Chapter 27
Recker paced outside Monroe’s office, waiting for Alex to come back out. He and Chief’s pissing contest lasted longer than it should have, but fucking wolf shifters were literally like a dog with a bone when it came to challenges for dominance. The only thing that ended the standoff was when Base finally came around, hauling his ass up off the floor before trying to have another go at Recker. Luckily, King had arrived, and with Chief’s help, the two escorted Base to the infirmary to get checked over.
Now, pacing the hall outside Monroe’s office, Recker was debating just barging in. He knew Alex was pissed at him and…fuck! Just fuck! When he’d seen her being led into the ballroom, he’d been unable to take his eyes off of her. She moved like liquid grace and was the most elegant thing he’d ever seen, even shackled and defeated; she was a queen in his eyes. He remembered noticing the slender column of her throat and the way it convulsed delicately as she swallowed and eyed the room in uncertainty. He could tell she was feeling out of place, but all he could see was every detail of her beauty. The little dip in her top lip, the way the hair around her face tumbled into raven’s-wing black curls. Her dark eyes were bright in her rich mocha skin that reminded him of decadent coffee. He was a coffee addict and fuck if he didn’t want to lick every inch of Alex to see if the taste of her could sate his craving.
When her eyes locked on his, they filled with hope so damn fast. And boom! Like the selfish prick he was, he tore his gaze away and never gave it back. She didn’t understand that it wasn’t a rejection, but self-preservation. She couldn’t know how badly he’d ached to shove off the back wall and rush that damn stage. It was instinctual. This need to protect and defend her like he owned her had him feeling rabid.
Fuck!
She felt like his. It felt like he had a right to go to her, but he didn’t because she wasn’t his. So, he’d turned away from her and had to clench his hands into white-knuckled fists because his palms were actually fucking itching to touch her. All of his senses were on high-alert, focused on one thing. He was so damn sensitized to her that he scented the second her emotions crumbled. He’d looked up just in time to watch Base kick her chair, pulling her up roughly before leading her from the room. As she was led out, his inner beasts cried for a re-do. They wanted to go back just a few precious minutes and stand unwavering under Alex’s gaze. She deserved to see that he was in this with her, but he hadn’t even been Walker enough to gift her even that.
How can I ever be good enough for her?
He doubted he ever could, but it didn’t stop him from giving in to his urge and following after her. He had to. The compulsion to soothe her was too overwhelming to deny.
***
Inside Monroe’s office, Alex claimed a seat on one of two sofas that faced each other over a glass-topped coffee table. She knew she should have waited for an invitation to sit, but honestly, her legs were so wobbly that she thought they’d give out.
She heard movement behind her, and when Monroe circled around the couch, he held out a glass of water. “Drink?”
She accepted it and took a tentative sip of the water with shaky hands while Monroe smirked, pulled something from his pocket, then bent and removed the shackles from her wrists before he claimed a seat across from her. Pinching the material of his expensive looking slacks, he hiked them up before scooting further back and then leaning his elbows on his knees to study Alex intently.
“You alright?”
No! “Fine,” she lied.
“Funny,” Monroe’s lips pressed into a thin line a moment before, “Chief seems to think you were…wounded.”
“I wasn’t,” she shook her head and looked down at the clear glass of liquid in her dark hands. “I’m not.”
“If you need me to speak to Recker…”
Her head snapped up. Before she could stop herself, she barked an angry, “No!”
Monroe’s brows hiked, and Alex felt compelled to add, “I don’t need anyone sticking up for me. I can…”
“Yes.” Now it was his turn to cut her off. “You can take care of yourself. I heard.” He relaxed back against the sofa and lifted one leg to rest his ankle on his knee as he pressed his knuckles to his lips and narrowed his eyes on her.
Being under Monroe StoneCrow’s scrutiny was just about the most uncomfortable place in the world. Hell, she was even more unnerved now than she’d been when seated on the stage looking like a criminal.
“Y-you wanted a minute.” She glanced toward the door and muttered, “Time’s almost up.” When she looked back at Monroe, he was smiling. It felt eerie because she didn’t think she’d ever seen him smile before.
“I like you, Alex.” He uncrossed his legs and lowered his arm. “You're direct and to the point, my kind of people, so I’ll just get to it. You fucked up.”
She swallowed hard but held his gaze, flattered by his compliment and not wanting to appear weak now.
“You broke the rules, and I’m obligated to uphold them, so you’re shot at employment here is out.”
“What…what are you going to do to me?”
His smile faded. “Nothing. Stoney vouched for you, and she’s agreed to accept your punishment?”
Alex shot up off the couch. “What? No!”
