Chapter 5
KING GAVIN ACKERMAN
“Are you even listening, man?” Kirk, my best buddy muttered wearily, a bit frustrated that noon because my mind was perceptibly off.
Heated thoughts of Ruby became a major distraction, the kind I didn’t welcome especially during work.
“This is not good.” Kirk stressed for the hundredth time since I arrived at the border, “The Outlanders are rapidly growing in number in the Oaklane Camp.”
My gaze dropped back to the photos brought back by our spies. The number of the Outlanders didn’t faze me, not even the fact that they played dirty by having the twenty–first century wizard, Zack, aid their cause.
I let out an audible breath, shoved the plaguing image of Ruby’s body from my head, and handed the file that housed the ugly pictures of the Outlanders camp back to Drew Corey, my executive assistant.
“Let’s talk Kirk, really talk this evening after I meet with the Western rulers.”
Starting towards the parked car to return to the mansion to get ready for the four–hour meeting, I caught a glimpse of Nathan doubling up his steps toward me. I couldn’t bear to listen to his negativity and fears, so Kirk dismissed him before he could get any closer to me.
The chauffeur sent the car purring down the road and in no time parked outside the mansion.
The need to see Ruby again alarmingly grew inside me, my wolf growling wildly, fiercely all impatient to feel again the softness of her skin, her soft floral scent, and to bask in her innocence. Even these thoughts excited me beyond what I cared to admit. I feared to admit. This was weird. Wolves recognized their mates even from a mile away, either by scents or the eerie feeling on the shoulders but with Ruby it was different.
I mentally caught myself.
There was no snowflake’s chance in hell’s way Ruby was my mate. An Omega? Physical attraction or not, the goddess wouldn’t be that cruel.
“About time!”
Denise Coleman, my ex–girlfriend hissed from the bar in the living area when I walked in through the double doors.
What in the hell was she doing here?
She slipped from the bar with a glass of Bourbon and a sultry smile plastered on her sleekly painted face.
“I saw the ugly rat you brought back here earlier,” Her cherry red lips curled up, her wrinkled nose and the scorn twinkling at the edges of her lovely blue eyes made me worry she might’ve confronted Ruby.
“You be a bitch to Ruby then I’ll be sure to…”
“What? Am I supposed to be worried over some lowly dirty runt? Are we stooping to that level? Disgusting.” She edged closer, the whiff of the alcohol in her breath filled my nostrils as she trailed a finger along my jawline, “Stop being so stubborn, let’s work things out I know just how badly you miss me.”
“Know your boundaries around here, Denise.” I peeled her finger from my hardened jaw, “I’d deeply appreciate it if you took on a more formal ground to work.”
Denise Coleman’s wolf was the best tracker in all the Lycan territories; we needed her ability to track locations, phone conversations, and scents. And even though we ended things about five months ago she still bore the hopes of getting back together.
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Chapter 5
I broke our proximity, heading towards the stairs. Three more minutes, and I was late for the meeting. The Western rulers were already waiting in Nathan’s business complex building.
“Fine, you win!” Denise trailed me up the stairs, “I miss you and I can’t keep doing this to myself, to us. Can we just move past things and make up already?”
I chose to ignore her for my sanity, walked into my bedroom half expecting to see Ruby in there since it’s where I left her coupled with her floral scent faintly lingering in the room which instantly got shrouded by the tangy smell of Denise’s arousal.
“I see what you’re doing, Gavin,” she sucked in a quick breath when I turned to consider her flushed face, “You’re trying to lure this Omega girl in just to cool off your rocks…”
Damn! She didn’t just spell things straight to my face.
“If you don’t get the fuck off this second fugly things might fuckin‘ happen to you.”
“Fugly things are already happening to me. For fuck’s sake, five agonizing months without a pretty good orgasm that’s enough torture, Your Majesty!”
Instead of a reply, I disappeared into the closet for the item I came for. Found the Goyard duffle bag exactly where I left it and turned back out of the closet in less than a minute, to find Denise gone from the room.
I returned to the waiting car and headed
1 straight ahead to seal the
e deal with the Western rulers.
The occupants of the boardroom got to their feet in acknowledgment when I walked in. Drew set the duffle bag on the tempered glass table and exited the boardroom.
Nathan, Alpha of the Pack laid his complaints and fears about the threats on his Pack and the Eastern territories as a whole. Exactly why my troop and I were here.
The Western territories possessed high–tech weaponry, a system I tossed in a lot of money to build, and a lot more money to go in just to be sure the right weapons were selected for the impending war with the Outlanders.
“Our defenders must be trained on these weapons,” I spoke calmly when Alpha Luca Shepherd, leader of the Western Territories Alphas‘ Board took possession of the Goyard duffle bag I handed his way. “Special team shall train on…” I trailed off, pausing to regard the confusion on Luca’s slightly aging face.
“Is everything alright, Alpha Shepherd?” Nathan asked when Luca’s expression deepened.
The elderly man looked more afraid than confused, afraid to look in my direction.
“I’m afraid a few bands of the money might be missing.” The croaking voice sounded aimlessly nervous.
“Missing?” Nathan inquired, “That can’t be!”
I watched with a slightly peered gaze and clenched features as the eight occupants of the boardroom confirmed Luca’s
claims.
“Ten thousand dollars to be precise.” Nathan piped up.
Impossible.
Drew had access to the money bag, but the curly–haired assistant was an honest young man. The only person who had access to my closet, in my judgment, in the last twenty–four hours… Ruby Douglas.
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