“There’s one last thing we want everyone to vote on,” