Chapter 3
Headquarters
Bindi was both excited and sad. Why
hadn’t Duroc gone through his change of attitude sooner. She’d
noticed there were still signs of that bad attitude with others,
but not with her. Maybe he had reason to be that way with some of
them. Rita had observed that the patience he’d shown Tammy had been
unbelievable. Everyone had agreed but they’d also been relieved
when he’d finally had enough.
The Tammy free environment had been
better, and everyone had breathed a sigh of relief when she was
gone. Now they were overrun with newbies and soon several of the
old hands, herself included, would be gone. Bindi would miss Duroc
the most. What did that say? Maybe she shouldn’t assess those
feelings too closely.
“How are you doing?” Rita
asked.
“I’m okay. It’s not that
I’ll miss this place so much as some of the people.” Her eyes
searched out Duroc and Rita turned to see where she was
looking.
“He’s a good looking
man.”
“I hope you’re talking
about me.” Ray observed as he came up behind her and wrapped his
arms around her.
“Of course,
Baby.”
Bindi thought those two made a lovely
couple. They seemed to be in love. Both were easy to get along with
and tended to do everything right. Ray and Rita were also human
just like she was.
She wandered off and wondered if the
couple even noticed. Bindi didn’t feel left out. It was refreshing
to see someone could make things work. Their company had gone out
of business leaving them both with no jobs and no pension fund. Two
kids and a mom had to be taken care of, but they’d managed to do it
and rebuild their lives. It showed how strong they were.
Looking around catching the eyes of
some of the people she worked with. Many of them would be missed.
None of them knew who was leaving only that a total of four people
were. Sure, she didn’t know who was leaving, but most of those that
worked with her now had gotten their bonuses and could leave
anytime. It looked like some of them planned to.
“Bindi.” He breathed her
name in her ear.
She shivered but turned to face him.
“Nice party, huh?”
“Not bad. Hopefully there
won’t be another Tammy in this group.” Duroc observed.
“I’m not sure Rita could
handle it.”
“Did you know Tammy is
still lurking around here?”
“How can she afford it?”
Bindi wondered.
“Rita and I suspect she’s
staying with a local. I think if she is, that’s a male.”
“Down here a female
wouldn’t have a hard time finding a man to take care of
her.”
“You’re right. But I
wouldn’t check on her. That woman might think I was interested and
get even worse.” Duroc admitted.
“She hit on
you?”
“All the time but that last
day she put more effort into it. No one would want that behavior
all day.”
“You put up with her a long
time.” Bindi pointed out.
“That I could ignore, her
not helping put us at the bottom of the list. We were getting less
done than the other pairs of specialists. Can you imagine the
teasing I got from the other guys.”
“I believe I do.” Bindi
grinned.
“Think it’s funny,
huh?”
“Just a little
bit.”
“That woman was lazy to the
bone. I think she could have done the work had she been willing
to.”
“Maybe she found something
that suited her better.”
“Good for her. I hope we
don’t ever see her again.” Duroc admitted.
“What are you two doing
over here whispering?” Harry said.
“Harry!” Bindi yelled and
hugged her. “I didn’t see you here before.”
“Tyne sent me here for a
week to make sure the newbies did okay. I went to Joey’s and
cleaned up and took a nap then visited the guys at Naqi’s pack.
Some of them missed me and even fought for some time with me. Made
me feel like a supermodel.” Harry giggled.
“Why wouldn’t they? You’re
hot.”
“You have to say that
because we’re friends.”
“Not so. I could have not
said anything.” Bindi pointed out. “Was there a winner?”
Harry blushed. “There was.” And that
seemed to be all she had to say on the subject.
The party continued but Bindi was
tired. “Why don’t you let me escort you home?” Duroc
asked.
Harry had wandered off when she saw
some of the attractive males from HQ. Go Harry! She was ready to go
home and get some rest. “Sure. Why don’t we go now?”
Duroc offered her his arm and led her
outside. They walked briskly to Joey’s. As they entered Joey looked
up from where she sat on the couch. “I thought you two would be out
late for the party. Something else must have caught your
attention.” Joey gave them an impish smile.
It was clear she thought she knew why
they’d left early. Even though an attraction between them was
growing stronger, nothing would happen tonight. Since she wasn’t
sure she would ever see him again, it was possible nothing would
ever happen between them. Her whole life was an unwritten script
right now.
