Chapter 7

BASTIAN

I'm standing in the foyer, waiting. I'm wanting to go the ballroom, but I have a meeting. One I don't even want to be in.

Nigel comes in and Luke Jackson walks in behind him.

"Alpha Jackson. Nice of you to come." I stride up to meet him.

Luke's looking around. "I always knew you'd live in a castle, Bastian. It's about the only thing that would fit your head."

He gives me that stupid smart-ass smirk.

"Well, I imagine it would be hard to keep a place this nice in Red Rock with all the criminals blowing things up." I arch my brow as Luke's ticks his jaw.

"You want to talk about the Enforcers or what?" He grits.

"My office is this way" I lead him through the halls of the offices.

I open the door to my white marble stone office.

Luke looks around. "Yeah. This is you." He snorts.

"Sit." I bark.

He sits in the chair opposite me and I give him the rundown of what I expect from the Enforcers set up.

We talk about numbers and how many separate units I would need for a pack this size.

It was going pretty well.

Until Sammy showed up.

There's a knock at the door and my assistant came in saying the decorators here.

"Show her in." I smile. I turn to Luke. "This should only take a minute.

Sammy walks in with a package in her hands.

My God she looks amazing. Dressed in a short black mini skirt, her legs go on forever. Her white top shows the curves of her breasts so well, I just want to tear it off her.

Her silky chocolate brown hair is pulled up in a bun.

God, I want to kiss those full, pouty, pink lips so bad.

I'm not the only one who noticed.

"I'm sorry, Alpha. I didn't realize you were in meeting." Sammy says as she approached my desk.

I'm trying to push back the vision of bending her over my desk, rolling up that skirt and slapping that tight ass of hers.

"Uh...It's fine. Samantha Gale. This is Alpha Jackson of Red Rock." I introduce her, slightly rising from my chair.

Luke stands up. "Samantha." He flashes her a smile.

"Please, call me Sammy." She smiles back.

"Sammy....That's cute." He grins.

I clear my throat. Luke looks over at me as I shoot him a look.

Sammy is standing at my desk. "So, what can I help you with?" I glance over and Luke eyeing her ass. My wolf is running circles in my chest. Clawing to get out.

She smiles at me. I think it's the first time I've actually seen her smile. It lights up her whole face. She fucking gorgeous.

"I have the design concepts you wanted." She lifted them to me.

"Excellent!" I grin, taking them from her.

I flip through them. "This. This is definitely better. I love it. When can you get started?" I hand them back.

"Um...First thing tomorrow." She flicks her gaze between Luke and I.

"Great. I'll see you later? Maybe for lunch?" I flash my cutest smile.

She fights a bit, "Sure...um...yes...I guess...lunch it is." She chuckles nervously.

I can't help, but chuckle myself seeing her so awkward.

Luke is still checking her out. My wolf is starting to get aggravated.

She looks between us. "Ok...Well, I'm just going to...." She walks backwards, pointing to the door. Once she's taken a few steps, she turns and walks fast out of the office and shuts the door.

Luke shoots his head to me. "Dude! Are you hitting that?" He thumbs to the door.

"What? No. She's, my decorator." I go back to the papers in front of me.

"You've got to fucking kidding? She's all kinds of fucking hot and you're not getting any?" He leans forward in his chair.

"You realize your pretty much a married man, right?" I arch a brow to him.

"Married. Not dead. But you seem to be if you're not even thinking about it." He smirks.

Not looking up, I slightly smirk myself. "Never said I wasn't thinking it."

"Bastian, I'm telling you. I have a sense for this stuff. That girl, she's a rock star in the sack. I can tell." He leans back grinning.

"Ok, that's enough, really." I raise my head.

Luke stretches his arms out to the side. "What?"

"I just don't want to talk about Sam that way." I continue writing.

A shit eating grin comes across his face.

I glance up. "What?"

"You feel something, don't you?" He nods.

I cinch my brow together. "What? No."

"Yes, you do, you dog. You know. Don't you?" He wags a finger.

I sigh. "Know what?" I fold my hands on my desk.

"That you two could be......"

I shake my head. "No. No way. She's definitely not my type for that."

"Ok, man. But I'm telling you. The moment I felt it, I was right. Might want to take notice." He stands.

"Whatever. I doubt she's my fated. She won't even be here when the ball happens anyway." I stand too. Coming around the desk.

I lead him out.

He turns to me. "I'm telling you. I'll bet 100 bucks she's your fated."

I grin because I love a good bet. "You're on."

I send him off and head back to my office.

There's no way Sammy's my fated. We're nothing alike. We don't complement each other in any way. I don't see two of the most incompatible people even remotely dating, let alone be blue moon mates. It's laughable.

I head to the dining hall.

Though there are times when I feel so drawn to her. Like right now as I see her luscious long leg crossed over the other one as she waits for me.

I lick my lips as I approach the table.

I feel like I'm stalking her almost. I need to cool it down.

I slide into the chair across from her.

"Hi." She breathes. "How did the meeting go?"

I can't get over how effortlessly beautiful she is. "Oh, you know." I lean back. "Two Alphas in the same room? What could go wrong, right?' I chuckle.

"Alpha Jackson seems like a nice man." She says looking at the menu.

"Trust me. He's not as nice as you think." I scoff.

"Well, he seems like he is to me." She continues to read.

