Chapter 2
Hunter
“Good afternoon, Alpha.” The blonde at the front desk grinned seductively at me,
“Ana.” I smiled politely but otherwise ignored her. She was Miles’ mate and yet she still shamelessly flirted with me. She was already mated with my Beta, what more could she possibly want?
I froze when I passed her desk, a scent catching my attention. It was something floral but not overly sickening, just the right amount of floral mixed with something sweet.
“Ana, is that a new perfume?” I knew the answer to my own question. Ana only ever wore the most obnoxious perfume, even though we were all werewolves with an acute sense of smell.
“Uhm, no?” She blinked at me in shock.
“Hm.” I stood longer than I should have, breathing in the scent.
“Mate!” My wolf, Watcher, barked in my head.
“Ana is not my mate.” I argued bluntly.
“Not her.” He huffed in annoyance.
“Alpha?” Ana was staring at me strangely.
“Have a good day, Ana.” I nodded before heading towards the elevator.
The scent lingered in the elevator as well. I followed it onto the corporate floor and straight to the head of my HR department.
“Oh, Alpha? Can I help you?” Joan asked, seeming startled as she stood from her chair. I ignored her and sniffed the air, the smell was the strongest in here.
“Joan, who was here?” I asked her.
“Excuse me, sir, I don’t understand?” She shook her head at me.
“Who was the last one in here?” I struggled to keep my composure.
“A human girl, a new hire in the robotics program.” She fumbled with the papers on her desk and handed me a file, “Maizey Grace.”.
I flipped open the folder and gawked at her image. She had curly red hair that was knotted up in a professional looking bun, her heart shaped face was as soft as her hazel eyes.
“You hired her?” I couldn’t look away from her picture.
“Yes, she starts in two weeks.” Joan said.
I looked over her information. She was a graduate from Stanford with three master’s degrees by the age of 20, computer programming, robotics, and mechanical engineering. She was raised in Chicago, graduated high school at only 15.
“Sir, should I not have hired her? She came highly recommended.” Joan sounded worried.
“No!” I nearly shouted at her, “She’ll be a perfect fit.”
“I wasn’t sure at first. She’s so young, but her degrees and successes speak for themselves. I actually hired her as one of the program managers. She’s soft spoken, but I think, given the chance, she’ll make a great leader.” Joan was quick to justify her decision, worried that I was unapproving. The exact opposite was true, I was eagerly approving.
“Good job finding her, Joan, let’s make sure that she has her own office. The best one available, please.” I smirked, thinking about the things I wanted to do with her in our private offices.
“An office?” She looked surprised, most program heads only had a private cubicle.
“Yes, an office, and whatever else she wants.” I took the picture of Maizey from the file and threw the rest of it down on her desk.
“O…okay.” Joan watched my actions in surprise.
“Have we found someone to be the assistant director of the department, yet?” I asked and Joan shook her head, “Good, Miss. Grace has just been promoted then.”
“Sir? We’ll have to find another program manager.” She stammered.
“No need, she’ll do both. Thanks, Joan.” I grinned at her before leaving her office.
“Mate!” Watcher nipped in my head as I memorized the photo of Maizey.
“I know.”
I took the picture to my office and hung it on the bulletin board behind my desk.
“Hey, I know her!” My Beta, Miles, pointed at the picture of Maizey as he plopped down on the sofa in my office.
“You do?” I threw myself across the room.
“Dude, what is your problem?” Miles laughed as I gripped the collar of his shirt,
“Where did you see her?” I growled. Miles held up his hands in surrender,
“In the lobby like an hour ago.” He said. I released him and ran my hand through my hair in frustration.
“What is your problem?” Miles asked again, fixing his shirt.
“She’s my mate.” I grumbled.
“Oh, man, good luck with that.” Miles joked.
“Why? What does that mean?” I asked quickly.
“She’s itty bitty and super skittish. Ana nearly gave her a heart attack earlier.” Miles chuckled to himself.
“You better control your mate!” I growled at the idea of anyone scaring my mate.
“She was just mean girling her, relax. Your girl threw her college degrees in Ana’s face and that shut her up real quick.” Miles said. I sighed in content thinking about my mate standing up for herself.
“I need to find her.” I said.
“What are you going to do when you find her? She is human.” Miles pointed out.
“I don’t care. She’s mine.” I glared at him, sitting back behind my desk.
“Well, yes, but I mean how are you going to explain all of this to her.” Miles rolled his eyes at my dramatics.
“Oh. That.” I frowned.
“Yeah, that.” Miles laughed.
“I’ll ask my sisters, maybe they’ll have an idea.” My sisters, Melody and Winter, were a lot more intune with their emotions than I was.
“Okay, here’s how that’s going to go: Mel will tell you to just jump her bones and Winter will say something moody and then talk about feminism.” Miles mimicked my sisters’ voices as he spoke. I grumbled and dropped my head down on the desk.
“I’m screwed.” I said to the desktop.
“Okay, okay, let me do some recon.” Miles suggested.
“What?” I glanced up at him.
“I’ll find her and see what the situation is. Discreetly, of course.” I raised an eyebrow at him,
“Discreetly?” He was not discreet.
“Trust me.” MIles winked and I was immediately unnerved.
“Dude.” I groaned.
“I got this.” He jumped up and grinned.
“Please, don’t.” I protested, “Miles.” I was now talking to an empty room. This wasn’t going to end well.