In The Beginning, Chapter 30
It took me several minutes after Daniel left to catch my breath, unfortunately my next appointment was with a wolf. I knew because in addition to her very detailed notes, she had marked each pack wolf with a little crescent moon, on the corner of their file. I had six candidates I was really excited about, Kendra had interviewed them all, and was very positive about four. I put the other two in the maybe pile and scanned the notes on the guy I was interviewing, while trying to waft the smell of sex away from my desk. A shiver ran down my spine as my mind flittered back to when he pulled my panties to one side and fucked me on my desk, his hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t scream. The way he demanded I look at him, I felt myself getting aroused again, and tried to snap myself out of it, when he opened the link.
“I can smell your scent all over me. I regret rushing, I would love to still be licking you off my lips.” He almost purred.
“Stop distracting me, I have an interview to conduct.” I whined.
“And now that wolf will know to whom you belong.” He threatened, his voice deep, and rumbling, it reeked of jealousy.
“I have to go, but I will come to your office at 12pm.” I replied before I cut the link, and another thought occurred to me. I buzzed Kendra, on the intercom. “Are you still covering for Elaina at lunch?” I asked her.
“No, Mr Pratt- well before he was, you know, he hired another girl, and she has been put on reception with Kendra until a new head of design is named. Mr Summer put one of Mr Pratt’s cronies in as a temp, but he warned them all that they would be investigated due to the nature of Mr Pratt’s crimes.” She got quieter and quieter, until she was whispering conspiratorially, I could almost see her huddled around the receiver.
“Oh, okay, umm, Kendra?”
“Yeah?”
“You wouldn’t have any... air freshener, would you?” I asked, nervously.
“No, sorry, but your next appointment is here, shall I send him in?” She asked extremely chirpily.
“Sure, why not.” I replied, while resting my forehead on the desk in shame, I just got it up in time when my door opened. “Thank you, Kendra.” I said into the phone, while the confused man took a seat opposite me and wrinkled his nose a little. “Sorry.” I double checked the file quickly. “My mate is a little possessive, he kinda marked his territory.” I explained as he tried to contain his giggles.
“It’s okay, I’ve seen it more times than I can count, and I hope you don’t think it's too forward, but if I had that man candy of an alpha chasing after me, well let’s just say I’d be caught, a lot.” He chuckled, then froze in horror of what he just said. I thought it was hilarious, and couldn’t stop giggling, which calmed him down some.
“Can I ask are you mated?” I asked, not knowing the rules when it came to the pack.
“You can ask, I’m not ashamed. No, I am not, but my Prince charming is out there somewhere, I just hope I look devastating when I meet him.” He teased, but I had to admit, his clothes were impeccable. He wore, a black dress shirt, with a black tie, and charcoal grey three piece suit. The only colour was an emerald tie pin, and pocket square, his black dress shoes that looked similar to Daniel’s.
“Where did you get those shoes, I think Daniel has a pair.” I blurted, thankfully he laughed.
“Oh, I don’t doubt he has. They’re from a store in Applewood, Alessandro’s. The Summers are big supporters of community businesses.” He said with a knowing smile, until he saw my confused expression.
“Really? They look like they’re a designer, or at least hand made.” I admired.
“They are! Well, the story is that like 150 years ago or something, a female from the pack met her mate, who was a human, and a shoemaker, who came to America to open a shoe store, so the alpha at the time gave them the money and the building to open one, which was handed down generation after generation, each taught by their parent. Anyway, not Mr Richard, but maybe his dad? When he was Alpha, they nearly lost the store, times were hard on everyone. But Mr Summer, he heard how bad things had gotten, and everyone was going without something. So, he bought the building back off the bank, and placed an order for every child in the pack school to get a new pair of shoes, all paid for by him. It's what the Summer’s do, I guess you’ll be part of that too soon enough.” He gestured to my hand.
“I had no idea, what else do they fund?” I asked, completely forgetting that I was supposed to be asking about the job, so I knew whether he could do it or not.
