Taken by the Ruthless Wolf

4

This wasn’t some social event where being late was a fashionable thing. Oh, no, wasting the time of the elder alphas would be incredibly rude and not the first impression I wanted to give.

I wasn’t going to grovel, that had never been my style, and it never would be. And I wasn’t going to become some brown-nosed sycophant who did whatever he could to ingratiate himself to them. But I did believe in showing the proper respect and appreciating how well the elders had led their packs.

Hurrying out, I hopped into my car and headed to John’s house. Considering we both had vehicles, it might have been more expedient to have him meet me at my place. However, since we still hadn’t found the man who’d killed Bertram, we were being a little more cautious about the predictability of our schedules.

So, if that meant I drove to John’s to switch cars and have him act as my chauffeur to the alpha meeting, so be it.

I made it in record time, and if that was because I sped a little, no one was any wiser. Thankfully, John was already dressed and ready to go. I parked my car in his small, but well-kept, garage and then slid into the back seat of his subtly armored transport vehicle.

It didn’t look much different than a particularly classy black SUV, but I knew that it had reinforced glass and metal plating in several of the doors. Not enough to stop a full-on attack, but enough to buy time to evaluate the threat and get into a better position. And if there was one thing I learned, sometimes mere seconds meant life and death when it came to battle.

“Any progress on the search?” I asked as John drove. It was still somewhat miraculous to me how he didn’t need a GPS to navigate the city; most of the streets and locations were committed to his memory.

“Having the video helped, but it’s still slow going,” John answered honestly. “We might have found a connection with a company we were looking to be involved with before, but nothing solid.”

“Ah, that’s the one where Theo has been corresponding with the CEO?”

“I believe so, sir. He’s set up a meeting, correct?”

“Yes. Fingers crossed we’ll be able to obtain their financial records to see if they have any suspicious payments. Life-ending payments.”

“Yes, sir.”

The conversation shifted to other things, primarily busywork and incidentals from running a pack. When I’d been a young alpha, I’d always thought being a pack leader was all running in the moonlight and hunting in a coordinated attack. If someone had told me it was a lot of politics and diplomacy, I probably would have been pretty discouraged.

But I liked to think I was handling it well enough. I just had to hope the elders all agreed. Not that I was going to kowtow to them, of course. But I’d rather not go to war with a rival pack in my first year of being alpha.

It didn’t take long to get to the Langhouse building the restaurant was under. It was a high-rise of upscale apartments that my financial company owned. I was flattered that the elder alphas were willing to meet in a place deep in my territory. It was a sign of trust that I wasn’t sure I had earned, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Drop me off at the lobby. I just want to walk the perimeter before I go to the restaurant.”

“Are you sure you want to be alone while I park the car?”

“Yeah, it should be fine.”

John gave a nod and proceeded to do as I asked. Straightening myself one last time, I strode towards the door.

But before I could open the door, something delicious hit my senses with the force of a freight train. I stood there momentarily, my mind whiting out except for the intense, mouthwatering scent.

It was indescribable, but at the same time, my mind was desperate to parse whatever was bewitching us. Lavender, blueberry, and chamomile, perhaps? But then I’d catch something citrusy. Then something more subtle, like earth or pine after a rain. It was a puzzle, enchanting me like a siren’s song.

I couldn’t say how long I stood there, breathing deeply like I was struggling with asthma. Eventually, I was able to get a hold of myself and open the door. I didn’t want any of the visiting alphas to see me huffing outside like some feral, out-of-control beast.

“Sir? Is everything all right?”

I blinked, John drawing me back to reality. For some reason, he didn’t seem like he could smell anything, which was outright baffling to my brain. Was I going mad?

“Let me get the door for you.”

“Right. Of course.”

I took a step back and let him do just that, shaking the last of that beguiling scent out of my head. Was it some sort of sabotage by the other alphas? Did one of them have a mysterious vial of potent pheromones that they’d dumped outside the building’s door? I had to admit it was a pretty good way to rattle me.

But I wouldn’t be fooled, and I steeled myself against it. Or at least I did until I walked inside and my eyes landed on exactly where it had to be coming from.

There, just across the lobby from me, was a young woman, most likely in her early twenties. She had brown hair and blazing green eyes that were boring into mine, my entire body responding to her presence like she was a lightning rod to my energy.

I was vaguely aware that John was talking as he entered behind me, but I had no idea what he was saying. There was only the woman, her intoxicating pheromones, and far too much space between us.

It was like my inner wolf was trying to burst out of my skin so it could cross the scant space between them. I felt my mouth begin to water and my teeth ache like they wanted to be buried into her skin. If I could smell her so strongly from across the spacious lobby, what would it be like to be right up against one of her scent glands? Like the small one in her wrist? Or the oh-so-sensitive one on the side of her neck? My body jolted at that thought, elder alphas all forgotten. But before I could do anything about it, the woman broke eye contact and hurried to an elevator, disappearing from my sight.

Huh.

I was going to need to come back and find her. She had to live in the building, considering that she’d been coming out of the mail room. But fortunately enough, her absence allowed her pheromones to clear quickly, and I remembered why I was at the building.

“Sir? Is something wrong?”

John’s voice drew me back to reality for the second time in just a couple of minutes.

“No, no, I’m fine. Let’s go downstairs.”

“Of course, sir.”

The two of us descended the stairs, and I was pleased to see that I was the first one there. No elder alphas to witness my embarrassing display with a random woman in my territory. Sure, I liked the fairer s*x as much as the next guy, and I always appreciated feminine beauty in all its different forms. But there was a difference between admiring a woman and being rooted to the spot, transfixed by her scent and presence.

Naturally, the staff knew us on sight, and I was taken to the back room, which I used whenever I had a private meeting.