He stroked her side and sighed. “I honestly didn’t see her as anything more than a friend.”
“It is one of the most annoying things about shifters. Once their beast dismisses someone, they don’t even show up on their radar. Going through life oblivious to folks who don’t fit into our packs, clans or flocks is one of our more annoying traits.”
She rubbed her cheek against his chest. “Tomorrow morning, we find your computers.”
“I already did and I dispatched security from the company to go and pick them up. They are going in ready for anything.”
“Security?”
“Wolverines. They don’t work well together unless they think they can get into trouble.”
She chuckled. That was right up there with the most obvious wolverine characteristic. There were two of them on the hunter roster, and they could never be paired together. Fights ensued.
“When will you know where your computers are?”
“I know where they are; I just don’t want to risk you by going in myself.”
She snickered. “Very smart of you to know I wouldn’t let you go alone.”
“Yes, I am not as dumb as I look. They are at the computer bank at headquarters. Once they get in and grab them, they will call and bring them here.”
She ran a hand over his abdomen and down over his hip. “Are you interested in killing time?”
He put his paperwork on the bedside table and focused his drowsy gaze on her. “Time stands still when I am with you.”
She reached up and pulled him down to her. “Good, let’s stop the clock.”
Sweat was cooling on their bodies when his phone rang. Muttering to himself, Samuel rolled over and picked up his phone, speaking briefly before disconnecting it.
He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Come on, we need a shower before they arrive.”
She wrinkled her nose but he was right. Reeking of sex was not the way to greet creatures who were irritated by everything.
The shower took a little longer than it had to. Samuel was much more forward in his own territory than he had been at the Crossroads. Misty was blushing furiously but squeaky clean when they returned to the bedroom for clothing.
She needed to do laundry. “Can I borrow a shirt?”
He grinned. “Of course. We can do your laundry right away.”
She chuckled. “Good. I will make arrangements to get my stuff from home tomorrow. There seems to be plenty of space to store it.”
“If there isn’t enough space, we can always build on an addition.”
Misty smiled. “It won’t be a problem. Again, I have been living in a holding pattern. I haven’t been accumulating things, and that includes clothing. Everything I have is wash and wear.”
He handed her a navy blue button-down shirt that felt like it cost more than her entire wardrobe.
“I have to attend formal functions now and then, so I think we will invest in a few dresses for you.”
She made a face but concentrated on buttoning the shirt and rolling up the cuffs. The shirt hung to her knees, but she could shift out of it and be gone in seconds, so it was fine for meeting with the security officers.
Samuel was wearing jeans and nothing else, so it looked precisely like they had just been tumbling around in bed. She was wearing what he wasn’t.
They waited in the kitchen, and when the security force brought in the boxes of computers, she was hydrated and professional.
Six wolverine shifters came through the door, two females and four males. All looked like they had just missed the fight of a decade.
The boxes that two of them carried were full of computers and tangles of wires.
“Here you go, boss.” The small female dropped the first box on the counter and glared at her co-worker to do the same.
“Thanks, Tabitha.” Samuel grinned and looked over the boxes. He sighed, “It looks like they couldn’t get through the software so they tried the hardware.”
Misty looked at it, “Can you fix it?”
He chuckled. “Of course I can. Worst case scenario, I get some replacement parts and start again.”
The security team was staring at Misty, and she prodded Samuel. “Introductions?”
“Oh, sorry. Everybody, this is my mate, Misty. Misty, this is Tabitha, Morgan, Weller, Damian, Thomas and Dexter.”
Misty smiled and nodded. “Pleased to meet you.”
Weller cocked his head, “Misty Cliff?”
She blinked in surprise, “Um, yes.”
He grinned and stepped forward to shake her hand. “I worked with your uncle Davis. He told me all about you.”
The man was dark of feature with a hint of wildness in his eyes. She made the contact with his hand, and she saw his eyes flicker slightly. Misty had seen that reaction in empaths, but there weren’t any shifter empaths.
Her uncle Davis had done two tours with the Council to save his brother from having to take a turn. Her father was one of the only members of the Cliff family who never had to work for the Council. Her brother looked like he wouldn’t be tapped either.
“Good or bad?”
Weller grinned, “He said you had the makings of a career hunter if your family would let you do it.”
Tabitha perked up. “Hunter? You look more like a wet kitten.”
Misty gave her a narrow-eyed look. “At least I don’t go to work dressed like a discount dominatrix.”
Weller let go of Misty’s hand and stepped back. The other men and the quiet woman stepped back as well.
Samuel watched with his body humming with tension.
Misty looked into the narrowed brown eyes that Tabitha was using to glare at her. Misty stepped away from the counter and watched Tabitha work her way up to an attack.
Wolverines were perpetually unstable. They could lapse into happiness or fury in a matter of seconds.
