Page 16 of The Alpha Dire Wolf
Shower won.
The scalding water brushed aside any remaining cobwebs. As the sweat sluiced off my body, the darkness of my dreams went with it. In its place came questions, always more questions.
The wolf had been in my dreams. Hunting me. Why? It had saved me yesterday, so why had my brain made the change? It didn’t immediately make sense.
“Neither does a wolf attacking a bear to save a human. Or a wolf that can understand English.”
Ifthat’s what had happened. I still had my doubts, despite what I had seen with my own eyes. The wolf had probably moved its head because of the sound of me speaking. I simply interpreted it as understanding me. The fault lay with me applying human emotions to animal actions. That was all.
Showered, dried off, and feeling like a new woman, I stepped out of the bathroom and let it all come undone by answering my ringing phone without looking at the Caller-ID.
“Sylvie, where the hell are you?”
I tried not to groan. “Mr. Davenport, hello.”
“Hello to you too, Miss Wilson. How odd that I have to say it via telephone and not in person. At your desk. Where you should be today. And where you should have been yesterday.Coincidentally, you are not, and were not. Care to explain this peculiar situation?”
I bit down on my lip hard enough to draw blood. It wasn’t enough that I wanted to absolutely skewer him for being a complete asshole, as a person and as a boss. On top of that, he knew I was far better at my job than he deserved, given the crap-tier pay and benefits his firm offered.
Unfortunately, I needed the job. A few more years at Davenport Investments, and I would be able to write my ticket to nearly any firm I wanted. I just had to put up withMr. Edgar Davenport … The Second,in the meantime. He actually introduced himself that way to people. It was obnoxious. Which fit his personality far better than the poorly tailored suits whose price tag he loved to brag about.
“Well, Miss Wilson? Do you have an answer, or shall I consider this your resignation? To not show up without calling, two days in a row. That’s skirting the edge of what I’m willing to accept. I couldn’t imagine ever acting in such an inappropriate manner.”
I could just imagine his bad toupee flopping around with the exaggerated head tilt he would end that sentence with.
“Mr. Davenport,” I said through clenched teeth. “I will be back next week.”
“Next week?It’s Thursday! You had better—”
“Mr. Davenport!” Was yelling while being formal acceptable? I was about to find out. “Yesterday morning, I found out that my grandmother has been dead for three days. Do you know why I didn’t find out any sooner? Because she’s the only family I have left.Hadleft. So there was nobody to tell me. I found out by accident. I will be back on Monday, and not before. I think that’spretty damn reasonable. After all, I could have taken an entire week.”
The not-so-subtle jab about how he’d taken a full week off to mourn his dead goldfish combined with my yelling seemed to throw him off balance.
“Well, I suppose, given, um—”
“I have to go now, Mr. Davenport. There’s a body I have to deal with.”
The absolutely crude use of my grandmother’s death wasn’t my finest moment. But my goodness, the absolute silence on the other end of the phone made itmorethan worth the crassness.
I hung up, giving myself even fifty-fifty odds that I would still be employed by Monday. Glancing at my phone, I saw more notifications and missed calls.
“Can you just leave me alone?”
My complaints to the empty room went unanswered. I tapped on the text message icon to see what he wanted now.
Immediately, I wished I hadn’t.
Caidyn: Answer the phone.
Caidyn: Leaving me on read? Seriously? I know you’re there.
Caidyn: Where the hell have you gone? You aren’t at home? Pick up the phone. Now.
Caidyn: Stop ignoring me.
Caidyn: Probably out fucking other guys already. Aren’t you?
“You dumped me, you dumb idiot!” I shouted, tossing the phone on the bed. “You’re the one sleeping with another woman. Two-timing piece of crap. Now you have the nerve to accusemeof sleeping with someone else? Moron.”