I lean on the table. "Ok. So, what do you want to eat. Anything you want."

"Anything?" She looks at me, raising a brow.

"Anything you want?" I grin.

She smiles, setting the menu down. "Ok. Angel hair pasta with pesto sauce, tomato bruschetta, roasted stuffed mushrooms, red wine and a triple scoop, chocolate fudge sundae." She stares me down.

"Done." I slap the table and call over the chef.

"No way. It's not even on the menu." Her brows go up.

"Remember. I'm the Alpha. If you want angel hair pasta, I will get you that pasta." I wink.

 She rubs her chin. Looking at me.

"What?" I look at her.

"What are you doing?" She eyes me.

"Nothing. Just having lunch with my lovely decorator." I gesture to her.

She nods. "Yes, I know. Why?"

"I can't have lunch with you?" I give her an innocent look.

She sits back. "Well, considering a few weeks ago I was classless and tasteless." She smirks.

I rub my neck. "Yeah. I'm sorry about that. No. Look. I felt bad for changing the plan on you and I just wanted to, you know, make it up to you."

She tilts her head. "Well, thank you, Alpha."

I smile. "Call me, Bastian."

"Bastian." I see her cheeks turn a faint pink as smiles.

The way she says my name is like it's being sung by angels. I never thought I'd be so enthralled by a woman just saying my name.

Our food arrived and we ate. Tossed jokes back and forth. Turns out she's quite funny.

After lunch she wanted to go back to work, but I wasn't done with her yet. I needed to find out more about her. I needed to find out why she's so memorizing to me.

So, I took her to the back of the common room where a few sofas are situated around a large stone fireplace. The arched windows give a great view of the property to the forest in the back.

I sit facing her with one leg on the couch and my arm on the back of it.

She faces me with both legs tucked under holding her wine.

"So. Tell me about Sam. Who is she?" I grin, sipping my glass.

She blushes. "There's not much to tell really. I was adopted by my family at 8. Went to school became a designer."

"And when you're not designing?" I ask.

"I paint." She says.

"Paint what?" I'm curious.

"Landscapes, portraits. Whatever I feel."

"So, you're an artist? Where do you sell? What gallery?" I lean my head on my fingertips.

She giggles nervously. "Oh, I don't sell my paintings. No one's even seen them."

"I'd love to see them." I grin.

"No. I'm....not that good."

"Can you draw?" I ask.

"Um....yeah?" She looks at me with those big, doe eyes.

I smile big. "Wait here. Don't move." I get up and run to my office. I grab a pencil and pad of blank paper. I run back.

"Draw something for me." I hand her the pad with the pencil.

She shakes her head. "Bastian. Really, I can't...."

"Please." I give her pleading eyes and a toothy grin.

She sighs. She gets comfortable. "Don't move."

She studies me. Her hand works fast. She occasionally glances up and back down to the paper. Her pencil tip floats around the paper.

After a bit, I look at her. "Ok, stop." I demand.

She raises her head and stitches her brow together.

I smile. "Show me."

She smashes the pad to her chest. "No. Bastian, it's not done."

I hold my hand out. "Don't care. Hand it over."

"No." She protests.

"Sammy." I, again, extend my hand to tell her to give it to me.

Her mouth goes small and she shakes her head No.

I smirk and with almost lightning moves I stand and snatch the pad from her. I put it behind my back.

"Bastian! No!" She stands. Her cheeks flush.

I hold finger up. "Ah....You will sit with me and we will look together. Is that clear?"

"No... Bast...."

"Eh…No arguments. Don't make me pull out my Alpha." I warn.

She sighs in defeat. I guide her to sit on the couch.

She sits and I hold the pad to my chest. "Ok. Ready?"

She covers her face with her hands. "No."

I laugh. "Ok. I'm going to look."

She continued to cover her face as I look at the drawing. She's whining in embarrassment.

As I go over the partial drawing of me, I'm amazed. "Sammy. This is......" I hold the pad in my hands.

She drops her hands. "It's awful. I know...."

I chuckle. "No. Far from it. Your lines. Your shading. It's amazing. Did you go to school?" I roll my head to her.

She shook her head no. Still clearly embarrassed.

I sit back. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about. You have amazing talent. I want to see your paintings."

She turns to me. "No. I draw the line there."

"Sammy." I lower my head a bit while locking her eyes.

"No. Bastian. Forget it. My paintings are mine."

"Fine. I'll see them someday." I smirk. "But this..." I hold the pad up and tear off the picture. "Consider this one sold." I pulled out my money clip.

"No, Bastian. I can't take your money." She protests.

"Nonsense. A good artist should be paid for her art. Is 300 good?"

Her eyes went wide. "300? For a sketch?......"

I scrunch my face. "You’re right. What was I thinking?" I pull out more money. "500 and not a penny more." I grab her hand and the instant I do; I'm hit with a static tingle that fires up my arm. I dismiss it, but it feels weird.

I shake my head and slap the bills in her hand.

"Bastian...." She tries to hand it back

I push her hand away. "No. Sammy, I insist. Don't insult me."

Reluctantly, she takes the money. She turns her head to me. "You're different."

"How do you mean?' I raise a brow.

She looked me up and down. "I don't know.... just....different."

As I looked into her brown eyes, I'm starting to think that this thing I've been feeling isn't just me. I see something. I just don't know what.