“Obviously, it’s not the same as a bonding between an alpha and an omega,” I said. “I do want Terry to fuck me, but it’s not like I’m going to be suddenly leaking milk.”
Devon’s lips twitched, and Terrance glowered at me.
“I don’t have much knowledge about this…” Devon hesitated, gaze flicking between us. “…this process between two alphas. It’s rather rare, I hear. But in any case, your being mated does take precedence over other considerations.”
I refrained from fist-bumping the air. “Yes. Thank you.”
“While the bonding might be different, you still need to be together.”
I beamed at Terrance, who looked resigned.
“It’s obvious that Terrance can’t stay on your account.”
My glee evaporated as fast as it appeared. “Wait. What? You just said we need to stay together.”
“As your mate, Terrance can’t be professionally responsible for your security.”
“But we can’t be apart!”
I was about to hurl curses onto the obstinate omega when Terrance caught my hand and squeezed. He was looking at me with a tender smile. Somehow, his warm hand around mine felt more profound than the passionate kisses we shared a few hours ago. I forgot what I was about to yell.
“We won’t be apart,” he murmured. “I’m staying, just not as your bodyguard.”
“What will you do?” I breathed.
He shrugged. “I’ll take a leave for a few weeks, and we’ll see?”
“You can take the standard week off for newly mated couples,” Devon suggested. “Then I’m temporarily reassigning you as a mentor for new employees and a remote consultant. Besides, there’s always tons of paperwork that can be done from a home office. We will evaluate after a month.”
The mention of paperwork made Terrance grimace.
“It’s not what you want,” I told him. “I can’t cost you your job.”
“I’m not getting fired. It’s just temporary adjustments until we figure out what’s happening.”
I shook my head. This wasn’t what I’d wanted to happen. If I’d been worried before that Terrance would resent me, the fear just tripled.
“Who do you think would be best on Lothair’s account?” Devon asked. “Cal and Hugo are both between assignments. Kim is about to start with a new client, but I can renegotiate that.”
Before I could protest, Terrance said, “Send Kim if you can.”
“Wait…”
Devon gave me a long, hard stare. “While Terrance is on leave, you’ll need someone else.”
“Kim is highly competent,” Terrance said. “He was my mentor when I started.”
“But…”
“The guest suite I was supposed to live in is still empty. He can stay there.”
“So I’ll haveanotherbodyguard on my ass?”
Terrance raised his eyebrows. “Someone tried to kill you just this morning, Lothair.”
I snorted out a strained laugh. “It was just some asshole trying to rile me up. They didn’t want tokillme.”
“Actually, the police are investigating the incident as an attempted murder,” Devon said. “This person didn’t know about your ability to shift. If you were human, you could have died.”