“Sit,” Monroe commanded and they way his lips thinned into a grim line left no room for argument.
Reclaiming her seat, Alex implored calmly. “I don’t want that. I don’t want anyone taking the blame for anything I’ve done. I’ll take my own punishment.”
Monroe studied her a moment before telling her, “It’s already done and won’t be addressed again.”
“No!” Alex snapped, her brows spearing down as she struggled to keep from shoving up out of her chair. “What do you mean it’s already done? What did you to do Stoney? If you hurt her…”
He shrugged negligently as if they weren’t discussing how someone else had suffered in her place. “She had several options. She chose to step down from the Board of Directors.”
All the air left Alex in a whoosh. She knew how much it meant to Stoney to be on the Board of Directors.
“Please,” she begged. “Can you undo it? Can’t you punish me instead?”
He flicked his fingers toward her. “As I said, it’s done.”
“Then why?” Alex growled. “Why the handcuffs, why put me on display in front of everyone if you were just going to punish Stoney in my place?”
His brows cocked up. “As you said…a display. The new recruits had to see that there are consequences for breaking protocol.”
“But there weren’t,” she argued, frowning hard. “Not for me anyway.”
“You’re leaving the Estate.” He angled his head, his eyes narrowing on her. “I know how much you wanted a place here. Don’t pretend you aren’t paying for what you’ve done, Alex.”
He was right. She felt tears sting the back of her eyes. After long, tense moments of simply staring at each other, she breathed, “Why am I still here? What do you want, Mr. StoneCrow?”
“We’re starting a breeding program here at the Estate.”
She didn’t respond to that.
“You interested?”
Alex snapped out of her silence. “Breeding program?”
Monroe clicked his tongue. “I forgot. Eden says I shouldn’t use that word. She says females may find it offensive.”
Alex didn’t respond to that, simply waited for him to explain.
“Stoney informed me that she’s educated you on the affliction.”
She nodded.
“So you understand that Walkers have Angels, get afflicted, blah, blah, blah.”
She nodded again.
“What most don’t understand is that we have hundreds of eligible Walker males here who’ve never been afflicted. I’ve got scores of males who have no Angels. These are men who will never find their Angels. Worse, they sit on the sidelines and watch male after male gain the one thing they know they’ll never have. It’s something many of my men are desperate for, and I’m not going to lie to you. My hiring a slew of unmated females wasn’t coincidence.”
Alex swallowed hard, understanding where this was going.
“I hope to find women who aren’t intimated by Walkers. Women who are open to forming relationships.”
“And if they are? What exactly do you mean by breeding program?” Eden was right, just saying the words pissed her off and had her frowning hard. “I’m not a whore, Mr. StoneCrow.”
“No,” he agreed. “And that’s not what I’m looking for.”
“Maybe you should just tell me what it is you’re looking for.”
“Mates,” he answered simply. “I’m looking for single women who are interested in becoming Walker or wolf mates.”
Confused, Alex shook her head. “Wolf?”
He jerked his chin toward the door. “Chief is a wolf shifter from up north.” He held up two fingers. “I’ve recently acquired two. They both lost a battle and a bet to my Sentry Baymac. If they’re willing, and women aren’t opposed, I’d like to include them.” He shrugged noncommittally. “Seems unfair to exclude them.”
Something about the way he’d said he “acquired two” got her hackles up. He made Chief and the other wolf shifter sound like inanimate objects. Shoving up off the sofa she turned for the door. “I came for work, Mr. StoneCrow, not to sell myself. Thank you, but no thank you.”
Before she reached the door, Monroe’s next words halted her.
“Stoney said you wanted a family. She said you’re alone, but that you dream of children…a man…a family.”
It was true. She did want those thing, but at what cost?
“I’m not looking to breed like an animal.”
“And I’m not looking to breed you like an animal.”
She turned to face him. “What then?”
“When you arrived at StoneCrow, you had to submit to testing. You took various personality, aptitude, emotional, and assessment tests?”
She nodded.
“We’d take the information we gleaned and match it against the test results of our unmated Walkers and the wolves. We’d see if we could find a compatible mate.”
Her mind instantly shot to Recker. She wondered if he’d taken the tests. She wondered if she’d be his match.
“I…I thought you didn’t want me here. I thought I was being banished from the Estate.”
“You’re being banished from the employee program. You’ll never work here, Alex. The only way for you to remain here on a permanent basis is to enter into the mating program.”
Her thoughts went back to Recker. “Are all unmated Walkers on this list?”
“No.” His eyes narrowed on her as he shoved to his feet and paced closer. “It’s a voluntary program. Only those males who want a mate are candidates. We don’t force anything here.”
