Chapter 13
Thirteen
KAI
I stand and straighten my cuffs, discreetly checking the hall running along the outside of the conference room. It’s empty. Good. While I’m not ashamed of smelling a chair, that sort of rumor could do damage to the company, and we’ve worked too damn hard for that sort of drama.
I stride out of the conference room and down the hall.
My heart slams against my rib cage, and I try to get it under control. It’s a risk to date again, but I make a point to take those all the time. Live life; don’t hide from it. Embrace the uncertainty. Take the chance, because you never know which day might be your last, and I know all too well the impacts of a sudden death.
I don’t want to live my life scared.
As much as I hate to admit it, there’s a trickle of icy fear flowing through my veins. Daria is our scent match. It’s fate. Our pack could use a miracle, but she might not want us. Or she could be like Felicia and try to poison us against Vic. I was stupid enough to ignore the warning signs last time.
I won’t make the same mistake again.
Mandy is standing at someone’s cubicle, but when she spots me, she scurries over with a placating smile on her face. “I can have new pitches ready by Friday.”
“That won’t be necessary.” I shove my hands into my pants. “The last presenter,” I begin, pretending I haven’t already memorized her name and rolled it around in my mind a dozen times.
“Daria,” she offers.
“Mm. Yes. We’d like to discuss the campaign with her and the possibility of her working on site for the duration of it.”
“But you have a three-month plan,” Mandy says.
“Correct.” I lift an eyebrow. “Will that be a problem?”
She chuckles nervously. “Uh, no. Not at all. Moon & Rock can matrix staff out to clients.” Pausing, she flicks her gaze toward a cubicle, then back to me.
“What is it?” I ask, trying to be patient when the beast inside me is demanding to see our mate again.
“If I subcontract Daria out to you, I’d like it to be for more than three months. She’s a hard worker and already up for a promotion, but a three-month stopover with your firm will put her behind her cohort. While I’m sure she’d be flattered that you want to offer her this opportunity, I want to make sure her career progression is taken care of. She’ll still need to come to Moon & Rock twice a week.”
My eyebrows slam together. “And if I say I want her full time?”
Mandy lifts a shoulder. “Ultimately, it’s Daria’s choice. You’re welcome to offer her that, but it wouldn’t be doing her any favors in the long run.”
I’ll admit, I admire Mandy for looking out for her staff like this. Some people wouldn’t be as protective, and now I feel a little bad taking Daria away. Not that bad, though. She’s our fated mate. She belongs with us. “All right, Mandy. You drive a hard bargain. If Daria agrees, she’ll work three days at Good Vibes and two days at Moon & Rock.”
“And she won’t be fetching any coffees,” Mandy adds quickly, narrowing her eyes on me.
I chuckle. “I already have an assistant who gets my coffee order right every time.”
Mandy blows out a breath. “Okay. I’ll send her into the conference room. Once you’re done, send her my way, and I’ll get everything situated on my end.” She turns to head off to find Daria but pauses to look back. “Oh, and if you’re thinking about sleeping with the pretty junior staffer, I’ll castrate you.”
“Daria will be in good hands,” I assure Mandy. Little does she know, I’m thinking about doing a lot more than just sleeping with Daria.
Drumming my fingers on the arm of the chair, I watch the hall for any sign of her. It’s been ten minutes since I talked with Mandy. What’s taking so long?
“You’re projecting your nerves,” Linc says with a sigh. “Maybe I should go get her?”
“No.” I clench my fist to keep from tapping. Leave it to Linc to call me on my body language. I swear the asshole can read a person with a simple glance. “She needs to come to us. What did you think of her?”
I’m not talking about her pitch, but he knows that.
“She was trying to hide. I thought it was because we were at her place of work, but now I’m questioning everything. She’s not going to come.”
“It’s not like you to be doom and gloom,” I tease.
He bristles. “I’m filling in for Vic.”
“Ten more minutes, then we can leave. We can’t corner her and bombard her with our scents.”
Linc grumbles in protest but stays in his seat because he knows I’m right. We can’t overpower her. The choice we’ve given her is the first chance she has to say no. If she doesn’t want this, which in the history of fated mates has rarely happened, our egos will be bruised, but our hearts will be safe. We’ll go on living as we have been.
Though I’d hardly consider what we’ve been doing living.
Surviving is a better word. When Vic left, everything changed. I’ve been fighting to get him to see he belongs with our pack, but everything I do seems to push him away.
“There she is,” Linc murmurs.
I pull my gaze from the table, all my worries disappearing as I focus on the pretty omega eyeing us from the hallway. Daria’s skirt is tight around her full hips and flares out halfway down her thighs. Though the top she’s wearing hides her neck from me, there’s a peekaboo cutout right above her full tits, showcasing a delicious scrap of top cleavage. Her lips are a pale pink, a little glossy from whatever product she’s wearing, and I can’t help wondering what my cum might look like moistening her lips instead.
