by Cara Adams
Which brought her back to today. Did her father know these people were shape-shifters? Had she attended the funeral of some shape-shifter royalty? That would explain the people from many countries.
It would also explain why this yummy-looking man, standing in front of her right now in the parking lot of the university student accommodation, had deliberately driven a very expensive piece of Baum Construction machinery right into a black SUV—to stop it. But to stop the people in it from what? And why?
Both the men were staring at her silently. Both the truly delicious one with light brown hair and eyes like the most exclusive Belgian chocolate, and the other one, the one who’d been driving her tractor scraper, who was a mighty fine looking piece of manhood as well, with blond hair and blue eyes. They’d sat together at the funeral right in the very back row on the folding chairs, wearing the same dress suits they still had on.
“I asked you a question,” she pointed out.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t realize it was your, um, machine.” The blond looked at her with only worry in his face, no confusion or contrition. And no explanation either.
She looked at the other one. “If you had known it was my tractor scraper does that mean you wouldn’t have taken it?”
He had the grace to blush and look at the ground. “I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you, ma’am,” he said softly.
That was probably true but they weren’t getting anywhere here.
“I saw you at the funeral. Felix Pichler’s funeral.”
This time they both were surprised, although they both tried to hide it, the blond one by shuffling his feet and the brunet by looking back down to the ground.
Just then she realized who the foulmouthed woman in the too-short skirt was. It took her a moment to remember what name the priest had called her by, but it came to her quite quickly.
“Who did you want to stop Kersten Pichler from following?”
Again they didn’t answer. She was getting nowhere here. “I know all about the shape-shifters. What I don’t know is why you took my tractor scraper.”
That did get a reaction. Both men stared at her, their jaws dropping, their hands clenching and fear written clear over their faces. The brown-haired one looked all around them, nodded at the other one, and then together the two of them manhandled her into the backseat of her car, climbing in after her.
Okay, so that might not have been the smartest thing to say, but at least it got a reaction out of them. Maybe at last she’d find out what was going on.
* * * *
Roman Meyer could hardly wait for semester to end so he could return to the wolf pack’s home at Werewolf Castle and he’d never leave it again. Ever. Because the pack paid for his education he understood he was expected to help monitor St. Stephen’s Cathedral and report immediately to their Alpha if someone had a message for him. That was easy. Either he or Brody was at the cathedral each day from fifteen minutes before noon to fifteen minutes after. They would sit on one of the seats, or lean against a wall, wearing tourist clothes and looking like they had all day and nothing to do while they watched the entrance for anyone who matched the pictures on their cell phone. Maybe once every three months or so they sent the picture of a person they’d seen back to their Alpha and he organized someone else to collect the message. Brody and Roman knew no one’s names or anyone’s secrets. It was all quite safe and simple.
Until last night when the Alpha had told him about the Supreme Alpha of Europe’s funeral and how he really didn’t want anyone following him after he left it. Suddenly Roman had to think of how he could protect his Alpha, a man to whom he’d sworn allegiance and promised to serve until death if necessary. He’d always assumed his death was fifty or sixty years ahead of him. Right now it was looking much closer. Or else a fair proportion of those years might be spent in jail. Neither option suited him. Yet the woman was correct. They’d stolen her construction vehicles and used one of them to commit a crime. The fact their Alpha was now on his way home in safety meant it was worthwhile, but he hoped like hell he could get away from this woman before she handed him over to the police.
She folded her arms over her chest and sat right forward on the seat, turned her head, and stared at them. “Does this mean you’re going to tell me what’s going on?”
Roman dragged some air into his aching lungs, gulped to swallow a mouthful of fear, and asked, “Why were you at the funeral?”
“Why don’t we do this turn and turn about. I’ll answer a question and then you answer one of mine. Honestly. As a demonstration of good faith, I’ll go first. My name is Leonie Baum. My father is Leon Baum the owner of Baum Construction. He sent me to the funeral as his representative.”
Roman gulped again and nodded. He thought some of the wolves here in Vienna had worked for Baum Construction from time to time. Since the Supreme had become so ill his pack, the Vienna Pack, had to work for outsiders at times to earn money. But how did she know they were shape-shifters. It wasn’t exactly the type of thing they talked about in the human world. They tried to keep their differences hidden from humans at all times. Besides, most people didn’t even believe in shape-shifters anyway.
“Why did you use the term shape-shifter?” asked Brody.
Ah, that was a good question. It didn’t admit anything, yet still should get them the information they needed.
“Uh-huh. Not yet. I get to ask you a question first. Why were you trying to stop Kersten Pichler?”
“She was following a friend of ours who didn’t want to be followed,” said Roman.
“That makes sense. I heard people at the funeral say she’s always trying to ensnare men. I suppose it was a male friend?”
Brody nodded.
“She certainly has a fluid line in expletives.”