Tabitha was a solid four inches taller than Misty was, but since Misty was used to it, she didn’t feel at a disadvantage. She stood with her feet apart and her hands open at her sides.
“There is no way you would win in a fight against me, Misty.”
“Probably not, but you wouldn’t come out of this unscathed. I would mark you for life.”
Tabitha settled the matter with a quick strike at Misty’s head.
Misty ducked and moved with the speed that her species was known for, striking at Tabitha’s head, ribs and knees in quick succession. When she was done, she jumped back in a quick flip and braced herself for Tabitha’s second attack.
The security officer’s face split in a grin. She swayed a little. “You are quick.”
Weller sighed. “Her uncle is as well. You have never seen a little guy that fast.”
Misty chuckled. “He trained me when my name came up on the family roster.”
Tabitha inclined her head. “Well, it seems that our boss is safe with you. That is an incredible load off our minds. We were always nervous leaving him out here on his own. He tends to lose track of what day it is, not to mention whether he has locked the door.”
Misty looked at Samuel and he shrugged. “She isn’t wrong.”
“So, you actually do need a personal assistant.”
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the countertop. “I was thinking partner.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t be stupid. I don’t know squat about what you do. You told me that you designed websites but that obviously isn’t all of it.”
Weller snickered. “He does, he just does it for multinational corporations, with integrated software and secure checkouts.”
Misty blinked. “I see. I am definitely not jumping into that pond. I can keep you on a schedule, but aside from that, your business is your own.”
The security officers laughed.
Misty cocked her head, “Oh, and in case you didn’t know, Leda is no longer with the company. She brought a wad of elves in here and tried to either atta
ck or kidnap us.”
Tabitha looked around at the lack of destruction. “What happened?”
Samuel laughed, “Misty still has a locator. The hunters from the Council joined us in the panic room.”
Laughter filled the main floor, and Misty could see that the other security guards were imagining that particular scenario.
Tabitha wiped tears from her eyes. “How many hunters?”
Samuel grinned. “Six.”
More howling in amusement and, finally, the team left them alone, making sure that Misty set the alarm and bolted the door behind them.
She leaned against the door and sighed. “I think it is time to put my stuff in the dryer.”
Dawn was creeping through the windows, and she chuckled as he took his boxes to the dining table. He had to put his puzzles back together, and she really needed a nap.
When her laundry was in the dryer and rotating gently, she went upstairs and back to bed. Samuel would return when he was ready; in the meantime, she could get in some solid sleep and hopefully come up with a plan of attack to become a personal assistant to her mate.
Chapter Nine
Samuel’s return to Twinnings’ Design was a bit of a shock to the employees, but they all smiled and asked him how his holiday was.
Samuel smiled at everyone and explained that he had met the love of his life while away from the business, but Leda had tendered her resignation when he announced his engagement.
A few of the women that Misty was introduced to had hostility in their gazes, but after a few minutes talking with her, they smiled and relaxed. They simply wanted to know that she was not out to take Samuel for all she could get.
Misty sat with Samuel in a staff meeting and got up to date with the status of the company. Leda had been filing for extensions on contracts that Samuel was now obligated to fulfill.
Misty made notes for things she wanted Samuel to focus on, as well as contracts that she needed to bring up to prioritize. This was going to take some focus, but it wasn’t any worse than planning breaking into a collector’s habitat and getting the shifters out alive and well.
She was creating a plan of attack and the employees were her weapons.
Their first six weeks as mates were spent getting his company under control. Misty and Samuel spent all day, every day putting out fires and running simulations of the new designs.
The company had been stumbling along with progress being applied to the contract designs that had existed before Samuel disappeared. Misty assigned one dedicated team of designers to blotting up the minor errors that the existing clients had, another to primary design, and so that the designers didn’t get too smug, all their work was gone over by the blotters for quality control before it was sent up to Samuel.
Samuel worked from dawn to midnight on code and site structure. He created frameworks for data blocks and spent time testing his own security coding.
Each night, they fell asleep covered with reports and curled against each other.
Her family understood the drive to keep a business alive and promised that they would wait until she was ready to see them again before chasing her down.
Samuel’s family were far more curious about her. She saw the flags that indicated that her credit rating had been scanned three times and her friends at the Council told her that she was being checked on. They didn’t speak to her or Samuel, but they rifled through her past with aggressive abandon. She must have come out okay, because they ceased their investigations after two weeks.
After the rush of production, the company had a party. Misty had worked out a bonus system, and it was spread across the designers and those who found the bugs. They got paid for having a complete and working project go out the door, rather than for their portion of the process. Everyone’s bonus depended on the outcome, so they worked together. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but Misty was digging for a grip on a business she wasn’t quite sure she understood.
