Chapter Sixteen
Madi
Driving into Moon Co with Brick is a surreal experience. He pulled a Big Bad Boss on me and insisted I “work” from home with him yesterday, which basically meant staying naked in his bed and getting pleasured so often my throat went hoarse from crying out.
This morning, he drove me to my apartment and picked up lattes for us while I changed into fresh clothes.
Basically the last thirty-six hours have blown all my synapses. Werewolves exist. And vampires. And my boss is not just the Big Bad Boss, he’s the Big Bad Wolf.
He pulls into the office building’s garage and parks.
I feel like I should duck down and hide, so people don’t see me driving in with the boss. I mean, how much more obvious could it get?
“I shouldn’t walk in with you,” I say as we walk toward the elevator.
“You’re mine,” Blackthroat growls, almost like he’s responding to some invisible threat. “No one is going to interfere with us.”
I don’t know why it makes my lips tremble and my eyes burn.
The moment we step off the elevator, though, the bliss-bubble I’d been in bursts.
The top floor is filled with Brick’s execs loudly talking over one another. All eyes turn to us and silence descends. My paranoia kicks in. Is this about me? About Brick dating a human?
“What?” Brick snaps.
“You couldn’t check your phone at all over the last twelve hours?” Nickel asks.
No, it’s something else.
“Try thirty-six. What is it?”
“There’s been a security breach. We had to shut everything down to contain it.”
“Fuck.” Brick transforms into a formidable boss, storming into the room. “How did it happen? What do we know?”
“Come into the conference room,” Billy says. There’s something stony and cold about the way he speaks that makes the hairs stand up on my arms. “We have something to show you.”
“Madi.” Brick delivers the one-word command for me to follow.
“Not Madi.” Billy holds up a hand and blocks our path.
“She comes,” Brick snarls, and Billy almost stumbles backward, like the force of Brick’s words or will pushed him.
I remember the way my body seemed to move of its own accord with Aiden Adalwulf and wonder if it has something to do with their alpha status. I make a note to ask Brick later when we’re alone.
The execs close in on us as we walk in, every one of them assembling at the table with grim faces.
I’m usually calm here at work, no matter what the stress. I had that detachment thing down pat. I didn’t care about the job or getting fired, and it made it easy to function in a demanding situation.
All that has changed now, though. I find myself trembling, scared for Brick about whatever it is his team is about to show him. Because I can tell it’s bad. Bordering on horrible.
“What the fuck is going on?” Brick can tell, too.
There’s a file folder in front of Billy, and he lays a hand on it but doesn’t open it. He looks at me. “Madi, since you’re in here, maybe you can tell us what’s going on.”
My heart thuds, even though I have no idea what he’s talking about. All I can tell is that this is an ambush, and I need to catch up, fast. “I don’t know what you mean.” I try to make the words sound even, but even I can hear I’m rattled.
“How long have you been working as an Adalwulf plant?”
The shock of the words registers far less than their effect on Brick. The color drains from his face, and he pushes away from me to take in my face.
I try to swallow but my mouth is dry. “I haven’t.”
“No? Aiden Adalwulf called this morning to ask if Brick enjoyed the gift from his mate.”
Brick stiffens even more. No, I think he turned to stone.
“What are you talking about?” I croak.
“We know the breach was initiated from your computer, Madi. My PI team followed you, and I have video of you meeting with Aiden Adalwulf in front of the building. I have phone records proving you’ve been having conversations with him. I also know you let Catherine Adalwulf onto the top floor and left her unsupervised to roam around.”
“Okay, that doesn’t prove–”
A wounded animal sound comes from Brick as he stands and backs up, like he’s afraid he’ll throttle me if he stays within reaching distance.
“What was your motivation in infiltrating Moon Co? Did they pay you? Or was it part of your Occupy Wall Street efforts?” He slips out the photo of me and Aubrey sitting on the sidewalk holding Occupy Wall Street posters that he must’ve taken from La Résistance.
“I’m not a plant. I’ve barely even spoken with Aiden Adalwulf–”
“Don’t say his name,” Brick roars. His eyes flash with a bright light.
Billy flips open the folder and spills a number of photographs onto the table. There’s me standing, facing Aiden Adalwulf that day he caught me on the street.
It does look bad.
“This is nothing. He cornered me, tried to offer me a job. I said no.”
Brick’s whole body is taut. He runs a hand through his hair, making it stand on end, wild.
I turn to speak directly to him. “I said no, Brick. You have to believe me–”
“We also traced phone calls coming from Adalwulf Associates’ to your personal line,” Billy interrupts. “Several calls, in fact.”
The weird phone calls I got when Brick was in California. “Those weren’t–”
“You’ve also entered Adalwulf Associates’ building before. Do you do deny it?”
“No, I went in to get coffee. I did nothing wrong.”