“She used words even I didn’t know,” said Brody.
They all laughed and the tension eased a little.
The men apologized for using the tractor scraper, Roman explaining he couldn’t think of any other way to stop the black SUV. He didn’t comment on how many hours it had taken to position the two construction vehicles on the two main routes out of Vienna. Although she’d mentioned two construction vehicles so likely she knew about the other one already.
Roman couldn’t help but notice how very attractive she was. Her blonde hair sat neatly around her head like a cap and her eyes were a deep green. Against her unobtrusive, neat black suit and attractive silver jewelry her pale hair and green eyes were even more obvious. Roman supposed she’d worn the clothes because of the funeral, but they suited her, acting as a foil for her personal beauty. She had a sharp mind as well. She hadn’t missed anything in their conversation or in the encounter with the construction vehicle either. He wished he’d have a chance to get to know her better, but suspected the only time he’d ever see her again was in court when she charged him with theft.
He sighed. He hated to upset the fragile truce they’d developed, especially when he and Brody were the ones at fault, but he really needed to know. So he repeated Brody’s question.
“Why did you use the term shape-shifter?”
She gave him back look for look. “I’m not stupid, you know. I’m aware that Felix Pichler was the shape-shifter equivalent of royalty.”
Roman tried to keep a bland face but he knew he wasn’t cut out to be a spy. He wasn’t cut out for life in jail either. He scrubbed a hand over his face then ran his fingers through his hair. “So what happens next?”
She spoke a little more gently. “You’re lucky this happened today, and not yesterday. Until this morning I always assumed I’d take over Baum Construction someday, but it now seems that will never happen. So I feel very inclined to simply tell you to go away and never come near our equipment again. You haven’t told me your names. You had getaway motorcycles. I guess I had no hope of ever catching you.”
Roman instantly knew something there was hurting her deeply. She seemed quite young, younger than him an
d Brody, yet she exuded power and authority. Seeing the pain in her eyes called to him in a way her businesslike approach hadn’t done. Since the hurt didn’t seem to be caused by their treatment of the construction equipment—and apart from a few dents and scratches he didn’t think they’d actually damaged the monstrous yellow thing—it had to be about not inheriting the company.
“I don’t mean to pry, but has your father sold the company?” he asked.
“No, nothing like that. The Board of Directors remains adamant it’s not the place for a female. Despite the fact I know more about the company than all of them combined.”
“And you’ve worked there ever since you were old enough,” he guessed.
“As I said before, I’d always assumed I’d take over one day, you see.” He heard the sadness in her voice. Then she shook herself. “Anyway, that’s not what we’re talking about. Do I have your word of honor that you’ll never touch any Baum Construction property again?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Brody’s voice was clear and controlled, yet also contrite.
“I give you my word. I’m really sorry. It’s just that I could see no other way of achieving my goals. I can’t imagine any such situation ever happening again, but if it does, I promise not to use your vehicles.”
He watched as she drew two business cards out of her purse and handed them one each. “The address might change but the email and cell phone won’t. Although I don’t expect you’ll ever need to contact me.”
Roman didn’t even hesitate. He recited his cell phone number for her. “I have it turned off in lectures of course, but the message will be there for when I get out of class. My name’s Roman. Thank you for not taking this matter any further. I truly appreciate it.”
She repeated the number back to him and then pulled out her phone and entered it.
“I’m Brody. I thank you, too. It’s far more than we expected or deserved.”
They both got out of her car, and stood on the sidewalk as she climbed into the front seat and drove away. She raised her hand in greeting to them as she left.
“As soon as the semester finishes we need to find her and date her. She’s going to be our mate,” Roman told Brody.
“Exactly what I was thinking. I knew it the moment she followed us here. She feels the attraction just as strongly as we do.”
Chapter Two
Since there was only one week left of classes this semester, then another two weeks of examinations, Brody ought to have been studying. Both he and Roman would graduate this year and he knew Roman was more than ready to go home to the mountains and Werewolf Castle. Personally, he’d enjoyed these few years in Vienna and the freedom from supervision. The Alpha had made it very clear they could study whatever subjects they wanted to, but they were expected to pass them and then work for the pack after graduation. It made sense therefore to study subjects that they not only liked, but that would also be of some value to the pack.
They’d also had to plan their courses around always being available to be at the cathedral at noon every day. But it wasn’t too hard. Studying in such a large faculty as business meant all the subjects were available at several different times on the course schedule, so it was all doable. Once he’d had to take a class on Saturday mornings, and twice Roman had taken a class in the evenings, but really there were no hardships involved.
For many years the werewolf packs had seen far fewer female births than male. Only about one-quarter to one-third of new babies were female, and that was now a real problem for the packs. Before Brody was born their former Alpha had made careful enquiries among other werewolf packs and learned the situation was not just in their pack, or their country, or even just in Europe. It was worldwide. When their current Alpha had taken over the pack one of his very first directives had been that two male wolves should find and mate with a human female.
