Chapter 16 | Passionate?
"Even the prettiest woman could feel insecure if she loves a wrong man.
What makes her beautiful is a man who can treat her right."
-#86, The Gentleman's Guide
"This plan is fantastic, Ms. Archer. I'm sure Mr. Anderson likes it too. What do you think?" Tal notes.
Mustering a well practiced professional smile, I direct it towards Anderson, hoping that bastard approves. We've been having trouble with this man for sometime. He's been trying to manipulate others into disapproving.
"Yeah... It seems alright but I'm afraid Ms. Archer, I cannot quiet understand the concept," he replies.
"Well, Mr. Anderson, I'm afraid too, that I can only explain it to you. I cannot understand it for you," I reply patiently, trying to keep my anger at cheek. Reddening at my comment, he ignores it while Fishman stifles a snort.
"Yeah, yeah.. I get it now. Please do show me where I should place my signatures,"he grunts. Finally...
After signing the papers, Anderson leaves with a handshake, while Fishman hangs back. "That was fun, wasn't it?" He asks grinning. "Really! That's what you call fun. It seemed like stretched never-ending Cyclops goo to me," I retort back, rolling my eyes as I shut my laptop.
"Cyclops goo...." He repeats after me and starts laughing. "Why Ms. Archer, you've got an interesting choice of words? I'm impressed."
"Oii shut up will you? Anyways, I gotta leave now. By the way, Tal, mail me the new agreement, huh?" I say shaking my head at him. "Yeah, sure. Bly, you gotta ride home or what?"
"Yep. Besides am meeting up with Tess."
"That's cool. See ya then," he hugs me and kisses my cheek.
Tal Fishman, was one of my high school buddies. Was the class clown. He also happened to be one of the major investors in our holdings. Fun guy to be with. Knows how to cheer me up. Also happened to be a notorious playboy.
Heading to my car, I check my phone to see a couple of texts from Rick.
Swerving through the traffic at its peak, I pull into the parking lot of Blitz Mob. That was a mall with an amazing food court and fun arcade. A pleasure filled haven established specially for boring weekends.
Securing my keys in my leather purse, I remove my navy blazer and place it on the passenger seat. Checking out the outfits displayed on the mannequins, I walk straight into the food court.
I spot Tessa at one of the tables. She seems absorbed in her phone, with her head swaying to some music blaring in her earphones.
Shaking my head at her absurdity, I walk towards the table.
Sliding into the seat opposite her, I snap my fingers in front of her to grab her attention.
She turns to me lazily with an annoyed expression.
But her reaction does a one eighty degree turn as her face lights up with a genuine bright smile.
"Blee!"
"Yup, that's me," I grin back brazenly with a wink.
"Oh Goddess, where the hell were you? I'm literally starving to death!" She raises her voice with a frown while clenching her stomach. "No hello, no how have you been. Just that you're hungry. What a very caring best friend?" I ask rolling my eyes playfully.
Rolling her eyes herself, she swats my arm, "That's all cause I'm your best friend. Just like you." Both of us break off laughing. Buying pizzas and sodas, we catch up on each other.
"How's your man doing?" She asks about Rick.
Before I begin to tell her, she interrupts.
"Tsk, tsk. Is someone in love?" I crunch up in confusion, "What?
" "Your face literally lit up when I asked and you blushed.
My badass baby girl blushed! Goddess, am I dreaming?
" She pinches herself lightly. Am I in love?
Rolling my eyes at her dramatics, I open my mouth to reply, "Actually-"
Her eyes widen at me as she gasps, "Is that a mark I see on your neck?"
"Well, as a matter of fact, yes, it is a mark. Rick's mark." "Holy shit! Blee, how the hell did that happen? Spill!"
"That's....." Tessa searches for a word to fill in.
"Stupid, romantic, too fast," I try to help her.
"No actually, I was going for passionate," she retorts.
"Passionate? Well maybe it was...." I mumble, deep in thought. We were walking through the mall, going window shopping. Both of us probably looked weird. She in her shorts and oversized jersey while me in my work clothes walking hand in hand munching chips. Insanely mirthful.
"We seriously got to go shopping, Blee. You know what, we'll have a girls' day out. Text me, when you can, huh? I know that you're all busy with your caveman. But don't forget your single best friend, huh?"
