Paige didn’t join the guys for lunch after leaving Leonard’s office. She retreated upstairs to her room. The Blue Ridge packhouse was an old, farm style home, with dark wood floors, white trim and walls and a wide staircase that descended into the main foyer. The men heard her as she walked up the stairs.They sat at the dining table and indulged in small talk after the tense conversation. Daniel heard some of the pack members stop in and grab a plate from the kitchen then leave again, without coming into the dining room, letting the alpha enjoy an uninterrupted visit.Occasionally, Lucas would glance up at the ceiling in the direction of where they last heard Paige’s feet move, exposing his curiosity and worry for her. Daniel could see he felt bad for his earlier actions, and Lucas rarely felt bad about anything.“Leonard,” Daniel said, as his index finger tapped his bottom lip and he leaned on his elbows on the table. “I want to start integrating Blue Ridge into Elevated.”“I don’t
Paige was set up in the suite for the night and they discussed getting more permanent arrangements in the city. Daniel left Lucas in charge of finding a loft large enough to accommodate him and Paige, then three extras for anyone from either pack visiting.“I’m not going to live with a strange guy I don’t know,” Paige protested.“You’re not living with some strange guy, you both are staying in a loft, think of it as a joint packhouse in the city,” Daniel told her. “I brought you here, away from your pack, therefore I am responsible for you. I’m not going to have you living by yourself and Lucas and Thomas will be here for you when I’m not.”“I’m not weak,” she argued, her eyes flashing.“It’s not about you being weak,” Daniel reprimanded her. “It’s about you being alone.
Richard paced in his hotel room, checking his phone every couple of minutes. He wasn’t nervous, he kept telling himself, just anxious. He finally decided to wait down at the hotel bar and ordered a Johnnie Walker Blue with soda. A woman in her fifties was a few seats down from him and kept giving him long side glances. The rock on her left hand suggested she was waiting for her husband to conclude business of some kind or another. Her demeanor indicated she was used to finding ways to entertain herself while he was gone. Richard wasn’t interested, though, and continued to sip on his scotch. His phone buzzed on the bartop in front of him and he anxiously picked it up. It buzzed again and an email notification appeared as well. He opened the text first, hoping it was the one he was waiting for. It wasn’t. SHAREHOLDER MEETING: Thurs 1845; Third level conference room. Announcing changes and financial review. Changes? What kind of changes? Just my luck. Richard wasn’t ready to reveal
TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains GRAPHIC AND EXPLICIT depictions of DISTURBING SEXUAL FANTASIES AND ACTS that may be EMOTIONALLY DISTRESSING and triggering for some readers. READER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED. This chapter may be skipped without losing essential plot points. Mari was still wearing a pleased smile as she exited the elevator into the foyer. She looked up in time to see the new owner of Elevated, Mr. Sanford, his COO, CFO, and a young blonde girl as they passed her on their way in. As soon as she recognized them, she quickly tilted her head down slightly . None of them seemed to notice her, thank goodness. She called Richard when she reached the parking garage. “Miss me already?” He asked as he answered. “Shut up,” she rolled her eyes. “Seriously though, I thought you might want to know that Clearfork’s people are staying in the same hotel as you.” “Shit,” Richard swore. “I need to get back home.” “Probably a good idea,” Mari agreed. “Alright Mare,
The drive to Uncle Edward’s home was only forty-five minutes from the city, and Richard took his time, enjoying the morning drive in an effort to clear his head. He had a close relationship with his uncle, even closer than the one he had with his father.Edward Merrick was Richard’s mother’s older brother. Richard’s mother, Laura, was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after Benjamin was born. Richard knew his early memories of her were happy ones, even if they were fuzzy in detail, but his strongest memories were of her constant sickness and doctor appointments—nights in the hospital, seeing her weak and hooked up to machines.A nanny was brought in to watch the boys full time. She was the mother Benjamin remembered, but young Richard knew she wasn’t his mother and resented her presence. Somehow, he equated in his mind that his mother was sick because she was there.At first, Richard’s father stayed by his wife’s side faithfully, at every doctor appointment and every hospital stay.
