~Bella~
Grrrr!The sound of my alarm pierced through my skull. I shot up out of bed, alarmed.I dragged myself out of bed and waddled off to the bathroom.I didn't bother looking for Parker. I knew he was most likely already gone. He was an early riser, unlike me.He was probably at the office, going over files or something already. The man's work ethics were truly amazing.I stood numbly under the shower, letting the water run over my body and hopefully wash the rest of the sleep from my eyes.By the time I came out and got dressed, I only had time to grab a slice of bread from the pantry before rushing out.When I walked into the office, my secretary, Maggie stood and followed me in."You're late," she said, pushing me into my chair and pulling my semi-wer hair up into a ponytail."I think I dozed off in the shower," I confessed."You're the only person I know who can sleep under running water," she said, shaking her head."Well, it's very soothing," I said.'Maggie' or Margarita Finn was my bestfriend and secretary.Wanna know one of the best things about running your own firm? You could employ whoever the hell you want!Maggie flooped into a chair and dragged it close to me."I heard the case yesterday went amazingly well."I sat up, eyes shining. "You should have been there to see Parker! He was spectacular!"She squealed. I squealed too. We clasped our hands together excitedly.If there was anyone who knew the magnitude of my crush on Parker, it was Maggie."How can someone be so perfect?" She gushed."You're asking me?" I shot back. We both giggled."So what about you? How did you do?"I sighed and flopped back in my seat. "I forgot my printed questions at home. I had to come up with new questions on the spot. It was horrid."Maggie winced. "Sorry, girl! At least Parker did so well that no one would notice, right?""Right!" I said hopefully, sighing heavily.There was a knock at the door. Maggie shot to her feet and hurriedly took position in front of my desk.She adjusted her skirt and clasped her palms neatly in front.I shot her an amused look. Her eyes twinkled merrily back.Knock! Knock!The person on the other side knocked again.I straightened and cleared my throat. "Come in," I said loudly.The door opened and a small, stout woman in a plain, tailored grey suit stepped in.Next to tall, big boned Maggie in a flower-patterned top and bright orange skirt, she looked like a dowdy widow.The newcomer gave Maggie a displeased look before sliding her eyes to me.When her eyes landed on me, she didn't look much more pleased but she at least kept her expression blank."Mrs Smith, Mr Smith is requesting your attention at his office immediately," she announced."Good morning to you too, Mrs Meyer," I said.Her lips thinned. "Good morning," she answered politely."Do you know why Mr Smith is asking for me?" I asked."No," Mrs Meyer answered in a clipped tone. "If you'll excuse me." She turned and walked out.Maggie rolled her eyes. She moved to the spot Mrs Meyer stood in and imitated her posture."Mrs Smith, Mr Smith yen yen yen!""Ugh, I just can't like that woman," I said."I don't think she likes you much either," Maggie retorted.We laughed. "I better go see what Parker wants," I said."I should get back to work too," Maggie said, sighing. "Lots of files to sort out."I got to my feet heavily. "I wish I could help, sweetheart but..."You're just too lazy!" She cried, the same moment I said, "I'm just too lazy!"We burst into laughter again. "You know me so well," I said. I patted her on the shoulder as I walked past and headed off to Parker's office.Parker's office was on the other extreme end of the long hall my office was on so it barely took me a minute to get there.His office was so different from mine. Between Maggie and I, my office was bright, colorful and eclectic.But Parker's office was different. Everything was in shades of white and grey.There were no personal belongings except for a picture of the two of us that sat on his mahogany desk.I don't understand how he can work in such a place. I would go stir crazy looking at those blank walls all days.I snickered. The plain walls were almost identical to Mrs Meyer in her horrid grey suits. She suited that office perfectly.Thankfully, Parker let me decorate our house so it looked just like my office, bright and colorful.He'd never complained about it too so he must be okay with it.I passed by Mrs Meyer on the way in but she stubbornly kept her head bent over a file she was working on and didn't acknowledge me.'Humph!' I turned my nose up and