"Of course, Tessie. But I thought Aaron wanted to drop by too?" "Yeah, he wanted to. He had asked his manager to book a room in some luxury hotel nearby. I thought I'd come with him again. But it'll be after a few weeks..." She trails.
"I understand, when are you leaving, by the way?"
"Tonight." "Oh."
"I promise I'll come back with Ron. Besides mom is trying to fix me up with this Italian guy. She's playing Cupid. I can't wait to come back here," she huffs.
"That's just like Vanessa. Anyways, how's he? That guy?" I remark chuckling.
She rolls her eyes and sighs again. She probably hates him. She's the type of girl who'll wait for her mate even if it was the end of the world. And she hasn't met him yet.
Whoever it was, he was just damn lucky.
"I'll text you as soon as I touch down. Okay?" She says as she hugs me. "Okay, love you, Tessie," I say as I hug her back. "Love you too, Blee."
Waving at her as her cab pulls off to her hotel, I decide to turn back. Hoisting my purse strap on my shoulder, I walk towards the parking lot. Where the hell is my car?
My eyes roam the whole area. I fiddle with my car keys as I do not find car I was driving.
I'm sure I parked it right here. My brand new convertible.
Didn't I mention? Rick gifted me a brand new convertible today morning, when I requested a mode of transport.
It took away all my energy to argue with him about the driver.
Of course, I didn't want one. I'm fully capable of driving myself. Now where the hell was it?
I jump on my feet as a car horns behind me to give way.
I move to a side, still searching for my car.
The car that was supposedly behind me does not drive past me, but horns again.
What the freaking hell? I turn to face that car and the complete idiot of the driver driving it, only to be met with a familiar Range Rover and the hunk of a man, dressed in a polo and ripped jeans, leaning against it.
"Rick?"
"Last time I checked that's me, Angel," he replies back with a wink. "What're you doing here?" I ask him.
"I'm here for my girl. She was supposed to come to me after lunch. But she got late and I got worried. So I decided to be the knight in shining armor in search of his damsel in distress," he grins at me. "Who said I needed a knight in shining armor when I had a shining sword myself?"
"Oh angel. Sorry to disappoint you, but it wasn't you. I told earlier remember. I'm searching for my girl. Not you," he says with a stolid face.
I place my hands on my hips, raising my eyebrows at him.
"Just kidding," he grins again.
"You sure?" I ask trying to stifle my smile. "Zen percent," he replies.
Covering the distance between us, I wrap my hands around his neck as he picks me by my waist, swirling me. As he puts me down, I press my lips to his holding his face between my palms.
As I pull myself back, he grabs my hand, pressing a soft kiss on the inside of my wrist and pulls me towards his car. I get in the car as he closes the door, gets into the driver's seat and starts driving.
He turns up the volume and Demi Lovata's voice fills the air. "How was your day?" I ask him casually. "Yeah, pretty much the same as each day. Meetings, patrols and papers. But I got a billion dollar deal signed, so pretty cool. What about yours?"
"The meeting went alright. I lunched with Tessa. She wanted to meet you, but she's leaving tonight. She'll be coming back of course. With Ronnie."
"Your brother?"
"Yup. The very same."
"When are they coming?" He asks. "Probably in a couple of weeks. Why?" "You should invite them to stay with us." Raising my eyebrows tentatively, I look at him. "What?" He asks turning to me.
"It's fine. They can crash at a hotel," I reason with myself. "Blythe, it's not a problem. I'm not inviting them out of obligation. I'd love to meet them anyway and it's not that we don't have spare rooms too."
"Sure, I'll let them know."
We stop at a signal and I see Rick mind linking with someone. Before I get in, the mind link cuts off. His jaw clenches and his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. Something is wrong.
"Rick?" I call him gently. He growls back a, "What?" in response. My insides clench in reflex and my fingers grow cold. His tone was feral.
"I-Is everything alright?" "Why wouldn't it be?" He asks again ferociously with a masked growl. "I know something's wrong. Someone mind linked you and you grew angry. What happened?" I say slowly testing the waters, standing at bay.
His eyes lock with mine as he swiftly turns to me. They were changing colours. Goddess! His jaw clenched, lips pursed tight, whole demeanor tensed as he fixes me with an icy cold glare. Deciding the worst, I place my hand gently on his shoulder.
He visibly relaxes as my touch calms down his wolf. His wolf's dark eyes dissolve into his own blue ones. "What happened?" I repeat calmly.
