Chapter 46
Nadia
Walking into work the next day was weird. Like what do you mean yesterday I was having a hormone induced emotional breakthrough, only to turn into a wolf, then revert back to human form and have sex in some field under the moonlight? As I climbed the stairs, I couldn’t help but smile to myself.
“Woof woof, motherfucker.” I spun around at that softly voiced comment to see Helena standing there, grinning.
“Sorry I couldn’t come past yesterday.” A coffee was thrust my way and my newly sensitised nose let me know it was my favourite: a latte with extra caramel syrup.
“I got stuck working late last night, and did I tell you Greg is on the warpath right now?” He was our manager.
“Apparently the tax office is auditing the company and so everything needs to be done right freaking now.”
“Ugh…” I dragged my heels as we walked towards the front door, then placed my free hand on my forehead. “I think I’m still feeling a little overheated. Maybe I need another day off.”
“Like hell. You can’t leave me like this.
I know spending the day in bed with your super hot guys would be so much better, but chicks before dicks.
Thots before knots?” With a wrinkle of her nose, she shook her head, right before she linked arms with me, basically dragging me towards the door.
As we approached, we were giggling like kids until we got to our desks.
“You are staying right here with me, because I’m going to need all the hot stories about your mates to get us through… ”
Her voice trailed away as we noticed Greg standing there, arms crossed.
“Morning, ladies.” He said the words through partially clenched teeth. “Nadia, nice of you to join us.”
“Morning, Greg,” I replied, an apology forming in my brain, but something stopped me from uttering it.
My wolf, I quickly realised. I could almost feel her size him up, taking in the slight paunch, the narrow shoulders, the lack of upper body strength.
She was pretty sure she could take him, which forced me to stifle a snort.
“HR had me on leave for the rest of the week.” My tone was polite, professional and still he stiffened.
“But I negotiated an early return to help out with the audit.”
To help Helena, that’s why I did that, not this dickhead.
“Right, well, I’ve emailed a list of all the reports the higher ups requested. If the two of you could send them to me when you can, I’d appreciate it.”
I watched Greg as he scurried out of the room, looking back over his shoulder at me a few times.
“Damn…” Helena’s hand went to her hip. “Who the hell are you and where’s my best friend? Because you had Pencil Dick there running away like his arse was on fire. As soon as your eyes went all silver, he just about shit his pants.”
“Did he?” I grinned because the stink of fear wafting off Greg made clear his response. “Well, I guess we better get those reports organised.”
The two of us sat down and booted up our computers.
“So now you’ve gone through your first shift, are you going to feel a random need to sniff my butt?” She just grinned as I shot her a dark look. “Or like hump my leg?”
“Considering the amount of times you Dutch ovened me when we did sleepovers as kids, I have no desire whatsoever to get closer to your butt. Like what do you eat, toxic waste? Also humping…?” My fingers flew over the keyboard as I typed in my login details.
“I’ve got three men fated to keep me perfectly sexually satisfied, so why the hell would I bother dry humping you? ”
“Bitch.”
A piece of paper was scrunched up and pegged at my head, but apparently the wolf had reflexes I didn’t. I caught it mid-air, then tossed it into the waste paper bin without even looking. A little more banter and then we locked in, working through morning tea and beyond, until lunchtime arrived.
“Stupid Australian Tax Office,” Helena groaned, stretching her arms above her head. “I need a coffee and a sandwich the size of my head, stat. Wanna hit that place on the…”
I looked up as her voice trailed away, only to see we had a visitor. Well, visitors. My pack stood in the doorway holding plastic bags full of food that smelled freaking amazing, as well as trays of coffee.
“Hey.” Why the hell did my cheeks start flushing?
Probably because these guys were completely out of place in this environment.
They were like a trio of wild animals. Sexy, sexy wild animals.
I took in their work uniforms, the food, everything, and then gave into the sudden muscle tension, walking over to greet my mates. “What’re you doing here?”
“We were doing a quote for a job in the area and thought we’d come by,” Grey replied smoothly.
“More like we bumped up a job that was close to your office.” Ethan plucked coffees from his tray, handing me one, then Helena. “As soon as the walkthrough was finished, Tex started whining about coming past with lunch.”
“Didn’t whine.” The man himself stepped in closer, putting an arm around my shoulders.
“I made a suggestion in a very manly fashion to go and make sure my woman had some lunch.” Why did I find that so hot?
“Figured you’d need a break. We could hang out for a little while, have something to eat.
” His lips brushed my ear as his voice lowered. “Or anything else you might need.”
That forced me to shove him away. It was bad enough my body started responding to them the minute they walked in the room outside of work, but in the office? I glanced around, as if all of my colleagues could see my nipples burrowing through my clothing, trying to get to Tex.
“I need to get this work done.” Sitting down at my desk, I found I had an audience. Three sets of silver eyes stared down at me, right before the bags were placed on my desk and each item unpacked. “Everything’s been piling up since I went on leave.”
“And you need to eat.”
Grey’s tone made clear he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Yes, sir.” I sketched a little salute as a joke, only for him to go very still. Interesting. It seemed like he liked that a whole lot. I filed that little bit of info away for later, then grabbed one of the bundles at random. “Chicken and salad sandwich? Yum. Thanks for bringing this by.”
“We provide for our mate,” Tex said, pulling up a chair and sitting down in front of my desk before opening up his own sandwich.
A little movement beside me meant I glanced sideways to see Helena mouthing the same words with a jubilant expression on her face.
I was never going to hear the end of this.
