9: Catching Up

Samantha

I was incredibly happy when the plane landed, I hated flying quite a bit! The minute I stepped out I was engulfed by a hug from Nicholas. I smiled wrapping my arms around his torso tightly, I hadn’t seen him for some time and feeling his arms around me made me feel so much better about our upcoming meeting.

I felt his lips kissing the top of my head as he had so many times before and felt myself relax against him completely.

“Careful, I might think you missed me.” He mumbled into my hair with a deep voice.

“Maybe I did.” I went to pull away and he held onto me tighter making me giggle. “I think you’re the one who missed me.”

“I always do pretty girl.” He reluctantly let go of me and placed a quick kiss on my cheek. “Come, we’ve prepared the pack house guest rooms for you guys.”

He grabbed my luggage and my hand and we followed him to the limo he used to come. I shot a look to Damon and he winked. I was sure that he was the reason Nick was here, and I was so grateful. We got to Dragonmoon Pack in record time and Nick helped us get settled into a couple of the larger rooms on the second floor. 

“Aldra and Serburi are very excited to see you.” Nick said as I finished unpacking my suitcase. “They have a lunch planned that they would like you to attend today.”

“I’d love to.” I said plopping on the bed. “Your parents have always been good to me.”

He sat next to me and held my hands. “I think they like you more than they like their own kids.” He whispered in my ear.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” I giggled. Serburi and Aldra had treated me as their own since the first time I had dinner with their family. 

“I would. And I don’t blame them.” He gave me a sheepish smile and I leaned on his shoulder.

“Why haven’t you been back to Miami? Are you upset with me?” I inquired because I was certain something was going on, typically he was in Miami a lot. I knew he wasn’t a fan of not being able to officially claim me, but I was sure he understood.

 “I could never be upset with you.” He grumbled. “The branch of Silverclaw Enterprise has been seeing a rise that we didn’t expect in orders, 3 people quit, and we haven’t found replacements.” 

“3 people?” Wow! This branch was typically steady with employees. “Do you know what happened?”

“There seems to be some outside pressure from another tech company, better benefits, PTO, all that.”

I pulled away from him. “We started benefits for everyone six month ago. They should be covered.”

He shook his head. “Something obstructed that from getting to this branch, they just aren’t in the system.”

I stood up abruptly. “That could only be done from the inside Nick.” I looked at him. “Silverclaw wouldn’t dare.”

He waved his hands dismissing the idea. “Silverclaw wouldn’t of course, but are you sure about everyone in Newblood?”

I began pacing. “No, I’m not sure. I assume they are always somehow misfits in their pack…making them more likely to be loyal to Silverclaw.” I ran a hand through my hair, questioning my choices.

“You can’t blame this on yourself Sam. We will get to the bottom of it, limit some control systems maybe for certain functions of the company.” He got up and wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed my neck.

“Nick.” I whispered.

“Stop thinking Samantha. We will figure it out. We always do.”

He spun me around to face him and trailed his fingers over my jawline. My eyelids fluttered at his touch as I unconsciously leaned into him. “Okay.” I agreed.

He kissed me deeply making my toes curl from the pleasure of his lips on mine. He put his hand on my low back, pulling me closer to him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. I was getting so lost in the moment that I almost didn’t hear the knock at the door. I pulled from him with a smile on my lips. I opened the door to see a woman I had never met before.

“Do I know you?” I asked confidently.

She put her arm out in the official were greeting and I returned the gesture. “No, I wanted to introduce myself. I love your tech line, I’m Amy Laughlynn, daughter of the current general for Dragonmoon. I heard that Angel from Silver Thread was visiting with you also! I am a huge fan.” 

I smiled. “She is, she’s my beta.”

Amy’s mouth fell open. “Wow! I had a feeling that Silverclaw Enterprise and Silver Thread were connected, but that is just amazing. Do you mind if I come in and have a chat?”

I lifted my wrist to check the time. It was after 11 am now and almost lunch time with the Borne family.

“I have a lunch in about an hour that I still need to get ready for, how about we chat after that?”

She bobbed her head. “I am going to that as well!” She clapped her hands together. “I guess I will see you and Angel for lunch?”

I nodded and she practically bounced away. When I shut the door, Nick’s face was set in a frown.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I put my hands on his chest.

“That’s Amy.”

I furrowed my brows in confusion. “That is how she introduced herself.” He sighed like it was obvious and my eyes widened. “Do you mean the one who rejected you?” He nodded.

I wrapped my arms around his torso wishing I could help him somehow. He told me about Amy a long time ago, she rejected him because she was trying to be with someone else. He was sure he had gotten over it, but given his reaction to hearing her voice, I was thinking maybe he hadn’t.