Rebuilding the Wolf

by Erin R Flynn

  “Anything to please my mistress,” he murmured, giving me a heated look. He knew what I was up to, so I had a feeling he’d agree to just about anything at the hope he got rewarded.

  “You have all the chances ever when I’m not here,” Virgil grumbled, moving his arm around me. “And I was going to offer to extend my stay while you handle New York because I heard about that too.”

  “That would be a huge help if you can swing it,” I admitted as we hurried to catch the elevator.

  “I can. Mom’s got everything covered, and most everyone gets a break this weekend after all the crazy at the chocolate factory. Next comes the crazy of Easter, but yeah, things are calm at the moment.”

  “Well, thank you for helping with our crazy,” I murmured, moving closer to him, hooking my fingers in the belt loop of his jeans. “How ever will I thank you?”

  “I can think of a lot of ways,” he growled before mashing his mouth down to mine. “Shit, I want inside of you, Sera.”

  “Yup, I’m going to be hard all fucking weekend,” Brian grumbled, and it was enough to smack us out of our lust for the moment.

  I gave him a quick kiss before he got off on his floor, Virg’s hands roaming all over me as I did. It was hard not to laugh at that too, but we made out the rest of the trip to the parking garage like randy teenagers. He wanted more and didn’t hide it, but I really was running late and didn’t want to screw everyone up.

  We arrived at the club, and I was relieved to see Simone had it well in hand… And Virg’s confused expression.

  “A photo shoot?” he asked, glancing between Lillie and me.

  “Simone wanted new shots for the website and something for the thank you cards for anyone who gives them gifts,” I explained, setting everything down and heading to the other elevator where I knew Beth would be doing hair and Gayle makeup. I gave Lillie a thumbs up on what she was wearing and even the pose as she lay on the table like she was the meal. “Plus it’s our lingerie line, so it makes sense our people take the pictures.”

  He stepped onto the elevator with me, pressing the button before pressing a few of mine. “Please tell me you’re taking some?”

  “I have to give something to thank certain people for gifts,” I chuckled, moaning when his hands wandered again.

  I made it to the dressing room with a couple of delays, and immediately Beth tossed me what I was supposed to put in my hair. I brushed it out and blow dried it before plopping into her chair when she finished with someone else. Then Gayle handled my makeup and I was ready. The photographer was in between people when we went back downstairs, and I hurried to sneak in.

  “I want a thank you for the bracelet I got today,” I explained.

  “I know just the shot,” he promised, giving me a wink.

  I got undressed, my back to him with my hands splayed on my butt at his direction, looking at him over my shoulder. There was the hint of boob, but no nipple, and butts were okay, so technically it wasn’t even a dirty picture.

  Yeah right.

  He took a few—knowing none of mine were going on the site or he could use for his portfolio—and then one with my phone. I sent it to Brian without any message and put on a robe that was next. Virg burst out laughing, and I glanced at him from where I was lying on the table for my next shots.

  “Is it that cheesy?” I worried.

  “No, you look sexy as fuck,” he assured me. “I’m laughing at his response.”

  “Already?” I muttered, letting the photographer finish before going to Virg and snagging my phone back. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the message.

  I’m sitting here so fucking hard at my desk dreaming of being there with you and showing you exactly how that picture makes me feel. You are so beautiful, Sera, you make super models jealous.

  “I don’t know what to say back,” I admitted, glancing at Virg for help. “You’re good at the sexy stuff. All your texts were hot and playful.”

  “Because I just said what I felt. Don’t overthink it, Sera. Have fun.” He let out a huff. “I cannot believe I’m helping you with another man. You haven’t even looked at my gift yet.”

  “Oh, yeah, I want to see it,” I assured him and then thought of what to send to Brian.

  You get a lunch break and I’m not far, but I’m not on the menu yet, so it’s your choice.

  I burst out laughing when almost immediately he replied saying he’d see me as soon as he could get away. Wow. Talk about a good way to boost someone’s ego.

