6. The unknown wolf

Zale

I follow Anders and Colin into the three-story office building we have a vendor interview to pitch for. I don’t normally come to these sales pitch meetings, but Jamie, our Sales Manager’s mate just gave birth, so I offered to fill in. The office is in the industrial area, a large brick building with vines crawling up the trellis on the right side.

As we cross the car park to the front entrance, I pick up on the subtlest of wolf scents. I pause trying to detect the different notes. White citrus, tart and sharp, Sage, clear and crisp, and white musk, warm and seductive. Barely perceptible and feminine – a she-wolf.

“Anders, do you smell that.” I call, inhaling again, cataloguing it with my wolf, the scent enticing in its simplicity.

He looks at me over his shoulder, taking a deep breath, scenting the air with me. As my Beta and second, his senses are almost as sensitive as mine. He shakes his head and breathes again, holding his breath longer. “Nothing. What are you picking up?”

“Hmmm, I thought I smelt a she-wolf. Do we have anyone registered here?” I ask, surprised he can’t detect what I am scenting – even as faint as it is.

He opens his phone checking the business name Drakon Designs to see if we have any clan or pack wolves working here. “No, no one is registered here, we need to hurry up, before we’re late.”

“Strange.” I mutter under my breath and follow the two of them into the reception area. As soon as we hit the front desk, the scent hits me again – the exact same one, but it's stronger.

Colin announces us and the receptionists smiles a little too widely at Anders, before calling someone named Wills and telling them we are here. I don’t hear what is being said, I’m not paying close attention and I take a few steps tracking the scent through the lobby to the internal lift. Anders grunts to get my attention, a brow raised questioningly, a warning in his eyes. He opens the pack link to me. “What are you doing – look where you are.”

“Right, the humans around us – I thought I smelt the wolf again.”  I send back to him

The lift opens before he can question me more, and a slight man with brown hair and friendly blue eyes exists and smiles. “Mr Reuel, Mr Spencer and Mr Wallace?”

“Anders Reuel, this is Colin Spencer, er – Jamie Wallace was unable to join us today, so this is Zale Ryker, our CEO filling in for him.” Anders steps forward shaking the man’s hand with a friendly expression plastered on his face. His golden boy look as I call it.

“Welcome, I’m Tristan Golding, if you follow me, I will show to the Conference room where you can set up. Willow will meet us there in a few minutes.”  The four of us get in the lift, dwarfing Tristan with our sheer size in the tiny enclosure. He swallows audibly, and if I wasn’t a wolf I would not know that he was so thoroughly intimidated by us.

I’m a big man at 6.4, I’m broad and built like a brick house. Most people are intimidated by me, but then when you couple it with my Alpha dominance, and the fact that I am a Regional Alpha, it makes most wolves cower around me if they don't know me. So for this slight human man to keep his composure with me behind him, his back turned to me and vulnerable – it’s impressive.

The lift takes us to the top floor, we exit and I get another annoyingly elusive waft of that sent as Tristan leads us to a large conference room at the end of the hall, leading us to the far side the table and showing Anders and Colin where the connections and cords are for our laptops.

I move to sit between them, pulling out my tablet from Anders bag, reviewing the request for proposal details in preparation for the meeting. Anders and Colin buzz around me, ensuring the laptop will connect so they present the slides that they have prepared.

I check my watch, the lead manager – this Willow Doyle - is late. I hate tardiness and have strict rules, if you are more than 10 minutes late, we reschedule. She’s now on my timer.

Tristan clears his throat, his eyes on me, clearly he saw me looking at my watch. “Willow is on her way now; she was unavoidably delayed with an emergency call. While you finish setting up, can I get anyone a coffee, tea, or water?

“Water would be appreciated.” He’s smart, stalling us with drinks, for that clever move, I’ll give her an extra 5 minutes before we will pack up and leave.

“Calm down Zane. She’ll be here – I want this account so we will be patient.” Anders sends through our link with a smirk. I give him a side glance and shake my head.

“You will be patient; I’ll be judging her.” I throw back and he shakes his head.

The door opens quietly and the scent that follows hits me with the force of a truck. I’m on my feet in an instant, tense, fists clenched to hide the claws that just sprung from my fingers as I watch the she-wolf enter the room and murmur to Tristan. “Anders, I thought you said we don’t have any wolves registered?”

“We don’t.”.

“Then who in the hell is she?” He doesn’t answer me, his shock is as palpable as mine as we take her in.

She’s average height and all curves with dark hair that throws red in the light, the thick braid hanging over her shoulder reveals neon pink ends. She turns her attention to the three of us, a professional yet warm smile on her face as she steps around the table to greet us, her hand held out for us to shake. I wait for her to realise who we are, to angle her head and show her neck in respect and submission.

But she doesn’t react.

Anders barely recovers his introduction, holding her hand longer than necessary, to the point she has to shake him off. He’s trying to scent her, like I am but somehow, she is able to suppress her scent so we get small blasts of it before absolutely nothing.

Does she think we don’t know who and what she is?

I look at the hand she’s holding out for me to shake. Is she serious? Looking into her green eyes, it’s only as she gets closer to me that I realise her right eye is half brown. Strikingly rare for a wolf.

“I appreciate you making the effort to come to the office to meet with us today Mr Ryker, I’ll admit I thought I was to meet a Mister Wallace today.” She says with no hesitation at all.

I watch her reaction to my name carefully. There is nothing, no recognition, no fear. Just nothing. How does she not recognize my name? She should know the name of the Regional Alpha of the territory she is breaching. If this is the way she wants to play it, I’ll humour her for a while longer. “Please call me Zale. Mr Wallace was unable to attend today’s meeting, his mat…ah wife just gave birth to their first child so is now on parental leave.”

“Zale it is then. Please pass on my congratulations to Mr Wallace and his wife.” She says, looking down at the hand that she’s still holding out to me, and then back up to my face, then down again.

“For the love of the moon, shake her hand already.” Anders instructs through the link, a touch of humour in his tone that I ignore.

I take her hand in mine, a tingle running from where our palms connect straight up my arm. She is a strong wolf – how is it that we don’t know who she is or how she is here.  “I will. What clan are you from Willow?”