Alynna felt a touch of nervousness, thinking about meeting Grant’s mother. Maybe that wouldn’t happen, but with her luck…“I can’t wait for this to be all over and I can go back to my normal life,” she lay back on the couch. “Not that I mind all this,” she motioned to the packages around her. “Are you sure this is ok? I don’t think I even spend this much in a year in rent.”
The redhead smiled at her. “Don’t worry, it’s Grant’s treat ok? His ‘I’m sorry for having you tranquilized and chained to a bed’ apology. It’s not a big deal. You won’t even make a dent in his bank account.”
“I don’t know…those shoes looked very tempting,” she laughed.
“Hmmm…he may have to re-think about getting that house in Antigua!” Cady chuckled. They burst into fits of giggles, which was, unfortunately, interrupted by the ring of Cady’s phone. “Duty calls,” she sighed. “Listen, I’m gonna take this call outside. Why don’t you grab your packages and we can bring you back home ok?” With that, she left, chatting on her phone.
Alynna looked around her, and stood up to get the packages on the floor.
“Let me, Miss,” Alex said, as he quickly scooped up the bags and wrapped boxes.
If his distinct scent didn’t linger around all the time, Alynna would have almost forgotten his presence. “Alex, c’mon, you don’t have to do that, I’m not an invalid.” She grabbed one of the bags from him, their hands accidentally touching. It was strange, but there was that weird tingling sensation where their bare skin touched. “I’m…uh….maybe I should…” she stammered. After an awkward silence, she cleared her throat. “How about getting another slice of pie sometime?”
“I can pick some up for you, if you’d like, Miss.”
Anger bubbled inside Alynna and she grabbed the bags from him. “What the hell is wrong with you, Alex? I thought we…we were at least friendly and now you’re treating me like some piece of fine China you’re afraid to drop!”
“You’re the Alpha’s sister,” he said in an accusing tone.
“Yes, I am, and?” She stood up straight, bringing her full heigh up against him, measly it may be compared to his frame.
“I’m here to watch you and make sure you’re safe,” he said in a low voice.
“And?”
Alex sighed. “And that’s it.”
Alynna looked confused. “Look, you’re not some servant and I’m not your mistress. Hey!” she grabbed his arm when he turned away. “I thought…I thought the other night…Don’t be like this,” she pleaded.
Her words seemed to affect him, and his polite mask fell for a moment. “I—“ Alex began but was interrupted when Rachel came back into the room.
“Ms. Chase, you forgot this!” The young seamstress handed her a garment bag.
“Thank you, Rachel,” she accepted the bag from the young Lycan.
She turned back to Alex. For a moment, he had broken that cold politeness, but the mask was up again. She sighed inwardly.
“So, uhm…what did you think of that gown? A little over the top, eh?” she laughed nervously, changing the subject.
Alex walked towards the door, his hands full of packages and bags. As he opened the door to leave, he turned his head. “I like pink on you better,” he said before walking out. Unfortunately, Cady had chosen that moment to return.
Alynna turned bright red, her skin flushing with the memory of their encounter at Blood Moon and that skimpy pink dress. Cady shot her a suspicious look, but she quickly grabbed her bag and left the room.
***
“And so, once we’re done with the meeting with Mr. Zakar, we’ll have to zip uptown to dinner with the visiting Japanese delegation from Matsuki,” Cady tapped her tablet as she ran through her list.
“Thank you,” Grant leaned back into his chair. “Now, tell me about Alynna.”
Cady relaxed as well, putting her tablet down and removing her glasses. “She’s coming around, Grant. She said she’ll come in on Monday afternoon to work out a schedule, something that works with her, as you requested.”
“Good. Thank you Cady, I knew I could count on you.” he stared out into the distance, watching the lights turn on in the city as the sun sank in the horizon.
“Is that all or did you really want me to tell you about her?” she asked, a wry smile on her face.
He turned to look at her. “What do you mean?”