That was sad because he was the only
man she’d felt drawn to in any way. All this time she’d spent here,
and she was leaving, and this is the time he chose to improve.
Sometimes life made no sense at all. Maybe they’d be assigned at
the same place some time in the future. A break like this might
even be a good thing.
“You still with me?” Duroc
asked.
“I am. It’s been a hard
week and I’m a bit tired. That’s all.”
“Have I been working you
too hard?”
“No, everyone is working
hard. Partying is just not my thing.” Bindi admitted.
“That’s understandable. Not
everyone likes that. You must be quieter and prefer to keep things
that way.”
“You’re right. I prefer
small get togethers with people I know.”
“That’s okay. I imagine
you’ll get more social in time.” Duroc assured.
With all the thing she’d seen, she
wasn’t sure she wanted to. Just sticking with the people, she liked
would work out most of the time in her life as it was. Bindi wasn’t
trying to be a boss of any kind. Maybe Duroc had his mind on social
things because he wanted to be in charge of something someday. Good
for him. That just wasn’t a goal she had. This didn’t make her feel
bad because she’d come so far already.
“You look tired. I’ll let
you get to sleep and remember you and I have plans in the
morning.”
She didn’t remember the plans he
referred to, but they’d talked a lot and she didn’t remember most
of it. If she got up in time, she would be ready. Bindi had planned
to go through her usual evening ritual, but instead she fell in bed
just as she was, and a deep sleep came over her.
When she woke, she realized Duroc must
have left quietly. Getting up and getting ready was no problem and
she joined others at breakfast hoping it was at the usual time.
Duroc joined them and he got some food to eat. She hurried because
she suspected he’d eaten elsewhere first. When she was done, they
left.
Bindi was excited when she saw that
they were going to the place that rented sled dogs. Of all the
things you could do here, that was what she wanted to do the most.
She almost jumped up and down when he pulled up to the
business.
It was a surprise when Joey and Naqi
came out. “Hey guys. We’re here so you won’t get lost.” Joey
explained.
“I’m here for that not you.
Joey still gets lost around here.” Naqi explained.
“You’re going to have a
cold bed tonight.”
“Baby, you’re great until
we get over ten miles out. It’s a harsh environment.”
There was no denying this place could
kill you in many ways. Having them along made Duroc feel so much
better. They could avoid the ice and getting lost was less likely.
“Thank you, Duroc. This is so nice. It’ll give me some happy
memories from Wilde.”
It made him wonder why he hadn’t done
this to start with. Maybe it was that he’d never wanted to mate a
female before, so he’d never had to do a thing to get their
attention. Wolf females and even other kinds seemed to recognize
the alpha in him and wanted him without any effort on his part.
He’d rarely bothered with humans, and they didn’t require much
effort either.
Bindi was different. What he wanted
from her was too. Today would be fun and start building the
memories for both of them of their life together. Maybe she would
share something about her life before they’d met. Maybe not since
he wasn’t exactly forthcoming either. Duroc knew he had things to
hide but what could Bindi have to hide? The only way to find out
was to ask or if she wouldn’t say, to have Tyne check her out. She
would be upset if she found out. It couldn’t be too bad since Tyne
already knew since he investigated all his employees. Duroc still
felt it would be good for him to know.
He didn’t know the guy who ran the dog
sleds for Naqi, but he was hooking up their sled for them. The way
he worked said he’d done this for a long time and was a pro. Dog
sledding was dangerous and he felt good about a pro setting him up.
While he’d not gone sledding here, he had gone before when he’d
been on vacation years ago.
When he’d gone back home, he’d told his
father about it. Dad had resorts and had put in a dog sledding
business that was only open to supes. Duroc would like to think
he’d gotten good at it, but it had been a while since he’d gone. He
was sure he’d be just fine although the runs back home weren’t as
long as the one today would be.
These dogs were well trained and in
good shape. Bindi was calm and petting the dogs and they seemed to
enjoy it. Naqi’s team was getting set up right now. It seemed funny
in a way, wolves driving dog sleds. But he knew Bindi would love
this. He enjoyed it and it got him back to nature. This would be a
bonding experience. Once back to HQ, there were many activities
they could share. This was the way to woo his mate.
“You two ready?” Naqi
asked.
“We are. Where do you want
to go?” It was important to know that sincethat if they became
separated, they would have a place to meet up.
Naqi pulled out a map. “This is our
first destination.”
Duroc had a map too and he marked it.
“Got it.”
Naqi got on his sled and took off. They