Chapter Two-Luther

Hire her now.

That fragrance would send me to my knees, make me beg, and grovel like a child. At the age of thirty-five, I never imagined I'd find my mate this late. I'd concluded that I would be mateless, and I'd become accustomed to that fact.

Then she walked into my office.

Blaire Summers. With the attitude of an undisciplined sixteen-year-old, and the body of something sculpted from a male's imagination.

I watched her walk away; her hips swaying down the sidewalk as she bluntly disobeyed what I told her. My fingers curled into fists, and I fought the urge to stalk after her. Seeing her with Axel Davers set every nerve in my body on fire.

I had made up my mind to let her go, ignore that I found my mate, and return to my life. Then I glanced out my window, scotch in one hand, while the other rubbed my temple in frustration, to see her fraternizing with the enemy—Axel Davers. The Lycan King.

The bane of my existence.

He mimicked my every move in business. When I opened the club downtown, he moved one in right next door. The list of his sins were endless, not to mention being a lycan. An alpha's worst enemy. The bridge between lycans and werewolves broke decades ago, back before I was born, or even my great grandfather.

They couldn’t rule under the same king, or come to common conclusions about the basics of survival in a human world. After the grand war back in the 1800s, they split ways, and hadn't mingled since.

Because lycans took what they wanted, and if Axel found out that Blaire was my mate, he'd try to take her too. Therefore, I had to keep her close, which meant giving her the job when I knew it wasn't a good idea.

Plus, she was human, and had no idea that supernatural beings existed. No human did, because if they did, the human race would wreck havoc, and cause a riot. It was what they did best. Protest. No alpha, wolf or lycan cared about a protest.

When Blaire was out of sight, I turned quickly on my heel and stalked up the stairs. My suit was hot against my skin, and I tugged at the collar, feeling a pull to follow her, but I didn't.

Go after her.

"No," I hissed, pressing the elevator button. "I have work to do."

Jackass.

My wolf and I didn't always get along. He was stubborn, pushy and almost more serious than me. He was lucky I couldn’t punch him without hitting myself, or I would have knocked him out ages ago.

The elevator stopped on my floor, and I barreled through the hallway toward my office, feeling antsy and out of place. This was my business, my baby, and I wouldn’t let some random girl come in and knock me for a loop.

She's not a random girl. She's your mate.

I cursed beneath my breath, and pushed my door opened to see Stephanie waiting on me. I inwardly sighed, trying my best not to blow up on her, as I wanted. We'd had a brief—and I do mean brief—relationship three years before, and the woman couldn’t let it go.

She grew up in a neighboring pack, our fathers were friends, and the close proximity kept us within each other's reach. When she was hired for PR manager for Alpha Inc., we gave it a shot. It didn't work out for me.

"Do you need something Stephanie?" I asked, sitting down and opening my laptop.

She pushed her red ponytail off her shoulder and shifted her weight. "Yeah, a few of us are going—,"

"No, I'm busy."

Tell her, so she'll back off.

She sighed, letting her gaze travel along my desk. "You look swamped. Did you have any luck hiring someone? You need the help."

"I hired Blaire Summers. She starts tomorrow."

"Oh," Stephanie said. "Is she human?"

I nodded, willing her to catch the hint and leave.

Stephanie straightened her pencil skirt. "Good. I'll see you tomorrow then. I'll come by early to meet your new assistant. Remember we have that meeting tomorrow morning with the Browns about their account."

"I remember."

Stephanie left me, and I leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes tightly. This had been a day from Hell. I held over thirty interviews, and even made a few girls cry. I hadn't meant to, but they burst into tears randomly. Some human women weren't strong enough to engage with me.

Not like Blaire. I didn't seem to affect her, in fact, I seemed to piss her off. I twirled my pen around in-between my fingers, retracing the moment she walked into my office, and shocked me to my core.

I'd been so wrapped up in another dull interview, that I hadn't noticed her scent until I heard her gasp at my office. That scent …

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, my body—my wolf—wanted me to follow it, chase her down and mark her as mine right then and there.

"Looks to me like you've had a long day."

My brother stood at the door of my office, ankles crossed, leaned against the doorframe without a care in the world, because he literally cared about nothing. Scott was the polar opposite of me, laidback, never in a hurry.

He kept me sane most of the time.

"It's been … something alright," I said, standing up to unbutton my suit jacket and search for my keys.

"Are we on for drinks tonight?" he asked, shoving his hands into his slacks, he took a walk around my office, his head tilted in a way I knew too well. Scott knew I hid something.

When his dark brown eyes met mine, his mouth went ajar. "You found her."

Sighing, I rubbed the center of my forehead. "She interviewed for my assistant today."

Scott rubbed his palms together and looked around the place, a strand of blond hair fell onto his forehead.

"Where are you hiding her? Why aren't you two having it out against the glass windows right now?"

My wolf howled at the mention of undressing her, but I knew better. She was human, and wouldn't understand a mating bond, or the existence of werewolves.