"Some rogues were sighted near the pack settlements."
The pack settlements were the areas where pack members who were ready to start their own family and wanted to live in privacy chose to construct their own homes. Land will be granted by the Alpha. But Rogues? There? How did they get past the borders?
He starts driving the car at high speed. His anger radiates in waves. As my mind reels, he slows down his pace and mind links with someone. I look at him eagerly waiting for the new message. "All under control."
My eyebrows quirk up at his statement. "Two of them imprisoned. One dead and another being followed." That fast? How? Damn it, within seconds. His pack members are quite versatile.
"Who's following one of the rogues?" I ask him. "Chris and two of my best trackers," he replies curtly, "It'll be done with very soon."
We pass by the pack house in comfortable silence. "Who took my car from the mall, by the way?" I ask him. "I had one of my guys take it with a spare key. It must be home by now, why?" He asks back. "No, I have to collect my laptop and blazer." "We'll get it after parking this." I nod back.
He turns off the engine and gets out of the car. Within a fraction of a second he's beside mine to open it. I roll my eyes playfully and say in a duh tone, "And they say chivalry's dead."
He rolls his eyes back at me, helping me out, "You got your car keys?
" "Yup," I nod my head as I fish them out of my purse.
As I retrieve my laptop and blazer from my car, Rick offers to carry my laptop from me.
More like demands it from me. "You know that I can carry it myself.
I'm a werewolf too," I shoot at him. I hear him mutter whatever as he grabs it from me.
The breeze flurries through my silver snow like fur as my thudding paws echo my beating heart.
I slow down my pace as my wolf enjoys the fresh air, nature's greeneries around it and its newfound freedom.
After a long time it had been let out. Slightly larger than my own massive wolf, a wolf with silky black fur, runs past me. Charming, this is war.
I push my hind paws further behind and my own self forward, as I sprint to Rick, who has overlapped me by miles.
Oh Alpha, maybe I'm out of practice but never out of vigor.
It's time to see what I can do. I outrun him in milliseconds and he halts as I pass by.
I too stop as he does. His black eyes clash with my silver ones.
He looks at me thoughtfully and lets out a howl.
A joy filled one. My heart swells at that sound. I myself howl back.
We mess around a bit and then lie on some rocks by a stream. Both of us a contrast. White against black. That's when I see it. A mark. The mark. Mark of a white crescent on his forepaw. Just like mine. While mine was black.
My paw grazes over that mark and a shiver runs through his frame. He sniffs near me and gives a full wolfish grin nodding. Suddenly his body goes tense and I know that he is being mind linked. I wonder what it is about.
I move off him stretching myself. He too gets on his paws. Deciding to shift back, I concentrate on my human self. His eyes nearly pop out when he sees me concentrating or rather hears my bones cracking.
Smirking to myself, I shift into the human me, clad in a simple mesh white tunic dress. Perks of being a Silverette, dear.
His face scrunches into a frown as I bite my inner cheeks trying to contain my laughter. Shaking his head, he points his snout at me. What? And before I knew it, he had shifted. I immediately avert my eyes to the ground. Only to realize that he was indeed in his birthday suit.
Smirking to himself, he pulls on a pair of basketball shorts. "Your wolf's eyes are silver?" He asks. Nodding my head I ask him, "Yeah. Just like yours are black. By the way, what was it about?" "The final rogue has been caught, it's time for interrogation. You coming?"
"You want me to come?" Usually Alphas do not let their Lunas be at these occasions. For safety, they call it. A load of sexist crap, if you ask me. "You should know the pack matters and directly involve in them. If you don't want to..."
"No, no. It's just that generally Lunas are not taken. So I thought-"
"Blythe, that's just a load of crap. You think some bloody rogues can get to you, past some guards, the Gamma and me? You think that I'm not capable much?"
"Of course not. I don't think so-"
"What I mean is, I'm pretty sure you, yourself can take down all of them with ease, with your eyes closed. And I'll definitely be there for you," he says, looking at me right in the eye.
He'll be there for me. My smile blooms on my lips, hearing his utterance and my heart races on itself as I nod back at him, "I'm definitely coming.
" Never has someone said that they will be there for me apart from Ron and Tessa.
His confidence in me, not overwhelming, but a new profound wing for my highest soaring.