CHAPTER 4
FINIAN
We are screwed.
This is a disaster I should have stopped last week. If I’d noticed it, I could have pushed back against the contract change. But as soon as we got to the office, Wolf made it clear he just wanted to sign the damn thing and get out. He didn’t want to deal with any of this bullshit.
I wish I had looked more closely before Wolf signed that damn thing. Now we’re stuck needing an heir and a mate. How are we supposed to manage that? Wolf, Amos, and I are already thirty. We don’t have time to look for a mate, let alone go on dates.
“Fuck. We’re so screwed.” I toss down the contract and put my head in my hands.
I was getting ready to head home before I received the call from Wolf. After spending nearly eighteen hours in the office today, I was ready to get home and relax. Resting and relaxing are long overdue after the day I had, especially with the back-to-back meetings.
Now, I need to worry about how we’re going to fulfill the stipulations of this contract in order for Wolf to get his inheritance. Wolf needs the inheritance to gain ownership of Luscious, so if he didn’t depend on it, maybe he wouldn’t care whether we met the stipulations.
He will be dead set on fulfilling everything to become the owner of that damn place.
He couldn’t care less about the money. He can make that in a few months with the revenue from Luscious.
But owning Luscious? He’s ready to go to war for that place, so even thinking we’re going to do anything other than fulfilling that damn contract will be unacceptable to him.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Nervous energy builds up inside me until I can’t sit still anymore. I get up and start pacing the narrow strip of floor in front of my desk, my steps matching my anxious thoughts. I walk back and forth, searching my mind for any way we can get out of this mess.
Maybe there’s a clause I overlooked. Maybe a loophole?
Maybe it’s buried so deep somewhere in the fine print that it’s nearly unrecognizable to my eyes.
My eyes flick to the contract once more, and before I can stop myself, I grab it up off the desk and start skimming through it.
My eyes dart over the familiar lines over and over again.
After the dozenth time reading through it, the fight drains out of me.
There’s no loophole.
No wiggle room.
We’re stuck with this bullshit.
Wolf’s father thought of everything when he had his lawyers draft this contract. He thought of every avenue, every twist and turn that we could possibly think of. No matter which way I read it, there’s nothing.
Nothing.
We’re on the hook for an heir and mating. What the fuck?
I throw the contract onto the desk and run my hands through my hair as frustration tightens around my chest. Deadlines, expectations, and responsibilities keep piling up. Each one makes it harder to breathe.
We’re running out of time. Everything is on my shoulders. Even though this affects all three of us, it’s basically up to me. I’m the only one who can pick a mate for us. The others are too busy. I’m busy too, but handling arrangements and contracts is what I do best.
We have to find a mate. We have to build a future with her. We need to have a child, and that child has to be born before Wolf turns thirty-two. Time feels like a ticking bomb in my head. The urgency is sharp and relentless, making it hard to breathe.
What the hell are we going to do?
I slam the frustration down deep inside of me.
I try to center myself, but a knock on my office door pulls me out of myself and into the present.
I mutter a curse under my breath, telling whoever it is to come in.
I really don’t have the time or patience to pacify someone.
The door cracks open with a creak, and Melody steps inside.
Oh, it’s much worse than pacifying someone. Now I have to deal with my assistant. On a good day, I can handle her. But today, I’m at the end of my rope.
She gives me that shy little smile she always gives me. Her chin is tucked into her chest, and her eyes are soft and doe-like. I don’t return her smile, keeping my face a blank mask. Even when I feel like I’m coming apart at the seams, I can’t show anyone what I really feel.
Melody is an omega that we helped through a particularly difficult heat. Nothing more. Nothing lasting. Ever since, though, she’s acted like she has this unspoken claim on us. She acts as if we bonded her, like she’s waiting for us to claim her for real.
Her flirty glances, the lingering looks, the way she hovers—it all gets on my nerves, especially now with so much pressure on us.
Our pack doesn’t have time for distractions.
We can’t afford misunderstandings or false hopes.
We need to focus and be deliberate. We have to find the right mate to meet the terms of Wolf’s inheritance.
Melody isn’t the one. She’s not part of our group.
I straighten my shoulders, pushing everything to the back burner. I let the frustration with our current situation roll off my back, even if, on the inside, the pressure is building to a fever pitch.
Her timing couldn’t be worse.
“Can I help you?” I ask, words clipped and broody.
She seems taken aback by the tone in my voice. It allows room for no argument. “Well, I have this contract you need to look at. It’s for the Stephenson case.”
I snap my hand out, wiggling my fingers. “Give it to me, please. No more interruptions for the rest of the day.”
“But, I—”
I cut her off. “No more interruptions.”
I can tell she wants to say something else, but like always, she stays quiet.
Stepping forward, she holds out the folder she had clutched to her chest. When she gets close, she perfumes to get attention.
My nose twitches at her scent, but I give no other indication that I had a reaction to her proximity.
The way her face falls at my reaction hits the air between us like a quiet thud.
I take the folder from her and ignore her.
She huffs in annoyance, turns, and leaves my office.
The door closes softly. As soon as it does, I toss the folder onto my desk.
I run my hands through my hair and lean back, staring at the ceiling.
