Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
maverick
Bloom set up lunch with her parents on the drive to hers and Harper’s old apartment.
In the apartment, she packed a backpack full of toiletries and whatever else she needed.
When we went to Harper’s room to do the same, we found everything put away and labelled neatly in boxes, duffels, and trash bags.
My mate fell apart again.
I held her until she was ready to get up. She’d been holding herself together and keeping her emotions controlled for too long, and it had caught up with her.
When we left the room, she clutched my hand, towing me out of the apartment immediately.
The enforcers could handle the move. I’d have them drive my SUV home for me too, since Bloom wanted the fresh air that would accompany a walk.
Harper was never going to be like she had been again. Things had changed permanently for the pair of friends. It was going to take Bloom time to process that.
I used the pack link to ask my enforcers to take pictures of everything when they came to pack it up, in case Bloom wanted to see them at some point.
They would take all of Harper’s things to one of the available rooms in the tower, so it would be ready if she decided she was going to deal with the bloodlust for the sake of staying alive.
“Can we grab coffee on the way to the restaurant?” she asked me, as we walked down the stairs with our fingers intertwined. “I know you’re probably nervous about it, but I think I need it to get through this.”
“I’m not nervous about it. The killer isn’t a mind reader. They can’t poison one cup of coffee in advance at a cafe we choose randomly.”
And I’d be sniffing it before she drank it.
She let out a breath of relief. “That’s what I was thinking.”
We walked in silence for a few minutes. The city was loud, and I knew her mind was as well. With everything that had gone down in the last twenty-four hours, anyone’s would be.
After we grabbed our drinks, we walked a little slower. Bloom seemed reluctant to get to the lunch with her family, which didn’t surprise me at all.
They were a lot.
I was used to a lot, though, and I’d already texted to let them know they needed to go easy on her.
Bloom was really fucking strong, but knowing you were possibly losing the person closest to you would hit anyone hard. The tight way she was still gripping my hand told me she wasn’t coping as well as she wanted it to seem like she was.
When her mind touched mine first, without me instigating it, I couldn’t help the small wave of pride that followed.
She was mine.
Permanently.
Fuck, it was surreal.
“Do you think it’s weird that I’m not afraid to drink coffee again after what happened last time?” she asked.
She was trying to focus on something within her control. It didn’t surprise me. I thought it was both expected for someone as controlled as her, and safe as far as coping mechanisms went.
“No. You love coffee, and you know it’s not likely to happen again. If it does, you know I’m here.”
She nodded. “I guess.”
There was another stretch of silence. It wasn’t awkward. Just calm.
On a normal day, I would’ve tried to make her laugh or started a conversation, but this wasn’t a normal day.
She didn’t need me to make her laugh at the moment. She just needed me to be there.
“I know you’re worried about it, but I’d really like to go to the office,” Bloom said quietly.
“I spent the last few days watching Harper devolve, and I think I might be able to spot someone who’s in the same situation.
I know everyone who works there. I know their version of normal.
If there’s a chance I can stop them before they kill someone else, I want to at least try. ”
I forced myself to take a slow breath in and out rather than bark the immediate refusal I wanted to give.
I had already agreed that we needed to be a team.
Ultimately, she was my mate. My equal.
I needed to at least consider her perspective.
And yeah, if I was being honest, she probably did have the best chance of finding anyone in the office who was acting different. We’d watched turned vampires go that way in the past, but seeing any slight changes required having known them before.
“I’ll try to wrap my mind around the idea,” I finally said.
Her eyebrows shot upward, and she looked over at me. “Really?”
“Really.”
Her lips curved upward the tiniest bit. “I’ll hold your hand the whole time. You can touch everything before I do.”
“Now you’re just antagonizing me.”
“You can take it.”
“I don’t know. You might have to kiss it better.”
“It, being...”
“My ego, of course.”
Her smile grew just a little. “You’re lucky you’re so hot.”
“You’re lucky I’m so hot.” I released her hand to pull her closer, draping an arm over her shoulders again.
We reached the doors of the small restaurant, and stopped outside. Bloom studied them, her expression growing grave.
“They’re going to understand.”
“I don’t think they will. Turned vampires are the reason we’re in hiding.”
“If you were the one who was turned, they’d do the exact same thing. They’ll get it.” I squeezed her arm lightly. “If they say anything that even implies otherwise, we’ll leave.”
She gave a quiet sigh and a small nod, and we went inside.
Before we even reached the table, they were all throwing their arms around her, hugging her fiercely. I grabbed the coffee cup from her hand, so she didn’t drop it
They all spoke at once.
“We were so worried about you!”
“Don’t even fucking think about drinking coffee again.”
“Why didn’t you ask us for help?”
And my personal favorite:
“Thank god for Maverick.”
Thank god for me indeed.
Bloom was wiping away more tears as we sat down, after all four of her family members hugged me too. It had been a while since I hugged anyone but my mate. Rhone and I didn’t do that.
It was a little weird, but at the same time, it was family.
