“I see.”
When Celeste had stalked in Hunter wasn’t sure what was wrong. Part of him hadn’t known what Tyler had meant earlier, what 'off' could have really meant. Walking in to the office she had been wild, her golden eyes flashing in a way he hadn’t seen in years. He couldn’t even imagine what might have caused his wife to shake with so much pent up energy. But now he understood.
Another Mate. Hunter wondered what they might be like.
“That’s it?” Celeste was distressed and confused, he could see that she her body trembling with the energy that pulsed through her. “I tell you I have a second mate and you say ‘I see’?”
Hunter stood and came around to her side of the desk. Her foot tapped with nerves but she paused as he pulled the chair closer to him. From here he could reach out and take her hand. He felt her still instantly, which made him smile, he could still calm her with a simple touch.
Resting against his desk he asked calmly, “How are you feeling?”
She took a deep breath, her gaze turning inward. It was obvious, to him at least, that she hadn’t thought of herself yet. It was very likely she had only focused on her new mate and Hunter at this point. Seven years was a long time to love someone and he knew her reactions well.
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly, frowning to herself. “I hadn’t thought anything was missing,” she admitted to him, “but now that I’ve seen her.” She trailed off and Hunter breathed deep, smelling her arousal. She squirmed slightly at his look, flush filling her cheeks.
“I almost jumped her right in that interview room,” Celeste admitted and Hunter purred in response.
“It is not unheard of to have more then one mate,” he brought her back to the topic at hand, lest they get… distracted.
“Never in my Clan,” she muttered, “and it’s not like we’re young. You know how far back they trace us. Just what I needed, another reason to piss them off.”
He watched as she tugged at her braid, agitation returning. Leaning forward he stilled the movement, kissing her lightly but firmly. Reminding her they were in this together. She sighed against his lips, nodding at the unspoken message.
“It has happened in my family,” he admitted, “not often, but certainly not unheard of.”
She looked at him, both happy and surprised by the revelation.”Can you feel her? She could belong to us both?”
Hunter shook his head, regretful for the disappointment that coursed through her. “You have felt her presence all morning,” Tyler had been right to realise she had been off, it was just the reason that had been unknown.”I haven’t, not even now, knowing she exists. I think she is only your mate.”
Hunter couldn’t help the laugh at her pout. “Oh how you’ll suffer, having two mates to pander to your every whim.” Another kiss, this time longer and deeper. When they broke apart she was a little breathless and Hunter smirked.
“She is also Human,” Celeste told him when she could speak again, “How do I even explain half of this to her?”
“You will figure it out, you always do when it is important.” He kissed her knuckles, “tell me about your mate?”
“I don’t know much yet, but her name is Sally…”
***
Celeste wasn’t sure, but Hunter wanted to meet her mate. He thought alone might be best, as Celeste was still high strung about the whole affair, and he wanted to meet her without their bond muddling up everything.
It certainly hadn’t stopped her from debating it with him all the way down the elevator. She had forced it to stop a few times, trying to get her point across. Hunter would not budge though. As both Sally’s direct boss and husband to Celeste, he wanted their first meeting alone. In the end Celeste had huffed, quite cutely, before deciding that going for a run might be the best idea.
He loved how she made him smile more often then not.
Pausing before entering the interview area, Hunter wasn’t surprised when Kyra found him.
“Did you see Celeste?”
Pregnancy certainly hadn’t slowed her down any. Celeste owed him for this.
Kyra didn’t wait for a response. “She left before even starting Sally’s interview! And Tyler was real weird about it too! Something’s going on, what is it?”
“Is Sally still here?” He asked instead, making Kyra scowl.
“I don’t like it when you all keep secrets from me.” She poked him in the arm. Even though she was a human, Kyra had always been a spit fire. And now she was married to one of the cousins, and pregnant, it was worse then ever. Hunter would never, ever tell her, but he was glad they’d organised for her to go on early maternity leave.
