discussion at hand.
Lucas’s arm slid around Mia to hold her. She seemed to need it, and he couldn’t help himself anyway. He turned back to his father. “What kind of retaliation did you decide upon?” Lucas knew his father would have given it a great deal of thought before putting any of his pack in danger.
His father sighed. “I didn’t want to escalate the situation too badly, but we had to have a response. Last night, I sent Llyr and some of his pack to incur on the Red pack’s territory—they didn’t hurt anyone, just trashed one of Crittenden’s offices. All in wolf form, no DNA traces. But it should show them we’re serious. And that we can incur again, if need be.”
Lucas nodded. “Has Crittenden responded?”
“Not yet.” The muscles in his father’s jaw twitched as he clenched it. “The Reds have always been dangerous and running to the dark side of their wolves, but this new territory, even for them. Some of these younger wolves are overconfident and clearly willing to provoke a pack war. Maybe they’re out to prove themselves. Maybe they’ve just gone a little too far into their dark side. Whatever it is, I want you to pull this LoopSource evaluation together now. Prove to me that making that deal is worth my time and money.”
Lucas nodded. “You want to put it to rest.”
“I want to rub their noses in it,” he said with a hard look. This was the alpha he grew up with—the one who knew that sometimes you had to hit back hard to stop a bully.
Lucas let out a small huff of air. “Yes, sir.”
He gave his father a short nod, then led a wide-eyed Mia from his office. Figuring out what to do with her—other than keeping her absolutely safe—would have to take back seat in his mind for a while. His father wasn’t Lucas’s alpha anymore, but he recognized marching orders when he heard them.
And putting the LoopSource deal to bed might just put all of this behind them.
Mia shouldn’t have been surprised by the luxurious hotel suite Lucas found for her, not after working in the upscale offices of SparkTech for a week and having spent the night at Lucas’s modern millionaire-bachelor apartment. But she was still amazed at the stunning views of the Bay, the private balcony, and the marbled entranceway to the enormous living area, easily ten times the size of her dorm room.
The only disappointing part was that the suite came with two separate bedrooms.
Of course, if Lucas carried through with his threat to hire a bodyguard, rather than staying with her himself, then separate bedrooms would be fine. But if Lucas was her bodyguard… her inner beast whined every time she glanced at the closed bedroom doors. It wasn’t right to be separated like that. And Mia had to agree.
Lucas worked on the tan leather couch in the center of the living room, the paper LoopSource report spread on the low ebony table, and his laptop balanced on one leg as he compared notes. Mia had set up in a nearby chair that was shaped like a giant half-circle and had deep brown nubuck leather as soft as a baby’s skin. All her notes and her laptop fit within the circular confines of the chair, and it was angled so she had a view out the windows.
It was perfect for working, which was what she should have been doing. Instead, her gaze had drifted to the boats skimming the waters of the Bay. The waves sparkled with the afternoon sun, but from this distance, the boats didn’t seem to move—as if the brightly colored sails were ornaments carefully placed to make the ocean more lovely. Lucas and Mia had been working for hours, but time felt likewise suspended for her. As if she was waiting for a gust of wind to come fill her sails and let her breathe again.
She turned away from the timeless marina and watched Lucas instead.
His brow was furrowed in concentration, and she could tell his mind was lost in the numbers spread before him. He was attacking this due diligence analysis like their lives depended on it—in
Lucas’s arm slid around Mia to hold her. She seemed to need it, and he couldn’t help himself anyway. He turned back to his father. “What kind of retaliation did you decide upon?” Lucas knew his father would have given it a great deal of thought before putting any of his pack in danger.
His father sighed. “I didn’t want to escalate the situation too badly, but we had to have a response. Last night, I sent Llyr and some of his pack to incur on the Red pack’s territory—they didn’t hurt anyone, just trashed one of Crittenden’s offices. All in wolf form, no DNA traces. But it should show them we’re serious. And that we can incur again, if need be.”
Lucas nodded. “Has Crittenden responded?”
“Not yet.” The muscles in his father’s jaw twitched as he clenched it. “The Reds have always been dangerous and running to the dark side of their wolves, but this new territory, even for them. Some of these younger wolves are overconfident and clearly willing to provoke a pack war. Maybe they’re out to prove themselves. Maybe they’ve just gone a little too far into their dark side. Whatever it is, I want you to pull this LoopSource evaluation together now. Prove to me that making that deal is worth my time and money.”
Lucas nodded. “You want to put it to rest.”
“I want to rub their noses in it,” he said with a hard look. This was the alpha he grew up with—the one who knew that sometimes you had to hit back hard to stop a bully.
Lucas let out a small huff of air. “Yes, sir.”
He gave his father a short nod, then led a wide-eyed Mia from his office. Figuring out what to do with her—other than keeping her absolutely safe—would have to take back seat in his mind for a while. His father wasn’t Lucas’s alpha anymore, but he recognized marching orders when he heard them.
And putting the LoopSource deal to bed might just put all of this behind them.
Mia shouldn’t have been surprised by the luxurious hotel suite Lucas found for her, not after working in the upscale offices of SparkTech for a week and having spent the night at Lucas’s modern millionaire-bachelor apartment. But she was still amazed at the stunning views of the Bay, the private balcony, and the marbled entranceway to the enormous living area, easily ten times the size of her dorm room.
The only disappointing part was that the suite came with two separate bedrooms.
Of course, if Lucas carried through with his threat to hire a bodyguard, rather than staying with her himself, then separate bedrooms would be fine. But if Lucas was her bodyguard… her inner beast whined every time she glanced at the closed bedroom doors. It wasn’t right to be separated like that. And Mia had to agree.
Lucas worked on the tan leather couch in the center of the living room, the paper LoopSource report spread on the low ebony table, and his laptop balanced on one leg as he compared notes. Mia had set up in a nearby chair that was shaped like a giant half-circle and had deep brown nubuck leather as soft as a baby’s skin. All her notes and her laptop fit within the circular confines of the chair, and it was angled so she had a view out the windows.
It was perfect for working, which was what she should have been doing. Instead, her gaze had drifted to the boats skimming the waters of the Bay. The waves sparkled with the afternoon sun, but from this distance, the boats didn’t seem to move—as if the brightly colored sails were ornaments carefully placed to make the ocean more lovely. Lucas and Mia had been working for hours, but time felt likewise suspended for her. As if she was waiting for a gust of wind to come fill her sails and let her breathe again.
She turned away from the timeless marina and watched Lucas instead.
His brow was furrowed in concentration, and she could tell his mind was lost in the numbers spread before him. He was attacking this due diligence analysis like their lives depended on it—in
Similar Books
