CHAPTER 55

I had to ask for directions five times before I entered the actual work facility building slash hive mind of Hoventech. No one blinked, or asked weird questions when I worked my way through the lobby to the set of elevators with very heavy looking security. Three men and one woman to be exact, and to my surprise two of the men were human.

It made me wonder. Did Hoventech reveal the presence of werewolves to its staff? Normally that would be a huge no no in the werewolf community, but Aiden had been very clear about his future goals and that included integration.

None of the guards spoke to me, just watched as I thumbed the button to summon the elevator. The button itself was reminiscent of the little pad I'd had to put my blood on the day before, it even lit up the same, a little pinch telling me I'd donated a drop of blood for the privilege. I wondered if Hoventech employees often suffered from blood loss.

The light above the door flashed and the elevator opened. I stepped inside, to my surprise one of the security guards, the woman and a wolf, stepped inside with me.

"The alpha has requested I guide you to his laboratory," she explained when I shot her a questioning look.

She was a smaller woman, and slender. With dark skin and wide brown eyes. It made her look like she was just past her teens and playing at security, yet the firm set to her body assured me that was not the case.

"How did he even know I was here?"

She tapped at her ear, where I noticed a communication device similar to the one we'd used to infiltrate Defence Medical.

"Still spying on me," I muttered shaking my head.

"He says if you're going to be a baby about it he could let you wander around the facility for a few more hours before sending someone to help you," she looked at me apologetically.

I frowned, because I had wandered around the facility for quite some time before one of the employees had taken pity on me and given me my first set of directions. And because now he was listening in on my conversations.

"He also says that if you hadn't destroyed your phone you'd have an easier time getting a hold of him." She blinked at me, her big eyes questioning. "You destroyed you phone? Why? I'd be lost without mine. I swear I have everything in there."

"You know your boss has spyware in it right? He can see everything you do, listen to your calls, track you?"

To my surprise she didn't freak out, or argue with me, she just shrugged.

"I have nothing to hide, and if I'm ever in trouble it's kind of comforting that someone will know. I hear we had more vampire intruders yesterday. If things are getting dangerous then I'd rather have security than privacy."

Huh.

We rode the rest of the ten floors in silence. The laboratory, or at least the one where Aiden was working took up the entire tenth floor, the doors opening up into a massive space with clusters of comfortable looking seats, computer terminals, a walking track and a snack bar. Around the exterior of the main space offices, board rooms and more traditional looking laboratories were separated by glass walls.

I guess no one in Hoventech really cared about privacy.

Aiden was sitting in one of the sectioned off areas, a raised office that looked out over the main room and also boasted a nice view of the surrounding forest. He noticed us as we stepped off the elevator and stood, walking around his desk and down to the main floor to meet us.

"Thank you, Rayna," he smiled at the woman who blushed furiously before turning around and going back to the elevator, returning to her post.

"Did you rest well?" Aiden asked gesturing to the walking track. It was a little bit weird, but the employees at Hoventech barely glanced at us before returning to whatever they were doing. Some were in small groups, seated in the soft chairs discussing things animatedly, some were at the terminals typing away. None of them seemed concerned about the stranger in their midst.

"I slept," I demurred. For all I knew he'd bugged the apartment and already knew about my disrupted sleep. I didn't want to talk about that though. "So, this is where all the magic happens?"
Aiden smiled at me, and wow. Yeah it was no wonder Rayna had looked like she'd won the lottery. When Aiden smiled at you it felt as though you were being blessed by the gods themselves. My pulse sped up a little. Which, I reminded myself, was stupid.

"This is the innovation lab," he acknowledged, "where Hoventech's newest devices are designed and sometimes prepared. Other aspects of the business are conducted on the lower floors."

Ah. The less than legal aspects, I assumed. I doubted there was a great big open space with...yup that was a set of bean bag chairs...on those other floors.

"What do you think?" Aiden gestured to the room. "We strive to make the perfect creative atmosphere for our professionals, stimulate the mind and encourage creativity. We're in the technological age, nothing is truly out of reach any longer."

"Your people look happy," I admitted, because they did. With my wolf I could even tell that they were happy. Relaxed and confident, excited about whatever it was they were working on. I supposed, as much as I resented his intrusion into my privacy, he was a good employer and a good alpha. The people that saw us nodded to him respectfully and it wasn't the kind of respect that changed to envy or calculation when they turned away. They were, for the most part, perfectly happy to be in the position they were in, with no ambition to overthrow Aiden from his throne.

It was a little jarring, actually. I'd never known a pack that was so...loose in structure. Even here, in the innovation lab, there was a mix of human and wolf, and none seemed to be competing with one another for superiority. I'd never experienced that before. Not in the Cedar Pack, and certainly not in the Organization.

I had the feeling that Aiden was showing it to me on purpose. With some sort of end goal in mind. He was watching me carefully as I took the whole thing in.

"We spend a lot of time and effort to make sure they* are* happy. That is my job, as alpha, and as CEO. When people work for you because they are afraid not to, you always have to worry about your back. But if you've made a concentrated effort to help them succeed in life, meet their goals, take care of their finances and family, then you have loyalty. And loyalty is strength." He glanced at me. "Not everything has to be darkness and bloodshed. There can be happiness as well."

He was contrasting Hoventech, or the Sentinel Pack and the Organization. I wasn't certain I understood why. Sure, he'd offered to work with me, and having an idea of what I was dealing with was important, but this felt bigger somehow.

"Why are you showing me this?"

"Because we all make choices, Raven. Sometimes we are backed into a corner, but we always have a choice. Even if all that choice is is to keep moving forward."

He stopped then, and for a moment all of his attention was on me and me alone. It was intense, and even my wolf sat up and paid attention.

"I wanted to show you that trust can be a good choice."