Harold walked past Nora carrying his sandwich. Ordinarily, he would ask his assistant to get him one, but last time Nora brought it into his office, she made a meal out of leaning over him to cut it up. He got a face full of breasts and a very bad temper out of that incident.
Lord how he wanted to fire the damn woman. She was always trying to rub up against him. Always batting those artificial lashes at him. Always taking the opportunity to flash her goods in his face. They were goods he was not interested in buying, and she just irritated him. He wasn’t sure whether she was intentionally trying to tease him or not. He assumed she was just annoyingly coy with all her bosses, because her behavior to him was not going to get her anywhere. She knew he was mated to Christine – she, therefore, must realize she had absolutely no hope with him.
But according to his father, she was the niece of an important alpha on the west coast, so they had to keep her sweet. He agreed to that… for now. He was willing to put aside personal dislike for the sake of cordial relations between his pack and hers.
On the plus side, she was pretty competent. Not like Linda, but good enough.
“Any calls?” he barked.
“No, Mr. Buchanan,” she replied sweetly.
A young woman in a plaid shirt, thick glasses and sporting silver hair that actually appeared natural was doing something technical to Nora’s computer. He couldn’t recall her name, but he knew she was from IT. Nora had probably downloaded another virus. She thought he didn’t know about the last one.
“Oh, I thought I heard Mrs. Buchanan call about an hour ago,” she piped up, unaware of the cold look Nora was throwing her.
“What?” snapped Harold.
“I’m sure I heard her on the phone,” said the girl without affectation.
“It’s rude to eavesdrop,” said Nora in a silky voice.
The girl shrugged but didn’t seem concerned. She wasn’t a wolf – not a member of the pack, but she was definitely a shifter. He just couldn’t tell what kind. He really had terrible wolfy instincts.
“Nora?” he snapped.
Nora pouted slightly. “I’m sorry, but she didn’t leave a message – I didn’t think it was necessary merely to tell you that she had called.”
“In future, always tell me,” he snarled raising his voice so loud that the whole office turned to look at him. He glared at them until they bared their necks in submission and went back to business.
Nora licked her lips, nervousness creeping over her features. “I apologize.” She tilted her head to the side, showing off a huge expanse of neck that would give even a vampire heart palpitations.
Harold ignored her and looked at the girl. She smiled unconcernedly.
“Ah…”
“Misty.”
“Misty, thank you.”
“No biggie,” she murmured before returning her attention to the computer.
Yes, biggie. He may not always be available, but he wanted to know when his wife called. It may be something small – like she wanted him to bring home Chinese food. But no matter how inconsequential, he wanted to know.
He grabbed his phone and tried to call her.
*
Christine stared at the rain. She should have brought an umbrella. She watched it bounce off her car, numbly wondering whether she should wait until it stopped.
Her phone vibrated in her hand. Harold was calling. She stared at her phone and the photo of the scan.
“It’s almost hard to tell at this angle, Mrs. Buchanan, but I’m pleased to say you are going to have a beautiful, healthy girl.”
She wanted to be happy, wanted to tell Harold, but she was afraid. Her heart told her Harold wouldn’t try to hurt her or the pup, but instinct made her want to run for the hills and protect the pup at all costs.
She should answer and tell him.
Her phone finally stopped and a voicemail notification popped up. After a few seconds, it started ringing again.
He probably wouldn’t stop until she answered. He was persistent like that. She just couldn’t summon up enough courage to face even talking on the phone.
The words of his grandmother echoed through her, making her shudder violently.
“No,” she growled, making a young couple just stepping out of the door jump.
She smiled, though that didn’t pacify them. It must have looked as strained and weird as it felt. They stepped out into the rain to avoid her, and she didn’t blame them.
“No,” she repeated.
She wouldn’t let anyone try to take her pup away from her. She dropped her phone in her purse and strode towards her car.