“Well, the shoes thing is still going, Alessandro’s gets a list of all the kids, and they send out appointment cards for when the kids can be fitted. And you get a pair when you graduate, for job or college interviews. Then there’s the couple of dozen scholarships, they’ve invested in pretty much every business in town. And there’s the pack’s childcare, did you know humans have to pay for that? I had no idea until I worked here, thankfully the woman who was talking about it just put it down to me not having kids, but it was uncomfortable. Umm, I’m not sure, oh, the farmer’s market, I nearly forgot. A few years ago, we had a little trouble getting fresh produce in, something happened in the supply chain thing, and you could not find a single piece of fruit anywhere, it was chaos. People having to come into the city, people were upset. So, Mr Daniel, came up with this idea of a community garden, and he got all the equipment, and even helped dig it himself. I remember, because me and my sister would go sneak a peek, I mean, can you imagine, well I guess you don’t have to, but he was my first crush. I was devastated when I found out he was straight.” He lamented. “Anyway,” he said as he fanned himself, “they ended up growing too much. More than the households who had contributed and their families. So, then Mr Daniel suggested a farmer's market, the families with the most need get a basket delivered, and everything else gets sold to the pack to pay for the gardens. I have it on good authority, Mr Daniel has three baskets of produce delivered a week, which he pays top price for, and most of it goes on his staff. But they’ve always been like that, its why we’ve followed them for generations. They may live in a big house, and they may have a lot of money, but they never put themselves before the pack. Oh, what am I like, gabbing on about your fiancé when we are supposed to be talking shop, but before we get to that, is it true he whisked you away to a beach in the Bahamas to propose?” His green eyes lit up at the possibility, they weren’t the emerald green of his tie pin or pocket square, they were more of a mossy green, but still pretty, and framed by thick black eyelashes. He was tall, and athletic, like all the wolves I’d met so far, and his skin was somewhere between olive and copper, and with his black hair, I had no doubt he had trouble attracting attention.
“No.” I laughed in response to his question. “We were on pack business, no beaches, not even a spa day.” I teased, although it was all true.
“Yeah, it didn’t really sound like Mr Daniel, but you never know, some men go mad when they find their mate. My brother went out and applied for a loan to buy his mate some ridiculous rock the size of Georgia. I mean I like bling, but this thing was just gaudy. Thankfully she talked him out of hit, but then he tried to take her on vacation, even though he was in training, and she was in college. Man, completely lost his head.” I found myself chuckling, but also thankful Daniel hadn’t heard that one yet, it might give him ideas. We rushed through the rest of the interview when Kendra let me know my next appointment was there, and I hadn’t asked a single question about his design experience. But he managed to come up with a couple of things on the spot that would be interesting to try out. I moved him to the call back pile and scanned the next file before I asked Kendra to send in the next candidate. The rest of my interviews weren’t nearly as entertaining as Harrison had been, but I got one maybe and a definitely not, the first one I could cross off my list. And another call back. When 12pm came around I was satisfied with the dent I had made to my to do list. I left Kendra with a few notes and asked her to write an email to the man I rejected, then left for Daniel’s office, Bailey dutifully following behind me. As always, Ms Michaels was at her post, as we entered the waiting area.
“Ms Michaels.” I nodded, she cracked one of her rare smiles in return before bowing her head.
“Luna.” She replied.
“Not yet, Charlie is fine.” I replied, when an idea hit me. “Ms Michaels?” I looked at Bailey, I didn’t want to admit what I wanted and why in front of him, but I was gonna have him around for a while.
“Yes?” She replied, her lips twitched, like she tried to say Charlie, but couldn’t bring herself to.
“I was wondering, is there, like a registry... or something? Of the residents of Applewood?” I asked, trying way too hard to sound casual, even to myself.
“No, not exactly, but I could compile something if you give me a rough idea of what you’re looking for?” She offered.
“Oh, no, no, I couldn’t ask you to do that. I was just wondering if there was a database, or something, a census maybe?” I enquired.
“There are the official town records, but I don’t think you would be allowed to just look through them, what is it you’re trying to find out?” She asked, so, in for a penny.
“I was hoping to get the names and numbers or emails of the non-Lycan residents?” I asked hesitantly.
“That shouldn’t take too long to compile. I could have it on your desk by tomorrow morning?” She asked.
“Umm, yeah, that would be amazing, thank you.” I replied a little shocked that she would hand over that kind of information to me. She blushed a little at my praise.
“I could email most of them today, give them your work email, ask them to contact you? If you wanted to that is, I wouldn’t have to know the specifics.” She rushed like she had overstepped.
“Actually, that would be wonderful, I don’t want anyone to feel pressured to talk to me because of Daniel. I’m just looking for some advice, I thought maybe they could give me some tips for getting around my lack of a wolf.” I admitted, lowly.
“Oh! I’m sure some of the women have come up with some tricks around that, not sure about the men. But I will ask on your behalf, and I promise to include that anyone who does not want to participate is free not to. Shall I suggest a date?”
“Umm, yeah, Sunday afternoon at the pack house, coffee and donuts, three o’clock.” I said with a smile. Before Ms Michaels could respond, Daniel opened the office door, a big grin on his face when he saw me waiting.
“Hey gorgeous, have you been waiting long? I could not get off my last call.” He explained as he grabbed my hand and pulled me into the office. The moment the door was closed I was shoved against it, his nose was in the crook of my neck, he inhaled deeply. “Goddess, I love your scent.” He purred as his nose ran along my jaw.
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