CHAPTER 11

Ryley

The weekend went by quickly. Channing and the alpha's son, Aspen, had been inseparable. He really is a good kid, especially for one being raised by a single dad. I enjoyed having him at our place. They spent Sunday playing video games and hanging around the house. I'm used to Channing having friends, but usually the weekends were for us. I think Aspen was just lonely he'd mentioned his dad was busy with meetings all weekend. Poor kid.

Now it's Monday morning, and I'm walking up to the pack house. Beta Luca is standing outside.

"Good morning, Miss Halliwell," he greeted me. I was dressed professionally in a high-waisted pencil skirt and a white blouse, my heels clicking against the driveway as I walked up toward him.

"Good morning, Beta Luca. How are you feeling?" I asked with a smirk.

"Sore, in places I never knew existed," he groaned, and I laughed.

"Come on, let me show you to your office. I'll also show you where the dining room is for lunch," he said, leading me into the pack house. There were people everywhere, rushing about, but the second I walked in beside the beta, every set of eyes in the room found me. I held my head high and smiled. I hated being the center of attention, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

After showing me where the dining room was on the main floor, he led me up the stairs. My office was a few doors down from Blake's. Luca opened the door for me and handed over the key.

The office was bare just an L-shaped desk, a chair, and a bookshelf against one wall. The window behind the desk had a great view of the back gardens.

"I assume you have your own computer, but if not, I can get one," he offered.

"I have my own. But I'll need you to email me all the links to access the accounts Mr. Blake wants me looking into. I'll also need a printer, and the wifi password to a secure connection," I explained.

There was a knock at the door. Luca answered it, and a few warriors filed in, each carrying boxes.

"Not everything's digitized yet," Luca commented.

"Yeah, I see that," I groaned.

"Beta Luca, should we bring down the rest?" one of the warriors asked, his eyes never once leaving me.

"This is a good start. But if you can spare someone to scan everything as I go through it, it'll make round two a lot faster," I told them.

"That'll be all for now," Luca said, dismissing the three warriors. "I'll speak with the alpha about your request, and get everything else sent over."

"Thank you," I said, lifting the lid off one of the boxes.

"There's coffee in the dining room," he added before leaving my office and closing the door behind him.

I sighed and set my bag and purse on my new desk. Should've worn pants, I thought, grabbing the open box and settling onto the floor with it. This was going to be tedious.

"I should have asked for more," I muttered, pulling out a few files. The Orion Pack had more than a handful of businesses under its name, and I'd bet the employee turnover was low across all of them which meant if someone had been stealing, they could have started years before anyone noticed. I wondered whether Blake was being genuinely paranoid, or whether he actually suspected someone specific and just hadn't said so.

I'd sorted through most of the nine boxes and was still sitting on the floor when a knock came at my office door.

"Come in," I called out, already dreading the twenty minutes it was going to take me to stand back up.

"Wow," Luca breathed out as he stepped inside.

"Please tell me Mr. Blake agreed to have all this scanned," I sighed.

"He's been in meetings most of the morning, but I'll ask him. I emailed you everything you asked for and texted over the wifi password. Just waiting on a printer delivery," he said, and I nodded.

"I'm going to need a few more boxes," I said, rolling my shoulders to work out the ache settling into them.

"Have you eaten yet?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"I don't even know what time it is," I admitted.

"Stuck?" He smirked, and I pressed my lips into a flat line.

"I could get up. I just don't want to," I huffed, crossing my arms.

"Uh-huh."

"But I wouldn't say no to a hand up," I shrugged.

"Come on," he said, extending his hand. "You should go have lunch it's after two." He pulled me to my feet. My legs had gone completely numb, tingling all the way down as I tugged my skirt straight.

"Fine. But please get me more boxes. At this rate I'm going to be here a year just clearing out this mess," I said, grabbing my phone from my purse.

"I'll get more brought down. Go eat. I don't need you complaining later that I worked you straight through without a break." He chuckled.

"Oh, don't worry if I had a problem, you'd hear about it. Loudly."

"I believe it. Or you'll just kick my ass again," he grumbled, and I laughed.

"I'll go grab a coffee," I told him.

"There'll be plenty of work waiting when you get back," he grinned.

"Yay, me," I exclaimed as we left the office together.

This was going to be a long two months, I thought, making my way down toward the dining room.