24: A Tiny Dose of Normalcy

By the time I got to the club, I was nearly two hours late. Coming through the door that late with Nathaniel in tow, both of us stinking of sex and each other, was always going to prove to be a distraction to everyone working.

They weren’t even subtle. Everyone turned to face us. I sighed, rubbing my face. This was going to be a long day. “Back to work, people. Not long until we open.”

On the way up the stairs to my office, I met Luke’s gaze. He looked between me and Nathaniel, who was just a step behind me, before sighing, looking dejected and walking away.

Nathaniel skipped a couple stairs to catch up, his hand ending up on my back. “We knew he wouldn’t be happy, Effie.”

I nodded. “I know, I just feel like I’ve been kicked in the chest all of a sudden.”

“That’s the old bond, Effie,” he whispered. “It will have left a thin thread because he wanted it so much, but now he knows we mated, it’s going to have finally snapped completely. Because it was you that technically broke it, you were always going to feel it unfortunately.”

“I know, I just didn’t expect it to hurt this much, especially since I didn’t mark him back.”

“You’re incredibly powerful, Effie, and you’re an incredibly rare bundle of genetics. Luke isn’t exactly weak either. It could have been a very strong bond if you’d marked him back, even though he wasn’t your fated mate.”

I nodded, rubbing my chest. It still felt like I’d been kicked by a horse.

“I know it hurts, but it should ease soon.”

Jeez I hoped so. I sat down at my desk, resting my feet on the rest underneath. I kicked my heels off, why I chose to wear heels was beyond me. “Nathaniel, could you grab me a drink from the bar, please? I need to get going on my to-do list before the club opens.”

He nodded, turning on his heel without argument.

I needed to be downstairs when we opened. My succubus was hungry, seriously hungry. Nathaniel and I might have been unable to keep our hands off each other, but that had been about my wolf, not the succubus. Marking Nathaniel meant I wouldn’t need blood any time soon, but other needs had to be sated.

To stay powerful and controlled in the long run, I was going to have to find a way to combine the two sides fully… but who knows where to start.

Really, it would take trial and error. Hopefully Nathaniel would be on board with all of those experiments.

A knock at my door made me jump. “Come in!” I called out. It was Luke.

“Alpha, I see you two mated.”

I winced. This was unlikely to be a fun conversation.

“Yes, we did.”

He sighed. “I’m trying not to be a sore loser, alpha, but it’s hard.”

“I know, Luke. I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t expect any of this to happen.”

“I always knew that your wolf would choose her fated mate over a chosen one, and if I had been your fated mate, we’d have known about it a long time ago. But it stings, I’ll be honest, and even more so that it was Nathaniel.”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Nathaniel burst back in the door, drinks in hand. “Thank you, Nathaniel,” I sighed happily as I took the mojito from him. He came to stand behind me, hands on my shoulders.

“Why are you here, Luke?” He growled.

“Nathaniel. Remember what I said. Luke is my head of security and oldest friend. If you kick off a stink in my club, I will kick you out, mate or not.” I responded, my voice low, my power coursing through every word.

He took a step back. “I’m sorry, Effie.”

I nodded, accepting the apology. “You don’t need to protect me, Nathaniel. Definitely not from my own people.”

“I know,” he sighed. Silence fell in my office, excluding the two men’s heavy breathing. Why was Luke distracting? My wolf was mated, that should have been enough, but apparently it wasn’t. Just his presence was distracting. The bond had broken, I felt it, so why was he still affecting me like this?

I needed to get him out of my office, before I did or said something regrettable.

“Luke, did you need anything else?”

“With everything that is going on, I just wanted to check if you were happy with tonight’s roster, alpha. Just making sure you don’t need anyone deployed anywhere specific before I give everyone their final orders for the night.”

I gave him a small smile. Luke was a great head of security. “Show me the roster, Luke. I’ll have a look over.”

I hummed under my breath reading over the list. “Ali’s working?”

“Yes, alpha.”

“Hmm. Chris is currently training some of our newer employees, but Grayson can take over whilst his team is on standby. Could you swap Ali with Chris, and get Ali to check in with Lyla? She could probably use the extra pair of hands.”

“Of course, alpha.” Luke bowed his head slightly, before turning to leave.

“Who’s Ali?” Nathaniel asked.

“Ali Shadid.”

Understanding suddenly clicked into place. “I know Ali, he joined our pack a few years ago. I didn’t realise he’s on your payroll though. Didn’t he work with Mossad? How come he isn’t already in Lyla’s team if his background is in intelligence?”

“Because he also happens to be one of the best snipers on my payroll. I have a few other individuals with intelligence backgrounds in other teams because of their other skills. It also helps to have at least one person with intelligence experience attached to each team. With the kind of business we typically end up involved with, there’s no such thing as too much intelligence. This situation with your father proves that.”

Nathaniel nodded, understanding falling into place. “Did he join the pack because he ended up working for you?”

“He did indeed. I got him out of a sticky situation in Tel Aviv, so he pledged to me. When he moved here, I had him join the pack so Edward had no reason to freak out about a very strong lone wolf in his territory, especially one who used to be an assassin on a government’s payroll.”