Chapter 2 - Heinrich #2
Anastasia Clarke isn’t just the healer of The Silver Stone Pack, she’s also the sister of my best friend—the beta I lost a few months ago to a demon attack.
She’s also the only werewolf who knows about my secret life as the director of this company, because she’s the one who’s been helping me these past five years with the research and development of different pharmaceuticals we’ve been manufacturing.
“Mr. Henry Ralph, it is a pleasure to meet you again,” Dr. Ambrose smiles at me, and I step up to her seat and pull it out for her.
“Please, Dr. Ambrose.”
“Thank you, Mr. Ralph,” she says as she takes the seat. “But please, you can just call me Sharon.”
There’s a mischievous glint in Dr. Sharon Ambrose’s eyes as I push her chair in—one that I hadn’t noticed last night—and it makes me feel uncomfortable.
I smile nonetheless, even offering for her to call me by my first name, but as soon as I straighten, I’m met by accusatory brown eyes narrowed at me.
A shiver courses down my spine, and I gulp hard, like I’d been caught committing a serious crime. I make my way back to my side of the boardroom table with cautious steps, passing Annika, and that’s when I catch a whiff of her scent.
My airways are arrested, and my eyes flutter closed as I pause for a moment to take in the sweet scent that comes as if to remind me that my fated mate is here in my midst. Her presence alone demands my attention, and even if it wasn’t jealousy I saw in her eyes just now, I realize that perhaps it was possessiveness.
It’s the kind of territorial sense she probably isn’t even aware of, but it’s evident in the way her eyes glow.
I know what’s happening—it’s the first stirrings of her magic awakening through the fated mate bond I’ve just discovered, and just like Damian’s fated mate did, Annika will eventually emerge as a witch—a descendant of the extinct Ashclaw Pack from the south of the valley.
They’d been wiped out of existence decades ago by the demons because firepower was the only thing lethal to a demon. But the alpha of the Ashclaw Pack mated with a witch—his fated mate—and left behind descendants of fire magic in the human world.
Damian’s mate, Sophie, is one of those descendants, and so is Annika.
She just doesn’t know it yet, and I have no idea how to tell her about it.
While the meeting goes on, when the other members of the board arrive, and we close a deal with Dr. Ambrose, who wishes to fund our cancer research, all I can think about is how to convince Annika to agree to marry me and accompany me to the valley.
By the time the meeting comes to an end, I barely pay attention to Dr. Ambrose’s starry gaze, my mind too focused on what needs to be done.
There is no time to waste when it comes to claiming my fated mate, because the demons are unpredictable, and it’s only a matter of time before they attack again.
I need to get Annika to the valley, and soon. I need to reveal the truth to her soon, too.
But as the boardroom clears and I turn to her, there’s a certain glint in her eyes that makes her seem intimidating.
I shouldn’t be feeling this way, because I am, after all, the alpha of the Silver Stone Pack. How can I feel intimidated by a human?
“She’s not just any human, but your fated mate, Heinrich…" my inner wolf purrs in my head, as if it's licking its lips, my chest tightening with its feelings and pulling me closer to her as if there’s a magnetic force in the room.
The force of it is extraordinary. I decide on the spot to rip off the Band-Aid and do what needs to be done. My strength relies on it, just like my pack relies on me, and I have to marry and mate with Annika Singh before the demons take another werewolf's life.
“Annika,” I say, voice short and blunt enough to stop her at the doorway just as she’s about to follow the last person out. When she turns, as slow as a predator, I find myself fascinated by her eyes.
I know what she’ll be capable of: once her magic stirs and she remembers who she is, and the intimidation I felt before turns into awe, curiosity, a fixation on unearthing her true power.
Perhaps it’s that curiosity that drives me forward, shedding whatever inhibitions I might have had just now, to stalk forward like predator on predator, noticing the hesitation flickering in her eyes when I near her, and feeling—just for a breath—like I’m a step ahead.
It’s not normal to see Annika Singh hesitating in my presence. She’s always controlled, contained, measured, not flinching or batting an eyelid, because she has no idea what she is to me.
But just as quickly as her hesitation glimmered, her control returns, her spine straightening and chin tilting with defiance.
“Yes, Mr. Ralph?”
“I need you to clear our schedules for the rest of the week. We’re going on a trip.”
Her brows furrow. “A business trip? I didn’t receive—”
“You wouldn’t have received an email for this,” I interject, taking a deep breath as I tower over her and meet her eyes with a steady gaze. “It’s a leisure trip.”
Annika’s brows lift slowly, and for the first time since she’s been working for me, I see what she looks like when she’s surprised, and her eyes turn softer, doe-like and innocent in a way that beckons to the softness nestled deep within my being.
The moment is tender, internally for me, and all I can do is fight the sudden urge to wrap my arms around her and protect her from even me.
Fuck!
This being a fated mate is new territory for me, and the subtle pull I always felt toward Annika has now become a force field. How am I supposed to fight my urges when they feel so strong?
Maybe when she looks at me the way she is right now—eyes full of accusation and fury—it’s my cue to take a step back. Not physically, but even the thought of her keeping her walls up feels like a challenge, and the alpha blood running through my veins is eager for the challenge.
“A leisure trip?” she asks flatly, arching one brow as she flattens out her initial surprise. “I don’t believe I agreed to this.”
“You don’t have to,” I return as I calmly shove one hand into my pocket and casually lean against the oval table with one hip. “As my employee, it is now a requirement. So is marrying me,” I blurt out with no regrets, ripping the Band-Aid clean off.
Annika visibly pales, the color draining from her face instantly as she stares at me in disbelief.
“What did you just say…?” she murmurs, and I see her fight every instinct to laugh at the absurdity of it.
“You heard me. I said you will have to marry me.”
“Marry you?” she asks as I turn my back to her and casually stroll toward the window that overlooks the city.
“Yes, Annika. You will marry me,” I repeat, and there’s an awkward pause before she lets out a laugh.
The sound is incredulous, strained with her disbelief, as if she’s on the verge of choking. “M-marry you? That’s insane, Mr. Ralph. I don’t mean to be rude, but have you lost your mind?”
Maybe, I think to myself, but I don’t let the doubt show when I turn to her, my expression even when I nod despite the look of utter dread in her eyes.
“This is serious, Annika, and the company’s future is at stake.
So is mine.” Though the former explanation is a lie, the latter is true.
I choose to run with the lie. “We have another potential investor, and he wants me to marry his daughter before he invests in the company. I am not willing to sell my freedom, but his money is needed for research.”
I want to sigh with relief as if I’ve run a mile, but I don’t flinch. Annika gulps and finally says, “But you’d be giving up your freedom, anyway…”
“It’s a contract marriage, and it will be annulled as soon as I’ve taken care of the investor," I continue with the lie, not knowing what might come when Annika learns the truth about the valley and what I am. But what matters right now is getting her to the valley.
I’ll take care of the rest once she agrees to the trip and the marriage.
“No,” she says flatly, the color returning to her face like armor with her cold, indifferent expression. “I will not marry you, Mr. Ralph.”
“I am your boss,” I remind her, and she straightens up.
“And nowhere in my contract does it state that I am required to marry you.”
Annika doesn’t wait a breath before she spins on her heel and storms out of the boardroom, leaving me with my inner wolf’s sudden rage that comes from being defied in ways that a human could never understand.
I’m forced to simmer in that anger, feel it crawl under my skin as I curl my hands into fists at my sides and turn to the door where Annika has just left.
Something inside me snaps—perhaps it’s my inner wolf, the part of me that cannot accept being rejected like this.
Does she not realize who I am?
Well, she’s about to find out.