by Noah Harris
Adrian sat at the edge of the large, solid wood desk that Michael had positioned opposite the door used to enter the room. Adrian actually liked the dark wood of the furniture, lined with leather, with just a dash of stone thrown in on some of the tables. The lights were dimmed, though he could still comfortably see. If the rest of the building was built to intimidate with its blazing richness, Michael’s private office was meant to welcome, perhaps even give a sense of home.
He was amused to find a large mirror placed behind the desk. It was positioned so that anyone who sat in the visitors’ chairs before the desk would be forced to look at Michael or at their own reflection. Adrian imagined it was a very effective mental maneuver, unnerving anyone who came to do business with Michael. It was the one only thing Adrian could find that broke the otherwise comfortable, inviting aura that permeated the room.
Adrian frowned at his reflection peering back at him. He had allowed his hair to grow out too long and the bangs were nearly falling into his unusually bright, blue eyes. Adrian thought the striking color of his eyes made up for the fact that his hair was a coarse, dirty blond mess. Adrian didn’t think he was unattractive by any means, but he had always hated his hair, with its lackluster color and a stubbornness that made it impossible to style once it reached a certain length.
Adrian heard soft footsteps approaching the door but didn’t recognize them as Michael’s. Despite having been around only Michael a few times before, Adrian prided himself on his memory of even the smallest detail. Michael walked with a stronger gait than whoever was approaching the door. He also tended to walk much slower, as if he were in no rush to get to wherever it was that he was headed.
The door opened tentatively and a young woman entered the room, a clutch of folders and papers tucked under her arm. A light flickered at her ear and Adrian could see a small headset beneath her flowing black hair. The woman took a few steps into the room before she realized that she wasn’t alone. She froze, head jerking in Adrian’s direction as she dropped the papers with a startled yelp.
Adrian grinned in greeting. “Evening. Would your boss happen to be around? I was supposed to meet with him, but wouldn’t you know it, he’s gone and made me wait.”
Her eyes were wide. “S—sir, you can’t be in here.”
The only people Adrian knew who could fall back so effortlessly into the casual authority given by someone higher than them were security guards and personal assistants. From the casual yet tastefully formal look of her blouse and skirt, Adrian figured the woman wasn’t in charge of running down any trespassers.
Adrian waved a light, dismissive hand at her. “Just give Michael a call for me, would you? Tell him Adrian is here, just like he wanted.”
Hesitating, she reached up to touch the headset at her ear, waiting a moment before speaking. “Sir, there’s a man here…yes, in the office…he said he’s here…Adrian…no, no last name…”
Adrian watched her eyes sweep over his body before she continued speaking, “I…don’t think so sir, but I believe he might be...”
Adrian rolled his eyes, not needing to hear the man she was speaking with to know what they were saying. “I’m not a whore, I’m here to meet with him on a personal matter. Just get the man in here, I know he’s still in the building.”
She stared at him, the shock on her face giving way to irritation. “Yes sir, thank you sir.”
Adrian sighed as she tapped the device once more. “Good lord, do you have to call another assistant in order to talk to the guy you work directly for?”
The woman sniffed haughtily at him. “If you were supposed to know that sort of information, you wouldn’t need to ask the question.”
Adrian smirked. “I love it when you elevated menials get all feisty.”
“Excuse me?” she demanded.
“Lady, you took one look at me and decided that I was some paid whore to meet with Michael for a good fuck. So I don’t really think you get to be offended because I called you the tedious task fulfiller that you are, okay?” Adrian retorted with a grin.
Before she could say anything, Michael appeared in the doorway a few feet behind her. Michael stood almost a solid foot above the woman, and if Adrian had been standing, Michael would have been nearly a head taller than him. Adrian begrudgingly had to admit, despite wanting to dislike the man for his seeming stiffness, Michael did look quite striking in his charcoal gray suit. It offset his black hair and his dark blue eyes wonderfully. Those same eyes were shifting between the insulted assistant and Adrian, with a look of exasperation on his face.
“Why did you not simply call?” Michael asked Adrian, with only the barest tone of annoyance in his voice.
“Well, you know me, I can’t help but make an entrance,” Adrian replied, smirking at the woman’s startled expression at hearing that Adrian had Michael’s number.
Michael sighed, motioning to the door behind him. “My apologies, Miss Adams. Please, allow me to deal with this.”
Miss Adams looked down at the papers, bending to gather them up. “No need to apologize, sir. Just give me a moment and I’ll be out of your way.”
“Are those the monthly reports?” Michael asked with a nod to the pile in her arms.
She nodded. “I was coming in to drop them off on your desk.”
“Leave them. I need to go through them in any case and I can collect them,” he said with another motion to the door.
She seemed to realize that she was being dismissed and took the hint, barely batting an eye. Adrian was amused to see that she hesitated at the doorway long enough to shoot him a distasteful look before disappearing.
“Charming girl. I can see why you hired her,” Adrian said once the door was closed.
“She’s very efficient,” Michael said with a frown directed at Adrian.