She sighed. “You know Grant, I’ve known you since I was a little girl. You don’t have to play dumb or be all ‘Alpha Lycan’ on me,” she crossed her arms.
Grant frowned. “It’s not that…I just never had to do this before.”
“I’m sure few people have to deal with long lost sisters who show up out of nowhere. So talk to me.”
“I just don’t know Cady. Maybe it would have been better if we didn’t find her…that’s mean, I know, but still…” he trailed off.
“Grant William Anderson,” Cady stood up, hands on her hips. Few Lycans would dare take a stance in front of him, much less a human. But Cady was different. She was practically his little sister. “I know you don’t believe that. She was meant to be part of this.”
“I know, Cady, I know, and you can sit down now and put those claws away,” he said wryly. “What I mean is that the next few months and years, maybe, are going to be hard on her. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s going to have her life turned upside down. She thinks she can still have a ‘normal’ life after she learns what she needs to learn, but she won’t. She can’t. I wish I could spare her that.”
Cady walked over to Grant, placing her hands on his shoulders. “You know you can’t protect everyone, right? You can’t stop destiny.” He looked at her with a raised brow. “But you can make it easier on her.”
“I’ll try.”
“There is one more thing, and I’m not saying this to make it harder on you, but it has to be said,” she said as she walked back and sat back down on the chair in front of his desk. “Err…Lycan politics. Particularly marriage and alliances.”
“Wait, I’m not giving her the sex talk, am I?”
Cady had a horrified look on her face. “Goodness no!” she exclaimed. “I’ll have Dr. Faulkner give her that biology lesson,” she chuckled. “I’m talking about her choice of mates. She can’t just be marrying any Joe Lycan or human off the street, right? I mean, aside from being a very attractive woman, she’ll be much more important to the clan, especially if you don’t have pups any time soon.”
“Ah so this is a sex talk about me then?” he teased.
She laughed. “Oh, I’m not touching that with a ten-foot pole, not with your track record, mister! But, seriously, Grant. I can’t be the one to tell her this,” she said in a low voice. “You need to find a way to tell her these things. She was upset enough about the ball. You have to explain she’s not chattel to be sold off, but she can’t be making such choices lightly now. Why don’t you try to get to know her this week and then take her out to dinner?”
“Alright,” he relented. “I’ll have Jared make the reservations.”
“Good,” Cady stood up. “I’m headed back to The Enclave. How about you?”
He shook his head. “Still finishing a few things”
Cady shrugged on her jacket and turned to leave. As she was about to grab the door to open it, she was startled as the large wooden panels opened by themselves and revealed Nick Vrost.
“Ms. Gray,” he nodded curtly, stepping aside to let her by.
“Mr. Vrost,” she greeted in return, passing by him. Alex was there, waiting by Jared’s desk. “Hey Alex!” she called out. “Waiting for the Alpha?”
He nodded. “Yeah, got the overnight shift tonight.”
“Ah good, let’s grab a cup of coffee when you get off in the morning, ok,? At the usual place?” she said, stopping by Jared’s desk to get a folder. “I need to go over a couple of things with you.”
“Sure, Cades,” he said, flashing her a flirtatious smile. “It’ll be a good way
to end a long night.”
“Alex, let’s go,” a chilly voice from behind barked at them.
Cady turned around and saw Nick Vrost’s frowning face. She thought he had gone inside Grant’s office. She shrugged as she waved to Alex and then walked to the elevators.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Alynna’s life remained the same somewhat normal, at least for the next week or so, except for a few things. She agreed to go to Cady’s “lessons” for an hour or two a day for five days a week, more if she could stay longer or come earlier, as she was eager to get them over with. They were mostly self-study, and she spend a lot of time reading books in a little conference room at the Fenrir Headquarters and Cady would come in when she could to answer her questions. She had made it through early Lycan history in Romania starting from the rule of Michael I and ending in the first Lycan wars (there were two, plus an aborted one). Grant was super busy, stopping in once or twice during the last week, checking up on her, but barely having time to stay more than five minutes.
