Chapter 3

(Julia's POV)

“Why does your scent smell so much like the one on my pillow from last night?” Ronan’s question made my heart start racing so fast, I thought it might explode. Oh, God, get a hold of yourself, Julia.

I took a deep breath, then said, “I don’t know, sir. Why don’t you double-check? Maybe when I brought you to bed last night, another scent rubbed off on me and it’s throwing you off.” He didn’t say anything; just lowered his head, almost pressing his nose against my neck.

The heat from his body was enough to make my heart beat even faster. Then, he exhaled, his hot breath fanning over the sensitive skin on my neck, and before I could stop myself, the events of last night started going through my mind.

His hands on my waist, my stomach, his fingers dipping lower, make me pant and writhe on the bed. His lips on my neck, my cheeks, my mouth. His strong arms bracketing either side of my head, holding him up as he thrust inside me.

Ronan immediately jerked back, and part of me wondered if he had been able to read my thoughts. However, he didn’t look concerned. Instead, he just shrugged and said, “You’re right. The scent is different. Must be more hungover than I thought.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Turns out Aura’s old trick of slightly changing my scent still worked after all. Ronan was still looking at me oddly, though. “So, what else happened last night?”

“What do you mean?” I replied. “After you got me into bed, what did you do exactly?” Ronan asked. “I need to know you’re not lying to me.” Typical Ronan, never fully trusting anyone.

“I went home,” I said, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt. “I met up with my mate. We had a late dinner, watched a movie, and then went to bed. You know, just a typical night for us.”

“And that’s all?” Ronan still sounded suspicious. “You just…went home and watched a movie with your mate? Nothing else?” Sounding bolder than I felt, I responded, “Well, if you want a full run-down of our schedule, I can give it to you.”

“I got home around 9 o’clock and Kevin, my mate, had ordered Chinese for us. We ate it on the couch and watched some dumb action movie he’s been begging me to watch with him forever, then we went to bed.” I crossed my arms, glad I had a story prepared. “Is that all?”

Ronan mirrored my position, crossing his muscular arms across his broad chest. He stared at me for a few seconds, and I almost thought he would accuse me of lying, but instead, he just said, “Find out who was here last night.”

I let out a sigh of relief. I was safe…for now. But there was always the possibility Ronan would start to remember more about last night and realize it had been me in his bed. Who knows what he would do if he knew?

Ronan is a ruthless businessman, taking no prisoners as he works on the best deals possible for our pack. If he knew we had slept together, I don’t know how he would respond. I also don’t want anyone else to get blamed for any part of what happened last night. Luckily, there’s no proof I’m the woman Ronan spent the night with.

As I drove home, I briefly considered picking up some emergency contraception, but decided against it. The pills always made me feel sick, and besides, Kevin and I had tried to have a pup many times, and we never conceived. The Moon Goddess blessed true mates with the ability to conceive stronger offspring—which by extension made pregnancy with a non-mate nearly impossible.

I went home to shower and change for work. There, I would start gathering more information about what Ronan might do to me if he knew I was the one in his bed the night before.

As I walked down the hall past Alex’s office, I saw him through a gap in the door, phone to his ear. “Ronan, it’s all taken care of.” I stopped and waited for him to begin talking again. “The culprit has been caught. It’s all going to be handled.”

My heart started racing. I didn’t think they were talking about me, but I realized that, if they did find out I lied, they would “handle” me the same way. Being exiled from the pack and becoming a rogue was probably my best option.

The stress of keeping the secret was eating away at me. My heart was constantly racing, my palms were sweating all the time, and I kept feeling like I was going to throw up whenever I ate anything.

No matter how stressed I got, though, I was not going to lose my job over this. I would hide the truth, no matter how many times Ronan and Alex asked me if I’d discovered anything new about the mystery woman in Ronan’s room.

“The situation has not been resolved yet,” I would say with a smile. Alex would usually return my smile, but Ronan would just glower at me and storm off. It was better than the alternative, though: him knowing the truth.

Making matters worse, Sandy seemed determined to get in the way at every turn. She didn’t know why Alex and Ronan kept coming to my desk, or what they were asking about, but she knew I hadn’t handled the situation yet.

“All this trouble, right after your big promotion,” she said one day, trailing her hand over the stacks of papers and files on my desk. “I don't know, sis. Doesn’t seem like a good sign. Ronan’s probably going to realize you can’t handle it and knock you back down to your old position.

I didn’t respond; just kept typing at my computer and tried to ignore the unsteadiness in my stomach. “I’ll probably hear something about it soon enough,” Sandy continued. “I mean, I already know all the details about the new pack merger.”

She smiled. “You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if they made me the new head. They’re already letting me in on all this insider stuff, right? And you’re the Acting Beta, and you don’t even know about it.”

“Don’t get too excited,” I finally said. “You never know what will happen.” Although I had a pretty good idea that Sandy wasn’t going to be made head of anything, considering she was a major slacker. It was a miracle she hadn’t been fired before now.

Sandy sauntered off after that, clearly annoyed I wasn’t playing along with her little game. She had been more annoying than usual these last few days, despite the fact that she had so totally humiliated me by seducing Kevin.

Once the work day was over, I began packing up my stuff, hoping to get some time to check on my wolf. Since Kevin’s hook-up with Sandy, I worried that it would be getting weaker again. Suddenly, I began to feel dizzy, dizzier than I ever had before.

My vision started to blur and I tried to grab the edge of my desk for balance, but missed. My knees began to give out and started to collapse. Before I hit the ground, I felt strong arms circle around my waist and pull me up.

I instantly relaxed into this person’s grip, thankful I’d been saved from hitting the grimy office carpet. The arms around my waist were strong and muscular, and I felt safe with them wrapped around me.

I turned, pressing my hands against the firm chest of whoever my hero was — then tensed as soon as I realized that firm chest felt all too familiar. I looked up to see Ronan’s dark eyes looking grimly down at me.