  Virg led me over to a corner of the restaurant where there were piles of presents. He picked up a huge box, and I raised an eyebrow at him. “I said I brought part of your present on the plane. This was what I already sent with the huge shipment you guys ordered for Valentine’s Day.”

  “Tell me that thing is not full of chocolate?” I moaned, taking it from him.

  “It is,” he answered, laughing when I set it on the nearest table and ripped open the box.

  I let out several more moans as I pulled out more and more of every sort of chocolate everything I loved. I smirked at him as I nibbled on some chocolate covered marshmallows. “So if I let you set the scene for a picture, would that be a good thank you?”

  “Yes, very much,” he muttered, coming closer and letting his fingers trail up my leg. “Anything I want?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’m picking out what you’re wearing then too,” he said before heading over to the racks of options we had out for the shoot and consultations happening later.

  The photographer called me back over since he was in between shots, having me slip on a thong and heels before lying stomach down on a table so lots of my boobs showed. Then he slid one heel under the thong and actually took the picture while I was laughing at the staging. Virgil was there next, taking one with his phone and then mine.

  “Who are you sending this one to?” he asked.

  “Hagan. I need to thank him for his sweet gift too.”

  He had some choice words in reply too, making me flush and excited at the same time.

  The consultations started, and we moved the pictures to the lower level for those who still needed to go. We also had some fairies that were selling flowers in the front shop and people working that store. So there was a lot going on… Like always.

  I did actually do some work on my tablet in between changing outfits and waiting for others to finish since I was the last minute addition. Virgil looked like he was losing patience, and just before lunch he got his pose.

  “Really?” I checked, shaking my head when he excitedly nodded. I sat on the chair, moving my legs over each arm and letting him chain my wrists overhead. The outfit he picked was just as outrageous, the tiny, tiny thong not covering much of anything, and there was an open bra.

  “I just creamed myself,” Brian groaned from the doorway.

  “You’re a bit early for lunch,” I chuckled.

  “You’re too sexy not to take an early lunch for.” He listened as Virg filled him in on the whole thing since Brian was a bit confused about it as well. The photographer finished with the shots Virg wanted and left to get others.

  But Virg didn’t let me go. He moved over to me with an evil smile, kneeling in front of me. “I was nosy while I was covering for you, and Luca told me where your personal fun box was in the office.” He pulled out a toy that I knew was mine and turned it on, teasing and pleasing me until I came so hard I about melted as they both watched me with heat in their eyes.

  “I fucking love this holiday,” I panted, moaning when Virg leaned in and nibbled on my nipple. I met Brian’s gaze as he adjusted himself. “This so isn’t going slow.”

  “I’ve not touched you,” he argued.

  “Yes, because that makes this less naughty.”

  He shrugged as Virg let me go and helped me stand, threatening that he would have screwed me silly if my stomach hadn’t growled. I wasn’t the only one who laughed at that, Brian looking like he wanted to do the same though.
/>
  “Another delivery for you,” Lillie informed me when we headed upstairs, carrying over a large delivery box.

  “Another?” I asked, going over to her and nodding to the table.

  “Yeah, another,” she grumbled, handing me the note before hurrying over to the people gathered for consultations.

  But I didn’t need the note. I knew who it was from once I saw what was in the box. “Damnit, Jas.”

  “How do you know it’s him?” Brian asked, looking over my shoulder. “Jimmy John’s?”

  “Jason is a bastard, but he had money, so he wasn’t the typical broke college kid at UofI,” I explained, pulling out sandwich after sandwich. “I however was completely broke, and after the bouncing around I had, things like restaurants and going out weren’t ever something I did. We had a professor that posted test results not just by social security number but our names instead to motivate us.

  “I beat Jason, and his feathers got ruffled and he said I couldn’t take him on the midterm and wanted a bet. So broke me was dying to try some of the restaurants everyone was going to that I’d never been nor did I have friends to go with. I took the bet, blurting he had to take me and let me try whatever I wanted, and if I lost, I’d do one of his term papers. I won. We went, and I ordered just about everything that sounded good, taking it all with me for leftovers.”

