“I have a private meeting after this. I should be done in twenty minutes. I’ll expect notes on this meeting when I get back,” he said, not waiting for an answer as he filed out of the conference room with the other participants.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I’m going to lose this internship on my first day.
A voice behind her stirred her from the spot she seemed to be stuck to as terror flowed through her.
“I got you, babe. Come with me.”
She turned to see Val standing behind her with a knowing smile and breathed a sigh of relief.CHAPTER TENThad
Past the rut and mostly back in his right mind, Thad focused on work again. He managed to go hours without thinking about her, but it was only because he was busy. As soon as things slowed down, she was right back on his mind, though it was, thankfully, not quite as overwhelming as her presence had been during the days before. He paced his deck, contemplating what to do about her. She had been very clear about not wanting to see him again, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to let her slip free of him that easily. She was his natural mate and it would be hard to settle for anything less than that in their world.
After some thought, he finally sent her a message on Alpha Meets Beta.
Listen, I know things got really crazy, really fast, but we can slow this down. Can we just talk about it?
It wasn’t like him to chase tail, but he saw her as much more than that. She was the answer to that part of him that felt like it was time to settle down a bit. He was tired of sleeping around with lackluster partners. She had brought out his truly primal side, tapped into the natural mating instincts of a wolf shifter. For the first time, he realized that everyone up to now had just been the human side of him settling for warm bodies. There was no way he wasn’t at least trying.
Granted, in their world, he could just take her. She might resist a little, but she’d come around. The power of his Alpha over her Omega would seal their bond. He had no desire to do that. He wanted her to want him, so he’d have to approach this the human way, putting aside the literal animal magnetism in favor of charm and courting, to use his grandfather’s words.
“You ready to go?” Barron asked from his doorway.
He looked up to see him standing in the door, wearing the simple black suit he always wore. It was beginning to look a little worn. Thad wondered, perhaps, for the first time ever, if he wore the same black suit all the time. Did he air it out at night, or did he have several that he rotated? It struck him again just how little he knew about the man that had been by his side since they went to school together. He hadn’t even remembered Barron from school, but Barron remembered him quite well. Though Barron was several years younger, he had known quite a bit about Thad when interviewed.
Now, nothing had changed. Barron knew everything about Thad’s life and habits, while Thad knew little about him. In fact, Thad could say he knew next to nothing about most people. He’d never gotten invested in the lives of others. It had served him well, but he had to consider that it might be best to change his ways a bit.
“Yes. You got time to stop by the shops with me? I need to order a new suit.”
“Sure. I can do that. I’ll go pull the car around.”
“Nah, I’ll walk out with you.”
Barron looked at him funny but shrugged and waited for him to join him. Thad stood and walked out with him. Why did everything that used to feel perfectly normal now seem weird to him? He moved ahead as Barron clicked the key fob and the lights flashed to indicate it was unlocked. Walking around to the passenger side, he opened the back door, tossing his briefcase in the seat and then closed it. Barron looked at him awkwardly as he opened the front passenger door and climbed in beside him.
“Well, this is different.”
“Trying something new.”
“All right, well, use your seatbelt up here. I don’t want to deal with a ticket. It’ll go on my record even if you pay it. Where are we headed, exactly?”
‘Fine,” Thad laughed, pulling the belt across him, and locking it in place. “The tailor I always go to.”
“All right,” Barron replied, pointing the car toward the shopping district.
“Do you have another car?”
“I did. Wife kept it.”
“Damn. That sucks.’
“Yeah, but she needed it. My work involves driving a provided car and she has to get kids off to school, doctor’s appointments and stuff like that.”