It had been a long time since Richard had driven past the stone columns and the open black gate that led to his uncle’s home, not feeling the need to visit when he had worked with him almost daily. He looked curiously over the open green hills that faded into a clean forest toward the edges and at the horses grazing contentedly in the fields. The horses were Marsh Tackies, a rare breed specific to Carolina, closely related to the Banker Horse of the Outer Banks, as they are also descendants of the Colonial Spanish horses brought to America. They were Mauricio’s pride, feeling a close connection to them as both of their roots were bound to Spain. Richard pulled into the circular driveway and entered through the front door, finding his Uncle Edward relaxing on the back lanai. Edward stood up and embraced him, then settled back into his chair as Richard took a seat on the love seat adjacent. “How’s Samantha?” Edward asked. Of course, she would be the first thing out of his mouth. “She
Lucas was busy with Paige, giving her a tour of the departments today. Thomas was going through the background checks as they were coming back, building files for each of the employees.That left Daniel with a free morning. He couldn’t remember the last time he had one. There were always things going on with the pack, and by putting a pause on new contracts, Donna was able to maintain any flow coming through Clearfork Securities. Which reminded him…He pulled out his phone, dialing in to Donna. Three rings in, she picked up. “Alpha?”“Donna, I need you to set up a work order and a two or three man team to come down with equipment. I’ll get you a detailed list of everything I want them to bring and email it to you. Pass it on to Justin and have him do the footwork. Emmanuel can run point on this and he can pick who he wants to bring with him,” he instructed. He could hear the scritch of her pen as she wrote the cliffnotes.“No problem, anything else?” She asked.“Actually, no, I don’t t
The morning began crisp and clear, but warmed quickly. Thursdays had always been his favorite days to come to the art park, ever since he was a kid, and he kept up with the same ritual of starting the day with an ice cream cone and throwing a few pennies into the fountain for a wish.He perused a few of the artists’ tents, admiring the ease of which they applied their talents, then paused at the edge of the square under a white flowering dogwood while he finished his cone.That’s when he saw her. Her dark hair was in a loose braid, slung over her left shoulder. Her steps seemed cautious, as if this coming here alone wasn’t something she was used to. At first, she seemed overwhelmed at the bustling activity around the fountain and stayed toward the edge, stopping to admire a few of the sculptures. She stopped at his favorite one, a rust-colored piece made of concentric circles on the same axis, each ring set at a slightly different angle than the one before it. The metal was hammered
When they returned to the hotel, it was pushing nine. Thomas retreated immediately, grumbling about being up before everyone else this morning.Thomas is getting a little cranky, Daniel thought aimlessly. He poured himself an Irish whiskey.His wolf is cranky, Daniel’s wolf commented. All of their wolves are getting restless.I’ll take everyone up for a run at Blue Ridge on Saturday, Daniel promised. Why aren’t you cranky, then? Daniel heard a coughing chuckle from his wolf at the question.
Samantha returned home and retreated to her bedroom. She still wasn’t ready to be in the living room, and she didn’t want to be downstairs when, or if, Richard came home tonight.It was ironic that just a few short weeks ago, his absence upset her, and now, the thought of his presence was almost too much to bear.She ran a hot bath. It was still early in the day, but she hoped the heat and some essential oils would relieve the knots of tension embedded in her back and shoulders, and she thought about her meeting with Mandy. It didn’t go how she expected.What did you expect? The silent, sarcastic voice mocked her. She didn’t have an answer to that. She just knew now that she had some big decisions to make.Mandy laid out a few options. Talk to a psychiatrist. File a restraining order. Petition for Divorce from Bed and Board. All of it was so detailed and were huge steps. It felt like overreacting. He had already left and had a chance to calm down. That moment last night was on both of
Richard couldn’t pinpoint when his fascination with Mari began. Once she began dating Nate, she became a natural addition to their friendship dynamic.He does remember their first night, though, when they crossed that line of friendship into… whatever this was. It wasn’t love. Neither one of them was going to leave their marriages. But it was fun, raw, and dirty, and the taboo of it all appealed to their mutual need for adrenaline and danger.He got her a job in the marketing department with his brother around three years ago. She excelled very quickly and had a great eye for detail. Almost two years ago now, she was working late on a project he was overseeing. Once she had his final approval on it, they went out for drinks afterwards to celebrate.After the long night and the glowing feeling of s
Edward could see where Daniel was going with the proposed changes, but he had to admit, in his situation, he would have pushed for the same thing. He knew Richard wasn’t going to take it well, but he did what he could to make sure Richard didn’t lose his stake in the company completely out of his own idiocy.He called him on the way home, the first time going to voicemail, so he called a second time. Richard answered the phone in irritation.“Uncle Eddie, what do you need?” He asked.“It’s not what I need, it’s what you wanted,” Edward snapped. “You asked me to do you a favor, and I’m doing that favor.”“Can this wait until tomorrow?” Richard asked, sounding repentant but distracted.