The rest of her humdrum life seemed normal. She still went on client calls and finalized her surveillance schedule for Mrs. Garson. Of course, there were her new “bodyguards” though she’d warn Grant and Cady that unless she was on Fenrir property, they were to stay as far away as possible, especially when she was on a case or else all, bets were off. Whether she was slightly disappointed that Alex wasn’t assigned to her, she hadn’t quite decided yet. There was a weird, empty feeling in the pit of her stomach whenever she tried to sniff out his scent and couldn’t find it.
On Friday afternoon after 2 hours, she finally closed the book she was reading. “Are you sure this isn’t some form of Lycan torture? Another chapter or two and I’ll be your mindless slave,” she sighed dramatically when she heard the door behind her open.
There was a discreet cough and she didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was. Her body practically leapt up when the familiar scent hit her nose. “Alex,” she said in an embarrassed tone. “I thought you were Cady. Lycan history, you know,” she laughed nervously. “How did you ever learn this all?”
“It’s something we all learn as kids, so it’s pretty much ingrained. It’s like learning American History, but with more magic and gore,” he quipped, a slight smile on his face.
Someone cleared his throat behind Alex. “Alex, if you would,” said Nick Vrost in a serious tone.
“Yes, Al Doilea,” he bowed and stepped aside. Alynna remembered him calling Nick that before, which meant “the second” in Romanian, but she wasn’t quite sure when to use it. She made a mental note to ask Cady.
“Ms. Anderson,” he began.
“Chase. It’s Chase,” she corrected, slightly annoyed. “Or Alynna.”
“Ms. Chase,” he emphasized her last name. “Mr. Anderson requests that you join him for dinner tonight. He says you are to come with us to the Red Door Spa and they will take care of you.”
“Uhm, where’s Cady?” she asked, biting her lip. “Shouldn’t she be the one to accompany me to these types of appointments?”
“Ms. Gray is busy,” he explained. “But don’t worry, we will not be accompanying you into the spa, only to take you there and pick you up, to make sure to bring you to the restaurant for dinner.”
“Do I get a say in this?”
He gave her a dry smile. “I’m afraid not.”
“Lead the way then,” she resigned, picking up her books.
“Alex will be the one to bring you there and back. Ms. Gray will have an outfit sent to the spa for you,” Nick explained.
“Wow, must be a swanky place, then eh?” she said, with an exaggerate wiggle or her eyebrow, her poor man’s Groucho Marx impression. He merely nodded. Geez, she thought. Does no one around here have a sense of humor?
“Ooookay then…so I’ll see ya around, Nicky boy,” she teased. She’d only seen him crack once and made it her personal mission to see him do it again. “Let’s go get me all pretty then,” she walked towards the elevators with Alex following behind her.
***
“Excuse me, Miss,” Alex said as he opened the door for Alynna.
Her delicate brows knotted. “Will you stop with the ‘Miss’, business? It’s making me nervous.”
He shook his head. “I can’t do that,” he said. “It’s protocol.”
“Protocol for what?” She turned to face him.
“You’re the Alpha’s sister,” he stated matter-of-factly.
“Yes I am. We’ve had this same conversation before as I recall,” she put her hand on her hips. “So what does that matter?”
“It does.”
“How?”
“It just does, alright?” Alex ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Look, there are things that maybe you don’t understand…yet. But you will.”
“Then tell me what’s wrong!” Alynna was getting frustrated and when she got too frustrated, she got angry. “One minute you’re hot, the next you’re cold! That’s not fair Alex. Don’t make me believe one thing and then the opposite the next day!”
“And what is it that I’m making you believe?” he asked matter-of-factly.
Alynna opened her mouth but closed. Her head was spinning with all the words she wanted to say. Ask him. Remind him about the night at the diner. And about key lime pie.