My mind is spinning in too many directions—too many thoughts, too much pressure, too many deadlines. But at the same time, it feels empty.
I’m lost when my phone begins ringing a few moments later.
Darting a look, I glare down at my phone.
Whoever is on the other end of that line had better have a good excuse to be calling me.
I have no patience for stupidity right now, especially with all of this thrown on my plate.
I’m on the edge, and I need a stiff drink. Or twenty.
Sighing, I walk over to my desk and sit down with a huff. I keep staring at the phone as it keeps ringing, willing it to stop. But it doesn’t. It keeps ringing, like it’s taunting me. It just keeps going and going, drilling into my already fraying nerves.
Finally, I snatch it up from the cradle and put it to my ear. “Ashford.”
There’s a pause, as if they’re rethinking this phone call. The way I said my name, clipped and formal, they should really be afraid of being on the other end of that line right now. I’m in no mood to put up with anyone’s bullshit.
A familiar voice floats through the line.
I roll my eyes and curse under my breath. Leaning back in my chair, I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to release the tension. “Amos, what do you want?”
“What crawled up your ass?” he asks, his deep, guttural voice flits through the line with a growl. “Just called to ask what y’all wanted for dinner tonight.”
Now I feel like shit. Here, Amos is trying to be courteous, and I’m biting his head off because I’m a dick and didn’t pay attention to the contract when it was given to us last week.
This is all my fault. I shouldn’t be a lawyer if I can’t foresee someone trying to fuck us over.
I should have known Wolf’s father would do something like this.
He’s never been the type of person to do anything by the book. He’s always doing shady shit like this.
“I’m sorry.” I heave a sigh. “I’m not really having a good day.”
“What’s up?” he asks. “You sound kind of ... on edge a little.”
He can read people like a book. Amos has always been able to do that, more so with Wolf and me. He can sense a change in the way we’re feeling just by the way we walk into the house.
“I missed an addendum in the contract Wolf signed last week.”
“The contract his dad made him sign for his inheritance?” He guesses.
I nod, even though he can’t see me. “Yeah. The very same one.”
He’s quiet for a moment, and I can practically hear the wheels turning in his mind. Amos is nothing if not astute when it comes to one of us and what’s going through our minds.
“I can only imagine what you found,” he says, giving a dry chuckle. “It’s Wolf’s father after all. That old bastard always has it in for Wolf.”
“Well, this doesn’t directly affect just him,” I retort, trailing off. I really don’t want to tell Amos this, but I know he needs to know just as much as we do.
“What happened?” His voice is pure business now, no dry humor in it at all.
“Well, there’s a part in the contract that stipulates that we ...” I trail off, swallowing hard at Amos’ reaction. I know he’s going to flip the fuck out.
“Stipulates. What?” he growls.
I cringe as I say, “That we have to have an heir and mate before his thirty-second birthday.”
“WHAT?!” he thunders down the line. “Who the fuck doesn’t read a motherfucking contract that has something like that in it?”
“Apparently me,” I deadpan, kicking myself in the ass.
“Yeah. Apparently, your ass.”
“Hey, I don’t need you breathing down my neck, too. I know I fucked up. Okay? Fucking hell.”
I hear him sigh through the line. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have taken that out on you. I was just surprised.”
“It’s okay.”
Our situation really isn’t okay. But it is a situation we will have to deal with, especially if we want Wolf to get his inheritance.
Everything is riding on Wolf gaining ownership of Luscious and the money.
Our livelihoods are on the line. Not because we need the money, but because this is one step in the direction of watching Wolf’s father’s empire crumble to dust. Without this, Wolf’s father still has all the power.
“We need to make this work,” I say after a moment. “I know it’s bullshit, but without that inheritance ...”
“I know. I know. We can’t take Wolf’s daddy out at the knees. This is such bullshit,” he spits out, grumbling under his breath.
“Tell me about it. We’ll talk more about it when I get home, though. Wolf should be there soon.”
“Okay. Just get your shit and get home. We need to figure this out. We don’t have much time.”
He hangs up without saying goodbye. That’s the way of Amos.
He’s a firecracker when something happens that he doesn’t agree with.
And trust and believe, none of us agree with this shit.
We do not like that our choice is being taken away.
None of us does. We’ve had that our entire lives, and we don’t want it to happen anymore.
Fuck me.
I really screwed the pooch on this one.
I gather my things, feeling like I’m jumping from one problem straight into another.
I press the intercom and tell Melody I’m leaving for the day.
She doesn’t reply, which I expected. She’s still upset from earlier when she came in and filled the place with her scent.
But I know she heard me because when I leave my office, she isn’t surprised to see me.
She ducks her head and seems to shrink as I walk past her.
The moment I get out onto the street, I breathe deeply before making my way toward my car.
The sights and sounds of the town fill the space around me.
Cars are driving down the street. Children laugh with their parents.
But the only thing I can focus on is getting into my car, getting home, and getting reamed out by Amos and Wolf.
I know it’s coming. I need to prepare for it now.
The moment I open my door, a piece of trash flies into the door of my car. I go to flick it away, the paper flapping in the wind, but I stop short as something on it catches my attention. Furrowing my brows, I start to read.
Select-A-Mate.
Take a chance at your Happily Ever After ...