Her tongue burned to ask if Recker was on that list. Instead, she asked, “And if you find me a match? What then? Shotgun wedding and the breeding begins?”
He smirked. “Usually ends up working the other way around, but first there’d have to be an introduction. If we find you a male, you agree to meet with him and…”
“And what?”
He wasn’t about to tell her that her blood had already been tested. A match had already been made. That match had been verified well before she’d even come to the Estate.
“You begin courting.”
Her brows hiked and she couldn’t help her condescending tone as she asked, “Courting?”
Monroe barked a laugh and tucked both hands into his slacks before rocking back on his heels. “Trying to sound a little less offensive here, Alex. But, since you’re as fond of the ‘c’ word as I am, we’ll just cut the shit. Walker matings happen quickly. Too quickly, if you ask me. But, it can’t be helped. If you agree to this and we find you a match, there’ll be no backing out.”
“So I’d be a Walker Angel?”
“No. Walker Angels are found through affliction. You’d be a mate via compatibility.”
“So I’d be less than an Angel?”
“No,” he shook his head. “When Skin Walkers attach themselves to someone, Ms. Hayworth, it is with everything they have. If a Walker male is informed that you are compatible and you both agree to a mating, you need to understand, you’ll be it for him. He will love you, protect you, defend you, and covet you with a fierce intensity that promises to be overwhelming. Think of an overprotective pit-bull who lets no one get close to his person.”
“That bad, huh?”
Monroe’s lips twisted, and Alex shuddered at the almost sinister hint to his expression.
“Worse,” he promised. “But you’ll never want for anything. Not financially, not emotionally, not sexually.”
She blushed at the last and ducked her head. Honestly, what he was offering her sounded…perfect. But, how could she enroll herself in a program where she’d be matched with an unknown male when she felt like there was something between her and Recker? She couldn’t do it. Not now. Not even after the way Recker had dismissed her in the ballroom. Why? Because A, she couldn’t do that to another male right now. Jumping on some list when she had these strange feelings for Recker didn’t feel right. And B, she needed to dissect exactly what it was about Recker that had her loathing him one second and then in the next excitedly exploring the potential that he could be her match.
Stop kidding yourself, Alex. You don’t even know if he’s on the list! “Can…can I think about it?”
Monroe bowed his head. “I insist that you do. As I said, this isn’t a decision to be taken lightly. I implore you to recognize the seriousness of what you’ll be entering into, Alex.”
She nodded, “I understand.”
“No,” he shook his head. “You don’t. So let me be clear. Your reputation here has been tarnished. You need to understand that fully, and you need to know what you’ll be getting yourself into. You can’t work here, you’ve lost that right.”
“I went and got drunk,” she challenged, infuriated at the unfairness of it all.
“No,” he shook his head once. “You defied multiple direct orders. And you told a human about us.”
“I didn’t tell Alise. She knew from before.” It sounded lame even to her own ears, but there was no way in hell she was throwing Stoney under the bus after she’d already taken one punishment for her. “Wh-where is Alise?”
“Safe. Here. I suggest you worry about your own predicament right now. I also suggest you listen very closely to what I’m about to tell you, Alex.”
She stared at him.
“As I said, you’re reputation here has been diminished. There are those here who don’t believe you can be trusted.”
That grated because she’d kept Stoney’s secret from the second it’d been revealed.
“There’s only one way for you to remain here and prove that you can be trusted with the knowledge of us.”
“How? By mating a Walker?”
“Unfortunately, just that alone won’t be enough. You’ll need a tie to us, and a Walker mate wouldn’t be sufficient. You’ll need something more significant. Something you won’t want to lose.”
Alex felt trepidation tip-toe over her.
“A child is the only thing that would prove that you’re in this with us. If you agree to the program and are matched with a male, a pregnancy would be expected right away, Alex.”
The revelation rocked her. It wasn’t what she’d been expecting. Her thoughts flew to Recker and an image of him holding an infant flashed through her head causing something to constrict in her chest.
“Do you understand?”
She swallowed hard but nodded. “I…I understand.”
“Good,” he crossed to the door and opened it for her. “I’ll expect to hear from you soon. Until then, you are restricted to your suite. Someone will bring your meals. You are not to leave your quarters. Do you understand?”
“I do.”
“Good, because there’ll be no leniency for another breach in protocol. Do not test me, Alex. You don’t want to see my bad side.”
He was right. She didn’t.
She turned to leave, but Monroe caught her arm. “I need to hear the words, Alex. You’ll pay for your own infractions from here on out. Do you understand?”
Chills blasted up her spine, but she nodded. “Yes.”