Chapter 917 Chapter 917
Webb stopped counting and looked at the pile beside the box. He had no idea where he’d left off. Placing both hands on the table, he dropped his head forward and exhaled. He’d been trying to count the inventory of the new shipment for over an hour. He wasn’t able to focus long enough to count.
“Hey, big guy, you all right?”
He looked over to see Fallan standing in the doorway.
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I lost count, and it annoys me.”
She looked at the boxes stacked beside him. “Yeah, that seems tedious.” She smiled. “Blaise wants half a dozen phones for Cassius’ people. The walkies are great, but a little hard to be discreet with them.
She looked at the shelves. “I need to program a bunch so they’re ready.”
Webb went over to the shelf with the electronics, reached up, and got a box down. “Six is enough?”
Fallan nodded. “If you have extra, I could program them with the basics. We’re going through them like crazy lately.”
He grabbed another six-pack. “That’s good, though. More phones mean more people communicating, which means we’ve found more.” Going back over, he handed them to her. “Oh, hold on.” Stepping back, he reached under the table he thought of as his desk and pulled out a small box he’d set aside. “For the girls.” He held it out to her.
Fallan took it. “You spoil them.”
He leaned back against the table. “After the shitty things they’ve gone through, I like to think of it as earned rewards.”
She smiled. “Good one. I like it.” She looked at him, her brows quirked. “Are you okay? You don’t seem like yourself.”
He sighed. “I’m good, just distracted.”
“Okay.” She backed toward the door. “Well, take a break if you need it.”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “I have four more deliveries coming today and tomorrow. He motioned to the stacked boxes he hadn’t gone through. “Half of this is heading to Zain because we don’t have suppliers set up over there yet.”
Fallan looked at them. “Good luck with it.” She turned and then stopped. “I have to go set up cameras in town sometime in the next few days. Blaise said she’d get one of the twenty-something women to watch the girls. Maybe you could give them a task to do to keep them out of trouble?”
He nodded. “Sure. I have a lot of repacking to do.”
“Perfect. Thanks.” She turned.
“Hey, Fallan?”
“Yes?”
“It’s a good thing you’re doing. Watching after them.”
She smiled. “We’re the only three caracal shifters in North America. Gotta stick together.” She shrugged and walked out.
Turning around, he looked at the box he’d been counting. Picking it up, he dumped it on the table and sighed. Why was this bothering him so much? She had a mate’s mark. That was the end of the story right there. Whatever he thought he was feeling for her didn’t matter; there was one for each, and she had found hers. It didn’t matter if she intrigued him or if he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind since the day she’d introduced herself to Zain and him. She had a mate, and it was not him.
His bear was in a mood and had been since they saw the mark on her neck. They’d both thought that maybe she was theirs. Picking up the clipboard, he noted the phones he’d just given Fallan. “Someday.” He told himself out loud. With all of the clans, they were locating in the US, who knew? Maybe his mate was in one of them. He’d agree to do six months here at the factory, but after that, he’d head down there and take a look around at the bear clans.
The thought should have settled his animal, but it didn’t. Exhaling, Webb picked up the first item and dropped it in the box. “One.” He said out loud. Sure, it was weird to count out loud, but if it helped him get this done, he was going to do it.