Xander's Mate

by Abigail Raines

  “Maybe you should raise your prices,” I say. “Market your potions and spells and whatnots to the Quinton types with money. Instead of the uh…”

  “Instead of the poor people I live next door to?” She says. “Then where would they go? They need me.”

  Yet again, I’m both tongue-tied and feeling a bit foolish.

  “Looks like we’re here,” Olivia says, as the Jeeps come to a stop next to a line of cars and big trucks in what appears to be the middle of nowhere. Everything around the quarries are just flat dirt and rocks. The quarry we’ve parked next to is a gigantic pit of what looks like rock but a flurry of people are down working in it, the clang of hammers and shovels faintly echoing as far away as we’re standing. Between us and the quarry are a cluster of men fanning themselves with their hats. A few signs stuck in the dirt say “restricted area” and a parked trailer where presumably the office is. Other than that, no one would have any idea they were anywhere important.

  I toss Mike a nod. We’ve established a kind of plan. He and my assistants are to interview the miners with the interpreters. I had a compliance consultant approve them and Olivia looked over them too. They’re also documenting the visit on camera. Mike seems to brace himself, rolling his shoulders and straightening his shades on his nose before heading off to talk to somebody who’s holding a clipboard and looking like he’s in charge. I follow. I’m only talking if I need to. The interpreter comes along just in case she’s needed. Apparently Olivia also speaks Spanish. I’m almost getting tired of being impressed with her.

  There’s a lot of chatter and I nudge Olivia as we look on, trying to gauge the conversation so far.

  “What’s happening?” I ask her.

  Olivia looks at me with an “oh shit” smile. “That is a foreman alright,” she says. “And he does not want to let you in.”

  I watch them go back and forth a bit and then Mike looks back at me. I make my way over and take off my shades.

  “Hi there, I’m Xander Tremblay,” I say, sticking my hand out. I wait for the interpreter to translate before going on. “I’m CEO of the Tremblay Company. I believe we’re your biggest customer right now. I’d like to take a look around. I’ve never been here before.”

  The interpreter translates. The foreman looks pissed and fires off some rapid Spanish at the interpreter who calmly translates for me. “He says there has been no inspection scheduled and he doesn’t have to let you in if there’s no inspection.”

  I don’t need shifter powers to smell this bullshit.

  I feel it in my blood.

  This guy is dirty and there’s some serious shit down here. He might even risk losing me as a customer in order to protect himself if he thinks he’s in trouble.

  Which means I need him to think he’s definitely not going to be in trouble.

  I turn my head and glance back at Olivia and toss her a wink before I start talking.

  “Sir, we’re both businessmen,” I begin, smooth as ice, speaking slowly enough to let the interpreter catch up with me. “Please believe me, I’m not here to make your life difficult. The productivity out of this mine has been pretty impressive. I just happen to be here in Chile on business and I thought I’d come down and see the operation. I’d like to know that this level of productivity will continue. You’re not in any trouble. I assure you.” I smile and watch the foreman visibly relax as the translation ends.

  The guy is just stupid enough for this to work. Or maybe I’m the naive one and he’s come across men like me before who really didn’t care how their distributors did business.

  The foreman lets us in.

  It’s about two minutes before I’m consumed with rage.

  The men mining altanium here are more like kids. Most of them look about fourteen but I see a few look more like ten, all dusty and sweaty and going at their work with hammers and pickaxes, looking exhausted. I see more than one hand looking blistered and bloody.

  But I don’t give anything away yet except to Olivia who sees me and just nods curtly. Mike and my assistants go to work interviewing with the translators and I tell the foreman I want to see his records.

  The day is long and hot and tedious. The assistants come to me with interview notes as I wait in a chair, glaring through my shades next to Olivia, watching the miners work and glaring at the foreman with murder in my eyes. I see Olivia taking some of our water to miners since a lot of them look like they’re about to pass out. The foreman keeps giving her the stink eye.

  I don’t know how I’m going to fix this entire problem, but I’m sure going to try. For sure I’m cutting off this supply chain for Tremblay Company. That’s a given. I don’t need to hear the interviews for that. It’s too late to fix this.