When he said nothing else she huffed in frustration. “You and Tyler are so much alike it’s not funny. Boy’s gonna be super pissed when he meets a mate like Celeste,” she groused. “Yes, Sally’s still here. Apparently she’s now my replacement.”
Hunter raised an eyebrow. He would also not let Kyra know how keen he was to know what she thought of Celeste’s mate. “Are you complaining?”
She shrugged. “Not really, she seemed like the nicest of the bunch. I’m sure she’d do okay if given the chance. I just don’t like you lot keeping secrets from me.”
“Well, if you weren’t such a gossip-“
This time she slapped him on the shoulder, “and Tyler’s not? No, something’s going on. You two can keep your secrets for now, but I wanna know soon.”
Then she shook her head, standing a little straighter. “All right, come and meet your new PA before I have to go pee again.”
Kyra opened the interview room and the two occupants lifted their heads. Hunter looked into deep hazel eyes flecked with green. He breathed the room in deep and he could smell everything, down to the coconut soap clinging to her fresh washed skin.
But no spark, no mate bond snapping into place. For a moment he was sad, he could easily see himself in both woman’s arms, loving them both. But the feeling didn’t last too long, after all, millions of people had relationships without the mate bond. Hunter had always liked a challenge.
Tyler’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked subtly between the two of them.
What’s going on with Celeste?
Hunter did not bother to answer. It wasn’t like Celeste would be able to keep it a secret forever. Eventually the clan would have to know.
Instead he held his hand out to the red head who watched him with interest, but not recognition. He would have to change that.
“I hear you’re my new Personal Assistant,” he said as she took his hand, enjoying the way her eyes widened and breath hitched slightly. He leant over her, bringing her knuckles to his lips. “Welcome to North Industries, Ms Smith.”
***
Author's Notes: I have a Facebook account now; https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100052354275454 please friend me!
When the beautiful woman left, Sally couldn’t quite explain the sudden sadness that filled her. It was like the light went out of the room. She also had no idea what it meant in the context of her job. Was it an automatic disqualification if one of the interviewers took one look at her and left the room?Probably, she thought, even more downhearted. She had thought it had been going well till now.Tyler and Kyra looked alarmed and surprised as well, so she thought that was a better sign then straight up pity. For a moment they appeared to flounder before Tyler turned to her.“Could you give us a second, Sally?” The two stood without waiting for answer. She watched in surprise as they moved away from her, whispering in hisses that, try as she might, Sally couldn’t make out. Finally Kyra shot her a short wave before shuffling out of the room to the hallway Sally started in with the other applicants.Tyler moved his seat around
Celeste was glad she’d decided to take a run before trying to head back to try and do work. Even though she couldn’t get out of the city, parts of it were still green enough for her. Coupled with some decent headphones she was able to zone out and clear her head.Being away from Sally’s scent helped too.One day soon she would take all three of them out of the city, somewhere on a walkabout. It’d make her mother insanely happy if they went up to her sheep ranch for a while and just be for a bit.Between North Industries and Clan business she was becoming run down. Now the addition of a new mate added it’s own level of stress to her exhausted body.Yes, once Sally was hers they would take some down time and she would show her the bushland she had grown up in.With her mind calmer she headed back towards the building. She had run far, but less then she thought she’d need to to calm it all down.She
Hunter was furious with Luna, but it was really nothing new. It didn’t matter that it might be the 20th century, some people would always treat it like they were still tribal. The shear intimacy that came with Clans, Packs or Prides made things worse of course.Celeste and Luna’s mother didn’t live with the clan for a reason. Her and Celeste’s father owned their shearing ranch and were happy away from the politics. But when Celeste’s Nona had left, the Matriarch was always a direct descendant. Either Celeste or Luna had to take her place. Celeste had won every challenge thrown her way. The Clan was her everything.It hadn’t stopped those who didn’t like Celeste’s changes though. To mate with someone out side of the clan had been a sticking point, as if she had chosen her fated partner to spite them.North Industries was another, though they were hard pressed to argue that. In fact, Hunter taking the Clan&rsqu
