What does one call an after effect of paralysis? When blood courses through like a ritual only to find there's nowhere to go? She felt about the same. Vanessa Flynn was screwed tight, a step inside the office, someone had bolted her there with a nail. She was facing him. HIM. Oh she knew his name alright. How could she not? Her wolf had been on edge last given their proximity. Now, it howled. It wasn't recognition of any sort. Just that, in twenty three years of her life, nobody had held her rapt attention the way this gorgeous man did.
His hair reflected sunlight, a complexion of hazy brown and twinges of black. His crumpled suit was the vestige of a long day. Or night. He hadn't changed. What pissed her off then and there was the vulgar air of confidence he exuded. Never mind the appropriate dress up. She thought he was a walking epitaph to disclaim the 'vain' in vanity. For he didn't care how presentable he looked. But then why should he?
Noah Abel willed his thoughts, those running amok, to settle down. His curiosity had ten hours to mutate, and maybe that's how much time they needed to turn into amusement and persuasion. The pixie-like, fair and pale complexion, whom he had to look down upon just to make eye contact, somehow held him in a fist for a moment last night when she was pure anger. And now, her presence made her anger seem righteous, and he didn't like it one bit. Striking olive green eyes paired with her dress reaching her knees, made her appear modest as opposed to last night's wreck.
He knew she was blushing because Mikhail had caught on the rush of blood under her veins just as he had. They were intimidating her, he knew. But it was always good to confirm his suspicions in relation to other people and how predictable they were. He was a cocky bastard that way. His and Mikhail's thought process ran parallel. They both had made an educated guess, last night's performative bravery began and ended there. She was like a cornered mouse. He didn't think her meek, no. Vulnerable? Absolutely.
The strength of his jaw, that uppity aristocratic nose and noble cheek bones lead to a broad forehead. The only imperfection she gathered in her shameless examination was a cut eyebrow. She frowned at that. He was looking at her now. With interest that her wolf opened its paws to, extending its claws, like a hook hoping to catch a bait. His lips were a tad wider than his mouth had asked for, but her days could easily spread along their longitude, they looked that inviting. Everything did, except his eyes.
Jaded black and cold. Not cold like the snow storm in winter, whose origin coldness can be traced. This was stone cold, like the moon's surface. She could imagine it- rupturing people oxygen less. He was doing it to her. In response, an involuntary shiver raked her body. Mikhail mistook the reason to be the weather.
"Why don't you sit down Vanessa?" Mikhail offered her a chair. Soon enough, the three of them were seated looking at each other willing someone to break the impertinent silence. If this was a tactic to turn her insides to the mush, it was working, Vanessa thought. So she broke it first.
"You asked for me. And I am here. Why am I here Mikhail?"
Noah tapped the silver dial of his Rolex. The pixie was direct. He can appreciate that. She didn't realize she was tilting her chin up, as if daring his second in command to acknowledge last night. He preyed on the opportunity.
"Miss Flynn. Allow me. Yesterday was a mistake on both our parts. The incident is undergoing investigation as we speak. I am sure we agree we could have reacted better. Now, matters more pressing need to be discussed."
See? Her wolf went strolling at the danger of being right. Vanessa was treading in uncharted waters and she would drown. But what else could she do? She swallowed all her questions. She could let go for the sake of her sanity.
But him addressing her as Ms. Flynn didn't bring about the respect. He hadn't meant to be respectful. Just politely distant. She hoped she could extend him the same courtesy.
His words pounced on her confusion.
"Mikhail tells me you need a job, for you have a debt to pay. Bartending at weekends won't cut it. I find myself in need of an… attendant, so to speak. Someone who isn't part of a pack. Our affinity to gossip, it turns out, brings us more fame these days. It's good that your mind linking is limited to your family alone. It's good pay."
It was. She had nearly forgotten the man beside her, still like a statue watching this interaction. He laid down a sheet of paper with just a number on it. A great deal more than her four side jobs and she'd have the security, because call it boon or bane, Noah Abel needed something she had. She need not think a moment more.
"Yes." Quiet, timid, olive greens wide and staring back at him. Noah was not prone to flattery, but he liked how she addressed him and not Mikhail. His blood singed. He liked the easy acquisition. Now, only one obstacle remained.
What he did dislike, was the incipient onset of wanting to see someone like Vanessa Flynn, impervious to the effect she had on him, blossom like the apples in his orchid only for his eyes and appetite, to pluck apart and devour.
