“We can have as many trees as you want.” I wrapped my arms around her.
“Be careful, or you’ll end up with ten.”
I laughed. “Is that so? Is that the number of kids you were thinking about too?”
“Kids?” She froze. “Let’s do this one step at a time.”
“Hey, you aren’t the only impatient one.”
“No, I’m not.” She pressed her lips against mine, and any thoughts of getting out of bed were gone.
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Afterword
Want more wolves? Please keep reading for a preview of Heart of the Wolf (The Heart Chronicles #1) by Alyssa Rose Ivy.
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Heart of the Wolf
Betrayal hurts, love heals.
Wolf shifter Carter jumps at the chance to leave his dead-end security job to join the exclusive and secret force, The Rangers. The Rangers do the work no one else can do, and Carter's first mission is no exception.
Hope is frustrated when she's stuck chasing after her best friend Mirabella with Mirabella’s annoying brother at her side— what she doesn't realize is that things are about to get much worse, and everything she thought she knew about Mirabella’s family is dead wrong.
When Carter and Hope are thrown together, sparks fly, and they must work together to avert a crisis on a deadly scale.
Hope
“Yes, I’d love another.” I smiled at the flight attendant while she refilled my empty glass. I smoothed down my skirt, making myself as comfortable as possible.
Everything was easier to take after a few glasses of sparkling wine, especially when it was the good stuff—not that the plane I was on had anything but the good stuff.
I sipped the bubbling liquid, trying to pretend it was a normal part of my life to fly on a private jet. It wasn’t. It wasn’t at all. But it was a normal part of my best friend’s life, and somehow from the moment I met her my freshman year at Ole Miss, Mirabella’s life had become entangled with mine.
I downed the glass in a few more sips and closed my eyes, remembering exactly how I’d gotten to where I was.
Twelve Hours Earlier….
I hated copy machines. You’d think in the age of technology we lived in we would have moved beyond them, yet there I was struggling to reload paper into a tray.
“Darn it,” I muttered, slamming the tray in after the red light turned on again. How long would I have to work at Wellington & Sons before someone else could do the grunt work? Probably more than two weeks. The paper jam was my second run in with the copy machine in the space of five minutes. I’d already changed out an ink cartridge, and the black ink on my hand was proof of that.
“Need some help?” The masculine and very sexy voice came from behind me. That meant two things. 1) Clayton Wellington was standing right behind me, quite possibly he could see up my skirt, 2) I was going to have to stand up, turn around, and talk to him.
I straightened up carefully, smoothing down my skirt in the process using only my ink free hand. I turned around and forced myself to make eye contact with the man who starred in most of my fantasies. “Thanks, but I can get it.”
“Really, I don’t mind.” He gently pushed me out of the way and pulled out the paper that was stuck, replaced it, and pushed the tray back in. The red light disappeared. “There you go.”
“Thanks. I know that’s not your job.”
He grinned. “You mean the VP isn’t supposed to fix copier jams?”
“No…” Maybe one day I’d stop acting like a love-sick adolescent around Mirabella’s eldest brother, but that time wasn’t now.
“Hey, I was actually looking for you.” He put a hand in his pocket, making me look at his tan dress slacks.
I forced my eyes back up. “For me?” I put a hand to my chest, belatedly remembering I had ink on my hand that was now smeared all over my white blouse.
I looked around for a towel. Seconds later, Clayton handed me a cloth. I had never met anyone so prepared in my life, and it only made him sexier. I tried to wipe some of the black ink off. All I did was make it worse.
“You have to pull the fabric away from your skin.” He slipped his hand under the top button of my blouse and held the silky material away. “Now wipe.” His hand stayed at my neck, but by the way it affected me he might as well have been fondling me.
I could barely breath, let alone speak.
He took the cloth from me and wiped most of the ink off. “There you go.”
He removed his hand, and I could finally get oxygen again. “You were looking for me?”
“My dad was, but I told him I’d get you myself.”
Why had he volunteered? I drummed down any potential excitement. He wasn’t into me, and he never would be. “Am I in trouble?” I sputtered out the words before I could stop myself.
“No. Not at all.” He smiled. “Why would you be in trouble?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. This is my first real job…” And it showed.
“You’re Mirabella’s best friend. My dad would adopt you if he could. You can relax.”
Relaxing was the last thing I could do at my new job. Working for Wellington & Sons was a dream job for me—a chance to get my feet wet in business while working for people who liked me, but that didn’t mean it was easy. My internships hadn’t prepared me for the stress of a real full-time job.
“What does your dad want to see me for then?” I couldn’t come up with a single good reason.
“It’s about Mirabella. I’ll let Dad fill you in.” He gestured for me to start down the long hallway ahead of him.
I started, staring out the windows I passed at the rainy day while racking my brain to figure out what kind of trouble Mirabella could have gotten herself into now.
