Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Adrian forced himself to remain calmly seated at the head of the table in the conference room, even though his wolf was prowling restlessly in his head.
Instead he concentrated on the other members of the council, studying their body language and breathing in their scents, analyzing their possible reactions.
At exactly one minute before the meeting was due to start, Harper came hurrying in, flushed and breathless, and all the blood in his body rushed to his cock.
She’d changed into a white blouse and a short pleated skirt over black tights.
Some distant part of his brain recognized that this was her version of a professional look, but all he could focus on was the way the white fabric of the blouse clung to her small breasts and the way the short skirt revealed a sliver of pale skin above the tights.
He could feel a growl building deep in his chest and swallowed it down.
He’d have to sit through an entire meeting with her looking like that and not touch her.
He should never have kissed her. His wolf snarled its disagreement, but he knew that the kiss had been a catastrophic mistake.
For eight years he had kept tight control over himself, refusing to let anyone get close enough to see the cracks.
The memory of Vivienne had been a wall between him and any kind of vulnerability.
But one look into her eyes and the wall had crumbled into dust.
When she hesitated at the doorway, he pointed to the chair next to him in silent command, praying she wasn’t going to defy him.
In his current condition, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to prevent himself from chasing her down, pressing her against the nearest wall and exploring every inch of smooth skin under that tempting little skirt.
His muscles tensed with the sheer effort of maintaining control, and he could feel his eyes shifting, gold bleeding into his vision as his wolf pushed forward.
Thank the goddess she flashed him a shy smile and walked to the indicated chair, her head held high. Her sweet scent washed over him and even though his arousal didn’t diminish, his wolf calmed enough for him to focus on the business at hand.
The meeting room was filled with elders and members of the pack leadership.
Elder Howard, of course, was there, scowling at a place on the table just to her left.
Two other elders were present, a male named Magnus who’d been a loyal supporter of Adrian’s father and a female named Rosemary who’d been one of his mother’s closest friends.
There were also a handful of younger pack leaders, including one who was looking at Harper with an admiration that had his wolf growling.
He forced himself to focus on the matter at hand.
“As you know,” he began, forcing a calm he was far from feeling, “Derek’s investment allows us to upgrade our technological infrastructure. Ms. Bailey has been assigned as the lead consultant on this project and will give us a brief overview of her findings.”
He sat back and folded his arms, determined to project an aura of calm authority he did not feel. He was the Alpha, and this was a business meeting. He would treat it as such.
“The human wishes to address the council.” Howard’s voice dripped with condescension. “How… novel.”
“Ms. Bailey is here at my invitation,” he said. He managed to keep his voice neutral, but every wolf in the room caught the undercurrent of warning. “She will present her assessment of our infrastructure needs. Questions and discussion will follow.”
“I have a question.” Jared, one of the younger wolves, leaned forward. “Why are we letting a human tell us how to run our communications?”
She didn’t even blink. “Because your current communications infrastructure is held together with duct tape and wishful thinking. Also because I’ve been doing this for six years and I’m very, very good at it.”
A ripple of surprise moved through the room and he hid his smile. His little kitten had fangs, had she?
She calmly pulled up her presentation on the wall-mounted display.
“I know many of you are skeptical about this project. But the current system is a liability. In the event of a real emergency—a natural disaster, territorial dispute, even a simple medical crisis—your inability to communicate effectively could be fatal. This isn’t about convenience. It’s about survival.”
The network diagram appeared on screen, and several wolves actually winced.
“This is your current setup. Notice the seventeen different access points, none of which communicate with each other properly. Notice the complete absence of redundancy. If your main server goes down, and I promise you it will go down, you’ll lose communications across the entire compound.
” She clicked to the next slide. “Notice the security vulnerabilities that would make any competent hacker weep with joy.”
She spoke with a quiet confidence that silenced the room. For a moment, he could see her not as the woman who had set his entire being on fire, but as the brilliant strategist Derek had hired. Unfortunately, Elder Howard was not so easily silenced.
“We don’t need human security.” Howard’s voice was dismissive. “Our territory is protected by wolves. We know every inch of these mountains.”
“I’m sure you do. But your data doesn’t live in the mountains.
It lives in servers that are connected to the internet, which is connected to everyone who’s ever wanted access to your private information.
” She clicked to the next slide, displaying a list of attempted intrusions she’d identified during her initial assessment.
“In the past month alone, there have been one hundred and forty-seven attempted breaches of your network. One hundred and forty-seven. Most were automated—bots scanning for weak points—but at least three show signs of directed effort.”
That got their attention. Wolves who had been lounging in their chairs sat up straighter, and he caught several exchanging glances.