Adrian snorted. “And I’m sure the fact that she’s good looking and fits in that skirt and blouse combo has nothing to do with it.”
Michael’s expression tightened. “I can’t say I’m surprised that you would think that’s why I hired her, but I admit to being a little surprised that you noticed. Here I thought you paid no attention to the fairer sex.”
“If this is your way of asking if I’m only into dudes, then yes,” Adrian said simply.
Michael crouched to finish the task of gathering up the folders and papers. “No, that was not me expressing a desire to gain insight into your personal life, Adrian.”
“Consider it information that’s totally free of charge. You’re welcome,” Adrian said with a grin.
“It’s not exactly information that’s difficult to attain,” Michael said as he stood.
Adrian rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, there’s a dirty slut in your office. Your secretary thought I was a whore, so I guess I’m really just that obvious.”
“In matters of no consequence you are, perhaps,” Michael murmured as he shuffled the papers around so that they stacked neatly in his arms.
Adrian frowned. “What?”
Michael looked up, shaking his head. “Nothing, I’m thinking aloud, a bad habit I really should be working on. Get your butt off my desk. It’s for my papers, not for you to sit on.”
Adrian both rankled at the command and found himself wanting to obey. The only other alpha that had ever managed to make Adrian wish to obey was Eli. Adrian, like most werewolves who were born with the status of omega, prided himself on his natural independence. Some within the werewolf world considered omegas to be willful and disrespectful, bordering on insubordinate. Adrian liked the think that omegas were important in making sure that the alphas’ egos didn’t get too big , to keep them on their toes. He could handle instinctively wanting to obey Eli, the alpha he had accepted as his pack leader. It was irritating, however, that Michael, without any say on Adrian’s part, was somehow beginning to gain the same effect.
“Hey, for all you know, you might enjoy my butt on your desk more than your work,” Adrian taunted as he slid from the desk’s surface.
“A tempting one notion, but one I will have to turn down,” Michael replied in the driest tone Adrian had ever heard.
Adrian flopped down in one of the chairs meant for visitors with a snort. “Sure, be sarcastic but you wanted me here for a reason.”
On his way to his seat, Michael stopped beside Adrian to set the pile of folders on his desk.. Michael bent down, getting close enough to Adrian that his scent washed over him. Adrian couldn’t help but take a deep breath, loving and hating how good Michael smelled. The alpha wore no cologne, and Adrian could detect his natural scent of rich earth and something that reminded him of an oncoming rainstorm. The wolf within Adrian stirred at the scent, and he watched Michael carefully as the man took hold of Adrian’s ankles and pulled Adrian’s feet off the edge of his desk.
Michael eyed him, looking almost amused. “And no feet on my desk either.”
Adrian snorted, forcing himself to look away. “I’m surprised you don’t make people take their shoes off before entering.”
“Considering where your shoes have probably been, that might have been a good idea if you hadn’t broken into my office first,” Michael said as he rounded the desk to sit down.
Adrian frowned. “Hey, these are my good shoes! I wear them for special occasions, like getting into your private office without anyone knowing. You should really beef up your security around here because this is just shameful.”
Michael leaned back in his seat, eyeing Adrian carefully. “And that is one of the reasons that I spoke to Eli about utilizing your skills. If you are willing, I could use someone who has a talent for, let’s say, getting into places they otherwise shouldn’t be, and gaining information.”
“You need someone who can sneak around and overhear conversations, yeah, I got you,” Adrian said with a shrug.
“Does that mean you’re willing to do it?”
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you didn’t just ask Eli if you could borrow me like I was a cup of sugar. He probably asked what you needed me for.”
Michael nodded. “That he did. He was quite thorough in his interrogation.”
Adrian chuckled. “Papa Bear coming to my rescue. So look, if he knows what’s up, that means I probably won’t have an issue with whatever you’ve got in mind. But I can’t very well agree to doing something if I don’t know what that something is, now can I?”
Michael looked uncomfortable. “I have been having…security concerns as of late.”
“Since I was able to get in here without anyone knowing until your secretary stumbled in on me, I’m going to say that that’s not a surprise,” Adrian said with a grin.
Michael gestured behind him. “I knew you were here. When I am not in my office, I have a motion detector setup to catch video of anyone and everyone who comes into my office. I knew you were here from the moment my phone alerted me that the system had been tripped. I was already on my way here by the time Miss Adams walked in on you.”
Adrian stared at the mirror. “You’ve got a camera behind that thing?”
“A mirror serves many purposes, and one of this one’s is to conceal, yes,” Michael said with a small smile.
Adrian snorted, allowing Michael to see he was a little impressed. “Well fine, I wasn’t as slick as I thought I was.”
“You were also not trying your hardest,” Michael said casually, as if it were fact.
Adrian raised a brow. “That so?”
“I’m working from hearsay, but from what I’ve heard, you are more than capable of getting to where others would prefer you weren’t and being gone before anyone knows you were there in the first place. My small measure of personal security would have mattered little if you were truly trying to break into my office without arousing suspicion.”
