, but Griffon!