  “So you were always adorable,” Brian chuckled, helping me unpack the box. “It’s pretty romantic he remembered.”

  “Don’t defend him,” I grumbled, reading the note.

  There are lots of things I would never ever tell either, baby. I never told a soul how much you ate that day or how embarrassed you were when you blurted out I didn’t have to eat with you and we could get it to go since you were a loser no one wanted to hang out with. You were a baby when we met, but you were never a loser and someone special. Jason.

  “Damnit, Jas,” I whispered, shaking my head and crumpling the note in my hand. It wasn’t written by him but an employee, which really meant he had actually told someone then. Idiot. Why were the men in my life such fucking idiots?

  I didn’t know, but my stomach growled again, and I shared my haul with them, Brian muttering he wanted to eat me but Jimmy John’s wasn’t a bad second choice. Brat.

  “Seriously? Another one for Sera?” someone said from the front of the restaurant as we were wrapping up. “How many is that now just today?”

  “I’ve lost count,” Beth drawled.

  “Hey, I only got food,” I called over. “What are you guys talking about?”

  “Sera, that mountain I grabbed your gift from is all for you,” Virg informed me, looking like he was having a hard time not laughing I didn’t get that.

  “What? I thought that was all the gifts,” I muttered, glancing from him to the huge piles in the corner. “Seriously? Who the fuck is sending me that many gifts?”

  Jesse came over with a gigantic bouquet of roses, at least four dozen, and set them on the table with a smile. “You have your own flower shop on the back tables, Alpha, and more packages have arrived in the entryway.”

  I nodded I heard him as I tried to process this, leaning in and smelling the pretty red roses before picking up the card. I frowned. “Why is a Beta from fucking Madrid I’ve never met sending me roses?”

  “Because he’s throwing his hat in the ring to be Mr. Seraphine Thomas and the power that comes with it,” Virgil drawled, taking the card from me. “‘For all the passion I wish to show you.’ Gag me.”

  I glanced up and saw Simone smirking near the racks where she was helping someone. “This is what you were referring to when you said to let me experience it, right?”

  “Yes, and you have a lot already,” she chuckled. “The first wooing chance after you become Alpha is always the hardest push, but you’re a bigger Alpha than I am and with a lot more to offer. However, I am a born panther from a notable bloodline so… Yes, there was a lot of crazy.”

  “Oh good because we never get any of that around here,” I drawled, shaking my head when she burst out laughing.

  “I have to get back,” Brian admitted, frowning. “Can I just ditch work and keep playing with you?” He smirked when my cheeks flushed. “Not how I meant it but that too.”

  “Any chance you’ll come back after work and help me drag all of this home?” I asked, pointing to the piles I now knew to be mine.

  “Yes, absolutely,” he said a bit too fast. He sighed when I raised an eyebrow. “Sera, no matter who they’re from, it’s a gold mine of information as to what you’ll like and won’t, so yeah, I’ll help you open the presents and even write them all down for thank you cards. Hell, hire Ashley to handle them all for you.”

  “Okay, you can get the inside scoop because that is smart,” I agreed, taking the card back from Virgil. “It just says what pack, no address. Do I just send it to Madrid and they know how to get it to them?”

  “Most are not as polite as you are,” Virgil explained. “Normally people only contact them if interested. I’m sure there’s a phone number or something.”

  He was right about the phone number, but I wasn’t interested. So that was awkward, but honestly it ended up barely registering as the day went on.

  “This is getting ridiculous,” I grumbled a few hours later as another florist showed up with six different deliveries for me alone. “Okay, new plan.”

  “And that plan would be?” Virg asked, looking amused by all of it.

  “I don’t know yet,” I admitted and pulled out my phone.

  “Miss me already?” Brian greeted.

  I bit back a scathing or flirty comment and focused on the issue. “We’re about to seriously drown in flowers soon, and I’m not talking about all the ones the fairies brought to sell.”