No matter how careful the pack had been about hiding their shape-shifter status there were always some people who knew about them. Finding a few human women to mate with had been easy, as some men were already in love with a human, even though such matings had been frowned on up until then. But to just go out and find a human then ask her to mate with them before telling her of their shape-shifter abilities was a very difficult thing to do. It brought up all sorts of issues around the topic of trust. Nevertheless, young male wolves sent off to universities around Europe to monitor information for the pack were also encouraged to find a mate. A human woman who they would share and bring back to the pack, when their studies were finished.
Brody was more than willing to find his mate to take back to the castle as soon as he graduated. He’d spent many lazy hours lying on the university lawns and watching the young women. Blondes, brunettes, redheads, short, tall, fat, thin, he liked watching all of them. But no one woman had ever called to his heart, or to Roman’s. Until today. Until they’d met Leonie. She called to them. She made his cock stand up and his heart beat faster. It wasn’t just the adrenaline rush of the way they’d met either. He’d felt a pang of loss when she’d driven away from them. It was so real and urgent he’d wanted to ring her cell phone and call her back. But that wasn’t sensible. First he needed to pass his final examinations and hand in the project he should be working on right now.
Then he and Roman needed to date her like real lovers. Only after that could they take matters further. Assuming she agreed, of course. What if she hates us? What if she only thinks of us as troublesome petty criminals? What if she moves faraway since her father won’t let her help run the company? Why wait? Why not contact her immediately?
No. He had to be strong. He was here to sit his examinations and he needed to do that first. Once his project had been submitted and his examinations were done, then would come to the time to learn if she was the one for them. Their mate.
Waiting was going to be hard though. Hard like his cock. It was hard just thinking about her neat cap of blonde hair and her bright green eyes. Not to mention her curvy-in-all-the-right-places figure.
* * * *
Leonie had arrived at work at seven the next morning just like always, sat at her desk, and dealt with the enormous pile of paperwork that was waiting for her, then fielded her father’s calls when he’d attended his usual series of meetings. But at two in the afternoon, when she picked up her cup of coffee, only to find it stone-cold, and her stomach rumbling reminding her she’d not yet eaten lunch, she sat back in her chair with the sudden realization that she no longer belonged here.
Up until the previous morning, she’d considered all the office paperwork a necessary stepping stone to understanding the complete workings of the company. Although she’d completed business studies, she’d deliberately worked in all the various departments of the company, so her knowledge would be not just from books and in her head, but from knowing the daily workings of Baum Construction from the inside out.
But that had all changed in the blink of an eye. The Board of Directors had decreed she’d never be in charge. She’d forever just be an office girl, not a person with any authority or power. Thoughtfully she switched off her computer and left her desk, taking her purse and jacket with her. She drove to a mall and wandered the food court for a while before sitting down with a bowl of asparagus soup and a thick slice of bread.
She was twenty-two and ever since she’d been old enough to think about having a job, she’d assumed she’d work for her father’s company, side by side with him for many years, then one day as its head. These people had watched her grow up, and had seen her working at the company for ten years now. In the beginning she’d worked after school, Saturdays, and vacations, then for entire summers when she studied, and for a year now twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Yet still they considered her only an office girl. They ignored her qualifications and experience, seeing only her gender. Well fuck them.
She pulled out her cell phone and Googled an employment website. She wasn’t going to get a glowing work reference from anyone. The directors evidently t
hought she was worthless and her father would hardly want her working for the opposition, but she still could claim her studies and “work experience.” She’d have to use one of her professors as her reference though. As soon as she got a job she’d have to move out of her father’s house. Even if he didn’t tell her to leave it’d hardly be fair of her to stay.
Leonie put her cell phone down and twirled her spoon around and around in her empty bowl. Actually this was getting more complicated all the time. Because her name and address would need to be on any job application or CV, the first thing anyone would want to know was if she was related to Leon Baum and Baum Construction. Then, when they knew who she was, they’d assume if her own father wouldn’t employ her she must be trouble, or a failure, or both. But if she used another name all her documentation would be useless.
Well fuck.
The only solution was to get a job in a completely different industry and say she wanted a change or to balance her life or something like that. But what industry? The only thing she knew was construction. Although office work was just office work and she was experienced in running an office.
Leonie scrolled through the job advertisements on her cell phone.
Office Administrator needed for three-four months. Company updating from paper records to computer systems. Administrator required to supervise a large number of casual data entry staff. Ability to speak German, Austro-Bavarian, English, and Alemannic an advantage.
There was only a contact cell phone number, no email or street address given, so Leonie clicked on the phone number immediately, before she could talk herself out of it. The job certainly sounded like something she could do and three months was perfect. It would give her time to think about what she really wanted to do with the rest of her life.