  “Several interviews reported that a lot of the miners are under fifteen-years-old,” Mike tells me. “Many of them had sustained injuries and were only treated with rudimentary first aid, sometimes leading to infection. Miners who sustained more serious injuries are just sent home without pay or compensation and some of them were children. We have more details on that-”

  “Okay.” I wave a hand. I can hardly speak, I’m so furious.

  I think the last time I was this angry, someone was threatening to kill one of my brothers.

  I’m seeing red when I jump up from my chair and rush the foreman standing several yards away, leaning against the trailer, lazily fanning himself with his hat. He’s a big, balding man. I haven’t seen him do a minute of work that wasn’t just yelling at people. And this is how he’s running things?”

  “You treat children like this, you son of a bitch!” I scream in his face, shoving him up against the trailer, my wolf raging. I punch him hard in the face once, twice, three times… I can smell his fear and I like it. “How much money are you paying the inspectors, huh? How many kids have died working here, you motherfucker-”

  People are yelling. I hear Mike stuttering behind me. He’s never seen me like this. Nobody from work has. I’m sure it’s shocking. I really don’t care.

  My hand is around the guy’s throat. I want to choke him so bad. I want to shift and rip his throat out. I feel my wolf so close, I feel my body start to change almost out of control, it takes every effort to hold it back so that I hardly notice the way the foreman’s eyes are bugging out as he clutches at my arm, my muscles bulging as it squeezes life from him.

  “Xander.” Olivia is at my side. I didn’t even see her come over. I’m out of my head but her voice catches my attention and her hand grips my arm. She gazes at me steadily. “We can fix this the right way. Come on…”

  I’m clenching my jaw so hard it hurts but I let him go, stepping back, and catching my breath. I feel a rush of adrenaline and fury that hits me so hard that I punch the siding of the trailer, making my knuckles bleed, but it calms me just a little bit.

  This is going to take work to even address. I can’t fix it today and that’s frustrating as hell.

  More frustrating for the kids down there, asshole, my brain protests.

  The foreman is on his knees, still catching his breath and he flinches when I bend down to talk to him. The translator looks a bit terrified but she interprets for me. “My supply from you ends now.”

  I have to walk away then. I have to walk for a while and be away from everyone. I can feel everyone staring when I go and walk a ways from the quarry, back from the cars toward the road and just let myself sweat, the sun blazing down, as I shake my hands out and let the rage just be. I wanted to kill that guy. The wolf wanted to kill him. I want to rescue all the kids down there but there’s no feasible way to do it just now. I pace around for several minutes. Mike is afraid to bother me but Olivia finally walks out to meet me, squinting, her sunglasses propped up on her head.

  “You were right,” I say, shoving my hands in my pockets. I laugh to myself. “I’m an idiot.”

  “Listen, we can do something about this,” Olivia says firmly. “I’m guessing the government of Chile doesn’t know about it. They’r
e not bad. We’ll go through the right channels, bring this to their attention. Raise hell. But you’ve cut them off. You’ve done the right thing here, Xander.”

  “What else would I fucking do?” I say, practically exploding.

  “I’ve met a lot of men like you who wouldn’t,” Oliva says, smiling sadly.

  “Well, I’m not them.”

  “Yeah, .I’m starting to get that.” She gently takes my right hand and frowns at my bleeding knuckles. “We got what we needed. Let’s go back to the campsite and take care of this.” I gaze forlornly back at the quarry and she pats my back. “Come on. I know you’re gonna feel guilty. And honestly, that’s not the worst thing in the world.”

  In the Jeep, on the ride back to the campsite, I stare down at my bleeding knuckles. They’re throbbing but somehow they help me to think and clear my head a little bit. Olivia is right. If we raise a bit of a ruckus, we can fix this, especially given how big a platform I have in the industry.

  I’m still pissed though.

  When, I get back, I’m still pissed. It’s just Olivia and I now. The assistants are taking the translators back. When we get back to the campsite I pace around a little bit more trying to get my energy out. I’m angry and I feel foolish and naive and I’m frustrated with the world in general, I guess.

  Olivia watches me. She didn’t seem the least surprised by any of this.

  I should hire her. I think to myself.

