The Total Sum of Two

Chapter 19

No one at the office says anything to Gregory about his absence or the obvious wet marks on his suit coat.  The receptionist though has been sulking all morning.  You look up with a devilish smirk after she passes by his office for the third time this morning with a deflated little sigh.  Your text message alert goes off.

GREGORY:  Were you jealous of the receptionist?

YOU:  What?  No.  Why would I be jealous of her?

GREGORY:  I didn’t say ‘are’ I said ‘were’.

YOU:  Perhaps. Once upon a time.  She's young and attractive.

GREGORY:  And since I saw you, I've not been able to see another.

YOU:  Wait.  Why are you asking that?

GREGORY:  I can feel you gloating.

 You sit up straighter at your desk and look over at his closed office door.

YOU:  You can what?

GREGORY:  I can feel your emotions.  I’ve been able to since we met. It’s part of being mates.

 You cheeks flame in embarrassment.  Well, that explains a lot of his reactions. You suddenly realize. However then, Holy s**t! That’s almost like reading my thoughts!

GREGORY:  No, I can’t read your thoughts.  Yet…

YOU:  Yet?

GREGORY:  I’m teasing you.  You have never had anything to be jealous of.  I am happy to let the office know we are dating if her actions are bothering you.

YOU:  No!  Not yet.

GREGORY:  Ashamed of me?

YOU:  Heavens no!  Me.  I don’t want others wondering what you’re doing with a frumpy hag.

GREGORY:  Are we doing this again?

YOU:  Just because you say one thing doesn’t mean others don’t feel differently.

GREGORY:  And just whose opinion is more important?  Mine or some Joe’s on the street?

YOU:  I just don’t want…

Before you can hit send, you hear a growl from inside his office.  Well, s**t, everyone possibly heard that!  How’s he going to cover that up?  You put your phone down and get back to work.

At lunch the receptionist comes back with a beautiful fall bouquet that she attempts to place on your desk. She just stands there and sighs pitifully.  You look up at her with a questioning look that’s as exaggerated as her sighs.

 “Can I help you?”  You ask politely with a non-smile.

“You keep receiving flowers.  I wish I had someone to send me flowers.”  She turns and looks at Gregory's closed office door, then walks off.

You roll your eyes and shake your head at her retreating back.  Looking over at the bouquet you pull them closer to smell and remove the card.

Samantha-

Welcome to the pack. My beta has waited a long time for you, please treat him well. Thank you for your help the other day.

Philip Lycan

You stare at the card in shock.  So Philip is the Alpha?  With the things you are beginning to learn about how packs run, you now understand why Gregory acted the way he did at dinner the other night.  He had no choice but to obey his Alpha.  But Gregory is his beta?  Isn't that like second highest in the pack?  You sit back in your chair letting that sink in. Am I worthy to be a beta’s mate?  I’m only a human. What will the rest of the pack think?

You're still pondering the whole pack situation when the receptionist returns with a dozen long stemmed red roses.  She’s more than a little in awe of you and very grumpy.  You hurriedly move your reports before she sets the vase on them in a huff. 

You raise an eyebrow at her, “What are these?”

She shrugs, “I don't know.  Same delivery guy.  Said he’s sorry he didn’t deliver them both at the same time.” 

She flips one of the flower buds angrily and you want to smack your hand instantly.  Instead you move them out of her reach and give her a death glare.

Gregory’s door suddenly opens and he stands in the door frame with his arms folded, eyebrow raised.  He stares down the receptionist, “Is there a problem out here ladies?”

She visibly shrinks at his tone, trying to slink back to her desk.  She's hugging the wall and looking over her shoulder the entire way.  Once she disappears his hands go in his pockets and he casually strolls over to your desk.

“Opening a flower shop?”

You hand him the card from Philip while you look for the card with the roses.  It's unmistakable who they are from but all the card reads is:

 You are incomparable to any other in any way.

Mi Amor Inamorata*

You look up from the card to see Gregory staring directly at you.  He hands you Philip’s card back with a smile. 

 “My company President appears to be very considerate and gracious.”  He looks up and down the hall, then turns and walks back to his office.  At the door he turns. “Samantha, could I bother you to help me with something for a minute?”

You tuck his note into the pocket of your skirt and stand up.  “Only for a minute Mr. Hansforth, I have a lot of work to catch up on.  I wasn’t in the office yesterday.”

As you step into the door, he quips back, “What a coincidence, neither was I.”

As soon as the door closes, he pushes the lock and stalks you backwards to his desk.  “Woman, your emotions are all over the place today and it’s distracting the hell out of me!  Should I punish you or just give you what you want?”

Feeling daring you stand up straight and place your hands on his chest as if you’re going to push him away.  Instead you stand on tiptoe and bite his lower lip.  “Well that’s really the same thing isn’t it?”

