I wanted to explain the idea of monogamy, but my last tequila shot had robbed me of the mental acuity to strip that concept down for a wolf, so I said nothing. Besides, Greg didn’t owe me anything; after all, we weren’t together. It was none of my business what he did with fucking Mindy.
Bed was calling, but I stripped off my clothes and hopped into a broiling hot shower. Wolf or not, I swear that Esme let out a happy purr of contentment. She loved showers and I wasn’t far behind her; it’s the simple things in life that you need to enjoy. The dead body had nearly thrown my day into disarray, but the night out had righted it again. Tomorrow I’d have to deal with the mangled mess of a lawn, but for now I was clinging onto my happy.
I slid into silk sheets and hoped that my inebriation would keep any nightmares away. We were both out for the count before Esme could even start to chase sheep.
Chapter 4
Igrabbedaquickbreakfast from the mansion’s kitchen before the rest of the pack members were up and moving around. There were only a few residents in the mansion; most of the pack lived off-site, particularly the lower-ranked members and the pack mates that had families.
I don’t require as much sleep as I used to, so the sun was barely kissing the sky by the time I’d finished wolfing down my breakfast. Energy was coursing through Esme and me and we’d woken hangover-free, which was a miracle. Pre-wolf times, I would have had a two-day hangover, complete with the shakes. There were solid advantages to being a shifter.
We were amped up and in the mood for a little run. As a human, I despise jogging; as a wolf, I revel in it. Besides, we both wanted to check the grounds again. The urge to protect the pack was strong, and even with Ares and the other wolves patrolling we needed to do it ourselves.
The March morning was crisp, the sky was blue, but the day hadn’t had a chance to warm up. Nevertheless, once I was outside I stripped off my clothes and left them in a neat pile. I barely had time to start to shiver before we shifted to four and fur.
The mansion is situated in large grounds. Some of them have been landscaped into rose gardens but there is still a pleasing expanse of greenery where we can run around. Esme enjoys surveying her pack’s territory.
I settled back into the passenger seat and Esme took control. We’d barely completed one lap of the grounds before we felt someone join us. I glanced to my right and met Ares’ molten red eyes. The unicorn whickered a greeting. Alongside him was Liam, who greeted me with a wag and a sniff, then dropped back to let me take point.
As Ares ran I always expected the thud of hooves on earth, but his legs didn’t end in hooves like a horse’s; instead they ended in the sort of clawed feet you’d expect a dinosaur to have. The sound of his footfalls echoed around us as we ran in the spring weather.
After several circuits of our land, including the surrounding woods, Esme, Liam and I headed back reluctantly to the mansion. We had things to do. We barked a farewell to Ares, who loped back into the forest neighing a farewell.
Esme took a slight detour on the way back to retrieve our clothes. She stopped to lap at a puddle in the drive and gave a happy wag as she gulped down the cool rainwater. It tasted fresh and crisp to our wolf tastebuds.
Esme’s contentment rolled over me. She’d run and she’d drunk. The only thing that would have improved her day was if she managed to kill something.
Perhaps later,she said hopefully.
She let the shift roll over us and we revelled in the pleasure of it. In an instant, I stood once more on two legs. I dressed quickly, but even the chill in the air couldn’t rob me of the warmth from our run. Canines don’t sweat, and wolves are no exception. Going for a run as a human would leave me a hot and sweaty mess; going for a run as a wolf means that when I shift back to human I’m fresh as a daisy. It’s a total win.
I headed into my office to start my day. I was ravenous and I had some Dairy Milk bars stashed in my desk drawer. As usual, Greg was in the office already, seated at the security desk; since the recent attacks we’d suffered, he took his job very seriously.
He considered the dumping of the dead gargoyle to be a personal affront, especially as it hadn’t been captured by any of our cameras. We’d only gone out to patrol because Ares had come and pranced pointedly in front of the main entrance. He was our own personal Skippy, ‘What’s that, boy? There’s trouble at the old Mill and we should follow you?’As a kid, I’d watched a lot of the TV showSkippy.
Greg regularly ran sweeps of the property to make sure there were no bugs or listening devices installed, and he regularly monitored the security cameras we’d had installed around the mansion and its grounds.
I’d deliberately not stayed out too late with my friends, but by the look of him and the five o’clock shadow gracing his face, he hadn’t slept for long – if at all. ‘Morning,’ I greeted him.
‘Morning, Peaches,’ he replied, looking up from his desk.
As always, I was momentarily distracted by the warmth in his blue eyes. Things had been a little weird between us ever since we’d exchanged a passionate kiss in order to throw the Connection off our scent. Professional, with a hint of flirty. And last night he’d called me ‘love’. I was trying not to read too much into it.
‘Did you have a nice run with Ares?’ he asked.
‘Yes, thanks. It’s a beautiful morning. It was exactly what I needed to start my day off right. Plus, you know, no dead bodies.’
‘That’s always in the plus column. I grabbed you a coffee. It’s on your desk.’
I threw him a grateful smile and sat behind my mahogany desk. I consulted my paper diary to see what I had planned for the day; all I’d written in the margin was a note to review Lord Samuel’s spending.
Lord Samuel was the previous alpha and his shadow loomed large over me. I was constantly compared to him, which didn’t seem like much of a fair comparison as he’d been the alpha for more than twenty years and I was new in the role. And Samuel had been an actual peer, and I was a middle-class accountant. I was comfortable financially, but he’d had more money than sense.
He’d bequeathed some private assets to his son, Archie, and left a modest amount to his estranged wife who was living in France, but most of his money had been tied up in pack assets held by a holding company of which I was now the sole director.
Although I was an accountant and quite happy assisting with high-wealth tax returns, I wasn’t an independent financial adviser. I needed to speak to someone to advise me on how to best invest the pack’s wealth to protect it for the future. Cushioned by the vastness of his fortune, Lord Samuel appeared to have been unconcerned about such issues, which struck me as plain wrong. His money could have been of huge assistance, not just to the werewolf pack but to the Other community as a whole.
There was so much that we could do to improve things around here. The security improvements I’d implemented were a first step, but there was a lot more to be done. People are often change averse, however, and I didn’t want to sweep in an era of drastic change until the pack felt a little more secure in my leadership. Nevertheless, I wanted to do something good during my tenure as alpha, however short it might prove to be.