Page 105 of Knot Broken

Her grateful smile had a warm feeling spreading throughout my body.

“Venting.” Her face fell as she glared at the granite counter. “With wine, please.”

“Coming right up.” I poured her a healthy glass full and cracked a beer for myself before sitting down again. “So, what that man do?”

“So he was a raging prick when the whole audit thing was going down.” She took a long sip of wine. “But it was like the power went to his head and now it’s DEFCON 5 every damn day. Emails sent at 8 PM and he expects them to be answered right away.”

My beer can made a crackling sound as my fingers dug into the aluminium. I’d noticed Nadia was glued to her phone lately, but she dismissed our concerns.

“I went to HR and pointed out the right to disconnect laws, so instead he’s micromanaging the shit out of me. Every email, every report has to be run past him first before it’s sent out, but then it sits in his inbox for ages, because we communicate with people across the whole company. Then it’s my fault things are delayed!”

My hand rose to rub small circles on her back, not so much to jolly her out of this, but so she knew I was here, listening.

“He’s such a fucking dick and any of us could do his work better than him, which I am pretty sure he knows. Our department ran so smoothly before he came along, so he’s creating busy work so his KPIs look good for his next performance review.”

For a while, she talked all about stuff I didn’t really understand. A book keeper looked after the financial sides of things for our business and I was happy to leave them with it.

“He just makes me so damn mad!” I leant over, refilling her glass for her. “Like I nearly shifted in the middle of a meeting and when he saw my fingers turn into claws, he sat his arse down real quick, which just makes me want to trot into the office in wolf form and put him in his place.”

“But you won’t,” I said.

“But I won’t.” When she pressed her head into my shoulder, my arm went around her. “It’s a nice fantasy to think about, though.”

“So, how are we feeling now?” I asked.

“Better.” There was something adorably pouty about Nadia right now. “But I think I deserve chocolate cake for dinner.”

“You got it, omega.”

Pressing a kiss to her forehead, I got up and grabbed some plates and spoons before cutting some slices.

“That’s too much…” She eyed the plate, then shook her head. “Actually, it’s perfect.” As I sat back down, my mate watched me closely. “Just like you. I know you wanted to jump in with a solution.”

“Like find out where this dickhead lives and string him up by his intestines?” I shrugged. “Maybe. That’s not going to help you right now though, is it?”

“It might.” She stabbed her spoon into the cake. “Not really, but a girl can dream.”

“A girl can.” I snuck a sidelong look at her. “Are you up for talking about possible solutions or nah?”

“Maybe…”

She’d never lose that wary look, I’d realised some time ago, but we saw it less and less.

“If you hate this job, find another one,” I said. “People don’t leave a job because of the work. It’s always who you work for.”

“The job market is tight right now.”

“But you know we’ve got things covered here. You work because you should have your own money, because you don’t want to be dependent on us, which I respect.” Looking up, I found her watching me intently. “Doesn’t mean we can’t take care of things until you find something you enjoy.”

“Really…” Hope flared to life, then died in her eyes. “Yeah, but Helena. Still haven’t found her a pack of studly alphas to sweep her off her feet. If I leave, she’s going to be Greg’s next target. I can’t do that to her.”

“What if you were both working for our business?” Grey appeared in the kitchen dressed in his running gear. “We’ve got a contract with the book keeper that runs out in a few months. The two of you could handle the admin and financials.”

“Wait, what…?” Nadia looked from me to Grey. “You guys have talked about this?”

“You aren’t happy at your job,” I said. “I know I don’t have to fix all of your problems, but this one… It could work out well for us too. Everything’s done in house, but most importantly, you’d be happier.”

“If you’re concerned about financial security, we’ll add you as a director of the company.” Grey poured himself a glass of water. “You’ll own a quarter of it. Look over the books before you make a decision, see if you think its…”