Chapter 150
Chapter 150
James--
I have to open a window after Landon and Cora leave. The scent of her arousal in my personal space is irritating my wolf and I catch myself growling out loud like I haven’t spent my entire life perfecting my control. It looks like yet another session is in my near future. I didn’t used to be the type to spend every night “out,” but I’ve been getting more and more desperate to keep my wolf appeased. It feels like years ago, but I used to be able to punish and fuck a sub one night and stop thinking about it for the next month or more. Now, I haven’t made it more than three days this month without visiting one of the many clubs in this city.
Ordinarily, I would set aside weeks to research and interview people around these prospective other shifter packs, but I don’t have that kind of time anymore. Now that I’m going twice a week at least, I need to rush the process. If there is any kind of time component to the cure for a mate bond, I am already at the edge of my ability to cope. My first thought is to outsource the problem to Oliver, as always, but I have the sudden insight that I might be doing a disservice to my own team.
I know my shifters are more than capable of any job I throw at them, but most of them spend their days working on jobs we’re contracted for. I doubt I even have an account to bill employee hours for my own use. I need to slow down in order to speed up in this situation. This requires groundwork that I should have laid long ago instead of leaning on– becoming dependent on– Oliver and whoever he sees fit to bring into the equation. I push the intercom button to my assistant. “Edwards. See what Blaze is doing and send him up here the first time we both have an hour free.”
He clicks the intercom twice to acknowledge the order, and I impatiently clear my inbox of emails as he works through our schedules. He takes care of most of the excess, but some things are trash dressed up in importance, and I struggle to hold the level of patience I would usually have as I move through the list. My intercom button finally lights up multiple minutes later. “Alpha, your first concurrent availability is at the end of next week. Do you want me to set a meeting for that Friday at ten?” That’s far too long, especially if I want this project to move faster than texting Oliver to take care of it would be. This will be better in the long run no matter how long it takes now, but I don’t have an extra week to waste.
I tamp down my frustration before I reply. “Do what you have to to make it happen sooner– the end of tomorrow at the latest. Tell me the time if it’s later today.”
I can almost hear Edwards gulp through the door, despite the fact that he hasn’t pressed the button to reply to me yet. It occurs to me that some of my frustration might have bled through to him. His voice shakes slightly as he replies. “Yes Alpha.”
That’s one thing taken care of. Cora and Oliver are both unnecessary for the research and background checking portion of this mission. I have a building full of perfectly capable detectives that can follow or investigate the groups Cora has brought to light. From there, we can decide who should be the first contact and why. Depending on the information I receive, we can then pinpoint who among the New York City shifter leadership would be the best choice as an emissary and best strategy for contact. It might be difficult to convince one Alpha to let another unknown Alpha onto his pack lands; it took years of the four of us battling our instincts before we could allow it, and we started out as friends first.
Even the bare framework of a plan is comforting to me. Action steps are infinitely preferable to unproductive anxiety, no matter how vague or far reaching they may be. It isn’t enough to settle my wolf– the low level buzzing of annoyance that I haven’t claimed Anna Carmichael as my own person that rings through my head like mental tinnitus– but it feels slightly better, nonetheless.
With the beginnings of a plan set, I find myself grateful when my intercom lights up with another call from Edwards. I push to accept immediately. “What time?”
“Now, sir. Blaze is on his way up as we speak.” I can hear the subtext of him wondering whether he actually did the right thing or if he was too hasty in setting a meeting for ten minutes after I asked him for one.
I reassure him. He’s withstood enough dominant ire for the day as it is. “Excellent work, Edwards. Send him in as soon as you see him.”
His relief is palpable through the intercom as he thanks me and promises to do as I asked. I console myself on one interaction going well today, at least. It’s unlike me to tap into a praise kink accidentally, and I can only assume that either my late hours or my constant battle with my wolf are causing me to slip in other areas of my life. Unacceptable. We have to get in touch with other packs. They must know something more about the mate bond than we do.