  Although when I look at her right now, it’s not a job I’m thinking of. That’s a dangerous path but it’s difficult to avoid.

  “Come on,” Olivia says softly, pulling on my shirt. “Let me look at those knuckles.”

  Olivia makes me go into my tent. My shirt’s damp with sweat, I take it off and turn on a fan to cool off, guzzling some water and sitting on top of the trunk that holds the satellite internet set-up. When Olivia walks in with the First Aid kit, she stops short and blinks at me. I don’t miss the way her cheeks redden. She’s flustered and I can’t help being pleased.

  She’s human, jackass.

  I hate my brain sometimes.

  “It’s just really warm in here,” I say apologetically. I’m not lying either. It’s at least fifteen degrees hotter in the tents than it is outside.

  “Don’t be silly,” she mutters, tucking her hair behind her ear. “It’s your tent. You can be comfortable.”

  “Mmm.”

  She clears her throat and sets the First Aid kit on my suitcase and as she’s washing my knuckles, being so gentle and taking much more care than I tend to think is necessary, I find myself taking advantage and studying her face. She has a sprinkling of tiny freckles across her nose that I can only notice with her this close. Her lips are full and faintly chapped but they’re colored a coral pink.

  And she must think you’re such a stupid asshole.

  “Can’t imagine what you must think of me,” I say, chuckling sardonically as Olivia applies ointment to my scrapes. “I’m either idiotically naive or...I don’t even know.”

  “You want to know what I’m thinking of you?” She says quietly.

  “Mmm…”

  “I’m thinking…” She licks her lips. I wonder what her mouth tastes like. “I’m thinking that I’ve been in situations similar to this before. I tell the exec something sketchy is likely happening in his own company, he says no, no, not us… Finds out it’s true… I’ve never seen anyone react this way. They usually try to make excuses, justify it. But you care. And that’s rare, Xander. I think maybe you’ve had your head in the sand on some things but they’re fixable. You have a big heart.” She smiles as she spreads a bandage along my knuckles and I watch her expression shift just a little bit when I move my fingers, playing with her hand.

  “I’m guessing,” I say softly, “that you probably have the biggest heart of anyone I’ve met. So big that I don’t know how you manage to hold it all inside.” I look down at our fingers as they move together; flirting. The scent of her is intoxicating. A lock of her hair blows towards me with a gust of wind and brushes my lips as she raises her eyes to meet my gaze. I can hear the way her heartbeat speeds up. I can even smell her desire and my mouth waters.

  “I’m...not always good at keeping it all inside,” she says under her breath.

  “I suck at it,” I murmur, as we both move in and our lips meet.

  I didn’t plan for this. As obvious and somehow necessary as it feels as Olivia’s lips meet mine, I didn’t actually expect it to happen but now we’re kissing, and I’m tasting her bottom lip as our fingers tangle together. She hums into my mouth as if already a little aroused and I wonder if she’s like that; easily turned on. The thought excites me and I move to nuzzle my nose against hers and open my mouth a little; teasing and licking at her lips, her tongue coming out to touch mine. Olivia leans back and I see the sheen of sweat visible along her heaving chest, her breasts so tempting as they swell beneath that tank top. She looks at me, short of breath, and it’s as if some fire has been sparked and is now raging as she abruptly grabs me by the shoulders and I plunge my tongue inside her mouth, both of us coming at each other with sudden intensity.

  I stand then, wrapping my arms around her as our kiss deepens and Olivia slides her arms around my neck. She’s not petite exactly. Olivia’s of average height and has pleasing curves; the roundness of her hips filling my palms just right as our tongues seem to battle each other. But I’m tall and broad and she’s still little to me. I could pick her up and take her still standing if I wanted to. Just the thought makes me hard in my jeans and so does Olivia’s mouth, her lips swollen and hot against mine as she slides her palms from my neck down my chest and looks at me with heavy lidded eyes.

  There’s no question posed or answered. We just sort of nod at each other and then she’s pulling me toward the fancy air mattress and the sleeping bag spread out on top of it.

