The Alpha boss and the PA

You are cordially invited

David POV

“I don’t want to hear it!” I growled at the teenage wolves in front of me. They cowered at the tone of my voice, as they should. They could have caused massive problems for the pack and I was less than pleased with them at the moment. Collin had pulled me out of the office because he had gotten a message through the pack link that some youngsters were messing around at the border of our territory. The guard reporting it wasn’t sure it was worthy of my attention and thus hadn’t contacted me directly. And it might not have been, but this was the border with Blood Moon and they were highly territorial. If these pups had been caught by the Blood Moon border guard while playing their game of ‘dare to cross the border’ it would have been a mess. I had told Alissa to cancel all my appointments because I half expected to have to deal with some major diplomatic problems, but luckily it hadn’t gotten that far.

“I will speak to all of your parents about this and you will all be helping out the Omega’s with their duties for next few weeks until I find that you have learned your lessons. Now go home!”

The five teenagers scrambled to get away from me. I would have to follow up with their parents on this, but since it was early in the day I chose to go back to the office for now and deal with that tonight.

“We need to keep an eye on Bret Masterson.” Collin told me when the pups where out of earshot. “He is the ringleader of that group and they are pushing the boundaries more and more.”

“I know. If he can’t redirect that energy of his into something constructive he is going to land himself in pack prison sooner rather than later. I will have a very lengthy conversation with his father about that tonight” I sighed. Bret’s mother had passed away from cancer last year and the boy hadn’t been the same ever since. His father was dealing with his own grief over losing his mate and couldn’t reign Bret in. It was a difficult situation and I would have to tread lightly when telling Bret’s father that if he didn’t want to lose his son as well, he needed to snap out of it.

“That’s going to be a fun chat.” Collin sarcastically remarked.

“Very… But not one I am going to have right now. Let’s go back to the office to make sure Alissa hasn’t burned the place down in our absence.”

“To be fair, that coffee machine is really hard to figure out.” Collin grinned.

I rolled my eyes at that remark and together we made our way back to the car. A short drive later we were back at the office.

“Well I suppose I will go back to work now then. Can’t let the boss see me slack off.” Collin teased and he disappeared to his own office as I made my way to mine.

You’d think by now I would have gotten used to Alissa’s smell, but it still hit me in the face every time I smelled it. And every time it made my heart speed up just a little bit at the anticipation of seeing her again. So imagine my disappointment when I opened the door to her office and not finding her there. I stupidly looked around the room to see if she was maybe hiding behind the potted plant, but no such luck. I lingered for a bit, sniffing the air like a creep, and then gave up and went into my own office. As I sat down behind my computer I spotted a shiny envelope propped up on my keyboard. I opened it up to find and invitation for the Bosworth charity ball inside. They had one of these every year and I had never gone to one. Between running the company and running the pack I was busy enough and I didn’t need to network either. My company got a lot of its projects from neighboring packs and through word of mouth.

I would do what I did every year before this and just make a donation to the cause instead of going. I put the invitation back into its envelope and threw it in the bin next to my desk.

I spend the next fifteen minutes typing an e-mail that was long overdue when I heard my door open.

“Oh, you’re back.” Alissa stated slightly breathlessly. “I thought you would be gone all day.”

Did that just sound like she hoped I would have stayed gone all day? Or was the mate bond messing with me and making me insecure? I didn’t want her to want me gone, I wanted her to want me around.

“Yes, but things didn’t take as much time as I had anticipated.” I answered.

“Oh…” She lingered in my doorway like she wanted to ask me something. She glanced at my desk and then frowned. Her eyes travelled around my office and suddenly she seemed to spot what she was looking for.

“Why did you throw out the invitation to the ball for sick children?” she asked incredulously.  

“What?” I asked, confused.

She walked over to my desk and fished something out of the trash.

“This.” She waved the shiny envelope I had thrown out fifteen minutes ago in front of my face.

“Oh, the Bosworth ball. Well I am not planning on going, so there is no need to hang on to the invitation.” I told her. I had to admit that her standing so close to my desk that I could almost feel her body heat was very tempting.

“But… but.. think about the children!” she exclaimed. “You can’t just not go! They are sick and sad and they need help. Just imagine a little girl called Lily lying in her hospital bed. She is fighting this illness and she is being so brave! But the hospital is a sad place unfit for kids like her and there is no money to fix that. So Lily just has to spend all her days being sick and staring at a grey wall.” Was she actually getting a bit teary eyed there? “And you could help out! All you have to do is sacrifice one lousy evening of your time and then Lily would be so much happier. Don’t you see? You have to go!”

That woman sure had an imagination on her. She talked about Lily as if she were an actual girl that she knew even though I was sure she just made her up. I wondered what she would make of me with all that imagination. Hopefully something very far from the truth.

I opened my mouth to tell her that I was planning on donating but not going, when I had a lightbulb moment. She wanted me to go. Desperately apparently. I wondered how far she was willing to go to get me to go to that ball.

“You make a convincing case about the children, but I still don’t want to go. These things are dreary and I don’t want to spend the whole evening sitting there by myself.” I hoped she was going to fall for this.

“But you don’t have to go alone! It says you can bring a plus one right here.” She waved the invitation in my face again. Of course it said that.

“I wouldn’t know who to bring.” I said dismissively. “I don’t get out much.” I added for dramatic effect, though it wasn’t very far from the truth. I turned to my computer screen to indicate that the conversation on my end was over.

“But…” She remained standing next to my desk with the envelope still in her hand, looking a little lost. Suddenly she perked up.

“I could be your plus one!” She chirped. Then it seemed to hit her what she had just said and she quickly added “Strictly professionally of course. For the children.”

She looked at me expectantly and I had to fight really hard to not look smug. Going to the ball together meant spending time together and perhaps even dancing. Holding her close, inhaling her scent, feeling her body close to mine. It was perfect! For the children of course…