It was true that Adrian would have been far more careful if he were trying to break into Michael’s office for more than just a meeting. Namely, he wouldn’t have come when he knew that Michael or any of his assistants were in the building. Places like a personal office were harder to break into when security was at its highest, such as after hours, but it also meant that it was safer once you were actually in. Adrian wasn’t so sure that he would have thought to check the mirror though.
“Right, so, security concerns?” Adrian asked brightly.
“Yes, it seems that my security in some way, shape, or form, is lacking. I have found myself being stymied at various turns in my different business ventures. Deals will fall through at the last moment with barely a reasonable excuse, information that was once useful in its secrecy becoming useless as it somehow becomes common knowledge, and other such pitfalls,” Michael explained.
Adrian raised a brow. “That sounds like normal dirty business tactics to me. Isn’t the whole point to make sure that your competition can’t compete?”
“Were this a matter of one or two isolated incidences, I would dismiss it as the standard risks one takes in doing business, but it has been happening with a regularity that I have begun to find unnerving. After my most recent attempt to buy up a few nightclubs in order to expand my horizons fell through, due to one deciding suddenly to go with another buyer without explanation and another magically discovering a better value in their venue, I have been forced to face the reality of the situation. Within the past several months, I have found myself struggling to make any progress whatsoever in my attempts to expand against a very active resistance,” Michael said with emphasis.
Adrian nodded. “You think someone is actively sabotaging you. You personally.”
Michael sighed. “So far, I have not heard of anyone who has been experiencing the same difficulties that I have. And before you ask, no, I have not discovered anyone who has been profiting from my failures more than anyone else.”
“Well, if there had been someone that obvious, I would have seriously questioned your abilities as a businessman,” Adrian snorted.
Michael frowned at him. “I assure you, I covered every base I could before I sought outside help.”
Adrian cocked his head. “Don’t you have someone either in your employ or in your own pack who could do this for you?”
Michael’s lips tightened. “This is a matter of security, and it is far more reliable to have someone from outside look in. I trust Eli’s judgment, and I believe I can trust you.”
Even if it was only because of Eli’s reputation, it improved Adrian’s mood to hear someone speak of trusting him. “You want someone who isn’t close to you, or connected to you or yours, to poke around. You’re afraid there’s a mole.”
Michael took a deep breath, looking away. “If it’s all the same to you, I would prefer to not speak too much about that particular aspect. No one, save Eli and now you, knows that you are being involved.”
Adrian was finally understanding, and he gave Michael what he hoped was a sympathetic look. It wasn’t about the money and businesses anymore—Michael was afraid that the problem came from someone close to him. That meant it could very well be someone within Michael’s pack. Michael was too stiff and proper for Adrian’s liking, but he wouldn’t wish having to question one’s own pack, what should be your family, on the man. Adrian’s stomach turned at the thought of having to question his own pack’s loyalty, to go further and actively seek out someone to confirm or deny that loyalty must be hell on Michael’s heart.
“So, you want me to find the hole in the net?” Adrian asked, unwilling to push Michael further.
Michael shot him a thankful look. “If you would be willing to look over the net in place and see where it’s the weakest first, I would be most grateful. Afterward, yes, I would like if you could find the hole and its source.”
Adrian whistled. “That’s one hell of a job. You have quite the network setup for yourself.”
Michael snorted softly. “I’m well aware of what I’m asking of you, and subsequently, what I will be taking away from Eli while I keep you occupied. And I’m also aware that my support for Eli and your pack in the past i
s not quite enough to cover this particular favor.”
“And what did you promise Eli for this?” Adrian asked, knowing that his honorable pack leader would never demand payment outright.
“One hell of a favor in the future,” Michael said bluntly.
Adrian smiled at the sudden coarseness, glimpsing the man beneath the business owner. “Then I suppose I’d better get started.”
Chapter 3
The halls of the community center were unusually quiet and filled with the scent of fresh bleach. Most of the lights in the building were off or dimmed. Adrian didn’t typically come to the community center after hours, mostly because he always found it downright eerie without the sounds of life and energy that filled it during the day.
When Adrian first came into the pack, Eli had already bought and re-opened the community center meant to attract the nearby kids and teenagers in the neighborhood. Adrian had never told Eli, but the community center and Eli’s pure dedication to it had been the deciding factor for Adrian’s joining Eli’s pack. Anyone willing to devote so much of their own money and emotional labor to a place supporting at-risk kids in a shitty neighborhood was someone worth following.
Adrian heard a low snicker as he approached the partially-open door of Eli’s office. Lost in his thoughts, Adrian pushed open the door, allowing the light from within the office to spill into the hallway. There was a very human sounding yelp of shock, followed by a flurry of movement. It took Adrian a moment to realize that he could see Eli twisting in his computer chair so that his front no longer faced forward. Hunter, Eli’s best friend and lover, was hurriedly adjusting his pants as he struggled to pull his shirt back down.
