Chapter 7
seven
KAT
We barely spoke over dinner.
When I went back to work, he did too.
Around ten, he came striding out of his office, his eyes narrowed at me yet again.
"We're going to bed, Kitten."
"I have work to do."
"You're supposed to be torturing him," my wolf whispered.
"I'm also supposed to have this finished by tomorrow morning."
"It'll still be there tomorrow," Callum said.
I ignored him.
His hand was on my laptop, lowering the screen, a moment later. I barely managed to pull my hands off the keys before he shut it on them.
"What the hell? I told you I have work to do. You don’t get to make that decision for me."
"I remember informing you that I’m making all of the decisions now. I’ve decided you can do it tomorrow."
"I’m going to kill him."
"Do it." Sable was bloodthirsty. It was the one thing I could always count on.
I stood up to face him. "I need to submit the order in the morning, and I have multiple hours of work to do on it."
"Send it in the evening, and rush it."
"That costs money, Callum."
"You have money, Kitten."
"We're not arguing about this." I tried to move his hand.
He basically glued it to the laptop with ice. "You're right, we're not arguing about it. Sleep isn't debatable."
"It is when you have a business to run."
"No."
"Yes. I literally sold you my future for this business, so—"
He interrupted me. "You work too much. I know. Everyone in the city knows. Why wasn't this done earlier?"
"Excuse me?"
"This order. Why wasn't it done earlier?"
I clenched my jaw. "Do you know how much work I have to do all of the time?
Nothing is ever done early. I do it all when I have to, and I sleep when my body forces me.
That's it. That's my life. Spreadsheets and paperwork and not nearly enough coffee. Nothing else. I rarely even make it to Jonah’s fights, and he’s the closest thing I have to a pack or family anymore. "
Callum studied me for a long moment.
I thought he might actually be about to give in.
"Consider this your body forcing you to sleep, then," he finally said, his voice still neutral.
I couldn't hold back an animalistic snarl. "Fuck you."
"Was that an offer?"
I pushed past him, ignoring the delicious chill of his magic on my hot palms as I strode down the hallway.
I was wrong. The man wasn’t an enigma. He was a menace.
"This is a good opportunity to enact your plan," Sable reminded me, a little quieter than usual.
I was fairly certain she knew I was at the edge of my rope. I was exhausted, and Callum had graduated from pissing me off to risking my business, which was crossing the line.
"I'm not going to be able to pretend I'm not furious right now," I said flatly.
"The fury will make him want you more."
"Sure it will."
"Really. He's always so controlled. Seeing you lose your shit will probably turn him on."
"Or make him realize he's not interested in my personality."
"You don't want him to mate with you anyway."
That was... actually a good point.
I heard Callum's footsteps on the tile behind me. The man was wearing shoes. In his own house. Had he ever even heard of comfort?
I tugged my sports bra over my head on the way to his bedroom, and threw it over my shoulder a hell of a lot harder than I needed to. I heard the fabric hit him, probably in the face, and almost grinned.
Almost.
I was still too pissed for that.
"What are you doing?" His voice was low and silky.
"Taking a shower. You're not invited." I strode through our room and into the connected bathroom.
It was gigantic.
I walked straight into the shower and started the water. When I stepped back to let it warm up without soaking me, I was entirely unsurprised to find Callum already leaning up against the cabinets, holding my bra to his nose.
He lowered the fabric when I caught him sniffing it.
"Get out." I pointed toward the door.
"We need to discuss your business rationally."
"Get. Out." I gritted my teeth with the words, gesturing more violently toward the doorway.
His eyes dipped momentarily to my breasts. They probably jiggled with my movement.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I snarled, spinning away from him and pushing my leggings down my thighs. I stepped out of them, followed by my thong. The leggings stayed on the floor, but I threw my thong over my shoulder like I had done with my sports bra.
I didn't hear the fabric hit the ground.
"You need to hire more help," Callum said.
"No. I literally traded my soul for this business, so I’m going to deal with it myself."
"Then you need to promote your boyfriend."
"Jonah is not my boyfriend, and he’s an MMA fighter. He doesn’t work for me. When he’s not making sure I remember to eat food, he spends all his time in the gym."
"He should be making sure you hire help. Anyone who's been on the internet knows you're doing too much. This kind of growth is far more than any one person can handle."
"I've hired enough, and dealt with it fine."
"You just told me you don't sleep."
"I don't need to sleep."
