The Alpha boss and the PA

The new approach

David POV

I had spent all weekend mulling over Andrew’s words. There was no way for me to break this bond except rejection. But Andrew confirmed what I already knew: rejection wasn’t possible without risking exposing the whole supernatural community. Andrew also confirmed something I didn’t know, but very strongly suspected: ignoring the mate bond was not an option. The way he explained it was that the bond would only grow more persistent when ignored. Kind of like ignoring an itch. Before you knew it, it was all you could think about. So if rejection and ignoring were out, then what options did I have left?

I decided I would indulge in the mate bond for now. I mean really, I could think of no other option that made any sense. Mind you I still had no desire for a mate, let alone a human one, but when you are faced with only one choice, it’s probably the right one to make. As long as I didn’t finish the mating process by marking her and sleeping with her, I would be fine. I would spend my free time doing research on how to break the bond or bind it or… well anything really. I asked Andrew to do the same and he promised me he would, though his hopes weren’t high. But between the two of us I was confident we would find something in the long run. Maybe some obscure spell forgotten throughout time or a potion. But for now I would cave and I would follow the path wherever the moon goddess wanted it to take me.

So here I was, Monday morning, ready to go into the office. Except instead of actually going inside I had spent the last few minutes outside, staring at the building. I wouldn’t say I was nervous per se, but this was unknown territory for me and it made me a little apprehensive. Not my wolf though… He had reared his ugly head again when I had decided to accept this whole mate nonsense for the time being. We came to an agreement that he would dial down the mate talk and he would stop trying to force me to mark her. In turn I would stop blocking him and allow him to experience my interactions with Alissa along with me.

I braced myself one last time and entered the building. Her scent hit me again as per usual, but instead of trying to not breath it in, I inhaled deeply and let it fill my every sense. It really was a divine smell and it calmed my nerves instantly. I made my way up to the office and opened the door. She was sitting behind her desk wearing a yellow dress that made her look like a model for summer.

“Hello Alissa,” I greeted her warmly. “How was your weekend?”

She looked up at me with a disbelieving look in her eyes. I guess I deserved that. I hadn’t really stopped to think how last week must have been for her, but I suppose I had not been a very good and welcoming boss.

“Fine.” She answered curtly. “I have the paperwork for the Madison job ready for you on your desk.”

Okay, maybe it was going to take some time and effort to fix what I seemed to have damaged last week. Baby steps.

“Thank you! Can I offer you a cup of coffee?” I tried. Maybe bribing her with caffeine would loosen her up. Instead she gave the coffee machine a threatening look and shook her head.

“Don’t forget that the appointment you have this afternoon has been moved up to 2 o’clock.” She warned me in a business like tone. Then she stopped looking at me and she started to furiously type behind her computer. I stood there like an i***t for another full minute before I gave up and went into my office.

Well that was a bit of a bump in the road… I had never actually considered that maybe Alissa wouldn’t be interested in me and in forming some type of relationship with me. Arrogant? Maybe a little, but when wolves met their wolf-mates there was no doubt they liked each other. It was predestined after all. But humans must not feel the bond quite that way. So in order for me to actually indulge in the mate bond, I would have to get her interested. This was going to be more complicated than I thought.

“You better not mess this up any further.” My wolf warned me. “You promised me you would follow the path the moon goddess set out for you, at least for now. So you better put in some effort for our mate.”

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Alissa POV

What on earth just happened? Was this some sort of trick? Did he want to know how my weekend was in the hopes that I would tell him that I did something illegal so he could fire me? And what was up with the offer of coffee? Had he figured out that I had no idea how that machine worked and did he want to catch me in a mistake somehow? Like some sort of ‘I’ll get the cups, you make the coffee’ type of trick? Ugh, whatever it was I was not going to fall for it.

I had spent all weekend mulling over this situation at work. I knew it was a temporary job, but I would still be here for weeks and I would have to deal with David for weeks. I will admit that I might have gotten a little carried away by him last week at the beginning of the week. He was very, very handsome after all and he seemed nice and charming to his other employees as far as I could tell. But he had treated me like some sort of dog poo that he had to avoid stepping into. Which, I realized, was a bit of a blessing. He had made me forget all about the Paul drama and the promise I made to myself not to fall for somebody I worked for again. And here I went drooling all over the first boss I saw after vowing to myself to make life about me and my career for a while. I mean it was unprofessional and frankly unacceptable. So I was going to match his frosty behavior and be all business from now on.

But now he seemed to have switched up his game. Maybe Sarah heard from people in the office how he was treating me and she yelled at him. I had only worked with her for one week, but it sounded like the type of thing she would do. I could picture the whole thing: Sarah yelling at him while he cowered in a corner and promised to be nicer to me. Just the thought of it brought a smile to my face.

“Something funny?” a deep voice next to me inquired.

What the… David. How did he sneak up on me like that? Why did he sneak up on me like that? And why was he talking to me? Irrelevant! I am going to be the perfect, professional PA.

“Not at all,” I responded concisely. “Did you get a chance yet to look over the Madison paperwork?”

“No, not yet.” He replied thoughtfully. “I was just wondering if you wanted to sit in on the meeting this afternoon. It’s for the building project up on Canal Street as you know. It’s an important client of ours and you might learn a bit more about the business through that meeting.”

I stared at him lost for words. He wanted to spend time with me? In the same room? Did somebody spend the weekend attacking him with a heated blow-dryer which resulted in some of the frost thawing off? I honestly could not get my head around this weird switch in personality.

Oh my God, maybe he was secretly twins and this was the non-evil twin! I tried to subtly check to see if I could see any differences in the way he looked, but he looked exactly like he did last week: like a perfect specimen. But then if they were identical twins he would, wouldn’t he?

He was staring at me as if he expected something from me. Oh right, he asked a question…

“Uhm yes, that might be helpful, thank you,” I told him.

He gave me a warm smile that did something to my insides and made my heart speed up. Then he turned and disappeared into his office again. Well… this was perhaps going to be a teensy bit more complicated than I thought.