Chapter Six #2
She watched me for a second before nodding and then walking out of my office. I turned back to my laptop and pulled up Thoth’s message again.
NixtheGoddess: Hey… I need to talk to you if you have a minute.
I waited for a few minutes, but there was no answer.
I shut the laptop and turned to my work computer.
I started going through the alerts, clearing any issues in the system as if it was just another day.
I got a notification that I had a meeting added to my schedule.
I tilted my head and barely contained my smirk as I clicked on it and realized it was with Vince.
The note on it said we needed to discuss the final details of the mating ceremony.
I snorted and accepted it as Rick knocked. “Hey.” He looked exhausted. “Alannah told me you wanted to see me.”
I looked up at him for a minute and nodded. “You look like shit.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Yeah.” He wiped his eyes. “Yeah.” He walked in and sank into a chair. “I feel like shit.” His hand wiped at his neck and I saw him flinch a little.
I pretended not to notice. "How's Abby doing?”
He bent over. “She isn’t doing well. She was up all night getting sick, and she has a pretty high fever.” He looked up at me over the desk. “I don’t think she is going to last much longer. This sickness has just progressed too much.” He sounded so dejected.
“Hey. Don’t say that. She is still here.” He nodded, took a deep breath in and then sat back.
“Enough about my bullshit. Why do you look like you have been crying all night?” His eyes tightened and I could barely scent that Brandon had just snuck into the outer office.
“Because I have been.” I looked off to the side.
“What happened?”
I dropped my head into my hands and sniffled. “Brandon was sleeping with Shannon. And then instead of telling her it was over and he wanted to mate me. Or telling me that he wanted her. He kept kicking the issue down the line until it blew up last night.”
He scoffed and shook his head. “Idiot. What happened?”
“He showed up at my house. But I told him to go away until the issue was handled.” I shook my head. “He didn’t listen, just tried to convince me I was foolish for demanding he deal with Shannon. He kept saying she wasn’t involved.”
Rick waved his hands. “That’s good, isn’t it?”
I laughed, but it was filled with so much anger.
“You would think that, wouldn’t you?” But I just shook my head.
“It might have been if Shannon hadn’t showed up, and a crowd hadn’t gathered to see my entire relationship implode.
Brandon is clearly still in love with her.
He refused to say that he wanted to be with me.
He allowed Shannon to cut into our relationship, and that would be bad enough if she was an Alpha. ”
Rick watched me for a second. “But she is unranked.”
I nodded. “Exactly.”
He shook his head. “That sucks.”
I laughed. “Yeah.” I wiped at my eyes for the camera. “But what can you do?”
He watched me for a second. “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
I heard a chime from my laptop. But I focused on Rick. “How did you know?”
He stood with a sigh. “Because…it’s what I’d do.” He turned and started towards the door, then hissed. “Fuck.” He turned. “Alannah said you needed me. What did you want?”
I furrowed my brow and acted like I forgot. “Ummm.”
Alannah popped up at the door. Her eyes darted to the side. “Your dinner?”
I smacked the desk and pointed at her. “That’s right. I’m having a dinner tonight. Barbeque. You’re invited.”
He sighed. “I’m going to have to say no.”
Alannah sucked a breath through her teeth. “Shelly already said yeah, and is making her potato salad.”
Another chime came from my laptop. I opened it and looked at the screen.
Thoth- I need to speak with you too.
Well shit.
I sat staring at the screen with a pit in my stomach. It was foolish. I needed to speak with him. I needed to figure out my feelings before I did anything else. But seeing his words made me freeze…and panic.
“Are you okay?” Rick’s words snapped me back from the screen.
“Um, yeah. Just a message I need to respond to.”
He nodded. “When are you talking to Vince? About leaving?”
I sighed. “After I know where I’m going.” He nodded and stood.
“I guess I’ll see you tonight.”
I smiled. “See you tonight. I need to leave a little early to get everything I need for tonight.” He nodded, then left me alone in the office.
I wanted to ignore Thoth’s message, which is stupid. I needed to face this.
You are panicking over a message? Nix sounded amused.
Megan chuckled with her. I think she is panicking more about what the message means.
But she messaged him first. Nix shook her head.
I laughed. They were both right. I shook my head as I turned back to the screen. The cursor flashing, waiting for my message.
NixtheGoddess: What do you need to talk to me about?
I hit send before I could think about it, and then I waited.
I turned to my work computer, doing my best to look busy.
I heard a new notification, and my stomach clenched as I turned to look at the screen.
My stomach loosened when I realized it was from my father.
Before I could read it, a stench hit my nose, just a tiny.
I knew Brandon was creeping outside of my office, but I had thought he had left when Rick left, but no.
He was still out there. I ignored him and clicked on my father’s message.
Deadmanwalking: King has agreed to move back to pack lands. You can move today.
NixtheGoddess: Are you ready to move?
Deadmanwalking: Believe me when I say everyone is chomping at the bit. I have Ronnie and Cas scouting the caves.
NixtheGoddess: WHAT? Cas is still so young.
Deadmanwalking: Yet she has quickly become our best tracker. You were right. I let a lot fall to the wayside when your mother left, but I have been sticking to their training and the girl has really stepped up.
I felt a little vindicated after he said that.
NixtheGoddess: Are they okay?
Deadmanwalking: They are fine. They haven’t even gotten to the caves yet; they left a little while ago. But I figured you would want to know. Anyway…
I furrowed my brow at the screen, and I was going to ask what was wrong.
My father was never one to trail off. But Brandon finally walked to my office door after standing outside long enough for his scent to creep fully into my office.
I felt my face fall as I looked up. There were two notifications that went off, but I shut the laptop screen and settled back into my seat, crossing my arms.
“What are you doing here?” My tone was sharp to my ears, but I wasn’t going to pretend to care about this man anymore. That part of this play was over.
Brandon smiled and tried to come around the desk, but I let out a growl. His face fell. “Babe.”
Another growl was ripped from my throat. My voice fell lower. “I would think again before calling me that. Keep your distance. I don’t want you anywhere near me anymore.”
Brandon’s eyes tightened and I could see he wanted to snarl, but he held it in check. “Why are you acting like this?” He sank into the chair across from me. “I told you Shannon doesn’t matter to me.”
I snorted. “You really think I’m fucking stupid, don’t you?” He stilled for a fraction of a second, but the damage was done. I threw my head back and laughed. I laughed so hard tears started to fall, but I just nodded. “I walked into that one. Of course you think I’m stupid.”
He drew in a deep breath, and I watched as his eyes dilated a little. “That’s not true.” He tried to sound so sincere, but even he could hear the lie. “You smell…different.”
I raised my shoulder. “I went back to my old shampoo.” Another ding from my laptop drew his attention.
“What was that?”
“An email.” I tossed back. “But that isn’t important. What are you doing here, Brandon?”
He looked at me for a second, then puffed up his chest a little. “I came to apologize about last night.”
I waved him off. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
He smiled like he won. “Exactly, so we can just go back to being fine. Our mating ceremony is in a week and then we will be mates.” I stared at him for a minute, my eyes dancing all around his head. He started to squirm. “What?”
I gave a long blink. “I’m sorry, I was just checking to see if you got hit over the head.”