I heard Callum's scoff from outside the shower. "Delegate the work, or I'll delegate it for you."
"Touch my business, and I will kill you in our fucking bed."
"At least you can admit it's ours."
"Great. Now bring the couch back."
"No."
I glared at the wall of the shower, pumping shampoo into my hand and scrubbing my scalp violently.
Callum had already put all of my toiletries in his bathroom, which was either considerate or overbearing. Or maybe just fucked up, since I'd been forced to move in with him.
He waited outside the shower while I finished washing my hair and the rest of my body. Neither of us said anything, but the tension in the bathroom was thick enough to cut.
When I stepped out and grabbed a towel, his gaze dropped to my bare, wet body immediately.
I yanked the towel off the hook nearby and strode up to him.
Was I still furious?
Oh, yeah.
But was I going to use his obvious attraction and possessiveness to my advantage?
You'd better believe it.
I glared up into those piercing blue eyes. "You obviously don't understand the way the werewolf world works, so let me make one thing very clear, Callum. Women run the packs. We make the calls. Men exist to keep us safe. When a man tries to overstep his boundaries, do you know what a woman does?"
"I have a feeling you're going to tell me."
"She leaves. And she finds some other fucker to protect her. Betas are a dime a dozen."
His nostrils flared. "You can't leave me."
"Not physically."
The threat lingered in the air.
A mate bond didn't guarantee loyalty.
It didn't force emotional connection of any kind.
It didn't prevent cheating, betrayal, or anything similar. It was a permanent mental bond, and a vow, and that was it.
"You're threatening me." Callum's eyes were so cold, they burned.
"Am I?"
His lips curved the tiniest bit, his expression almost wicked. "What do you want?"
"Stay out of my business. Keep your hands off my laptop. Don't try to control what I do with my time."
"I'm not going to sit down and shut up while my mate works herself to death, Kitten."
"We aren’t mates yet, and if you want to have some say in that, we have to be partners.
You haven't told me a damn thing. You haven’t explained what you want me for, or what's so screwed up with fae magic that you and your family are all slightly insane. You only forced me to come here, and got rid of the couch when I threatened to sleep on it. You’re trying to control and manipulate me, and in a relationship, that has consequences. "
His jaw clenched slightly. "Fine."
"Fine what?"
"Fae magic always comes with a cost. Sometimes it makes sense. Other times it doesn't. Most fae only pay it when they actively use their power. My family and I are the royals because our power levels are the highest, and we suffer for our magic continuously."
"What do you mean?"
"Liv's power is spring. Spring fae magic is growth and energy. Her own energy levels are too high. She has to be moving and exerting herself constantly to keep from getting overwhelmed by it, and has panic attacks when she tries to slow down."
Holy shit. "Merrily?"
"Autumn. Death, and illusions. Her skin is sensitive to everything. Fabric. Weather change. New places. Pressure. Touch. Air quality. Darius is over summer, and his suffering is similar to Liv’s, but for an entirely different reason.
The opposite—he feels numb if he’s not doing things. Needs constant stimulation."
"What about you?"
"You don't need to concern yourself about me."
I scowled. "Just tell me. I can’t imagine it’s good. I know you control ice and pain."
He lifted my sports bra back to his nose and inhaled again, though I couldn’t imagine he could smell a whole lot.
I stole the bra back.
He tucked his hands in his pockets. "It’s unpleasant magic to possess."
"How does it affect you?"
"I feel it. Constantly. The pain."
I blinked. "What kind of pain?"
"It feels like having small needles or icicles buried in my skin at all times. Small prickles, everywhere. Gets worse if I move quickly, or too much."
"All of the time?"
"I've adjusted to it."
"You can’t adjust to that."
"You can try." He studied me for a long moment. "The first time we touched, you eased my pain. That’s when I knew you were mine."
"So you're using our bargain to force me to mate with you because I somehow protect you from your magic."
He didn't answer, unsurprisingly. But he’d just given me way more information than I expected him to, so that was fine.
"Touching is what takes away the pain?" I asked.
He dipped his head.
"That’s why you want to share a bed."
He didn’t answer.
"If you had just told me that from the beginning, I wouldn’t have argued with you so much."
Dropping my towel, I strode into the bedroom bare-assed, and reached for my wolf.
She took over without a question, already wagging her tail the moment we finished shifting. "That was so good. He's so horny."
"I'm glad one of us thinks that conversation went well."