He grabs your ass and lifts you onto the edge of his desk.  His hand then moves up to fix a stray strand of hair, only to then cup your face and kiss you senseless.  You’re both out of breath and extremely turned on when there’s a knock at his office door.

His head flings back to look at the ceiling, cursing the interruption.  On the other side a familiar voice floats through.  “Mr. Hansforth, could I bother you for a moment?”

You let out a giggle, feeling like a school girl being caught with a boy by the Principal. Straightening your skirt you move over to one of the visitor chairs.  He takes a moment to adjust his pants and button his suit coat to cover any evidence.  

He opens the door to a...tsk, tsk, tsk and Philip walks in the room shaking his finger at the two of you.  “I could smell the heat from you two the minute I walked into the offices.  It’s a good thing no one else here has our sense of smell.”

Gregory has already shut the door and turned on him.  “Then why did you interrupt?”

Philip is in the process of shaking your hand and kissing the back of it.  He glances back simply stating, “Because you’re at work my dear friend.  You don’t want your dear mate to lose her job and have our relationship with this company to go splat just because you can’t keep it in your pants these days.  Do you?”

Gregory runs a hand through his hair, unbuttons his jacket and hangs it on the hook by his chair.  He eyes Philip as he sits behind his desk and you can see the bromance between them.  He points at Philip’s directly, “You owe me.”

Philip nods and sits in the chair across from you.  “I do, many times over my friend.”  

He then turns his attention to you. “You received my flowers?”

“Yes, they were beautiful.  Thank you.”

 “Good,” he nods his hand rubbing his chin.  He suddenly sits forward, hands on his knees.  “I understand that you've met Fenrir, is that correct?”

You swallow nervously and look towards Gregory.  You don’t know their culture well enough to know if you’ve done something wrong.  You don’t want to get Gregory or Fenrir in trouble.

Gregory smiles and just nods at you.

“Yes sir.”  You answer timidly.  

That amuses Philip and he throws his head back and laughs.  “Oh I like her Greg!”

Gregory glares at him and responds sharply.  “Stop laughing at my mate.  You’re an i***t Philip.”  

He then turns to you, looking very confused, and says simply;  “He’s not a sir by any means of the word.  You can address him by Mr. Lycan here at work or Philip if we are in private.  If we are with the pack he is addressed as Alpha.”

“Oh,” you nod and look back rather disappointedly at Philip.  “Do you make it a point to  make new pack members feel welcome and then stupid?”

Gregory coughs into his hand, his shoulders shaking.  Philip raises an eyebrow and looks you over.  “Yep, she’s perfect.”

Gregory sits back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other.  “Well that’s what I keep telling her but she doesn’t seem to believe me for some reason.”  

“I do apologize,” Philip states as he bows his head to you.  “We normally work with other packs and it’s been forever since I’ve been addressed as a ‘sir”, it rather tickled me.”

You see Gregory off to the side rolling his eyes.

“Now.  Back to my questions,” Philip states as he looks back at you.

“I understand Fenrir was visiting you without Gregory’s permission is this true?”

Your eyes get big. I don’t to get want Fenrir in trouble.  Damn Gregory for telling on his wolf!

You sit up straight, your chin out.  “And if I say yes?  Are you going to punish Fenrir?  I won’t let you.  He didn’t do anything wrong.”

At your vehement response Philip sits back in astonishment.  He looks over a Gregory with raised eyebrows and Gregory simply smiles and nods his head.

You open your mouth to add something else but Philip holds up a hand to stop you.  

“The fact you are so adamant about protecting Fenrir from me tells me everything I need to know about you.”

When you look at him with a puzzled look he responds simply.  “We’ve never had a pack member mated with a human before.  In fact, half of our pack is still awaiting their mates; myself included.  We would expect another wolf to defend their mate to the death, but a human?  This is a rarity.  Most humans don’t believe in us, let alone be willing to stand up to the wolf’s Alpha in their defense.  I am indeed honored to have you as a member of my pack.  My friend is the luckiest lycan around.”

You release the breath you didn’t realize you were holding and shut your eyes in relief.

Looking back hopeful at Philip you ask, “So Fenrir isn’t in trouble with you?”

Philip shakes his head.  “No but it’s a rather unheard of gift.  I’m sure Greg has told you that we each are blessed with special gifts.  Most of us don’t know our gifts yet as they are mate related.  The fact that Fenrir could mind meld with you without Gregory’s knowledge is an amazing!  You really saw the fight at the construction site?”

“Yes," you reply, looking away and down at your lap.  "Unfortunately.”

“I’m sorry.  I know it must have been quite gruesome for you to find out that it was in fact real and not just a dream.  I am aware of the damage we inflict upon each other during our fights.  I wish you hadn't seen that.  However..." his gaze becomes electric with hope.  "Can you imagine the lives you can save in our pack? Especially Gregory’s, with this gift?”