I’d spent all four years of college cleaning up her messes, dragging her out of bed and to class, breaking up with the older guys she always went for when she was too chicken to do it herself. Not that our friendship was all bad. She was also an amazing friend who knew how to have fun. Still, I was a little jealous when she decided to go on a solo graduation trip to Fiji. To be fair, she’d invited me, but I’d already given my start date to her dad. I wasn’t going back on my word. He’d hired me because I was responsible, and I refused to prove him wrong.
I reached the largest corner office and prepared to knock. Before my knuckle made contact it was pulled open. I nearly stumbled inside, but caught myself in time.
“Hope, thank goodness.” Mr. Wellington, I refused to call him Herald even though he always told me to, ushered me into his office. “Clayton, close the door.” What was left of Mr. Wellington’s grey hair was sticking up in the back, and he had huge bags under his eyes. I’d never seen him look so tired before.
I walked further into his huge office, startled when I noticed another person in there.
“Hello, Hope.” Justin Wellington, the younger of Mirabella’s brothers, walked toward me. He was wearing khakis and flip-flops, his usual work wardrobe. “You look lovely today.”
I looked down at my blouse, Clayton had gotten most of the ink out, but it was still there. Lovely was not the right word to describe my current look, but then again most things out of Justin’s mouth had little to do with reality. “Hello, Justin.”
“Come, take a seat.” Mr. Wellington pulled o
ut a seat at the long conference table for me.
“Thank you.” I sat down even more worried now. All three Wellington men? This had to be important.
Justin sat down beside me, while the other two sat across the table.
I folded my hands in front of me. “Is there something I can do for you?”
Justin’s foot found mine under the table, and he pulled it toward him. I jerked my foot away, losing my black pump in the process.
“Have you heard from Mirabella recently?” Mr. Wellington made direct eye contact.
I gave up on trying to get my shoe back. “Not since Friday.”
“You heard from her Friday?” Clayton sat up. “What time?”
“Around eight o’clock in the evening, I think.”
“What did she say?” Justin foot moved up my leg.
I moved my legs as far away from him as possible. “That she’d met some new friends, and I should fly out and meet her.”
“Meet her in Fiji?” Mr. Wellington’s eyes widened.
“She’s not in Fiji anymore.” And I wasn’t really surprised. Mirabella bored easily. I was surprised when she planned to spend two weeks in the same place. “Didn’t she tell you?”
Mr. Wellington shook his head. “No. No, she didn’t.”
Great. If she hadn’t told him it was for a reason, and I’d just spilled the beans.
“Hope, please. We need to know where she is.” Clayton rested his hands on the table. “This is important.”
“She’s on Kekry Island. Or something like that. I guess it’s somewhere near Fiji?” Admittedly South Pacific geography wasn’t my strong point.
“There’s no such place.” Justin moved his foot away.
“Well, that’s what she said.” I saw no reason for Mirabella to lie, considering she’d been begging me to come meet her. I was surprised when she asked since she’d seemed completely unconcerned when I had shot down the Fiji plans.
Clayton exchanged glances with his father. After Mr. Wellington nodded, he turned back to look at me. “The thing is she slipped away from our man.”
“Your man?” Understanding dawned on me. I’d never comprehended why an otherwise protective man gave his daughter so much freedom to travel. “You had someone follow her?”
“We always have someone follow her. Well, you both usually.” Justin grinned. “Did you really think all your girl trips were unchaperoned?”
An awful vision of Justin watching videos of us popped into my head, and I forced it away. “Does she know this?”
“She never seemed to notice, until this time evidently…” Mr Wellington leaned back in his chair. “It’s a disaster. The timing couldn’t be any worse with the merger.”
The company was buying out their primary competitor. All the senior staff had been working around the clock. Well, not Justin. I wasn’t sure if he ever worked more than a few hours a day.
“Why do you have people follow her?” I had a few ideas, but I wanted to hear it from them.
“It’s Mirabella.” Clayton gave me an apologetic look. “Can you blame us?”
“Yes, I can blame you.” It was strange being upset with Clayton. I had always thought he was perfect, but having someone spy on his sister? That was awful.
“We need your help.” Mr. Wellington broke me away from watching Clayton fall from his pedestal.
“My help?” I wanted nothing to do with this. I regretted taking the job. Maybe I could quit and apply somewhere else.
“She won’t tell us anything, but you said yourself she wanted you to fly out…” Mr. Wellington tugged on his tie to loosen it. Loosen his tie? The man never looked anything less than professional in the office.
“Wait, you want me to go check on her?” Was that what this was about? They’d called me in to ask me to spy on my best friend?
“I want you to bring her home. You won’t be going alone of course.” Mr. Wellington looked down at his hands. “I would never ask you to travel to an unknown island alone.”
“Then with whom?” I asked warily, already knowing I probably wouldn’t like the answer.
“With me.” Justin turned his body, so that his knees were touching my legs. “I cleared my schedule to ensure I could accompany you.”
