VALERIA"Why are you suddenly telling me where everything is and what to eat this evening?" I joked. "You always insist on babying me by getting my food for me anyways.""True," Amelia admitted with an indulgent smile. "But I won't be around this evening and for a few days as well."I carefully set down my glass of water. "Why won't you?""I will be traveling for a few days," she explained."I will really miss you. So where will you be traveling to, if you don't mind me asking?"Strangely, Amelia seemed flustered by the question."Oh. I'll just go somewhere not too far away for a while," she said dismissively. "But I'll be back before you know it."She turned away and resumed slicing the vegetables with a little too much noise than was necessary, in my opinion. It was obvious after this that she didn't want to tell me where she was travelling to. That only made me only more curious. Amelia basically had no one that she would want to pay a visit to. Since she didn't want to pursue the
DIMITRIIt was official. I was going to have to spend more time at the pack. I had known it the moment Nox had hurried in and said something about another attack. Tiredly, I gestured for him to have a seat. He perched on the very edge of it. He was too wound up to relax. Beside me were Damon and more of the other pack leaders."Tell us what happened," I said.Nox launched into a tale of the attack he had gotten from some members of the pack which had been attacked. A worried hiss echoed around the room when Nox revealed that the pack which had been attacked was the one close to ours."It's just as I had suspected," I said. "They probably stopped the attacks for a while so we could let our guards down so that they could strike.""Maybe they were even looking to attack us too," said Damon. "They probably found out that our defenses were too strong and that's why they only just attacked the neighboring pack."I spoke loudly to be heard over the murmurs Damon's theory had caused. "Now it
VALERIA"Where exactly is this work dinner being held?" I asked Noah after a moment's silence when I was done teasing him about Rosy."Oh. I thought I told you. It's at Rosy's home." Noah took a hard left turn. "We are almost there."Rosy's house? I was really surprised. I had been expecting the dinner to hold at a restaurant or maybe a private room at an event center, but certainly not in her house."Does she usually host these work dinners at her house?" I asked after thinking it over."No. Not always... I guess," was his cryptic answer.True to Noah's words, we arrived at Rosy's house in a few minutes. House was a word that did not properly depict the grandness of Rosy William's home. Her place was more of a mansion. I was not really surprised though. I already knew she was enormously wealthy. Her place was a testament to that fact.Noah gave me a knowing look as the enormous monogrammed gate swung open as the car approached it. "Impressive huh?""Very impressive," I agreed as I t
VALERIAWhy had I allowed Noah to talk me into going to Rosy's place? I asked myself. Now facing Rosy was sure going to be awkward. I considered going back the way I came and finding another way into my office, but Rosy's sharp eyes had already picked me out of the other staff moving around."Hi, Valeria," Ellen called.With my eyes on Rosy, I raised a hand in greeting to Ellen as I made my way to Rosy. She was seated in the waiting room with a magazine on her lap. She had abandoned all pretense of reading the moment she had spotted me. I hoped I had not said anything last night that would affect her business dealings with Dimitri's company. There would certainly be hell to pay if that were the case. I pulled the glass door of the waiting room half closed behind me."Good morning, Rosy. You're here early."She straightened the lapel of her immaculate pant suit. "Yes. I'm waiting for Dimitri.""I thought you knew that Mr Dimitri is not not around. He won't be around for a while... At
DIMITRIWas it just me, or was Rosy's voice over the phone more terse than usual? She was usually like this whenever she called to discuss something that wasn't going well for the project. I could not really remember her sounding quite like this for a long, long time. She had just told me that she wanted to meet up so we could discuss something really important. Emphasis on important.I had left the pack earlier in the day, had gotten into town and was planning to surprise Valeria, seeing as I was back earlier than she had expected. Now, Rosy wanted to talk."Can't it wait?" I asked her. My thoughts were still with Valeria. I wanted to see for myself if she had gotten over whatever it was that had been bothering her. "Better still, we can talk about it over the phone.""Oh no. This is a conversation that has to be done face to face."I sighed, admitting defeat. "Fine. Where are you?""At your company actually.""That makes it simple then. I'll just stop by there on my way-"Rosy was i
DIMITRIWas it just me, or was Rosy's voice over the phone more terse than usual? She was usually like this whenever she called to discuss something that wasn't going well for the project. I could not really remember her sounding quite like this for a long, long time. She had just told me that she wanted to meet up so we could discuss something really important. Emphasis on important.I had left the pack earlier in the day, had gotten into town and was planning to surprise Valeria, seeing as I was back earlier than she had expected. Now, Rosy wanted to talk."Can't it wait?" I asked her. My thoughts were still with Valeria. I wanted to see for myself if she had gotten over whatever it was that had been bothering her. "Better still, we can talk about it over the phone.""Oh no. This is a conversation that has to be done face to face."I sighed, admitting defeat. "Fine. Where are you?""At your company actually.""That makes it simple then. I'll just stop by there on my way-"Rosy was i
VALERIA"Dimitri!" I exclaimed in delight.I had just gotten home, thinking about how nice it would be to have him back home and then I turned and seen him, beaming, staring right at me. My feet carried me foward. I completely forgot my reservations, my fear of him and what he was. My arms went around him. I held him tightly to my body."You are back," I cried excitedly.I pulled back to really look at him. I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting him to look the same as ever. I was glad he was though. I placed my hands on his shoulder. I felt his arms, ribs. I applied a little pressure."Looking for something?" he asked with a laugh.Warmth flooded my cheeks because I had actually been searching for signs that he was hurt. I still suspected he had gone to attend to his pack's business. From the little information I had gleaned, I suspected that his pack was not really a safe place these days. On a second thought, I realized I was being silly by worrying about
VALERIA"I think that went well... or what do you think?" I asked Noah as he bowed the last person in the media team out of his office and shut the door.He turned to me with a smile. "Are you kidding? Well is an understatement. The meeting was perfect. It went without a hitch. With the conclusions we made with them this evening, the media is going to be all over the Rosy project like a rash."Noah's confidence was infectious and after a while, I found myself smiling too. Rosy was about to begin publicity for the project that week. Noah was in charge of handling the media. I was the one running around and handling things on Dimitri's end."I know it's going to get a lot of publicity of course, with you on the team."Noah inclined his head. "I must say, I am flattered by your faith in me.""It's just that I can't help worrying a teensy bit," I confessed.He nudged me playfully. "A teensy bit?""Okay. Maybe a lot more than that. I've invested so much in the project. I want it to go smo