Chapter 3 #3
After a moment of trying to get myself under control, I stood and my eyes narrowed on the luxury vehicles pulling up outside.
Alright, I may not have considered that Maya would have to be in the same room as these very human assholes.
If they had understood mating shit they would leave her the fuck alone.
As it stood, I didn’t trust them to do that.
“Baby girl,” I spoke, approaching everyone.
As she turned, her eyes looking up at our height difference, Bella climbed her way up to sit on top of Maya’s head.
Something my mate didn’t seem phased by in the least. I didn’t say anything but I did slide her wet leather jacket from her elegant shoulders, revealing her fucking perfect body.
It was unfair that she could walk around in a skirt like that.
I tossed the jacket down in my office and shrugged off my suit jacket, pulling it on her as she inhaled and sighed looking far more comfortable.
I was glad she was warm and not in damp clothes but it wasn’t about that.
No this was way more selfish. I needed to see her in my clothes.
She rolled the cuffs and then buttoned it in the center, somehow making it look sexy instead of like an oversized coat. The woman had a natural grace and elegance that women in Hollywood had tried to create for years.
Unfortunately, before I could make a second costume change, the door chimed and Henry’s eyes sparkled with amusement and excitement.
The first being because of my failed attempt to cover Maya in my clothing and the second because he was thrilled to be at this meeting.
Like I said, the guy was all about investing and arguing. He should have been a lawyer.
“You have this all handled?” Atlas asked as Maya walked next to Sai, their heads bent over the kitten as the twins attempted to pull Maya away from him. Which failed.
Croy and Henry were talking about something as they walked over to Henry’s office to no doubt grab something. I was positive that some type of argument would occur during this meeting, so Henry probably wanted all of his files and records just in case.
The three men appearing today weren’t my favorite, but they did a damn good job at running Washington, Oregon, and California’s branches. How the one from Oregon was the only one on time was past me. Humans were terrible with timing, so who the hell knows.
I nodded to Atlas as he walked towards my office, no doubt to continue to look through shit.
Last time Atlas had attended a meeting with these assholes, he had to leave the building because he got so frustrated with their bullshit and the guy didn’t have much of a temper.
He had only planned on filling in for Henry in the first place, I knew he was happy to not have to deal with that shit.
Hearing voices, including my secretary, Cecile, I walked towards the front while rolling my sleeves now that I was jacket-less.
Inhaling, I found myself pissed that I couldn’t smell Maya’s sweet scent of sea salt, ashes, and roses.
Such a unique aroma that I had begun to love.
I think I was a little in love with our Mate as it was.
Alright, that part may have not been all that little.
When I entered the room, Cecile immediately went back to her desk not meeting my gaze.
Good, considering she was on extremely thin ice.
I had nearly fired her but Maya had brushed the incident off so I had left it alone.
That would change in a heartbeat if Maya asked for her to be fired.
Then again, I would sell my entire company for her if she asked.
I wasn’t worried about being able to support her, we had enough money in the Earth realm to last generations.
The mythology behind dragons hoarding treasure wasn’t that far off, although for us it just seemed to manifest in generational wealth.
Which was why it was so fucking crazy that she didn’t want me to spend any money on her.
Like what the hell else was I supposed to spend it on?
I wanted to spoil the woman rotten and every time I heard her mention something she found interesting it was a compulsion to get it for her.
I may not have loved it, but I respected that Maya wanted to work.
She made a valid point. She needed to be able to make choices, even if it was hard as hell for me to let go a bit.
I would admit that it was one of the reasons I hadn’t freaked out about Croy too much.
One, I knew you couldn’t control mating shit. Secondly, Maya had chosen him.
So no, Croy didn’t really bother me and the man was a walking fucking encyclopedia. Considering that Maya was a species that we were unfamiliar with overall, the help was much needed. I actually had meant to suggest they work on shifting this evening… but now I had to deal with these assholes.
“Marco.” Our executive officer from Oregon, Edmund, offered me a knowing look and shook my hand in passing.
