AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Celeste
“Iwanttocookall of Gillian’s favorites this week, though I am a little mad he’s been helping them this whole time without telling us, so maybe I should only make him one thing. I’ve been so worried about them. Feeling guilty that I was getting full meals every day when I didn’t have any way of knowing if they were getting any food at all,” I rambled as we drove to the bank the next morning.
“That’s Gillian for you. No one will ever know the extent of what he does for others unless you catch him mid-act,” Markus explained.
“How did you meet him?”
“Dad always made time to visit the orphanage. He still does, I think. Grandpa was not a kind man. He provided the bare necessities but refused to grant anything past that. It takes a while to rebuild trust after having that type of alpha, and Dad worked very hard to get it. He made sure to visit all the centers around the pack that offered assistance to pack members often because he wanted to make sure they had everything they needed. Because of their experience with my grandfather, the people who were running the centers were afraid and never asked for funds. One day, Mrs. Quinn wasn’t available to babysit, and Dad decided that it wouldn’t hurt for me to come play with the kids. They were going to be my people eventually anyways…” he recounted, smiling softly as he got lost in the memory.
“I found Gillian in a corner of the playground. He was getting bullied by a couple of bigger kids and I threatened to call my dad if they hurt him. When they finally left, I realized that he wasn’t even protecting himself. He was taking shit because he was protecting a little bird they had been trying to pluck the feathers off of. We took the bird to my father, who allowed me to take it home to watch until it was better and could fly off. He arranged for visits from Gillian to come see the bird at the pack house. We have been friends since.”
“So he’s been helping since he was a boy.” I nodded. “OKay, I’m back to cooking him three meals this week,” I said and Markus laughed while he parked the car in front of the bank.
“When am I going to get my favorites cooked?” he demanded.
That was true. I had never cooked specifically for him.
“What’s your favorite thing to eat? I can cook them for you next week?” I asked, and Markus smirked at me.
“You,” he said, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. I was confused and about to ask what he meant when Kara flashed me some images of what he was implying, and I swear I heard the capillaries in my face all burst at the same time. Markus laughed and pulled me over the seat and onto his lap. It was a good thing this was a big truck or I would have hit my head on the roof.
“Markus!” I gasped before he crashed his lips on mine. His kiss was hungry and electrifying. My entire body reacted and molded to him, wanting to feel him disappear into my skin. I moaned when his lips finally left mine and he began trailing kisses down to his mark. My core clenched when I felt his teeth gently scrape on his mark, sending jolts of pleasure through me.
“Fuck… we should get this over with so I can get you home and take you properly,” he groaned. We sat there for a few minutes while we got our lust under control, then he opened the door, and I jumped out of the truck. He wrapped his arm around my waist, handed me the file folder with all the documents we found and walked into the bank.
“Mr. Salonen! Good to see you, sir! How is your father?” An older gentleman greeted us at the entrance.
“He’s great. Enjoying retirement. Thanks for asking,” Markus responded, shaking his hand. “Thank you for meeting with us on such short notice Mr. Ronin. This is my ma-ehh… partner, Celeste.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Celeste! And it’s no bother at all! We’re happy to have you. You’re one of our biggest clients. Can I offer you some water, champagne, some lunch?”
I looked at Markus and scrunched my nose as he followed Mr. Roning toward his office. Markus smirked at the look on my face. “No thank you. We have a lot of business to get done today.”
“Of course, of course. I would imagine the owner of a billion-dollar company has a lot of work to do,” he said as he sat down. “So what can I do for you, Mr. Salonen? Do you have any concerns with how we’ve been handling your account?”
“No no,” Markus said. “In fact, one of the things we need to talk about is adding Celeste as a joint holder to my personal account.” One of my eyebrows rose of its own accord at this. He never mentioned this being part of the plan.
“Ha-have you talked to your attorney about this sir?” Mr. Roning asked, darting a look at me.
“Why would I need to consult my attorney on a personal matter?” Markus growled, and I put my hand on his leg where the banker couldn’t see, trying to calm his anger with the mate bond.
“I-I just thought considering the size of your estate that perhaps you should consult with your attorney before adding a young lady that isn’t yet your wif—“ Mr. Roning shut up at the angry look Markus gave him. I grabbed my mate’s arm when he stood, ready to give the bank manager a piece of his mind.
“Markus, we can discuss this later. How about we go through my documents instead? That was the reason we came,” I begged him, then added via mind-link, ‘Please love, I don’t care about what he thinks. He’s human. He doesn’t understand the mate bond.’I rubbed my hand up and down his arm while speaking. Markus sat back down, breathing hard, clearly trying to calm himself. He gave a curt nod at me before he crossed his arms, not taking his angry glare from Mr. Ronin, so I quickly pulled out the statements from the file folder so I could diffuse the situation. “I found these documents among some of my parent’s things. I would like to know if these accounts are still open. They appear to be in my name.” I placed the statements on the desk and slid them over to him. He took them with shaky hands and when he saw the names on the documents, his eyes bulged.
“Dellarosa? The Dellarosa?” he asked.
“You are familiar with those accounts?” I asked.
“How can I not? They were the biggest accounts we had before Salonen Industries grew into what it is today. It was a terrible tragedy what happened to your parents,” he finished with some genuine sympathy.
“What’s been happening to those accounts since Celeste has been away?” Markus asked.
“Well, there were very specific instructions from Mr. Dellarosa. He liquidated all of his company investments and put them into a trust. We were to keep investing conservatively to help it grow, and once Miss Dellarosa came of age, it was to be transferred over to her to decide how to proceed. I remember asking why he was transferring things over, and he said that he had other assets with another bank but wanted to make sure your future was secure, and this was the best way to achieve it. A couple of weeks after the changes were completed, they died in that awful airplane accident with all those people from his estate. We still have a few accounts that were never claimed by next of kin.”
‘Plane accident?’I asked Markus.
‘We can ask Dad, but I would imagine that it was the work of the council to try to cover the massacre for the humans,’he responded.
