Page 20 of Chev's Mate

Aziel shrugs, looking away. “She made good points.”

Of course she did. My mate is the most intelligent person we’ve ever hired, and she’s a great asset to the Wrath facility. Aziel sucks in a slow breath and kicks out his foot. He’s not happy, but he never is. I’m used to it.

“Charlie’s been asking to return to work for weeks,” he says. “She says we’re suffocating her, and it seems I can’t manage her workload as well as I thought I could.” He stares at the ceiling, where Charlie’s footfalls can be heard. “It might not be a bad idea to let her return to work.”

Charlie will be happy to hear that.

The office doors open, and Cassia comes shuffling in. Her chubby arms and legs are drowning in pajamas too small for her rapidly growing limbs. She’s bigger every time I see her, and she storms into the room like a woman on a mission.

Her eyes dart between Aziel and me, and I shrink away when they linger on me for a second too long.

I love children, but I prefer avoiding this one. The tiny wrath has two very sharp teeth just starting to grow in, and I don’t enjoy how she’s always trying to use my legs for teething.

She heads toward me as if she can read my mind, and I refuse to show her my fear as I lift her onto my lap. I’m pleased when she doesn’t bite me. She wants to play with the items on the desk, and I move my computer out of her reach and push Aziel’s shirt out of the way so she doesn’t get her scent on it.

“Send a photo of Cassia and me to Vanessa,” I tell Aziel. “I want her to see that I’m good with children.”

Aziel laughs. “Absolutely not.”

I frown, bouncing Cassia with my knee until she loses interest and leaves. She seems only to like me for three-minute increments. It’s my bear that attracts her. She senses that I’m a predator and she wants, even at her young age, to challenge me.Once she realizes I’m not going to try to fight her, though, she has no desire to be around me.

She’s going to be a terror when she’s older.

The other two children are upstairs with Gray, and they scream whenever the incubus does something to excite them. Charlie’s with them, too, her giggles loud.

“I think Vanessa will like working with Charlie,” I say, returning my attention to Aziel. “Echo told me Vanessa gushed over your female during her interview.”

Aziel already knows my opinions on his decision to pull Charlie from work, so I won’t voice them again. Charlie loves her job, finding purpose in helping the females, and I don’t think it’s right for Aziel to pressure her into leaving solely because she’s pregnant. I understand his fears, but Charlie is a capable female.

And I enjoy working with her. She’s fun to be around, and she’s best at keeping her males in line. They’re overbearing when she isn’t around. They turn every meeting into an argument between themselves, wasting time and energy when everybody knows they’re going to go home and ask Charlie what she wants them to do.

It’s easiest to cut them out of meetings and go straight to the decision-maker.

“Charlie’s excited to meet Vanessa,” Aziel admits, glancing at the clock. “Shouldn’t you have left already?”

I follow Aziel’s line of sight, panicking when I realize I’m running late. I never lose track of time, not when it comes to my mate, and I grab Aziel’s shirt and rush out of the office in a heartbeat. Aziel’s laughter travels down the hallway behind me, but it goes in one ear and out the other as I rip off my clothes.

I’ll get to the facility quickest in my bear form.

I have a mate to escort home.

Chapter Eight

VANESSA

I’M BEYOND EXHAUSTED.

Still, despite knowing I should be getting ready for bed, I find myself desperately reading article after article about Chev. People are still angry with him, but things are finally starting to die down.

He’s still making up a significant number of headlines, but there are a few about other topics mixed in. Seeing people forget Chev’s wrongdoings makes me feel better than it should. I want to hate him for how he treated me, but I’m having trouble finding the emotion.

I flop down on my couch, my annoyance building as I skim through a particularly scathing article about Chev. It’s written by a news organization backed by Mammon, so the bias is to be expected. The Queen of Greed openly hates the shifters, especially since her mate died on Chev’s lands.

I finish the article before shifting gears. I’ve stumbled upon several online communities of people lusting over Chev. I hate them, but I’ve spent nearly all my free time scrolling through them these past few weeks.

His admirers—men and women alike—openly discuss their wishes to be his mate. They’re uncomfortably vocal about theirdesires and fantasies revolving him, and I fear they’re going to be full of spite when they discover I’m his mate.

The hatred will only grow when they learn I’ve rejected him.

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