walked past her, studiously ignoring her too.There was a man standing right in front of Parker's door.I instinctive took a step back when I saw him.The man was huge! He was so tall his head reached the top of the door. Probably about 6'6!His shoulders were so wide, they practically touched both sides of the door.Even worse, a single scar ran down his face, from his left eye to his lip!He looked really fearsome, like he could break me in half if I looked at him the wrong way.He looked faintly familiar but for the life of me, I couldn't remember exactly where I'd seen him.He passed a cursory, uninterested glance over me and stepped to the side, making way for me to go in.I skirted as far as I could from him, opened the door and quickly stepped in, shutting the door behind me just as fast.'Phew!'"Oh Bella, you're here," Parker said. "Come in. I wanted you to meet our new client, Mr Nikolai Reece."There were two men in the room, sitting with their backs to me.The one Parker pointed at turned his head slowly to look at me.I gasped as his face came into view! Holy shit! It was the man from the courthouse!~Bella~I stood in the doorway, gaping like an idiot at the man from the court.'Oh my God, what the hell is he doing here?!'I was going into real panic mode now. Did he come looking for me? Why? And how did he manage to track me down?"Bella? Why are you just standing there? Come in," Parker called to me pulling me out of my reverie.I smiled painfully and walked into the room slowly, going to stand beside Parker.This put me opposite the strange man. His eyes followed my every step, his face unsmiling. The look was so intense, I almost tripped over my feet self consciously.It didn't help that the one beside him who was also with him at the court was also watching me just as intently."Did you hear what I said, honey?" Parker asked again, turning to look at me. "I said he is going to be our new client.""Oh," I muttered. "That's nice."Maybe that was actually nice! Maybe he wasn't here for me after all! He'd been at court and seen Parker's performance. Maybe he'd just been so im
~Bella~I found myself sitting in my chair at his one-word command.'Wait a second! This was my office! Why was he telling me what to do?'Sit? Really? What does he take me for; a dog? And why did I just obey like that?I jumped to my feet, fuming slightly. "Mr Nikolai," I said politely, slowly, "Please sit so we can begin our discussion."He eyed me coldly for a second then slowly sat down, pushing the chair back to make room for his long legs.He casually crossed his feet over each other and folded his arms, careful not to ruffle his designer suit.He raised a brow at me silently.I sat down too, stiffly, at the edge of my seat. I cleared my throat and started talking even though I couldn't meet his gaze."First of all, I want to thank you for considering me for this job. It is a great honor to represent the great Reece Nikolai."I paused, waiting for him to acknowledge my thanks. He simply inclined his head an inch to the side.I boldly continued. "I'm not sure why you chose me bec
~Nikolai~Ahmad held open the door for me and I climbed into the car, fuming.I was angry! Angry at Bella Smith! Angry at her husband! But most importantly, angry at myself!I'd gone into this with every intention to finesse my mate, slowly win her over. But seeing her standing beside that man! Exchanging looks with him! It just ignited a fire in me.I knew the anger wasn't entirely my fault. 'It's your fault, you jealous wolf!' I snapped at Karl. He completely ignored me.'If you keep this up, we're never going to win her over. Might as well just grab her and claim her now. Get it over with.''Winning her over slowly was your idea, not mine! I voted for grabbing her,' he snapped back. I gritted my teeth and ignored him. "So how did it go?" Ahmad asked, pulling me out of my mind."Not the time for questions," I snapped at him."Didn't go so well then," he said casually."Shut up," I said. "I need you to do something for me.""Shoot boss," he said."Make a call to Shirley at the Ti