He was younger, maybe twenty-six, but the man knew his state and the area around it very well, so I had determined age really didn’t matter.
After all, I was only twenty-four myself.
In dragon years that was extremely young but still more advanced than most fifty-year-old humans.
I think Maya was similar in a way because she was very adaptable. I’d seen the woman watch something and then be able to repeat it easily. It was just that lack of base knowledge that needed to be expanded.
As Alex and Michael both greeted me, I inhaled and prepared myself for what was going to no doubt be a long afternoon.
Unsurprisingly I hadn’t been wrong.
I leaned back in my leather chair at the head of the table and continued to stare at the PowerPoint of profit measures that Alex’s assistant was clicking through.
I’m not positive if he had done it on purpose but the colors and the information were so dull I could barely pay attention.
This was not the aspect that I loved about my business.
Dragons were naturally possessive and somewhat selfish creatures. I’d always enjoyed collecting beautiful things. Art, properties, and everything in between. It was one of the aspects of my business empire and it was also my true passion, not all of these other aspects.
My eyes flashed to Maya. One of the greatest treasures I’d come across.
Not to be collected but definitely in my possession.
I wanted to travel the universe and its many realms with her, collecting everything and anything that she or I found interesting.
I entertained myself with the train of thought for most of the meeting.
The twins had gone out about five minutes ago to pick up some dinner. Maya hadn’t mentioned it but I worried she would get hungry.
Sai was in his office ‘working’ with Atlas. Avoiding this third hour of these unremarkable spreadsheets. Lucky bastards.
Croy had wandered off somewhere after the first hour.
He had appeared distracted, eyes darting to and from the watch on his wrist. The only people who didn’t seem uninterested included Henry and the three executive officers.
One of which, Alex, was on a slide that had Henry and Michael arguing about something.
I had no idea what specifically, but I could feel the mood of the room turn from frustrated to angry.
My eyes went back to Maya where she sat elegantly to the right of me. Her eyes on Bella as she continued to pet the sleeping kitten before looking up at the screen. She looked focused as if she had somewhat of an understanding of what was going on. Probably finding it more interesting than myself.
Bella let out a small meow and Michael frowned. He looked at me as if the kitten meowing was my fault. In return, I narrowed my eyes at him, his eyes darted back to the screen instantly. That’s what I fucking thought.
I mentally dared him to say some shit. If Maya wanted to play a soundtrack of cat meows and fill the office with kittens, she could. As long as she was smiling.
My eyes traced the Moretti logo on the PowerPoint and I found myself glad that I had emphasized the equality aspect to her. Sure she was younger than me and probably had no interest in business, but I wanted to make sure that no matter what happened, she was always safe. The rest of them as well.
I planned on making Maya the queen of my empire, just so long as her throne was on my fucking lap. I felt like that was reasonable, I mean the woman was going to share my last name one day.
Should be sooner rather than later if you think about it. She doesn’t have a legal last name, it would be reasonable to get her one. What would be better than to give her mine?
I shook my head a bit thinking about how much my mindset had shifted.
Hadn’t it been over a week ago I’d been driving back from a meeting with the council and thinking about how I felt like something was missing?
I sure as hell hadn’t thought it was our mate.
Maya was an unexpected, gorgeous surprise.
I stretched my arms above my head, a small groan passed my lips. Unintentionally snagging Maya’s attention from the PowerPoint.
Her eyes snapped to my chest and flickered down my body. Her eyes darkened with desire. A small hitch, barely audible, caught in her throat.
I nearly groaned at how much that simple action turned me on. Motioning for her to join me, she slid out of her chair and leaned into my chest.
Bella looked up and licked my chin. The action had me laughing because of Maya’s surprised face. Honestly, this was now the most entertaining executive officer’s meeting I’d ever been to. Then again, they were only really stressful when you didn’t own the company.
“Mr. Moretti,” Alex’s voice had me frowning, “are we not holding your attention?”
Was this guy for real? Michael and Alex were both in their thirties, so they tried to push the buttons of superiority. Last time I checked, though, I was the one paying them.
