Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Harper’s scent followed Adrian out into the hallway, but he tried to convince himself it was some kind of olfactory hallucination brought on by stress and insufficient sleep and absolutely not the tiny pink-haired human currently unpacking her belongings in his office.
His original intention had been to set her up in one of the isolated cottages surrounding the pack house, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Having her in his office was… inconvenient, but it was also satisfying to have her in his personal territory.
Even if he had immediately left it again.
Mate, his wolf demanded, pressing insistently against his consciousness. Ours. Go to her.
He swore and climbed the backstairs, heading for the small library at the rear of the second floor. “No.”
A surge of frustrated longing rolled through him. One small human had his wolf acting like a pup presented with its first rabbit.
Pathetic.
He closed the door to the library, forcing himself to focus on the stack of reports he’d had brought up.
He’d told himself that setting up a secondary office was simply practical, that it would allow her to work unimpeded.
It certainly wasn’t because he didn’t think he could be around her all day without doing something profoundly reckless, like hauling her across his desk and—
No. He needed to focus on the reports. Supply requisitions.
Territory patrol schedules. A complaint from the Westbrook pack about border incursions that was almost certainly manufactured to justify their Alpha’s posturing.
Normal things. Alpha things. Things that had nothing to do with grey eyes magnified by oversized glasses or the way her heartbeat had stuttered when he’d stepped too close in the hallway.
He picked up the first report and read the same sentence four times without absorbing a single word.
Fuck. This is Derek’s fault.
His brother had known exactly what he was doing when he’d sent Harper to Moonstone.
Known and probably laughed about it, the manipulative bastard.
Adrian had told himself that his first reaction to her was nothing, just a temporary aberration, but that illusion had vanished the second he’d seen her again.
It wasn’t just because he’d been too long without…
Without what? A mate? He’d stopped believing in that particular fairy tale years ago.
Because of Vivienne. Because what she’d done to the pack, to his father, to him, had destroyed his faith in any type of mate bond.
The memory of Vivienne’s face suddenly flickered and shifted, overlaid with pink hair and intelligent eyes that sparked with defiance when challenged.
His jaw clenched.
Harper Bailey was nothing like Vivienne.
He knew that intellectually. She was awkward where Vivienne had been polished, direct where Vivienne had been subtle, apparently incapable of hiding a single thought that crossed her expressive face.
She’d challenged him in the hallway—demanded privacy, ground rules, respect—with none of the calculated seduction his stepmother would have employed.
But she was still a woman. Still capable of manipulation. Still a threat to his hard-won equilibrium, especially if his wolf continued its current campaign of territorial insanity.
A knock at his door pulled him from his brooding.
“Enter.”
The door opened to reveal Coleman, one of his enforcers and his second-in-command—a scarred veteran of too many border skirmishes with a face made for intimidation and a loyalty that had never wavered. Currently, that face wore an expression Adrian couldn’t immediately identify.
“Alpha. The human is settled into your office.”
“I’m aware.”
The other male’s gaze swept around the small library. “You could set her up in here instead,” he suggested mildly.
“No. She belongs in my space. It has the necessary infrastructure,” he added quickly, hoping that Coleman hadn’t picked up on the possessiveness in his voice.
Coleman shifted his weight, the movement telegraphing discomfort. “Some of the younger males are… interested.”
The word landed like a match on dry tinder.
Interested.
His wolf surged forward, flooding his senses with a possessive rage that had his vision flickering gold around the edges. Other males were interested. In his mate—
She is not your mate, he snarled internally, forcing his wolf back with an effort that left him grinding his teeth. She is a consultant. A temporary inconvenience. Nothing more.
“Interested in cybersecurity?” he growled.
“Interested in her.” Coleman’s expression had shifted to something uncomfortably perceptive. “She’s attractive, Alpha. Unusual. Smells…” He trailed off at whatever he saw in Adrian’s face. “The young wolves are curious. That’s all.”
“Then uncurious them.”
“Alpha?”
“She’s here to work. Not to provide entertainment for hormonal adolescents who can’t control their instincts.
” He was on his feet without remembering standing, his hands braced on the desk.
“Make it clear that Ms. Bailey is under my protection. Anyone who makes her uncomfortable will answer to me personally.”
The words hung in the air between them, weighted with implications he refused to examine.
Coleman’s scarred face remained carefully neutral. “Understood. Though if I might point out—putting her in your office and placing her under your protection is going to fuel speculation.”
“The office is practical. It has the infrastructure she needs,” he repeated.
“It’s also your space.”
“Are you questioning my judgment?”
“Never, Alpha.” Coleman’s voice was mild. “Just noting that the pack will draw conclusions.”
“The pack can draw whatever conclusions it likes. My decisions aren’t subject to gossip.” He forced his hands to unclench and forced his breathing to steady. “Is there anything else?”
“Elder Howard is already complaining about the human presence. You might want to make an appearance before he works himself into a formal protest.”
Howard. Another headache he didn’t need.
The eldest of the pack’s remaining elders was a traditionalist of the most annoying variety, convinced that any deviation from “the old ways” would bring ruin upon them all.
He’d opposed the deal with Derek. Opposed the infrastructure investment.
Would almost certainly oppose Harper’s presence with every breath in his ancient body.
“I’ll handle Howard.”
“Do you want me to escort the human to dinner?”
He knew the offer was innocent, but his wolf interpreted it as something else entirely. A challenge. A claim. Another male putting himself between Adrian and what was his—
“No.” The word came out as a growl, and Coleman’s eyebrows rose fractionally. He made himself continue in a more moderate tone. “If she needs an escort, I’ll escort her myself. It would be inappropriate to send anyone of lesser rank.”
“Of course.” Coleman’s voice was perfectly neutral. His eyes said something else entirely. “I’ll see you at dinner, Alpha.”
He withdrew before Adrian could formulate a response, closing the door with a soft click that somehow managed to sound smug.
He stared at the closed door for a long moment, then dropped back into his chair and buried his face in his hands.
What is happening to me?
He’d spent eight years as Alpha. Eight years maintaining iron control over his instincts, his emotions, his wolf. He’d turned down offers from a dozen eligible females—werewolf and otherwise—without a flicker of interest. He’d built walls around his heart that should have been impenetrable.
One small human, and those walls were developing cracks.
It’s just attraction, he told himself. A physical reaction. It means nothing.
But his wolf knew better. His wolf had known from the first moment her scent had filled his lungs, from the first press of her small hands against his chest. Had known and claimed her in that wordless way of wolves, marking her in the deepest part of his soul as mate, mine, forever.
The instinct to go to her was almost overwhelming. To go back down the stairs, drag her into his arms and bury his nose in the curve of her neck where her scent would be strongest…
His claws extended involuntarily, scoring deep grooves in the surface of the desk.
“Stop,” he growled at himself. “She’s a consultant. She’ll be gone in two months. You will maintain control.”
His wolf’s response was a wave of longing so intense it bordered on pain.
Two months. Two months of her scent permeating his territory, his office, his thoughts.
Two months of watching her interact with his pack, seeing other males look at her with an interest he had no right to forbid.
Two months of pretending he didn’t feel the pull of her, the gravitational force that his entire being had apparently decided to orbit.
He didn’t know if he’d survive it.