~Bella~Parker and I ducked back into the building. "Oh my gosh! What is going on?" I exclaimed. I knew Parker was popular and getting more and more popular with time.But still, we'd never had reporters gathered in front of our office like that before."Why are they here, Parker? Did something happen with you?""Me?" he asked. "Didn't you hear what they were saying?"I shook my head. "Everyone was talking at once. I couldn't make anything out."He smiled. "They're not here for me, love. They are here for you. They were asking if it's true that you're the new lawyer of the most powerful alpha in the Decacities."I gasped. "Are you kidding me? You have to be joking!""Bella! Bella!" I heard my name being called insistently. I turned around to see Maggie rushing towards me."Oh my gosh, girl, I wasn't sure if I'd catch you before you left. The telephone is ringing off the hook! Everyone wants to know if it's true that you're Reese Nikolai's new lawyer."I stumbled backwards. "I think
~Unknown~I kept back in the shadows of the courthouse parking lot, watching the drama unfold in real time.I saw the lady lawyer arrive in a car with another man, the husband most likely.I saw them stall in the car and then get out. I saw the reporters circle around them like vultures.Then in a burst of anger, I saw the woman command the attention of the reporters like a pro and tell them off.'Now, that was interesting to watch!' I chuckled to myself. She must be quite something.But not even that was as surprising to me as seeing Ahmad and Boulin, Nik's beta and gamma swooping in to rescue the lawyer.That was the most interesting thing of all! I'd been mildly interested in knowing who he decided to employ as his lawyer.But now, my interest and curiosity was fully peaked. Not only did he snap at me on the phone when I talked about her but he even has his pack members protecting her now?Who was this Bella Smith? And what did she mean to the great Nikolai Reese? The beta and ga
~Bella~At the sight of Kid Rover walking into our office, Maggie gasped and fell into a dead faint.I screamed and ran towards her. "Maggie! Maggie!" I cried, shaking her incessantly.I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Excuse me," the person said.I looked up to see Miss Irene standing over me, looking as cool as a cucumber."Let us handle this. We're used to things like this happening," she said.I nodded and moved back. Of course, they were probably used to women everywhere fainting at the sight of the pop star.She signaled to one of their accomplices, a young girl no older than eighteen in big glasses and an oversized sweater.She hurried over and whipped out a bottle of smelling salts from her bag. She promptly shoved it under Maggie's nose.My friend jerked awake. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed.I grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her. "Maggie, are you okay?""I'll be okay if you stop jerking me around," she wheezed."Oh, sorry." I let her go. "I'm so sorry about this," I said to K
~ Bella ~I stood in front of the conference room, practically shaking with fear.Maggie had informed me a few minutes ago that all the parties had arrived and were waiting for me in the conference room.I should have gone in but I was stalling for time, hoping I could regain my nerves first.I tried to remember everything I knew about breathing exercises but I was drawing a serious blank."You can do this! You can do this, Bella," I chanted, psyching myself up. In my hand, I held a file of papers including the contracts that Irene had delivered to me. I pressed it tightly to my chest. Parker and I had spent all of the last two days poring over it for every loophole possible.He'd also been grilling me for these past two days, trying to prepare me. But even though he'd done a great job, I still felt ill-prepared."I'm going to mess this up," I muttered to myself."Now, that is concerning," a deep voice said suddenly behind me.I squealed and jumped almost two feet into the air. I
~ Nikolai ~I stood behind my mate, watching proudly as she took charge of the meeting again without missing a bit.My blood was still boiling with anger at the nasty things that stupid man had said to her.I'd instantly seen her reaction to it. Her face had fallen, and her confidence with it.In a surge of protectiveness, I'd found myself jumping to her defence.But now, she'd taken control again and was handling the meeting like a pro. I felt a wave of pride well up inside me. 'That's my girl! That's my mate!' it sang."Reading through the contracts, I can admit that we are in a tough position here. The terms of the contract mean that you own not only his music catalogue but also his likeness," she was saying."It's a good thing that you know that," the woman on the other team said. The man took over again;"Since Mr Hall has signed that contract, he is bound by it. We only came for this meeting out of formality. He has no choice but to either stay with us or leave the name Kid Ro