“Not particularly,” I admitted as Maya blinked at them, her face devoid of emotion, unimpressed. Something she no doubt was not doing on purpose.
“... with his fuck toy,” Alex’s assistant muttered quietly, the tail end practically ringing in my over-sensitive ears. It wasn’t loud enough that a normal human would have been able to hear it.
Henry’s jaw clenched as he stood up, hands clenched into fists. His anger permeated the board room.
Maya made a worried noise, no doubt more upset about our reactions than what he said. Maya gave little consideration to what humans thought of her and it was extremely attractive.
“I’m sorry, what the hell did you just say?
” I growled slightly while narrowing my eyes at his assistant.
I was trying really hard to not get worked up since Maya was sitting so comfortably on my lap.
Her hand was on the back of my neck and face pressed against my chest, almost purring against me.
Almost because right now she couldn’t fully relax because of these assholes.
“Nothing,” his assistant immediately put out, his face paling.
What was his name again? I didn’t really care if we were being honest.
“Alex, your assistant is fired. Get the fuck out of my building. Now.” I snarled as Maya’s face dipped into a frown as she glared at the man. Except I got the distinct feeling it was because she was upset that he upset me. Which was fucking perfect. She was perfect.
“Seriously?” The assistant turned red in the face, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. As he stood up, his chair crashed to the floor.
Alex grunted looking embarrassed, “Charles, leave. We will talk later.”
My eyes moved over to Henry as he sent a message on his phone, to Atlas no doubt. Charles would not be returning to my company and his asshole comment would not go unpunished.
Maya seemed to relax as I ran a hand over her leg. She kept her attention on the room, landing on Henry, the only one now not looking worried. No, instead he was staring at Maya and making her blush, due to what I had no idea.
I inhaled trying to pull myself away mentally to focus back on the humans. “What exactly are we arguing about?”
Henry shook his head, “Alex and Michael are attempting to argue something that is idiotic. Edmund agrees with me.” Henry had a much longer attention span than I did, following along with everything going on around him.
This was why I didn’t like to get involved in shit like this. I had enough responsibility, I didn’t want to also have to argue with humans on how to run my company.
“If we invest in these three companies,” Alex began, “it will help us. I’ve looked into it, I promise you that it will yield results.”
Maya frowned as they broke back into arguing as her lips came to my ear, “Marco, this sounds crazy, but I can tell he’s lying.”
That didn’t sound crazy to me at all. I had read that part of a phoenix’s magic was gauging the truth of others’ statements.
It made me wonder if Maya realized that she was using her magic.
I wasn’t positive if it was normal for a phoenix, but I often found her using her magic, unintentionally to gauge the truth of others statements.
Henry looked over at us as his eyes lightened with surprise.
“Run me through this again,” Henry sighed, despite how calculated he was no doubt being.
It was rare that my brother ever did anything unintentionally, it was what made him a fantastic beta.
He continued, “maybe I am not understanding this. So, you promise this will yield results. At least as far as you can predict.”
“Yes.” He answered.
Maya offered a head shake while rubbing her nose to Bella. That didn’t mean shit though, the results could just benefit him rather than the rest of the company.
“And you believe it will help us. As in this company,” Henry frowned, “you believe it will help the company to essentially invest in competitors when it comes to our international trading connections?”
“Yes.”
Maya’s head turned as she looked right up at me, “That’s it. That’s a lie.”
Michael paled, “What is she talking about, Marco?”
Henry arched a brow, “Do you believe the same as Alex?”
“Yes?” Michael sounded unsure.
Maya shook her head, pressing a kiss to my cheek before speaking, “I’m going to go find Atlas and see if we can find some food for Bella, but they are lying. It’s super obvious. So…maybe they have something to gain from this that would yield a result for them but not the company?”
“Thanks, baby girl.” I chimed with a lazy smile as Henry stood up, bringing her to the door, she kissed his cheek as well and he locked the door after she left.
Alex sputtered, “That isn’t true!”
I inhaled and smiled. Alright, I lied. This meeting was about to be far more fun.