Page 27 of Sight of Fate

Does everyone know about the Wolf’s Den? And is that why Teague was irritated this morning? He didn’t get my note?

He taps on his desk, and I refocus. “Make no mistake. I’m not them. I won’t tolerate disruptions or drama, nor do I care what you do with someone else. Vampires don’t have mates. We fuck and move on. Got it?”

Is a mate like a wife? Does he think I’m interested in him? Heat crawls up my neck. “You and I…I’m not…interested in…anything.” I stumble over my words as I try to assure him that I haven’t thought of him in that way. Women probably throw themselves at him, but I’m not delusional. I’m sure the women he dates are elegant and experienced, not a scarred twenty-three-year-old whose one time in college was over in two minutes.

He stiffens, and his rich, caramel-colored brown eyes turn cold and dark. “Good. Glad that’s cleared up. I’ll make sure any meetings pertaining to the sale of the telematics company are added to your calendar. That will be all.”

Crushing my laptop to my chest, I turn toward the door.

“Wait,” he snaps, and I halt. “I apologize for Martin’s behavior this morning. Sexual harassment is not acceptable. It will never happen again.”

I nod and continue out the door.

Martin passes me in the hall, his lip curling in a sneer. “You better watch your back, bitch. I don’t care whose PA you are.” His expression smooths, and he pastes a contrite expression on his face. “I’m so sorry for my behavior this morning. I honestly didn’t mean it like it might have sounded.”

My brow furrows at his abrupt change. I glance over my shoulder and see Andros standing at the door to his office.

“Martin,” Andros says, his eyes flicking between the two of us as he waits for Martin to enter, then he closes the door.

I stop to use the restroom on the way back to Teague’s office and groan at the sight of my pink-tinged face. Blushing is the bane of my existence. Embarrassment. Anger. Everything shows on my pale skin like a neon light. Two ladies walk in, whispering, but stop when they see me. I flash them a smile and grab my stuff, hurrying out the door.

The closer I get to Teague’s office, the quicker I step, as if he’s a magnet luring me to his side. He’s talking to someone on the phone when I walk in. Without missing a beat, he looks up and waves a hand toward the desk in the corner, which wasn’t here this morning. Is this where he wants me to work? I put my stuff down and sit. Soon, I’m engrossed in polishing the notes I took and uploading them to the appropriate folders on the cloud. A series of meeting invites come across from Andros, and I accept. Great. Looks like I’ll be spending at least two lunches a week with him and his team.

I check my inbox and click on the first email. Nausea rises when I see it’s full of threats and obscene pictures. I glance at Teague, wondering if I should show it to him or Susan, but Andros’ words keep ringing in my ear. No drama. Besides, I don’t know who sent it. My guess is Martin. I print out a copy and drop it into a blank folder in my desk. Then I carefully add the digital copy to a folder and label it FU. If I get anything else, I’ll say something, but for now, I’ll ignore it.

Teague tosses his phone on the desk and raises an eyebrow. “Care to tell me why you went back to the Wolf’s Den on Saturday?” His tone is hard and clipped.

“How do you know that?” I ask, surprised someone told him. Though I probably shouldn’t be. If everyone has lived here forever and ever, I’m sure they all know each other.

A muscle tics in his jaw. “Are you interested in him?”

“Interested in who?”

He grinds his teeth. “Leif.”

“Why would I be interested in Leif?” I mean…yes, the man is undeniably hot, but he’s also a little scary. Sorry, but no. “I went to tell him about my vision.”

His brow furrows. “That’s all?”

“And show it to him.”

“Show?” he gruffly asks.

“I sketch my visions. It helps capture the details. Although this is the first time I’ve been able to share it with someone.”

“What was in the vision?”

“Something private.” Sharing someone else’s vision wouldn’t be right, but I want Teague to know how much this small act meant to me. “Before Greystone, I’d have to come up with a way to save the person without them knowing anything about me or my…gift.” I’m so used to thinking of it as a curse, but my conversation with Raine and Leif’s reaction is helping me see it in a different light.

“Why?”

“Because humans don’t react well to things they don’t understand,” I say drily.

His eyes darken, and his lips compress as if he understands that too well. “Has anyone tried to hurt you because of it?”

I slowly nod, memories surfacing. The morning after I turned thirteen, I woke up with a vision of my stepfather, Hank, dying in a car accident. He laughed, but after I became hysterical, he stayed home to calm me down. I’ll never forget his shocked face when he watched the news report on the massive freeway pileup caused by black ice and the nine people who died in it. The same freeway he takes to work.

In the span of two days, he went from a loving stepfather to a deranged stranger determined to burn me at the stake. There was no warning. One minute we were sitting on the patio, and the next… I grip the desk as the world blurs and burning heat floods my senses. Hank’s maniacal laughter rings in my ears. I whimper. Teague’s scent washes over me as he pulls me up and into his arms.