I walked around to the front of my desk, and stared at my brother hanging onto his false hope. "She is human, Scott. And she … I told her the job was filled, because I don't know if having a human mate is what I need. Then …" I rocked back on my heels. "I saw her talking to Axel—,"

Scott's eyes widened in shock. "The Lycan King? I didn't hear about any murders today. Why is he still alive? Do I need to kill him?"

"I intercepted him, and offered her the job but she … I don't think she's going to show up. She did everything I asked her not to, and walked away from me. She's infuriating."

The corner of Scott's mouth tugged into a smile. "Oh, really now? I think I'm going to like her. What's her name? Where can we find her?"

"No," I said walking toward my door. "I'm not sniffing her out like some—,"

"Wolf?" he suggested as he slipped through the door as I closed it. "Come on. Aren't you a little curious? We can at least see where she lives, Luther."

I'd been curious about it all day, and it wasn't as if my wolf wouldn't find her in five minutes. I sank my fingers into the length of my hair before letting my arm fall dramatically against my thigh.

"Just to see where she lives."

Scott beat me out of the door.

Her scent tasted so fresh, and deep in my lungs when I inhaled, it was like nothing I'd ever imagined. It was easy to find where she'd parked her car, and which way she went after. Scott road with me in my Bugatti downtown, to a part of the city I didn't visit often … or ever.

Scott chuckled when we made a sharp left down a street that was known for drugs, and people that were up to no good.

"You need to sway her quickly, and get her out of this part of town," Scott said, shifting in his seat.

"I'm not swaying her to do anything, Scott. I've told you that I don't need a mate. I only hired her because I don't want Axel near her."

Scott gave me a look that I didn't like. "Seriously Luther? You think you'll be able to work with her every day and not act on it? I know you have great self-control but you aren't Jesus by any means."

I mumbled beneath my breath, and came to a halt in front of a small apartment complex. "She's there. Now are we done?"

"You're not the least bit curious, Luther. You could go talk to her—,"

I followed his transfixed gaze to the apartment facing the road, the curtains pulled back to show a scarce living room, and Blaire—dancing.

Scott's laugh broke my infuriated glare. Why would she leave her curtains opened like that? Had she never watched a True Crime video? Or did she have no fear? My grip tightened around the steering wheel.

"She's cute," Scott said, nudging me. "Let's go talk to her—," he said, reaching for the handle, but I growled at him.

I didn't want anyone talking to her, not Axel, not Scott, not the mailman. However, I didn't want any ties to her either. It made me a selfish jackass, and I knew it. A wolf could die if something happened to their mate after they found each other. It was rare for an alpha to die from it, but it would make them cold and heartless if it happened.

Scott laughed. "Not too big on sharing, huh, brother? You need to just go ahead and claim her, because there is no way you can stay away from her if she's hired. And you don't want her, but you don't want anyone else to have her? What are we sixteen?"

I didn't argue, I sped off with the image of her with her arms above her head, swaying her hips to some pop song I could vaguely hear through the brick walls of her building.

Even the music she listened to annoyed me. It wouldn't work out anyway. Blaire Summers was a free spirit, and I wasn't sure I had one.

***

When 8 AM passed and Blaire hadn't showed up, my entire morning had been pissy. Part of me knew she wouldn’t, but the other part, my wolf, he knew she would. Either way, I was furious.

Go get her, he hissed. I want to see her.

His demanding voice didn't sit right with me, but neither did her obvious lack of listening. Stephanie knocked on my door just after eight, her eagerness sat on her sleeve as she walked in, expecting to see

Blaire sitting at the desk I had put in for her.

Stephanie eyed me. "Where is your assistant?"

I sat up straight, feeling my wolf grow more and more irate. "I don't know," I said through clenched teeth.

Stephanie, who hadn't let go of the doorknob, closed it a bit. "I think I will go. Smoke is billowing from your ears."

Smart girl.

Once the door shut, I stood up, grabbed my keys from my pocket and walked out of my office. The closer I grew to my car, the more my adrenaline pumped inside of me. The thought of her calling Axel drifted in my thoughts, enraging me.

My car roared to life, vibrating my insides as I sped from the parking garage toward her apartment. My fingertips turned white from my viselike grip on my steering wheel, my wolf turned circles in anticipation of seeing her again.

Her curtains had been closed—thank God—when I slammed into park and got out. One lone man stood by the entrance of the building, smoking a cigarette, and eyeing me as if I was the one loitering.

I sensed her soft breaths the closer I grew to her apartment door. The sound of her sleeping roused my wolf, twisting my insides like a mini firework show. I knocked on her door loud enough that I heard her neighbor wake from their sleep.

She mumbled to herself on her way toward the door, didn't even look out of the peep hole before she slung it opened.

If I hadn't been holding my breath already, I would have choked on it. She wore silk pajama shorts, and a white tank top. Her brown hair was a twisted tangle on top of her head, and her morning look molted my blood like lava.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "How do you know where I live—you stalker—and again, why are you here?"

I cleared my throat, gathering my thoughts to the best of my ability, and bent down to draw myself closer to her. "You're late for work, Ms. Summers. Get dressed. We're leaving."