“We also provide for our mate’s friends.” Ethan carried over the box of food. “So Helena, we’ve got roast beef, salami, chicken—”
“Salami would be amazing,” she said, suddenly shy.
OK, so maybe there were some benefits to having the guys around.
“So how did the quote go?” I asked, sandwich in one hand, scrolling my mouse with the other. My inbox was filled with requests for different records, receipts or reports. A hand reached over, closing the laptop before Tex met my outraged expression with an unrepentant smirk. “I’ve got work to do!”
“Australian industrial relations law specifies that all employees are entitled to a lunch break,” Grey replied mildly, taking the last remaining seat and sitting down opposite me. “If your employer is not honouring that, I know a good lawyer we can talk to.”
“I’ve been away from work for days,” I spluttered.
“On medically approved leave,” Ethan said.
“The company is being audited!”
“And you will work hard to complete your tasks, after you’ve had something to eat,” Grey replied.
Sitting back in my chair, I scowled at the lot of them.
“You’re so cute when you’re grumpy,” Tex said, which had Helena spluttering, then coughing as she almost choked on a mouthful of food. “Just makes me want to kiss you until that little line between your eyebrows disappear.”
“Oh goddess…” Helena hissed, sitting down lower in her seat before conspicuously turning back to her laptop.
If she noticed what was going on, so would my colleagues. My eyes darted around the open plan office, trying to gauge the way other people were processing the appearance of my mates.
Just in time to see Christian the hottie approach our area.
He tapped a sheaf of papers against his thigh, smiling confidently at every woman he walked past, only for that to disappear once he looked through the glass partition around us.
Catching the moment his eyes widened as he took my pack in almost had me bursting out laughing.
That impulse died as every single one of my guys turned to see what had caught my attention.
That preternatural stillness, so much like the way big cats on the nature documentaries went quiet, right before they attacked, had me stiffening.
The guys didn’t move, just stayed right where they were as Christian’s steps slowed and then stopped.
“Is that the guy that was bugging you at the bar?” Grey asked in a deadly tone.
“The hottie?” Ethan got in before I could reply. “Doesn’t look so hot to me.”
“Pretty sure he’s shitting his pants… Oh, look, he’s walking off.” Tex’s grin was vicious. “That’s right, little man, run away. This is our girl and you will never have a chance with someone as hot as Nadia.”
“You guys are menaces,” I said, “and you’re going to get me called up to HR. I have to work with Christian. Work,” I repeated at the sound of their collective growls. “He’s a dick, you’re amazing, but you need to go now. I have so much work to do.”
“But you—” Tex started to say.
“We will if you come around to our place after work tonight,” Ethan said. “Deal?”
“I intended to anyway, as long as Tex doesn’t do the cooking,” I replied. “Maybe I’ll grab some takeaway on the way over.”
“After a shitty day at work, we’ll be here to pick you up,” Grey replied. “One of us will drive your car to our place.”
“Not Tex,” Ethan and Grey said at the same time.
“We’ll get you dinner and while one of us does the clean up, you can have a soak in the bath or sit on the couch and watch another one of your bloody hockey romance shows while we give you a massage.”
My mouth was hanging open as they all leaned in, pressing perfectly chaste kisses to my cheek before packing up the remains of their lunch and taking their leave. Turning towards Helena, I saw she was wearing the exact same expression.
“OK, I hate you and love you right now,” she said, shaking her head to dispel the haze.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this jealous of another person and…
” The hectic light in her eyes had me bracing myself for what came next.
“I know why you don’t have sex face anymore.
” Her hand waved vaguely in my direction. “You’re in lurve.”
“Shut up.” My focus was dragged back to my laptop as I opened it up.
“Nadia and Ethan and Tex and—”
“Shut up…” I growled.
“And Grey, sitting in a tree, K.I.S—”
“Girl, we’ve got so much work to do I don’t know if I’m gonna get time to watch even one episode tonight,” I said, trying to steer the conversation somewhere more professional. “Let’s get this shit done before Greg comes down and reams us a new one.”
“So when are you guys getting married? Do packs do that?” The woman was never one to be deterred. “I promise I will throw you an epic bachelorette party, though maybe not with strippers. Because damn, those guys looked like they were ready to tear Christian’s throat out for even looking at you.”
“I’m not sure if packs get married,” I replied primly. “They forge mating bonds and there’s no fancy white dress involved in that.”
“So have they bitten you and claimed you yet?” she asked. “Because the way they were looking at you, I don’t think that’s far off.”
At that, my fingers stopped typing. That same restless feeling I now knew was my wolf pacing inside me started up and, for a moment, I just stared blankly at the screen.
“They’ve asked me to move in with them.” That came out in a way flatter tone than I intended to, the wolf pacing, pacing, letting me know that something was going unsaid.
Sucking in a breath, I turned back to my friend.
“Which is kind of a foregone conclusion, right? I mean we’re fated to be together. ”
“Is a foregone conclusion if you want it to be.” Helena could be an idiot, but she was my friend for a reason.
Her manner completely changed, becoming softer, more serious.
“And if this is fate, then it doesn’t matter when you make the move, does it?
You’ll end up together, but that needs to happen when you are ready. ”
Ready. People kept saying that word to me, but what did that actually mean? I didn’t get a chance to ponder. Greg came bustling in, saw the remains of our lunch and then frowned.
“Those receipts from the function in April. Do you have them?”
I stifled a sigh and then forced myself to smile.
“They were emailed to you and the managing director three quarters of an hour ago.”
I turned back to my inbox, opening an email before starting the next task.