Sally was exceptionally grateful that her apartment was just far enough away that she could comfortably angry walk home. Cause she was so, so very angry.Kyra had been confused at her change after returning from her toilet break. Sally had been tight lipped, she still had a lot to learn about the politics of the place before she would feel comfortable ragging on the boss.Thankfully Mr North stayed in his office all afternoon, only paging through to Kyra when he needed anything. It made Sally mortified to realise he’d only been visiting them all those times before to scope her out.As such Sally gave him no extra reason to spend time with her. At 4:20 on the dot she picked up her bag, said thank you to Kyra, and stalked home.How DARE he do that. She didn’t care how young, pretty and seemingly unattached someone was. He was married. His wife was one of her bosses. She worked at the same fucken building as they did. What had he thou
Even if she hadn’t been able to smell her, Celeste would have known the moment Sally stepped into the office space. She could feel her presence all the way down to her bones.Hunter was enamoured with her; he had spun the tale of Sally defending her virtue into a story of epic proportions. After the roller coaster of the last few days, Celeste was delighted to see the joy Hunter got out of this, even if it painted him as the bad guy in Sally’s eyes.Celeste wondered what the girl would tell her when they finally got a moment to talk. As she approached her, Celeste smiled to herself. Her little mate was brave considering the conversation she’d had with Hunter yesterday,“Mrs North?”Celeste bit back a groan. The light, warm way she said her name was addictive, Celeste could listen to her all day. She turned from the photocopier, taking in her black pants and turquoise, long sleeved top as well as the waves of red curls falling
It had been a most amusing day.At some point around lunch Kyra pulled him aside. “Do we need to worry about her mental health?” She’d hissed and Hunter only managed to not laugh by shear force of will.He could understand Kyra’s point. Sally had been walking around in a daze for most of the morning, yesterday she had been competent and fun till Hunter had asked her out, and then she had been short and cool with everyone. Without any context, Kyra must have been getting whiplash from the changes.“I’m sure it’s just new job jitters, the retail position she was in did not let her reach her full potential.” That had been painfully obvious when Hunter had contacted them Monday after the interview. While they were quick to be angry about him poaching their worker, they were quicker to accept compensation. If nothing else came of a relationship between the two of them, he was happy to get her out of there.
Sally certainly hadn’t expected their night to be as fun as it was. Hunter was attentive and interesting. She could hear his passion for environmental architecture and understood instantly why north industries had flourished so.The pub was cozy even if Hunter was a dirty fish eater she hadn’t had a date like this in a while.The underlining current of what was to come couldn’t be denied and Sally realised she wanted to be with both of them. It felt surreal to her. Maybe in her wildest dreams had she thought of having two lovers at once. But here she was, actually contemplating a relationship with a married couple.It was something so far out of her comfort zone that she probably should be worried. Instead she was excited.“Would it be too early to ask for one kiss?”Fucken Hell, the man was sin on legs. Her knees practically went to jelly and she had to close her eyes to get some form of cohere
As Sally lived close to the office, Celeste decided she would catch up on some work while Hunter had his date.After the day they’d all had, Celeste had no doubt that they would hit it off. Sally had even appeared excited at the prospect of a date with Hunter this afternoon and she knew the fucker could be charming.“Will you mind if I kiss her?” He’d asked before he left.She’d given him an eye roll, bumping his shoulder with her own. “If you don’t I might divorce you.”His smile was delightful and she could feel his love pulse through their bond. He’d slung an arm around her shoulder in half a hug. “Promises, promises,” he’d teased.Celeste smiles and hoped they’d had a good night. She wanted to take Sally to the Clan’s house this weekend. Maybe have a picnic near the bush land and show her their powers. Celeste wanted to take things slow,