Chapter 11 #2
Maverick studied her.
She straightened her blazer. “I assume you haven’t filled my job yet. No one would want to be Celeste’s assistant, and anyone who did wouldn’t do it right.”
“You assume correctly. We’ve been trying to get you to come back since last week, if you recall,” Maverick said.
“I’ve been emotionally scarred since my boss was murdered.”
“Clearly,” Maverick looked severely unconvinced. “Send the temp at your desk home. He’ll be relieved.”
She gave the Alpha a sarcastic salute before turning away. Our eyes met for the smallest moment, and she nodded at me. The meaning was clear.
Good luck, badass.
I may have taken liberties with the badass part.
“The temp’s a werewolf?” I asked.
“One of my enforcers. Ryker.”
“He probably hates you right now. Celeste is a complete bitch.”
“He understood that it was necessary and was willing to do it. Wolf packs function on respect, Bloom. If my wolves didn’t respect me, I would be challenged constantly until someone managed to dethrone me.”
“Dethrone? Like you’re a king?”
“What else would you call the Alpha of all other Alphas?”
Guess I hadn’t thought of it that way.
“Should I kneel?” I drawled.
“It would be better if you didn’t. The idea alone makes it hard to resist pinning you to the nearest wall and stripping you bare.”
My face flushed, and I looked around to see if anyone else could hear us.
Yeah, we had most of the eyes.
Fantastic.
The way my body immediately reacted to his words was just perfect. Who wouldn’t want to be turned on while walking past their coworkers?
We reached the short, wide hallway that connected two large offices.
The back wall of the left one was made of stone and massive arched windows. The fronts of both were entirely glass. The side walls were solid, along with the back walls of the one on the right, and all of the solid walls were covered in wood tiles similar to the ones in the bathroom.
The left office had been Steven’s. Arthur’s was across from it, since he was rarely there. Steven had liked privacy, which was quite possibly the only thing he and I had in common.
Rhone was sitting at one of the two new desks that occupied Steven’s old office. I grimaced when I saw my name on the metal plate beside the door of Arthur’s space.
“These ones were the easiest to soundproof and offered the most privacy. They were cleaned thoroughly,” Maverick said.
Rhone walked toward us with the damn megaphone Maverick had shown up with on that first day.
The Alpha opened the door of my new office and waved me inside. I went in reluctantly, sniffing the air for the scent of death but thankfully smelling nothing.
Rather than following me in, he took the megaphone from Rhone and strode to the end of the hallway. The closing office door muffled most of the noise as the device amplified his voice.
“Get back to work.”
Rhone went back inside the office. His desk faced the arched windows that looked out at the city, so if I sat at mine, I’d face his back. The other desk in the room was set up so I’d be staring at Maverick when I worked, and vice versa.
Lovely.
I took a seat in the ergonomic rolling chair that was now mine, hoping Maverick wouldn’t come into my office.
He did.
Striding inside, he sat down on the edge of my desk, right next to me, and set his megaphone on a stretch of smooth wood.
“Ozzy logged you into the computer and synched all of your work stuff.” Maverick tapped the top of my computer lightly.
My eyes followed the motion.
Geez, his hands were huge.
No, I was not going to imagine having them on any part of my body.
“Your department has been informed that you’re taking over, and that they answer to you. I warned them not to treat you poorly. If it didn’t work, let me know, and I’ll handle it,” he added.
“I don’t need you to fight my battles, Mav.”
“I’m just making sure my company runs properly.”
I tucked an escaped piece of hair into my bun. I’d tried to make it somewhat sturdy this time, but my hair pretty much always refused to do what I wanted.
One of those gigantic hands caught my wrist, the grip secure but not tight.
Maverick took in the rings on my fingers. “Silver jewelry? Is that really necessary?”
“You already broke into my house, stole my clothes, assigned a pair of werewolves to stalk me, publicly claimed me, and bit me. Twice. So yeah, I’d say it’s necessary.
” My nose twitched. “And you smell like me, which means you probably have something of mine in your pocket. I don’t want to know what. ”
“I haven’t dragged you to my apartment and locked you inside yet, which is a testament to my self-control.”
“Resisting the urge to abduct me again doesn’t mean you have control of yourself.”
“If you understand the pull of a mate bond, it does.”
“Well, I don’t.”
“Clearly. You ignored my calls.”
“I’m not part of your pack, Mav. You can’t order me around or expect me to do whatever you want. I knew you were calling about Harper’s ex, so I ignored you.”
“Your friend was clearly covering for you so you could have a conversation without the media exploding with questions about our connection any more than it already has.”
Crap.
“What if she was?” I asked.
“I want to know why.”
I let out a long breath.
If he was going to believe me, I needed to give him something true.
“Vampires typically take mates as young as possible, so we have a consistent food source. When we’re mated, we don’t have to bite humans.”
“I’m aware.”
I wasn’t going to ask how he knew that. It probably had to do with the war, and I didn’t want the story.
“My mom wanted me mated the day I turned eighteen. Seven years ago. There are four potential matches in the city, and she can’t understand why I haven’t chosen one. I’m the only eligible bachelorette for any of them, as of a few months ago.”
“So it was a date.”
“No. It was an offer to mate with me to take care of my current… wolf problem.”
A savage snarl tore through the room. Maverick released my wrist and stood, his fists clenching and his gigantic chest swelling as fur broke out on his arms.
Crap.
This wasn’t the plan.
I was supposed to make Maverick want me—not lose his mind and bite me again already. It would heal before I needed blood again.
“What did you say to him?” he gritted out.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business, Alpha.”
Maverick lifted me out of my chair and sat me on the edge of my desk in what felt like a heartbeat. His hands were on my face, his eyes glowing.
I was starting to think they only glowed like that when he was trying not to shift.
“You belong to me.” The intensity in his voice sent goosebumps up my arms.
“I’m not a piece of land. You can’t own me.”