Chapter 1: Everything’s About to Change

Cecilia

All my life I've been waiting for my mate. I never thought he would turn out to be my boss.

I’m his secretary by day, but his secret lover by night. That’s been our status quo for four years now.

He says an Alpha in his position must maintain his reputation. “My family’s honor is my greatest privilege,” he once said to me.

Honor might keep Emeric Garvalle from claiming me properly as his. But it sure doesn’t stop him from devouring me during our weekly hookups. Nor does it stop him from locking his office door behind us and bending me over his big mahogany desk whenever he feels so inclined. 

Most of the time, Emeric is nothing but cold to me. But he’s like a different person in bed, where he can’t get enough of me. 

A secretary with benefits. That’s all he wants me to be.

A car accident four years ago changed my horrible crush into something more. 

Emeric was high on painkillers—more than I realized at the time—and he threw me into his bed, tore my clothes off and fucked me hard and fast.

The instant that our lips met in that first frantic kiss, something awakened in me. Suddenly I could smell Emeric’s scent and feel his soul resonance. And a searing burn on my skin that I knew instantly was my mate’s imprint.

But Emeric… he didn’t even look me in the eye. And afterwards he looked devastated, realizing he’d slept with his secretary in a stoned delirium… and he asked me to leave.

“Did you feel anything?” I had to ask before I walked out. 

“I felt nothing,” was his answer.

All at once I understood. It was a rare one-way mate connection.

Yes, Emeric was my mate—but I wasn’t his.

Even after all these years, Emeric still doesn’t see us as being in a relationship. But I have a feeling everything’s about to change.

Because last week, I found out that I’m pregnant.

An email from my OBGYN suggested I make a checkup appointment ASAP, preferably with my mate this time.

I haven’t found the right time to tell Emeric yet, though. And somehow he hasn’t already noticed on his own—even though I assumed a powerful Alpha like him would smell it on me instantly.

The sound of high heels clicking on hardwood snaps me out of my reverie. I look up just as Emeric’s office door swings open, revealing the tall, slender silhouette of his younger sister.

“Serena,” I say, surprised. I hurry to close the email I’ve been staring at, to which I’m still not sure how to reply.

She arches a perfect eyebrow and glares. “It’s Miss Garvalle.”

A condescending smirk upturns Serena’s wine-red lips as she strides over to my desk. Light catches and gleams on her jet black hair as she tosses it back over her shoulder.

“I would think that after seven years,” she says in a tone of mock astonishment, “you would have learned by now how to act like a professional.” The twenty-two year old meets my eyes and frowns, feigning pity. “Though I certainly do understand—it must be difficult to overcome the… shall we say, poor hand you have been dealt.”

Every. Fucking. Time.

Every single time I see this girl, she insults me. And the insult is always the same. A condescending reference to my “half-breed” status, as I once heard her call it when she thought I was out of earshot.

Because unlike the Garvalles, whose immaculate bloodline traces back for centuries, I’m a hybrid. Half human, with no wolf. No shifting, no intuition, no supernatural strength. No discernible powers of any kind.

That’s what she means by the “poor hand” I’ve been dealt. She means I’m weak and stupid. No better than a human.

“My apologies, Miss Garvalle,” I say in a practiced, measured tone. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Content with having put me in my place, Serena grins, showing off her perfect, bright white teeth.

Of course, Serena doesn’t know about me and Emeric. In her mind, I’m just her brother’s dumb secretary, an insignificant subordinate with a pitiable crush on my billionaire boss. She has no clue that I spend every Friday night in his bed, calling out his name while he loses his fucking mind ravaging me like an animal.

But I never stay overnight. I’m long gone by the time Serena arrives at Emeric’s place on Saturday mornings with their parents in tow for their weekly family brunch, and none of them are any the wiser.

I know the whole clandestine affair is no good for me.

It doesn’t feel good to be Emeric Garvalle’s dirty little secret.

But then again… sometimes it does. Sometimes it feels really good. Those moments when his hands are on my body… when he’s inside of me… those moments are why I keep on staying, even though Emeric seems hellbent on never making us official.

“I hear Victoria is here,” Serena says, rapping her long, pointed fingernails on the desktop. “You haven’t heard? She’s back.”

“Victoria?”

I’ve heard that name many times. There’s a picture of her in Emeric’s office. He’s never explained who she is to him, though, and I’ve always been too afraid to ask.

“Yes, the love of my brother’s life. I bet she is his mate.” Serena rolls her eyes, over-enunciating every syllable as if I were hard of hearing. She throws her hands up in frustration and huffs. “You can go find out on your own.”

I pour two cups of coffee and head for the conference room, telling myself that I am just going to serve coffee.

The door is ajar, though voices from within tell me that Emeric’s still talking with someone. But I forge ahead, tapping my knuckles on the door to announce myself before I push it open.

The sight before me stops me dead in my tracks.

Emeric is standing just a few feet away, close-talking with a gorgeous woman with dramatic eyelashes, piercing blue eyes and long, super-straight blonde hair. 

Victoria. She’s even more beautiful in person than in that picture.

The two go quiet when I enter the room, and with a churning in my stomach I notice the woman is touching Emeric’s arm.

“Victoria, this is my secretary, Cecilia Thornhill,” Emeric says, his eyes glued to the blonde beauty.

“Hello,” she says, removing her hand from Emeric’s jacket sleeve and holding it out for me to shake. “Victoria Cambridge.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Mm-hm.” Victoria presses her glossy pink lips together and flicks her eyes all over my face, with an expression so interested and thoughtful it starts making me uncomfortable.

Emeric takes a call, and I, unfortunately, find myself having to keep company with Victoria a few paces behind him as the three of us walk back to his office.

The modelesque blonde immediately sets in on asking me questions, each more personal than the last. I keep my answers brief and dodge the pointed eye contact she continues to attempt while we walk side by side.

“And how do you know the Garvalles?” I ask.

“Oh, our families have been friends and allies for centuries.”

Her pale blue eyes flick up to Emeric just as he disappears around a corner ahead of us.

“And,” Victoria adds with a smile.

“Emeric and I have long been meant to marry. I am his true mate.”