“We have a few things to discuss, I was hoping to inform the other shareholders of, and we will need a vote on some changes.“First of all, we’re announcing that Lucas Dunn, our COO, is now a twenty-percent shareholder. That leaves me, and Clearfork Securities at an even fifty,” Daniel explained.Daniel noticed as Edward nodded his head, and then he continued.“You’ll find the breakdown and relevant transference information on page one of your folder. The more important matter, however, is to generate the new bylaws and shareholder agreements to accommodate the acquisition. I was hoping your nephew would be present to weigh in on this, but since he is not, we’ll proceed without him.”
“Tell me you have some good news, Thomas,” Daniel said, looking over his CFO. “What have you found?”“Honestly, nothing yet,” Thomas shook his head. “Sorry, but I can’t seem to make any connection to either Merrick or Roble.”“How are we on background checks?” Daniel asked.“They’re starting to trickle in, but so far, the worst I’ve seen is an open container violation.”Daniel’s jaw ticked. He felt the pressure of time bearing down, making him restless.Thomas is a good hunter, his wolf said out of nowhere. Daniel drew his eyebrows down. It was right. Thomas was a good hunter. He was always patient and thorough. Sometimes his style reminded Daniel of a cat.He could crouch motionless for hours if he needed to. He could wait there, taking everything in. He’ll find something eventually.Daniel opened his mouth to speak when the men heard two sets of footsteps approaching. Daniel raised an eyebrow and looked at the others. Their expressions mirrored his.Paige knocked on the door a little
Paige walked calmly to her desk, which was set up directly in front of Lucas’s office. She opened her top drawer and reviewed its contents - a couple of loose paperclips, pens, and a used notepad.A man in light gray slacks and a cream shirt with his sleeves rolled up approached her as she took out the pen and notepad.“Good afternoon,” he smiled. He had light brown eyes with flecks of green. They were just a shade too dark to be considered hazel. She sat up straighter.“Good afternoon,” she returned, keeping her face in a professional mask.“I was wondering if Mr. Dunn was in his office?” he asked.“He’s not,” Paige replied. “He is preparing for a meeting toni
Daniel let the events of the morning wash over him, and let the stress and sweat disappear down the drain just like his shampoo and soap.Instead, he focused on his incredible luck at running into her today. Samantha. He had a name to the face. It made her more real, more concrete. Instead of being plagued by visions of an ethereal beauty with haunted eyes, he now had memories of her voice, emotions, mannerisms, and the feel of her hand in his.He waited for her inconspicuously. Since they’d come from the park, he didn’t know where she’d left her car. When she left the lawyer’s, he didn’t see the confident square of her shoulders indicating someone was taking back the power to reclaim their life. He saw worry and hesitant insecurity, causing him to worry.Which caused him to worry.
Samantha felt the coolness of the air conditioning blow past her as she pulled the door open to the law firm. She wasn’t sure if it felt like the premonition of a chill or like a breath of fresh air.She looked around, getting her bearings. It was surprisingly very soft and welcoming in the lobby. She expected something cold and intimidating and was pleased to find that wasn’t the case. It boosted her confidence and helped put her at ease with this daunting process.She identified the receptionist’s desk and checked in. The girl gave her a friendly smile when she looked up.“Hello, what can I help you with today?” She asked.“Hi, I’m Samantha Covington. I have an appointment with Ms. Mandy Schelbach this afternoon. Samantha proceeded with the check-in process, providing