By the time Vanessa returned home, it was lunch time. Her stomach growled, protesting at another cup of lavender tea, but she had very little money right now and no energy to re-stock her food supplies. Her wolf, especially, did not prefer that. Animal could go hunt for herself, but she worried about how the human carried herself. The worry was judicious. If wolves in human form lacked strength to shift into wolves, what good were they? Vanessa was young, had managed to keep the muscles she had built as a teenager chopping, crafting woods. Soon, they’ll deplete with lack of oxygen if she didn’t change what and how she ate. Vanessa realized her wolf was in no mood to spar over their living conditions with her. Poor thing was as resigned as she was exhausted. She managed to enjoy the cup of tea before her phone rang, shrill in the quite house. She knew who it’d be. “Hello Mum.” “Hello, Ness. How are you baby?” She had missed her mother. Their relationship had been rocky before, when
A small package wrapped in a brown paper bag sat on her porch. Puzzled, she picked it up and tested its weight. Light, compact. A cubic. Her fingers found the note on the other side. She went inside to read it.'These are the freshly made set of keys of the villa. And my number, should you need it.Mikhail.'Written in block letters, with less space than needed between the letters, so it looked like a congested print. She drew the drapes close. Still wondering why she got the keys to Noah's villa, she felt uneasy. More so, coiling and uncoiling the paper with Mikhail's number on it. He was expressing familiarity she hadn't expected. Unlike Noah, that is. He didn't scare her. But he did make her nervous. She can’t quite put her finger on it, but Mikhail Ryder was inadvertently making up for something. Perhaps for firing her, but that seemed too pale a reason. She’d ask him what his deal was. For now, she could feel her bed beckoning her. Her only friend, Abigail, demonstrated her con
Slick in her beige clothes the next morning, Vanessa contemplates covering the distance from her house to the villa on four feet but chickens out. Not in the habit of running around as a wolf in front of others, she settles to walk. Even when it takes approximately an hour.Today morning, she’d have no time to admire the place all over again. It was a double-edged sword anyway, to want to pet all the animals living inside, including the owner. She was still in trepidation over her role here. She understood management but knew nothing of the bureaucracy within the halls to know where her boundaries lay. Was she to manage the mundane in and outs of his day or did he want her here the whole time? Still making her way upstairs, keys jingling in her left hand, she heard his voice, cursing on the phone. Already? It was seven in the morning, and it was Saturday. Alphas didn’t take the weekends off, of course. But how in contrast to his father he appeared, Rourke Abel, the presiding Alpha of
Indignant, her anger swam forth. Where was she? In a boarding school? What was he threatening her with, imposing all these rules?“Last time I checked. I was here because I am not a pack member. I don’t care what they say because I don’t associate with them. There is no reason for your distrust. But if you still feel that way, you can fire me. Better yet, I will leave.”He was enjoying all right. Way too much, even though Mikhail was scolding him in his brain.‘Stop pushing her Noah. It really isn’t fair.’‘We need to know if we can trust her. Let me do what I am good at.’Mikhail rubbed his chin with the palm of his hand, a nervous gesture only Noah caught on. But Noah knew he was making sense. If he were to find out why different smaller clans were at each other’s throat for past six months, he needed to know his information gathering was not known to anyone. He trusted his pack members, his close confidantes, especially Mikhail. But pack members knew very little of pack politics
Vanessa’s wolf was lazy compared to her panicked state. The beautiful animal, husk brown coat with white patches on hind legs lingered to take in the forest. Tress swept past, mud and snow cackling beneath, its paws digging the ice. It felt like any other run. Until a canto of heavy thuds, almost like the horse hooves but softer resonated behind. At first, she thought it to be another wolf running but the scent gave him away. Intense, titillating aroma like the green-tinged fumes of absinthe, getting over juniper covered snow. That’s how she knew Noah Abel was stalking her. Her panic promoted to hyperventilation, she could hear the wolf right beside her now. His breathing was easy, languid while she panted. What was with him? The man was gorgeous but the wolf was striking. Signature alpha genes physically manifest into the sharpest black colour fur covering the vast expanse of his body. The sheer size of him made Vanessa feel her own wolf was a pup only. She focused on him as he clo
"I didn't do this. It still looks inflamed. How did this happen?" His fingers wouldn't leave the scar alone, tracing its outline, poking in the centre. Vanessa was more aware of his skin against hers, and had to focus on his mouth to discern his words. Which was all the more, a bad idea. His eyes found it offensive. "It's a blister. Happened few months ago." Why was he asking her this? Care aside, he didn't seem all that interested in knowing the origins of it. Just that it interrupted his slow measure of her exposed skin. She felt the blood rush to the surface when she acknowledged this little fact. Vanessa was blushing. Again. And looking anywhere but at him. He stopped when what he really wanted was to trace a small vein, visibly blue under the moonlight stretched along the column of her neck. Pulling the jacket up and over, he ushered her to walk ahead. The wolf was lurking in the recesses of human restraint, and his stance, walking around her at this time of night was one of pr
"Wait!", she cried, desperate now that they were going to be among others, under the scrutiny of white lights, nothing like the moonlight. He whirled. It was hard to say, looking at him, whatever his thoughts were. "What did you mean I did a good job of tying myself up?" She had to know. Her pleading had no ounce of effect on him. He looked every bit the Alpha he claimed to be. Looking down upon her."Exactly what you understood, Ms.Flynn."She was horrified. He could see that. And his wolf lept to do some damage control. "I reckon you have a problem with sleepwalking. So you bolt the doors, windows, anything that grants access out of the house, and tie your hands so you can't open them even if your unconscious state wants to. It's not rocket science." His words came out, strangled. Like someone was forcing him to explain himself. All Vanessa felt was air passageways carrying the oxygen as they ought to. He was right, only in the action of things. He didn't know sleepwalking was
Mikhail paced inside the office at Right Vices. The club downstairs boomed and quaked, vibrating the floor. His last lead didn't pan out, his current ambush so carefully crafted broke apart at the last minute. When Tourke had been poisoned here, it might have looked like a prank to everyone, because really the man was fine. The idea of pulling this on someone from a different pack, especially if there were disputes between two clans, wasn't newly invented. Quite the opposite. Mikhail had hated his mother's brother, the Beta of Erais Clan. And got into all sorts of trouble for annoying his father and his uncle. Never had he crossed the limits. Noah had figured out something was wrong the moment Tourke had insisted on meeting outside the clan territory. One of the unspoken protocols among them was, wolves were better protected in territories. Why would then Tembrook choose to meet here on that day when he had been officially sent on a visit by his Alpha Rudiger? Alpha Rudiger of Lunar