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Renata, eager for the affection, leaned into his shoulder and purposefully brushed her stomach against him. Then, she dropped down beside him, pressing her cheek into his in what was clearly scent marking.
Apparently, she was feeling the need to mark her territory.
Cortana seemed to be reading between the lines, if the way she stiffened in her chair was any indication. “And you are Riaz’s mate?”
“No, Pet,” Riaz replied easily. “Just my—”
“Girlfriend,” Renata interjected, looking pleased as pudding. “I’m sorry, you didn’t say. Did you bring your own sustenance? I’m afraid we won’t be able to provide you anyone to nibble on.”
“Unfortunately, I left my cooler at home, but I’m certain I can find alternative sources.”
Sickly sweet, Cortana’s smile split her lips as her eyes pointedly fell on Riaz before returning to Renata. A screech of outrage followed the innuendo, and Riaz barely caught the she-wolf before she closed the distance between them.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but that’s enough play. We have a strategy meeting to get back to, Ren.”
He stood, maintaining his grip on Renata’s wrist. Eagerly, she followed him to the door, throwing a nasty glare at Cortana in his guest chair. As he motioned for her to leave, she leaned in for a kiss—and Riaz turned his head at the last moment so that she caught his cheek instead. Renata didn’t seem to care, demonstrating her claim in front of the vampire who was watching them with a bored look.
Riaz stood impassively, not participating, until Renata drew back. Satisfied with her show, the she-wolf turned tail and left the two of them alone. He barely resisted wiping the seal of jealousy off his face.
Seconds later, Riaz had settled back into his chair, watching Cortana play idly with a dagger she’d unholstered and was flipping back and forth.
“Delightful woman.”
A laugh escaped him. “You should know: Renata isn’t my girlfriend, and she knows that. We simply enjoy each other’s company from time to time.”
“Is that why she was all over you?”
“Wolves, as you might expect, feel the need to mark what they perceive as their territory when they feel threatened. Could you expect any less with a beautiful woman in my office with me?”
“I don’t expect anything, Riaz,” she said pointedly. “But calling this an office is like calling the minotaur’s labyrinth an archive. Not quite the same thing.”
“Are you calling my office a maze with a monster inside it?”
“If the shoe fits.”
Offering her a fake look of contrition, he was on the point of laughing when Gadriel’s voice rang out from down the hall. “Riaz, file the vaccine paperwork while you’re in there!”
Huffing in exasperation, he pulled up the already completed file and hastily went over it again, while Cortana sat silently in the chair across from his. Before he could finish the process, he frowned.
“Seth’s going to want this through the Internet, won’t he?”
“Yes, oh ancient one! For the last time, it’s called an email.” The disembodied voice of his beta rang out from his office down the hall.
Riaz grumbled, shaking his head. “And what is Seth’s email?”
A sound of vexation echoed down the corridor before his beta glided into his office. Taking the laptop from his hands, Gadriel sent the message following a few quick clicks. Straightening to his full height, his debonair beta threw a show-stopping grin at the vampire sitting quietly before them.
“Pleasure to meet you, Cortana. I’m Gadriel, Riaz’s beta.”
Rising to take his hand, her smile was genuine. “The pleasure’s mine. Riaz has yet to introduce me to the others.”
“Yeah, knowing him, he won’t.” Gadriel’s emerald eyes came back to trap him in a mock critical look. “Our alpha doesn’t follow the norms when it comes to … well, anything really.”
“What’s with all the Riaz hate, and why wasn’t I invited?” Ava made her appearance in the doorway behind Cortana. “Did you finally email the vaccine paperwork?”
A sneaky grin flitted over Riaz’s mouth, reclining back in his chair and linking his hands behind his head. “Of course I did. I always file my paperwork on time.”
“For your version of ‘file’, anyway.” She pitched her voice lower and affected a British accent. “Riaz’s office: the final frontier. His betas’ continuing mission: to explore strange new piles, to seek out new files and new classifications. To boldly go where no sane organizer has gone before.”
