Chapter 8

As the lift stopped on her floor Naomi said goodbye to Jason and walked to her team’s office space and stopped dead as the cold, fearful, sensation she felt earlier, washed over her again. Something was definitely up today and she just wanted to run and hide.  Bracing herself for whatever was coming she walked into the big open plan space her staff were sharing. Luckily no one was here yet. Naomi unpacked her laptop and started connecting them to her monitors and keyboards, put her headphones on and worked while her team trickled in. Just after 11am, when everyone had finally arrived, finished coffees and were finally doing some solid work they were disrupted by the head of the department. Can we all gather in the meeting room please? There were groans and sighs from the staff but they all dragged themselves into the big glass room at the end of the office.

Naomi didn’t know what the meeting was for but when the door opened and she saw who walked in her heart almost stopped beating. Her manager was stood with a tall, thin man with tiny round glasses, perched halfway down his slim nose, who looked like some kind of comical vampire. Being dressed all in black and having white hair didn’t help him look more normal. Naomi couldn’t breath for a moment, this was her cousin Peter Clarke. The third in command for Alpha Theon. Finally remembering how to breath Naomi remembered there was no way he could know who she was. He wouldn’t recognise her and he couldn’t smell her, but if she didn’t calm down he would sense her reaction to him and then he’d pay more attention to her than she needed.

“Everyone” said her manager getting their attention “This is the gamma of the Half moon Pack Gamma Peter Clark and he is joining us today as the newest member of the head management team on floor 12 so he is going to be sitting in on meetings around the building over the next few weeks to see who everyone is and how we run. I hope you all make him feel welcome” Everyone nodded politely at the Gamma as he and Naomis manager took a seat each the latter signalling her to go ahead with the meeting. Warily she eyed the Gamma as she took her own seat but she saw no hint that he recognised her or any signs that he was suspicious or had any interest in her beyond the specifications she was discussing. Feeling more in control now Naomi carried on as if nothing dramatic or crazy had just happened to her and got on with her day.

30 minutes after the meeting ended Peter was in his new office on the 12^th floor logging into his laptop and looking for the personal files on the technical staff. When he had walked into the building that morning, he felt something was strange about the place. Like there was some kind of familiar scent he couldn’t place but it was just a whisper of a smell so he couldn’t place it. When he got into the elevator it was stronger and clearer and he knew that he was smelling someone familiar, but he couldn’t place it at all.

Forgetting about it he exited the lift on his floor and entered his office but before he could get started on anything one of the lower managers came in to tell him the staff meeting for the programme developers was about to start if he still wanted to meet the team. Nodding in agreement he had followed the man to the meeting room. As they walked in Peter saw the source of the scent. A striking young woman with dark hair and brown eyes, dressed in a hoodie and black jeans leading the meeting. She had two scents on her. One was her own complete alien and a little displeasing but under it was a second scent, maybe someone she had come into contact with wondered Peter? But then he knew the smell. But it couldn’t be what he thought, it smelt like his Alpha, Theon Davenport. It couldn’t be him. He was in New York and would have never met this woman or been near her, especially not recent enough to leave a lingering scent on her.

Peter was careful not to react but was worried he may have flinched a little as he realised Natalie was watching him with a cautious look on her face, she seemed like she was watching his reaction to her, but he decided he was over reacting as she carried on leading the meeting as if nothing had happened. As soon as he got back to his office he looked her up in the file. Nataline Lane. 24. Her address was local but in a slightly rundown area of the city. This surprised Peter as he could also see her salary and she earned a six figure sum. Strangely she had no family listed and no emergency contact number. “You are a bit of an enigma aren’t you Miss Lane” he muttered to himself as he wrote down her address on a piece of paper,