“There”s no need to act all innocent,” Billy sneers. “We’ve got you. We know you’re responsible for the breach.”
“I’m not. I don’t know anything about it. Brick, you know me.” I focus on him. Brick, the Big Bad Boss. The man–werewolf–I’m coming to love.
Last night we were together in bed, and he was so sweet. Rough in the best way, but also tender.
Surely with everything that’s gone between us, he knows me. He knows I’m loyal. I would never betray him.
After a long pause, Brick shakes his head. He looks past me to Billy. “Lock everything down. Get her computer to Jake and his top team, look into the breach.”
I sag like I’ve been punched in the chest. I wish it had been a punch, it wouldn’t be as painful as this. He doesn’t believe me.
“Already on it.” Billy’s smile is triumphant.
“Brick.” I take step forward towards him.
“Don’t come any closer,” he rasps, gripping the chair so hard his knuckles go white. There’s a crack as the plastic breaks. I freeze, trying to comprehend what’s happening. He just broke the chair with his enormous strength.
“This isn’t just Moon Co,” he says.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t be with you. I have to choose my pack. I have to.”
“Hang on,” I say. “I don”t know anything about the security breach. I swear. Occupy Wall Street was a long time ago, and the only reason I was talking to Aiden Adalwulf was because–”
“I don”t want to hear it!”Brick roars. His eyes glow completely yellow. “Somebody get her out of here now.”
My heart thunders with distress. Tears fill my eyes. I had always pictured my last moments at Moon Co, doubting I’d last, and I”d sworn I wouldn”t cry the way that first assistant had. I”d sworn I would never care. Yet here I was not just caring, dying.
“Brick.” I hate the pleading tone in my voice, but I can”t mask it. I can”t hide what he”s come to mean to me. I”m not just losing my job, I”m losing everything.
“I”ll escort her out.” Billy stands from the table, his posture so menacing I flinch.
“Not you,” Brick snaps. He flicks his finger like he wants to left-swipe me right out the door. “Nickel.”
Nickel walks silently over to my side and extends his arm toward the door in a charitable gesture of showing me the door.
I stand on shaky legs. Stand and stare at Brick whose blazing eyes show only his wolf.
“Brick?” I try one more time. This time there are tears in my voice. I don”t even care how much I’m humiliating myself. I want him to know I didn’t do this. I would never hurt him or Moon Co.
“Let”s go, Madi,” Nickel says in his crisp English accent. He takes my elbow and leads me out the door. The first tears fall the moment we cross the threshold.
“Pack your desk,” Nickel clips.
“I don”t want anything,” I mumble, only stopping to pick up my coat before heading straight for the elevator.
The tears continue to slide down my face in the elevator ride down to the first floor. I somehow manage to hold the sobs in and keep silent, but I can”t breathe.
“Give me your employee badge.” Nickel holds out his hand.
I fumble in my purse and pull it out to hand to him.
“I didn”t do it,” I croak when we reach the bottom.
“I don”t care,” Nickel answers.
The elevator doors open, and he walks me all the way to the front door where he tells the doorman that I”m not allowed back in.
I stumble out on the sidewalk. Sleet hurls from the sky like further punishment.
Like God is saying, This is what happens when you let your guard down, Madi. When you trust a rich man.
This is what you get.
* * *
Brick
Rage storms through me with flashes of red and white. I’m surprised I didn’t already shift, but then, my wolf wouldn’t attack Madi. Not when he believes she’s his mate. I wanted to throw the conference room table through the windows when I found out, but my wolf wouldn”t let me do that either. He wouldn”t even let me hand her over to Billy, knowing how much he hates her.
Now I know how my father felt, to be mated to the enemy. It’s a wonder he survived as long as he did. The impossibility of my parents’ situation has struck me many times over the years but never more fully than now.
Every single time my father looked at my mother”s face, he had to know she wished to betray him. She was the enemy, yet he still couldn”t stop himself from seeing her. From claiming her. From taking her up to his bedroom every week when she visited.
Ultimately she destroyed him. And he accepted his death from her hand. He probably knew it would come one day. He probably expected it from the first night he claimed her.
Once Madi is gone, I overturn the giant mahogany table. I smash every chair against the wall, crumpling each one to the size of a cabbage.
Then I turn and face my team. “Get the breach under control,” I say. “We need to be back up and running today.”
“That may not be possible,” Vance says.
“Make it possible!” I rage. “And I want every detail about how this happened written up, so we can go over it.”
My friends eye me warily.
“Somebody get me a fucking helicopter right now.” I need to shift and run within the hour or somebody will end up bloodied on this floor.
“I’ll call Acker,” Jake offers.
“I”ll tell Genevieve about the change in personnel,” Vance says.
“I don”t want another assistant!” I shout. “No one–no human–ever steps on the top floor again.”