My cock jerks in my pants, and my bergamot scent thickens in the air.
“Down, boy,” Linc scolds. He’s one to talk.
“You’re thinking the same thing,” I mumble right as she pushes into the room, bringing a fresh wave of lavender with her. Linc and I both breathe it in without shame.
Daria bites her bottom lip and moves to the other end of the table, intentionally putting distance between us. That’s not a good sign. She opts to stand instead of sitting, placing both of her hands on her hips and staring us down.
Linc would call that a power move.
“Well? What do you have to say for yourselves?” One of her pretty curls brushes over her cheek, and she flicks her head to the side, making all of them sway.
A smile tugs at my lips. She’s bold. I prefer that over meek and trembling. “Why are you all the way over there?”
Daria slides her gaze over my face, expression unreadable. “It’s safer this way.”
“Worried we’ll bite?” Linc teases.
“Mandy told me about your offer.” Her chest heaves. As much as she’s trying to play hard, our scents are getting to her the same way hers is getting to us. The heavier notes of her perfume are proof enough. I bet if I slipped my hand up that pretty skirt, I’d find her ready for my knot.
“She told you about the job offer, yes, but there’s more.”
Daria glances at Linc. “Oh?”
“We’d like you to come to dinner with us.” I watch her face, waiting for her reaction.
“You’d like me to come to dinner with you?” she asks, face scrunching. “That’s...one hell of a way to piss me off,” she admits.
I glance at Linc and frown. “You don’t want to come to dinner?”
She huffs. “Even when they’re old, they’re stupid,” she grumbles to herself.
I bristle at that. Old? I’m only forty-two. But to a twenty-something-year-old, I guess I qualify as old.
“I’m only going to say this once—and I’m giving you a pass because your scents are fucking with my head—but a woman wants to be asked. Not told.” She arches an eyebrow. “And you went to Mandy before asking me if I was even interested.”
“Are you?” Linc asks.
Daria pinches her eyes shut.
Fuck.
“I’m intrigued,” she says softly.
Okay. We can work with that. “I’m sorry for the way I phrased my statement earlier. I was presuming you’d want to and didn’t give you an opportunity to make the choice.”
Daria rears back, like she’s surprised I copped to being a jerk. “You’re forgiven, Malakai,” she says after a moment.
No soft okay or it’s fine . She’s sticking to her guns. This is an omega who knows what she wants, and that’s exactly what my pack needs.
“Please, call me Kai.” I clear my throat, hoping I don’t mess this up again. “Daria, will you allow us to court you?”
As expected, her answer isn’t immediate. Daria studies my face, trepidation bleeding into her hazel eyes. She’s been hurt. I clench my fist to keep from demanding a name. That’s my alpha instinct rearing its head. Gliding her gaze over to Linc, she takes his measure the same way she did mine, as if searching for a reason to say no. Or, perhaps, she’s searching for a reason to say yes.
I don’t know what she’s been through, but I hate that she’s already hesitant to trust us. That’s the work of a shitty pack. A good pack will take care of their omega, not hurt them. It’s dumb to be jealous of whoever came before us. Especially unwarranted, given the fact that we were with someone else before and had a kid with her. Even so, the little voice inside my head whispers about how Daria’s already been fucked the way I want to fuck her.
And that makes me mad.
I want to erase everything that came before. I want us to be the only pack she’s ever had, but that’s not how life works. If we can’t be her only pack, we’ll be her fucking last. That is, if she accepts us.
Daria’s features don’t soften. She remains wary but finally nods. “Okay. I’ll come to one dinner with your pack.”
“Does tonight work?” Does that sound desperate? Fuck it, there’s no reason to drag it out.
She raises her eyebrows. “Um, yeah, I can probably pencil you in.”
Linc chuckles beside me, and she glances at him, but a small smile tugs at her lips when she sees he’s simply appreciating her rather than laughing at her.
“How does The Crystal Chandelier sound?” It’s the nicest restaurant in town, and she deserves the best.
“No,” she says quickly, too quickly. “Anywhere but there.”
Why doesn’t she want to go there? Does someone from her past work there?
“Okay. Mystique?” If she doesn’t like that place, we’ll find another.
“That works. What time?”
“Six-thirty. I’ll make the reservation under Pack Kelly.”
She nods. “I’ll let you know about the job after dinner,” she says before leaving the room and strutting down the hall. Her hips sway and her ass jiggles in her skirt.
“Well, that was interesting,” Linc murmurs.
“She’s perfect,” I tell him.
“She’s intense.”
“Yup. And that means she’s not going to hide her feelings, which is exactly what we need for Vic. An omega who isn’t afraid to make her likes and dislikes known is perfect for us.”
For our pack’s sake, I hope Daria likes Vic because I’m already imagining her stripped down to a lacy bra and thong, tits nearly spilling out as she crawls toward me, lips wet and ready to wrap around my cock.
I hope our pack is what she wants, because Daria is exactly what we need.