It made me miss mine just a little more than usual, and made me glad that Bloom still had hers.
We didn’t even order food before her mother demanded to hear her side of the story. She held my hand as she told a tamer version of what she’d told me, and no longer seemed worried about their potential judgement.
By the time our late lunch was over, Bloom was happy but emotionally exhausted.
We grabbed another round of drinks on our walk to the office building. People all around us snapped photos as we went, but we ignored them.
All of the difficult shit that had happened seemed to have snapped Bloom out of her worry about what they all thought. Or maybe our mate bond did that. Either way, I was glad she wasn’t self-conscious at the moment.
We met Sutton outside the elevator on the company’s floor, and she gave us—mostly Bloom—a quick summary about the people she was currently keeping an eye on who had seemed like they might be starting to zone out.
Ashley.
Brooks.
Phyllis.
Ozzy.
I didn’t care if she ignored me.
I was just there to make sure no one tried to hurt my mate.
“Ashley and Brooks are always spacey, but I’ll take a look when we get in there,” Bloom told Sutton.
“Phyllis definitely hated Arthur and Celeste enough to kill them, but she’s been on top of her paperwork game since the raise.
My whole team has. I can’t imagine she’d be doing this well if she was devolving. ”
“It’s something to consider,” Sutton agreed.
She looked tired, but I didn’t ask how she was doing.
That wasn’t my place. If she wanted to share something, she’d share it.
“It’s been so long since I did anything like this that I’m barely useful,” she said.
“You guys should’ve called an actual detective.
I’m sure there’s a werewolf one somewhere. ”
“If there was, I’m sure Maverick would know them. We’ll find the killer, though.” Bloom managed a small smile. “Thanks for helping. Why don’t you go get some rest?”
“That’s probably a good idea.” Sutton glanced at me. “I checked out both offices already, and there’s been no other sign of wolfsbane. I don’t think our killer will try that again right now. He knows we’re triple-checking everything.”
“Thanks.”
She nodded and slipped out, heading for the elevator.
“Let’s just walk around and see if anyone looks suspicious,” Bloom said into my mind, taking a small sip of her drink.
Multiple people came up to her, letting her know they were glad she was okay. They were smart enough not to touch her, or get close enough to do so.
Luckily for him, the fucker who touched her by the coffee bar that day kept his distance.
We spent two hours walking around, talking to Bloom’s coworkers.
Phyllis was as much of a bitch as usual, and Bloom wasn’t suspicious of her.
She said both of the other people on Sutton’s list were acting totally normal.
The only two people she was worried about were Ozzy (the tech guy) and Carter (the fucker I’d almost killed).
Ozzy had dark circles under his eyes and looked wiped out, but according to him, my people had been riding his ass about figuring out a way to lock the system up tightly enough that the cameras wouldn’t get hacked again.
Carter looked normal. Her worry for him had nothing to do with the murders. Apparently, his sister was in the hospital. He showed us pictures, and she looked pretty bad.
Bloom wanted to send him a gift card for food, so when I handed it over, she used my phone to send him the money.
After our walk, I reluctantly agreed to stop in her office so she could read a few emails. I sniffed every item and surface in the room twice before I finally decided it was safe.
Taking a seat in her desk chair, I gestured to my lap. “I got you a chair.”
She rolled her eyes with a smile.
I thought she’d refuse, but she sat down on one of my thighs a moment later, leaning her back against my chest as she checked her inbox.
I inhaled her scent deeply, my eyes closing and my hand slipping over her inner thigh.
She kept reading.
I just breathed her in.
Fuck, I could hold her like that all day.
Or I could’ve, if she hadn’t slid backward to press her ass against my partial erection.
She made a sheepish noise. “Sorry. This just feels really good, and I keep thinking about the knotting thing.”
“Did you just apologize for wanting to fuck me?”
There was a beat of hesitation. “Yes. We can’t have sex here, obviously. The door is glass.” She gestured toward it.
“People rarely come over here,” I said.
She glanced at the clock. “Unless they want to meet with me.”
I dragged my knuckles lightly over her clit through her pants, and she choked out a curse.
“Want me to stop?” I murmured into her mind. “I think I remember promising to make you beg me to fuck you on this desk.”
“Don’t stop. We’ll probably be fine. And if I remember right, you more recently said that I’ll never have to beg you for anything.”
“I did, didn’t I?”
“Yep.”
I dragged my fingers over her clit again, lightly. “Alright, I’ve got another idea.”
“I’m listening.”
I sent her a mental image through the bond, and her breathing shallowed as the desire in her scent thickened.
That was a yes.
I set her down on her chair and ducked under her desk. It was a tight fit, but I didn’t give a shit.
She slid her ass to the edge of the chair, making it easy for me to peel her leggings down her thighs and open them up.
Fuck, she was perfect.
“Stay quiet, Sugar.”
She sighed, and my grin was impossible to suppress.
Until I leaned in and had her on my tongue—then, I was fucking lost to her taste.