Noah
I pulled off that bit of espionage at the museum perfectly. So why am I so shaken by my encounter with the lovely and enigmatic Seeress?
Head down, I walk the city streets. I keep my steps measured, so I don’t look suspicious, but my body is so wired with adrenaline it’s all I can do not to break into a run.
What was that?
Fate sent me there. I do not doubt that. I’m a logical, even skeptical, person, but I can’t deny that all these dreams of Aster led me to the museum and then to that moment in the elevator. It was destined.
The Adalwulf princess’s delicate magnolia-peach scent still clings to my clothes. Warm and floral, at odds with her ice-princess exterior. There was something completely intoxicating about her. Like she’s a magnet pulling me in. Part of me wanted to pick her up and carry her out with me.
Of course, I never would have made it out alive.
My hands shake just thinking about the feel of her ass on my lap. My dick is still chubby. I shove my hands into my pockets, but my dick? Forget about it. There’s nothing I can do but curse it and will my erection to go down. Thinking about baseball won’t work; I don’t watch human sports, so I have no idea how that game is played. My life revolves around my mission–infiltrating the Adalwulfs, so I can learn the truth about my birth. That’s why I planted a bug on Aster–for the mission–not because I’m obsessed with the female who’s haunted my dreams for months.
I’m not going to replay the moment she landed in my lap over and over again. I won’t dwell on the way her white-blond hair looked so elegant, braided into a crown, but when it brushed my chin, it felt soft as corn-silk. It’s probably long enough to hang down past her waist in a perfect curtain. If she were naked, it would brush the top of her ass…
And now my dick is hard again.
It’s no use. I can’t focus with the scent of peaches clinging to the stubble on my chin. All my thoughts lead to Aster right now.
The long walk does me good. By the time I clock back into work, I’m disgusted by the scents of the city–exhaust from the cars and buses, the concrete sidewalks covered in trash and gum flattened by a thousand dirty-soled shoes. The scent of magnolia and peaches is still there, but it’s faded enough that I can focus.
As soon as I get to my desk, I get a message telling me to bring a report to the big boss’ office. That’s enough to kill my boner.
Brick Blackthroat is a beast in the business world, but humans have no idea how much of a beast he really is. I worked hard to qualify for a job here, and even though Adalwulf Associates was my first choice, my job at Moon Co. has turned out to have untold benefits. Once again, it was like Fate was guiding me because I was able to befriend Madi, the human fated to be Brick’s mate.
Fate, again. I might be a believer after all.
I make sure I wash my hands thoroughly and change my shirt and jacket before heading up to the big boss. Brick probably doesn’t know what Aster Adalwulf smells like, but there’s no sense smelling like an Adalwulf if I can help it.
When I arrive on the top floor, Brick’s secretary sends me in. I tap on the door before I open it, even though I wouldn’t hear if he told me to stay out.
“Here’s the report, sir.” I step up to Brick’s desk and set the stack of unstapled papers on his desk. He’s usually a “send it by email” guy, so I’m guessing he wants to go over it in person.
I watch his lips move. “Great.” He doesn’t look at the report–he looks at me.
I’m standing while he sits, but he holds the power in the room. His alpha nature is a large presence. Even his scent is dense and powerful–but there’s a light citrus and spice essence that reminds me of his mate, Madi. Either she was just here, drinking her favorite vanilla latte, or her scent is now interwoven with her mate’s.
Either way, it makes me want to smile. I don’t, though, because Brick’s mood seems serious.
“Do you ever let out your wolf, Noah?” He speaks the words at the same time he makes the ASL signs for your wolf run?, except he doesn’t put the raised eyebrows we use to indicate a question. Still, the fact that my employer and his executive team attempted to learn ASL after I became an ancillary member shocked me.
No one but my grandmother learned to sign in my home pack. Our alpha wanted me to learn Total Communication, making me wear hearing aids as a child to teach me oral speech and lip-reading.
I arch a brow, surprised by this question. “I ran over Christmas.” I both sign and speak out loud because he’s still learning ASL. “When I was in Kentucky.”
He gives me a cool look. His expression is inscrutable, but I can feel the power play. There’s a challenge in his posture. The stare-down he’s giving me. The alpha wolf has finally called me to the carpet over why I never petitioned to join his pack. Alphas don’t like stranger wolves on their territory. It’s in their nature to be suspicious of a lone wolf like me.
It’s been two years since I started working here. I expected this conversation eighteen months ago. Now, it’s been so long since I showed up in New York without requesting admission to his pack that I’d thought we’d both swept it under the rug.
Brick drops the game and shoots straight. “Why have you never requested to join my pack?” He doesn’t attempt to sign the words.
I measure the air between us. My wolf doesn’t sense an immediate threat. There’s tension, but it’s not deadly. Yet.
I have to answer him carefully.
“When I came to New York, I didn’t know either pack.”