She balled her hands into fists. “I don’t give a shit about this protocol business,” she growled. “Ok, when it’s just you and me, will you just call me Alynna, please?” she looked up, her eyes pleading at him.
“Alright…Alynna,” he relented. “Anyway, Cady wanted me to pick up a dress from Bergdorf for you since we don’t have time to bring you back to your place and we don’t have keys to get something for you.”
“Uhm…does it matter? Why don’t you pick one?” she said flippantly as she was ushered through the spa’s building.
Alynna had never been to a spa, not even a beauty salon to get her nails done, as money had always been tight growing up and by the time she was on her own, there was simply no time for such luxuries. To say she was overwhelmed at all the attention and pampering was an understatement.
The moment she stepped through the door, she had been treated like a VIP. A pleasant-looking Lycan named Grace (who smelled like honeysuckle) ushered her into the private section of the building where she was offered tea and biscuits, then gave her a menu book of treatments. Not quite sure which treatments to take, she shoved the book back to the eager young Lycan and just asked for whichever she thought was best. Looking back, she probably shouldn’t have said “best” because she soon found herself bathing in a tub of goat’s milk and then brought to a luxurious private massage room where a large Swedish woman named Agneta pounded and kneaded away all the knots in her body. After this, she was then directed to a dressing room where a hair and makeup artist did her face and hair before another team of people came to dress her up. At this point, Alynna had had quite enough and grabbed the shoes and dress bag and then (politely) shoved the people out of the dressing room so she could dress in peace.
To her chagrin, the bag contained one of the cocktail dresses she picked but had to send back to adjustments. Except she remembered she had picked a blue dress. The bag instead contained the same dress but in pink. She gave a wry smile, wondering if she should mention something to Alex as she slipped it on.
When she stepped out of the spa, Alex was already waiting for her, holding the door open. She gave him a side smile as she entered the car, enjoying the way his eyes roamed over and appreciated her body.
The ride to the restaurant was short, a couple of blocks from Fifth Avenue. The building they stopped at was sleek and modern and gave no indication of what was inside, not even the name of the restaurant. Grant was already there when the severe-looking maître’d brought her to the table.
Grant made a motion to stand up, but Alynna waved him down. “Please, I feel uneasy enough in these heels,” she joked. “So, uh, thanks for the invite,” she said
as their waiter placed a menu in front of her.
“Well, I know you’ve been busy and so have I, so Cady suggested we have dinner, just the two of us,” he stated. “I wasn’t sure what you wanted so I had my assistant book us a table here.”
“What is this place?” Alynna asked, peering at the menu.
“I’m not sure. I just asked him for somewhere private and nice,” he opened up the menu.
Alynna scanned the restaurant’s offerings. She gulped as she realized it was mainly in French, and she didn’t even understand half of the English translations. Shifting in her seat uncomfortably, she mumbled something and pointed to the first thing she saw when the waiter asked what she wanted.
As soon as the waiter left, Alynna and Grant sat there in uncomfortable silence, as if they were waiting for each other to speak first.
“So, nice place--”
“How are the--”
They spoke at the same time and then stopped abruptly.
“What did you--”
“You go ahead--”
More silence. More uncomfortable shifting.
Finally Grant cleared his throat. “Is everything going well with Cady? I mean, with the lessons and such…”
Alynna shrugged. “I suppose…I just don’t know why I need to know history and stuff…like when am I going to learn the cool things? Like growing fangs or something?” she joked.
“Well, I agree that shifting is a big part of what you need to learn, though history is important too. You need to learn how the clans work, the high council, important people and such,” he said. “And I’m still not sure who can teach you the basics of controlling your Lycan side.”
“Couldn’t you do it?” she asked. “I mean, it sounds like you don’t have formal teachers and such for that.”
“I’m just afraid that I won’t be able to devote the time to it. It has to be done on a regular basis,” he explained. “But one of the reasons I wanted some private time with you is--”
Fated Mates: Book 1 of the True Mates Series Page 6