"We'll find out all of his secrets eventually. No need to rush it." She jumped up onto the bed and burrowed into the blankets.
As much as it pained me to admit it, Callum had a point about my work habits. I knew I worked too much. Jonah had been saying the same thing for years, too.
If I went back to that order first thing in the morning, there would probably be enough time. I might end up needing to rush it, but doing that once wasn't the end of the world, even if it kind of felt like it.
If I did decide to get help, I'd need to hire someone new. Someone with business experience.
It was going to have to be a problem for tomorrow.
Callum walked out of the bathroom a few minutes after me. My wolf poked her head out of the blankets to watch when she heard his quiet footsteps on the floor.
"Ohh, he'll do nicely," she murmured.
No kidding.
All he had on was a pair of sweats hanging low on his hips.
I’d never seen him shirtless before. Or in anything but a suit. And he rocked a sports coat, but in sweats?
Hot damn.
He was all smooth skin, cut muscle, and glittering charcoal tattoos. His hair was tousled, the shadow of his stubble still the perfect length.
"Do I have to play hard-to-get?" Sable whined.
"That would be ideal. Try to only touch him a little, so he can sleep without being in pain."
No one deserved that.
Not even… well, actually, maybe some people did. And Callum might be one of them. I didn’t really know him.
But I didn’t think I could leave him in pain if there was anything I could do about it. Not when he’d helped me through heat without asking for any reciprocation.
"If he doesn't pull me close, I'm moving as soon as he falls asleep. I told you I want to cuddle," Sable said.
"That's fair."
Callum looked so good, I honestly wanted to snuggle with him too.
And more.
I couldn't let myself, though.
He slid under the blankets and looked over at my wolf, lifting the duvet so she could slide closer.
She whined and shook her head.
Callum's jaw clenched slightly.
My wolf ducked beneath the blanket again, hiding.
He let out a slow breath. "Please?"
His voice strained with the word.
I doubted he asked for help very often.
She stayed where she was, giving another sad whine.
"Kat didn't tell me your name." He tried a new tactic.
It wasn't necessarily a bad one, but it wasn't going to work. She mostly just cared about snuggling and belly scratches. And me making him my mate.
She definitely wanted to bite him, too. That was how wolves claimed their mates. Thankfully, she hadn’t brought it up yet.
"I've heard that a shifter's animal usually bites their partner," he said.
Shit.
Her ears lifted. He definitely had her with that.
He was figuring her out. That was either good, or bad.
If he told her he wasn't interested in being bitten, it would kill any positive feelings she had for him. I wasn't sure whether to hope that was exactly what he'd say, or not.
I didn't want him to hurt her, but I also didn't want her to keep being this obsessed.
Or actually bite him.
"You're welcome to sink your teeth into me at any time, in any place," he added.
Sable’s tail thumped against the inside of the thick duvet.
Dammit.
He’d officially won her over. She’d probably like him more than she liked me, now.
"I would prefer wearing your mark on my throat, to ensure that the scar you leave can be seen at all times," Callum said. "But of course, it's your decision."
My wolf's tail wagged faster, thudding against the down-filled blanket with every motion. "He only wants to control you. Not me."
"Are you seriously gloating about that? You do realize we're basically the same person, right?"
"You're the one he wants to fuck, so it's probably fine if you're the only one who plays hard-to-get."
"You're the worst."
"I love you too." My wolf poked her head out of the blanket nest again, eyeing Callum's neck.
"You can't actually be thinking about biting him right now. The last thing we need is to complicate this whole mess even further."
"It wouldn't be the end of the world."
"It would really screw things up."
"How?"
"We’re supposed to be keeping our distance, Sable."
"I don’t want to."
Sable wiggled out of the blankets and draped herself over Callum's chest, licking his throat. He couldn't hide the slight curve of his lips, and he buried his fingers in the fur around her ears, stroking them slowly.
"You wish he was petting you," Sable gloated.
"No. I have morals."
"Liar."
She was right. I was lying.
But the alternative was admitting that I was just as obsessed with the fae bastard as she was, so I was going to stick with my lies.
She sniffed and prodded his neck and shoulders for a few minutes before she finally sank her teeth into his throat.
I groaned.
His eyes gleamed as she licked the wounds clean until they healed rapidly, the way a werewolf’s claiming bite always did.
Then she snuggled up closer, leaving most of her gigantic, furry body sprawled over his, and fell asleep.