“I have to say, you look lovely.” Samuel walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
“Thanks. I think this dress makes me look taller.” She leaned her head back against his shoulder.
“I think that is the heels. The dress is lovely, but you actually are taller.” He grinned and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “I am so sorry that we got off to this crappy start.”
“It is fine. We are making progress and your employees seem happier.” She stroked his arms.
“You have amazed them. They are eager for the next wave of projects to begin.” He nibbled at her neck.
She sighed and tilted her head. “I just want tonight to be over so I can spend more than three minutes in my beast form.”
He turned her and kissed her softly. “We will get a life. I promise. This is still—”
“Overflow from your abduction. I know. At least you have me to show for your missing time.” She smiled and brushed at his lips with her thumb, removing the lipstick.
“I could not ask for a better symbol of my time away from the company.”
“I am glad to be of assistance.” She wrinkled her nose.
Samuel suddenly looked nervous. “I need to ask you something.”
She ran her hands over her beaded dress, catching his nerves. “What is it?”
Samuel went down on one knee and he took a small box out of his pocket. “Misty Cliff, will you marry me in the human world and in front of our families?”
He opened the box and pulled out a ring with a stone so large she could use it to power a laser.
Misty cleared her throat. “Um, yes?”
He grinned and slipped the ring on her hand. “You don’t sound sure, but I will take it.”
She bent and kissed him, laughing and stroking his face. It was as much a release of tension as anything else. He rose to his feet and contributed to their renewal of commitment.
As shifters, they were mates, but in the human world, they were just living together. They could legally file a marriage license, but one of the rituals of the world they lived in was the wedding, so most shifters got married.
When the surge of emotion passed, she helped him get the lipstick off his face, and she refreshed her own makeup before tossing it in her clutch purse and taking Samuel’s arm to go to the car.
He tossed her the keys, and she got behind the wheel of her Mustang, buckling up and driving them to the black-tie gala in the car she built with her father. Most days, she let Samuel drive it to work, but tonight, time was a factor and she knew the car inside and out.
Their arrival at the office building was silent. The security officers were in and out of the shadows and ready for trouble.
“Do you really think that they are going to try again?” Samuel spoke quietly as they crossed the parking lot.
“Pretty sure. There was fey magic around the entrances and exits for the last week. If they don’t get us going in, they will jump us going out.” Misty wanted to rub her forehead in irritation.
“How long do you think they are going to keep after us?”
“It isn’t me they want; it’s you.”
A voice whispered behind them, “She isn’t wrong, you know.”
Misty pushed Samuel behind her at the sight of the elf lazily caressing one of the cars. “What the hell do you want?”
“It isn’t what I want. Our seers have said that his first child will be the queen of the fey and that means he has to fuck one or more of our women. It hasn’t worked so far, but we are going to keep trying.”
Misty blinked and reared back against her mate. “Are you insane?”
The elf had long crimson hair and piercing blue eyes. “I am not; she will be born and she will be queen. He will be her father. They are facts. Our seers are never wrong.”
Misty felt sick, and she put a hand over her belly. “That isn’t possible.”
The elf sat up and glared at her. “What do you mean?”
“His first child
is already underway, and he won’t seek a mate outside of our union. We aren’t elves; we are shifters. When we mate at the Crossroads, it is for life.”
The elf looked at her hand, her face and her hand again. “You can’t mean…”
“I can and I am. If you want this daughter, you are going to have to wait twenty-two years. She is going to college.” Misty crossed her arms and casually looked around.
The security officers were running toward them, but time had slowed for them. They had only gotten two feet closer.
Samuel wrapped his arms around Misty. “Who are you?”
The man stood and bowed gracefully. “My name is Larion, and I am the king of the fey.”
He disappeared in a flare of fey magic and the wolverines came running.
Misty turned in Samuel’s arms and hugged him. “I didn’t intend to tell you that way.”
He smoothed his hands over her back over and over. “I am delighted. I am enlightened and I am going to be a father.”
She sighed and relaxed. “Well, that will stop them from trying to grab you, at least.”
Tabitha skidded up to them. “What happened?”
Samuel rubbed his head against Misty’s hair. “It is all over and it is just getting started.”
Weller arrived. “What?”
Misty sniffled and smiled. She held up her hand with the ring. “We got engaged, we were confronted by the self-described king of the fey and I told Samuel I am pregnant in the oddest way possible.”
Tabitha grinned and Weller had tears in his eyes.
Morgan laughed and Damian said, “Can we get you to the party? We don’t want you catching cold.”
They were surrounded and ushered into the building where the employees were already into the celebration party and cheered as they came in. They were with their people and everything was right in the world.
Samuel Twinnings was a good public speaker, and he thanked each and every one of his employees for their efforts after his unscheduled disappearance. He grinned and held up cards that employees had filled out, guessing why he had disappeared.
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