“Who?” he asked sharply. “Who’s trying to breach our systems?”
“I don’t know yet. The attempts were sophisticated enough to bounce through multiple proxies.
But I can find out, given time and proper resources.
” She met his eyes directly, something even most of his pack couldn’t do.
“Which is part of why I’m here. To protect you from threats you can’t fight with teeth and claws. ”
Silence stretched through the room and he felt the weight of it, the assessment happening behind dozens of predator eyes.
“The human speaks of digital threats,” Howard said finally. “But what of the threat she represents herself? An outsider with access to our most sensitive information. How do we know she won’t use it against us?”
“Because I’m not that kind of person,” she said calmly, then smiled. “And also because I signed approximately fifty-three non-disclosure agreements before being allowed anywhere near your precious data, and Derek’s lawyers are scarier than any werewolf I’ve met so far.”
A snort of surprised laughter came from somewhere to his left, but she kept her focus on Howard.
“You have no wolf,” the elder said dismissively. “No pack allegiance. You’re a lone human in a world of wolves. Why should we trust your loyalty?”
“You shouldn’t.”
He shot her a quick glance, but her face was still calm and untroubled.
“You shouldn’t trust my loyalty because I haven’t earned it yet.
I’m new here. I’m an outsider. The only thing you should trust is my competence.
” She clicked to her final slide—the proposed implementation plan, with its phases and timelines and budget projections.
“As I said, I’m very, very good at what I do.
Derek sent me because he wanted the best for his brother’s pack.
Whether you believe that or not is up to you, but my work will speak for itself. ”
The room broke out in hushed murmurs. He let them continue for a few moments, then rose to his feet. “We’ll proceed with Phase One of the proposed plan. Ms. Bailey will have full access to the necessary resources.”
“Alpha—” Howard began.
“The matter is decided.” He pinned Howard with a commanding stare and the other male reluctantly bowed his head. “The pack’s security depends on modernizing our systems. We will do so under Ms. Bailey’s direction.”
The meeting dissolved into smaller conversations as wolves dispersed, some stopping to examine her displayed diagrams, others filing out with carefully neutral expressions. She saved her files and began packing up her equipment, shooting quick glances at him from under her lashes.
“You handled that well, especially for someone who claims to be bad at social interaction.”
“This wasn’t social, it was data, and I know my data. I simply told them the truth.”
“It’s an unusual strategy. Most humans who deal with wolves learn to be more… diplomatic.”
“Diplomacy implies I’m trying to manipulate the outcome. I’m just trying to fix your network.” She zipped her laptop bag and frowned at him. “Though I’ll admit, having the Alpha override all objections makes it easier.”
“You disapprove?”
“I’m not sure,” she finally admitted. “In my world, you earn authority through demonstrated competence. You proved you can do the job, so people trust you to do it. Here, it seems like authority comes from…” She gestured vaguely at him. “Whatever that is.”
His mouth twitched in spite of himself. Fuck, she was adorable. “Whatever that is?”
“You know what I mean. The Alpha thing. The whole ‘I’ve decided, so it’s decided’ approach.” She shouldered her bag, meeting his gaze directly again. “It works, obviously. But I’d rather convince people through logic than have you override their objections with sheer dominance.”
“And if logic fails?”
“Then I try harder logic. Maybe with charts.”
His laugh took them both by surprise. Her eyes widened and she leaned towards him almost imperceptibly, her own lips curving into a smile.
The sweetness of her scent increased, and he fought back the immediate, driving urge to pull her into his arms, to feel that slight body press against his, to bury his nose in the curve of her neck where that intoxicating fragrance would be strongest. His fingers curled into tight fists at his sides, claws biting into his palms as he struggled to maintain the thin veneer of control that separated the Alpha from the beast.
“You should return to the office, kitten,” he said roughly. “The afternoon’s getting late.”
“Right,” she said, her voice shaky. “The office. Where I do my work. Professionally. Like a professional.”
The knowledge that he’d flustered her shouldn’t have been as satisfying as it was.
“Now, kitten,” he ordered, and forced himself to remain in position as she fled, the hem of her skirt fluttering high on her thighs and exposing a glimpse of pale skin with every step.
Fuck. He started shedding his clothes as soon as she was out of sight, transforming as soon as he hit the back porch, and racing into the woods.
He ran until his muscles burned and his lungs ached, pushing himself to the brink of exhaustion, trying to outrun the memory of her lips, the sight of her in that ridiculously tempting skirt, and the challenging way she’d met the elders’ accusations with nothing but the truth.
He ran until the moon rose high and white in the sky, and still it wasn’t enough to quiet the howling in his soul.