  “Why would they think just randomly sending flowers when they’ve never met you would do much good?”

  “Oh, some flat out pissed me off even,” I complained. “Five dozen blood red roses from the Master of Quebec with a note saying he longs to taste me.”

  “Asshole,” he growled. “Not sure why you called me though, Sera. Use them for decoration. Be super fancy and put petals on the tables this weekend.”

  “That’s a good one,” I praised. “My mind went to you have an office full of mostly men. Do any of them need flowers for someone? Who do we owe favors to or would want flowers? I mean, specify you’re not giving flowers to any of the women there or whatever—”

  “Nope, I gave my one and only Valentine’s present already,” he promised. “Don’t make more crap for yourself, Sera. Use the petals to decorate or do a shot of petals all over one of the dungeon beds.”

  “That’s hot,” Virg muttered. “Yeah, I’m with him. Have rose petals for baths for life or see if Nina needs some for spells.”

  “Yeah, okay, that’s good too. I was just thinking I abuse his office a bit much sometimes so maybe I should be nice.”

  Brian snorted. “We glow most days from all the praise we get on case closures and everything else, and we both know who’s a huge help with that.”

  “Me?” I purred, loving when he acknowledge me for work when all I seemed to get most days was crap.

  “We call her goddess, so I think you could answer to that,” he teased me. “I gotta go, but I’ll see you in a bit to help you drag all that home. Will you wear nothing but rose petals for me?”

  “I think you’ve been spoiled enough today.”

  “Yeah, but I’m greedy.”

  I laughed as we hung up, Virg shaking his head too. I called Ashley, who was done with school by then, and some of the kids of the pack. Simone loved the idea of the petals on tables and even the shots of a petal filled bed. So Virg ended up getting the job of taking pictures of all the arrangements and sending them to my phone with the number on the corresponding card so we could keep it all straight.

  Something came that I ended up being a huge brat about, tipping the driver to bring it to another address. I laughed so hard I almost pe
ed myself when Eric Corbin sent me a video of Brian getting the massive heart of roses, grumbling he was going to spank me because he knew it had to be me and like what the fuck was he supposed to do with all those roses.

  “You guys are so much fucking fun here,” Virg chuckled, wiping under his eyes. “I mean, seriously, too funny.”

  Ashley and the others were all over the bed full of petals, working wicked fast at tearing off the buds and getting the petals spread out. When I asked them what poor flowers had they been practicing with, they thought me hysterical.

  “We did something similar for junior prom last year and we were on the committee,” Ashley explained.

  Well, that made more sense, but for a moment I had worried something dark was behind their expert moves of tearing up roses.

  “I so want to grow up and be Alpha like Sera,” one of the girls muttered as they came back for another load from the overflowing tables.

  Ashley snarled in a rare showing of anger and shoved the girl. “You’re not seriously planning on taking the pack from her one day, right? You want to kill Sera?”

  “What, no—I didn’t mean—” She was seconds away from crying, so I hurried over there and hugged her.

  “I got it, kid, I get it,” I promised, deescalating the situation. “I wanted to become division chief of the FBI, but I didn’t mean I wanted to steal their job. We think of the progression of promotions and taking it when it’s open. Alpha just doesn’t ever open up and only when the Alpha’s dead.”

  “I don’t want you dead, Alpha,” she rasped, hugging me back.

  “I know, I know,” I murmured, kissing her hair and giving Ashley a look it was okay. She nodded and went back to gathering flowers, but I could feel the tension and upset coming off of her. Which actually made me smile. I’d never had someone so defensive and protective of me, who cared so much about me when I was her age, and I think it healed the wounded teenager inside of me that I was the role model of the popular girls.

  Nina was ecstatic to get free flowers and sent one of her coven to load up her car, which sounded like a lot of flowers, but it honestly didn’t make that much of a dent. At least Simone was thrilled at how extra snazzy the tables would look with a couple of roses and petals laid about. Hey, worked for me.