Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
It felt good to get to know each other, even if it was mostly surface stuff, and I started to wonder if maybe accepting the mating bond hadn’t been the stupidest thing I’d ever done.
Chapter 10
Beau
I’d spent the first two hours in my car outside of Accord, but for the last twenty-five minutes, I’d been sitting in the lobby, fielding texts from my brothers about Zeke’s mate and what they’d found while analyzing the objects they’d brought back from the Huts of Horror, as Chance called them. Ambrose was right. Zeke hadn’t been the first Vampire tortured in those rooms. They’d been able to identify at least four others so far from the blood samples alone, and they were currently contacting families.
It was impossible to believe that someone was able to capture, much less hold, five different Vampires. The organization must’ve had unlimited resources or damn good luck. I wasn’t sure which of those options was worse, but the more I’d learned, the more anxious I’d been to be closer to Reese while she worked.
Effects from the heat had begun as soon as she’d walked inside the building, and they’d been slowly but steadily increasing as time passed. It was now to the point that my stomach was clenching with nausea. I honestly wasn’t sure how she was holding on for so long.
By the time the door to the offices and her workspace swung open, I was pacing the floor while the receptionist tried to pretend she wasn’t watching me out of the corner of her eye.
“I’m done for the day,” Reese announced, striding out with Noah Miranda-Whittaker following behind her. “Noah wanted to say hi and ask your intentions.”
“I never said I was going to ask his intentions,” Noah argued. “That’s a moot point now.”
“Good to see you again,” I said, lifting my arm so Reese could scoot in against my side. By the way her body immediately relaxed against me, she’d clearly been wrestling with symptoms too.
“Please,” Noah said, gesturing to the open door. “Come back to my office.”
We followed him into the back while he ordered the receptionist to hold his calls. As we walked, Reese tucked her hand between the waistband of my jeans and my shirt so she could lay her palm on my bare back. Her body was practically humming with tension.
“I’ve offered Reese a leave of absence—”
“Which I told him I didn’t want.”
“I know enough about the Vampire mating bonds—”
I straightened, my body tightening, and his eyes flared for only a moment before continuing.
“I know enough to know that the first few months at least can be painful for mates to be apart.”
“And how do you know this?”
“Mr. Boucher, it’s a small world. I have clients I consider friends. Reese has been trying her best to hide the fact that she’s extremely uncomfortable—”
“I’m fine,” Reese countered.
“But I’ve known her since she was a teenager, and I can see that being separated from you at this point in time is physically painful for her.”
“You’re such a busybody,” Reese griped, glaring at the man.
“She’s an integral part of our team here—”
“Oh, brother,” she grumbled.
“But I’m not sure how it will be feasible for her to continue working right now while she’s, for lack of a better word, sick.” The man was stuffy and held himself very carefully, but underneath it all was a very real concern for my mate.
“This is discrimination. I’m going to sue,” Reese announced haughtily.
“Reese?” I asked, looking down at her.
Her shoulders slumped. “It sucked,” she said quietly. “The entire morning fucking sucked.”
Noah smiled sadly at her. “I knew you were lying through your teeth.”
“I have bills to pay,” she replied tiredly.
“I’ll have to hire someone in your absence, but could you make do with half-pay while you’re gone?”
“No way,” Reese argued. “You’re not paying me to stay home. Are you crazy?”
“You’re crazy if you think that we’d just leave you high and dry while—”
“That’s not necessary,” I interrupted. “We can easily afford for Reese to take some time off.”
“Not an option,” Reese said flatly.
“Excuse us a moment,” I muttered to Noah as I tugged her back out the door and a couple of steps down the short hallway.
“You’re not going to pay my bills,” she snapped as soon as we were alone. “I pay my own way.”
“Be reasonable.”
“I’m the only reasonable one in this entire fucking building!”
“You can’t work while the heat is this bad,” I told her gently, wrapping my hands over the sides of her throat. The skin there was so soft, it took a second for me to remember my train of thought. “I can’t sit outside all day, every day, waiting for you to be finished. I could barely keep my ass in the car when you walked into the building this morning. So, either you take the time off and half your salary from Accord, like Noah offered, putting him in a tight spot—or you concede with some grace here and let your mate worry about the money.”