No. No. No. “Oh, but isn’t the whole point that she won’t tell you guys stuff, but she’ll listen to me? Don’t you want me to have some alone time to talk her into coming back?” Going after Mirabella was bad enough. Doing it with Justin? My stomach hurt. That would be horrible.
“I cannot send you alone, and after seeing how easily Mirbella slipped away, I won’t trust anyone else except family.” Mr. Wellington’s expression was serious. “I know I don’t need to remind you how important this is to me. Mirabella is my baby girl.”
“Are you worried about her?” I hated to say it, but this whole thing just seemed typical Mirabella.
“Very.” Mr. Wellington sighed. “Slipping away from her guard was the last straw. It’s time for her to come home. I will have the jet ready in a few hours. Please go home and pack a bag of the essentials. Justin will purchase anything else you need on the trip. You will be paid a handsome bonus for this as well, of course. And I’ll make sure HR adds on an extra week of vacation for you this year.”
Things were moving way too fast. I couldn’t even keep up.
“And don’t worry, Hope, I will take good care of you.” Justin leaned in close. “I assure you, the entire time you will be in good hands.”
I shuddered. Justin Wellington might have been handsome, but he came on way too strong. He’d never overtly asked me out before, and his flirtations when I was in college had never amounted to much, but something changed when I started working at the company. I wasn’t sure if it was Mirabella’s absence or that I was now out of college, but spending time alone with him was way on the bottom of my to-do list. Still, I knew he wouldn’t really try anything, and Mirabella would take care of him. I was sure of it.
“I’d go with you, but with the merger.” Clayton put his hands on the table palm up. “Otherwise you know I would.”
“Of course. Please excuse me for a second.” I stood up and realized I was still missing a shoe.
“Looking for this?” Justin held up my shoe and kneeled in front of me. He grabbed my ankle and tried to put my foot in the shoe.
“I can do that myself.” I jerked away from him and lost my balance.
He caught me and grinned, holding me in his arms longer than necessary. “Are you sure about that?”
I pulled myself away from him and grabbed my shoe from his hand. I hurried out of the office.
Once outside I slipped my shoe back on and ran down the hall to my cubicle. I grabbed my cell phone and headed for the women’s room. I walked into a stall and texted Mirabella. Where are you?
In paradise! Please come! She replied right away.
Ok, she was fine. Now I had to worry about me. Your dad is making me come find you. And bring Justin. I added the worst part.
Tell him you’d rather take Clayton. I’d done my best to keep my feelings about her brothers to myself, but she knew exactly how I felt. Well, how I felt until ten minutes ago. Now I wasn’t sure what to think of Clayton.
So you are okay with Justin coming to get you?
If it gets you here, yes. We’ll lose him.
What is this island? Kekry? How did your new friends even know about it?
It’s paradise. I swear. And my dad is sending you, so you won’t lose your precious job.
I swallowed down my annoyance at her words. Sounds like I am going to be leaving in a few hours.
I’ll find you. Can’t wait!
Be safe.
Same to you. If Justin acts out kick him in the balls.
This is your brother we’re talking about.
I know, but he’s so weird around you. Always has been.
Yes, he has. See you soon. I pocketed my phone and walked back to Mr. Wellington’s office.
What ha
d I just agreed to?
Carter
After four years on the force I was ready for a promotion. I didn't care about the money, but I was done chasing vamps away from tourists in the French Quarter. There was only so much of that I could take.
I punched the bag, needing to burn off energy. It was the middle of the night, but I had long before given up on sleep. I punched again, wishing I had something more than a bag to spar with. Most of the guys I worked with were more concerned with getting laid than staying in tip-top shape. I was a glorified security guard. I’d have rather joined the human police force, but I had signed a five-year commitment with The Society. I had another year to go before I could request a transfer.
When I moved to New Orleans at twenty I had dreams. Four years later, I was ready to move back home to my small town. But that meant quitting, and I wasn’t a quitter. Besides, it would also ruin any opportunities for advancement. I had to believe eventually my hard work would get noticed.
I punched the bag harder, taking out my anger and frustration on the blue bag. I punched again, this time hard enough to break the chain attaching the punching bag to the ceiling. The bag and chain fell to the floor in a pathetic heap.
There went that exercise. I kicked the bag and headed toward the shower.
I never got there. My phone rang, and only one person would call me that late at night. “Carter,” I answered automatically.
“Get down to my office now,” My boss barked into the phone. He was never one for pleasantries, but I didn’t mind it. There was no reason to waste time on words you didn’t mean.
“Now?” I glanced at my digital clock. It was two-thirty a.m.
“Yes, now. Unless you have something better to do than your job.” He knew I would come in.
“On my way.” I hung up. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything better to do. Or anyone. I’d given up on finding a girl who could hold my interest. If things worked out career wise, I could worry about that later.
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