~ Nikolai ~Karl surged to the surface like a wildfire, straining to attack the kid."Snap his hand right now!" he growled inside my head.I struggled against him fiercely. It was even harder because deep down, I wanted to do the same thing. I didn't want him touching Bella.There aren't many times that I actually win against Karl but this time, I managed.I guess I was strengthened because I didn't think Bella would appreciate me breaking her pop idol's hand in front of her.So instead, I pinned the kid with a deadly look. He caught my eye and immediately backed up. He let go of her immediately, a scared look flashing across his eyes. "I-I have to go," he muttered."I'll see you at the next meeting, Mr Rover," Bella called to him, completely oblivious to our little exchange.He hurried away without a word, throwing an uneasy look over his shoulder at me.The manager stopped to shake her hand as well. "Thank you, Mrs Bella. You did an amazing job. I look forward to concluding this c
~ Bella ~For moments after Alpha Nikolai left the room, I remained curled up against the wall, crying.I couldn't for the life of me figure out what had led to such a drastic change in Alpha Nikolai's mood.One second he was smiling, telling me he was impressed. The next second he was punching a hole in the office wall. My ear was still ringing from the loud crash. I brushed the plaster from my hair.'I can't believe that I was actually warming up to him. He is a monster! A monster!'Tears streamed down my face in torrents. My body still shook slightly from the fear and adrenaline rush.Honestly, I'd thought he would kill me right then and there. That moment where his fist flew towards my head... his eyes had actually glowed red. If he'd hit my head, my brains would be all over the floor right now, no doubt.How could a person be that strong? He could have easily crushed my skull with his fist!It was a brutal reminder that the person I was dealing with was not human. He was an a
~ Bella ~I froze as I heard Alpha Nikolai's deep, husky voice over the phone.The last time I'd heard his voice, he'd been growling at me.Right now his voice was uncharacteristically soft, almost appealing.But the memories from earlier continued to play in my head, causing the back of my neck to prickle in alarm."Bella?" he repeated. "Are you still there?"I shook myself back to attention. "Hello? Hum... yes I am. And yes, I got the necklace.""Did you like it?" he asked.I nodded then remembered that he couldn't see me. I cleared my throat."Yes, I did," I answered. "It's very beautiful. Thank you.""And did you get my note too?" he pressed."Yes, I did," I answered again. I was not giving him any leeway because to be honest I was a bit mad at him for what happened earlier."I meant it, Bella," he said. "I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have lost control like that."I sighed. I couldn't even stay mad at him when he sounded this quiet and pertinent. I had a feeling not many p
~ Bella ~"What did she do this time by the way?" Maggie asked.I gave her a quick rundown of my encounter with Mrs Meyer at Parker's office earlier.Maggie threw her head back and laughed. "You have to give it up to her though. She really takes her job as your arch nemesis very seriously!""Well, I'm going to teach her a good lesson this time again. I guess she didn't learn her lesson last time. Remember how it went?" I asked, snickering.Maggie doubled over laughing, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. "Girl, how could I forget?"The last time we'd decided to 'teach Mrs Meyer a lesson', I'd come up with an elaborately delicious plan.Maggie and I had enlisted the help of an old friend from back home to place a call to Mrs Meyer while we listened from the door. Even though we only got to hear one side of the conversation, it was highly rewarding.It'd gone something like this;"...Hello?" *Pause "...Yes, this is the office of Parker Smith." *Pause "...I am his secretary, Mrs
~ Nikolai ~I paced the length of my study. I had a lot on my mind lately.The content of the worrisome file in my desk was never completely out of my mind even when it was out of sight.Sooner or later, I would have to deal with the matter even though I was stalling.Making Bella prove to me that she could handle the case was just as much a ploy to delay the inevitable.Talking of Bella... it'd been about three days since I last heard from my mate.Ever since the day she'd hurriedly cut off the phone off when I'd slipped up and called her the nickname I only called her in my head...I knew for a fact that she hadn't gotten a new case yet which meant I had no excuse to call her or see her.I stalked over to my phone and dialled a number. It took a few rings but they finally picked up."Old friend, how are you these days?" I said into the receiver.By the time I dropped the receiver, I had a smile on my face. 'Dear Bella, looks like I'll be seeing you soon enough.'The next day, my ph
~ Bella ~"So here's the load down," I started. "Mr Charles Darl was an employee of Suave Accounting firm. He was dismissed three months ago as a result of an accounting mistake that resulted in a loss of $100,000."Alpha Nikolai nodded. He was listening so abruptly that I was actually surprised. I could almost think he was actually interested and not just trying to make my life more difficult by insisting on being involved in the case.When he'd said, "So where do we start?" earlier, I'd immediately started trying to convince him to trust me to do it on my own.I practically swore that I would get back to him later with all the details but he'd refused vehemently.So here we were. Sigh! At least he was listening."Now the thing is Mr Darl claimed it was an accounting error but the company suspected otherwise," I continued."A case of fraud?" he asked."Exactly!" I nodded. I gave him a smile to show I was pleased. "However, they couldn't find any concrete evidence to tie him to the c
"Start again," he commanded.Startled, my hand immediately flew back up to the buttons.He had such a quality around him that made you just obey him without thinking.I frowned, my face turning bright red with a mix of anger and embarrassment.This time, to avoid making the same mistake again, I was forced to actually look at what I was doing.As such, his chest was back in my line of sight. I swallowed.I practically had to hold my breath the entire time or risk running my hand over his fine skin. How could a man have such nice skin?Actually how could a werewolf have such nice skin? I'd never really known any werewolves personally but I'd just always imagined them to be very hairy and scary looking.There wasn't a single strand of hair on his chest and even though he looked dangerous, he was too fine to be considered scary-looking.I held my breath and finished up the buttoning as fast as I could. Halfway to the top, he grabbed my hand again."What now?" I whined."That's enough,"
~ Bella ~Insane! This alpha was insane!I didn't understand what kind of game he thought he was playing but I wasn't prepared to fall for it.Of course, he was an incredibly attractive man. Any woman with eyes could see that.So it wasn't a strange thing that I had a physical reaction to him but if he thought that I would ever do anything with him, he better have another thing coming on!Never in a thousand years would I cheat on Parker. Sweet old Parker! My crush for years!I didn't deserve him and I would ever do anything to hurt him. Even if that anything was a sexy werewolf with stunning abs trying to seduce me.He probably did this with every woman he met. I would be stupid to think he was acting this way towards me for any real reason.The more reason I couldn't afford to let him get to my head."How come you never kiss my ass?" he asked so close to my face that I felt his breath against my lips.I dipped my head under his arm and cut to the side, expertly removing myself fro