  This would be fine if Olivia was just some human hook-up. But she’s not. I know she’s not. I can feel it down to my bones. And yet that’s impossible, I’m just going to have to live with it. But not now. Now I want her and she wants me and it’s just as impossible to think about doing anything but this.

  I brace myself on my elbows and hover over her, taking just one moment to admire her as she shimmies out of her tank top and unbuttons her jeans. I’m at risk of one of us having time to think this is a bad idea but thank God, it doesn’t happen. Instead I growl at the sight of Olivia’s breasts beneath a thin layer of lace. I lean on one hand while my hand with its bandaged knuckles cups her cheek. I pull her bottom lip down gently with my thumb and her arms come up around me as I marvel at the line of her throat, my touch traveling down to her collarbone and arriving at her breasts. She arches up into my hand, her tongue imploring my mouth. Olivia is not at all shy, I realize. She’s not meek and why would she be? She’s all boldness and all passion and I feel inflamed with desire, spurred on suddenly. I lean back and look into her eyes as I press myself up against her. I’m rock hard in my jeans and she moans at the friction. That sound does things to me and I duck my head to mouth at her breasts through her bra.

  I don’t know if it’s because Olivia is a witch that she somehow manages to get the rest of our clothes off almost without me noticing but it’s more likely that I’m dizzy and distracted by every little sensation; her cool skin against mine, the addictive swell of her breasts in my palm and her legs wrapped around me. But then we’re entirely naked and writhing together. It should be fast and probably unsatisfying, this impulsive coupling. Instead I feel as if I must savour every moment. My cock is throbbing, aching for her, and it presses against her belly.

  I mutter, “I don’t have a…”

  This is beyond stupid and I don’t normally do stupid. Not ever.

  “It’s okay,” Olivia breathes.

  It really isn’t but on the scale of stupid moves Xander Tremblay is making today, not using a condom is near the bottom of the list really.

  We move in tandem. Olivia is clutching
my ass and the sting of her nails digging in makes me growl into her neck. I pull back just enough to look into her eyes as I position myself, lazily giving my cock a few strokes. Her eyes are so bright, her lips so swollen and pink as she looks up at me, and then I’m pushing into her and she sighs, her mouth falling open so that I have to bite her lip and lick at her. It’s a little sloppy and rough but I’m trembling as I fill her, not from nerves but because I’m containing my urge to pound wildly.

  Olivia’s thighs flex against my back as she squeezes me tight, urging me on and she whispers in my ear, “You don’t have to be careful.”

  Fuck.

  I pull all the way out again and now I’m not shaking anymore as I thrust inside with as much force as my body craves to give her and Olivia throws her head back, moaning with what sounds like pleasure and not pain.

  “Yes,” she breathes, and I am unleashed, thrusting with abandon as she rakes her nails down my back, entwined with me. Our bodies are soon sweat slicked, our breath hot as my throbbing cock plunges into her again and again, pulling gasps and cries from her. I feel myself right on the edge of coming finally but I hold back and reach down, finding her clit. It’s a little tricky to do when I’m still inside her but she screams when I find that swollen little button. Her fingers dig into my biceps as she trembles and shrieks for me, kissing me as I relentlessly rub at her clit while she comes.

  I’m used to carefully holding off but I’m so painfully hard now, shaking from the effort it takes to hold myself back, but now Olivia pushes at me so that I pull out of her and she carefully rolls us over so that she’s on top now. I’m clenching my fists, dizzy, feeling insane with the need to come but somehow holding off. I look at Olivia sitting on top of me; her hair is a wild mass, a red halo around her. I watch a drop of sweat slide down her throat to her chest, travelling down between her pale breasts. She is perfection. Her eyes are dark as, without a word, she scoots down and ducks her head. She takes my cock in her hand and then her mouth is on me, making me cry out in surprise and I buck my hips as her lips and tongue taste me. The kicker is the way she keeps her eyes on mine as my cock slides in and out of her mouth. She sucks her cheeks in, moaning around me as if she’s the one deriving the most pleasure from this and I throw my head back, coming before I can warn her. But she holds on and takes me, swallowing as I come in her mouth, helplessly quivering and electric with pleasure until I’m spent, both of us limp and breathless and almost faint in the haze of bliss.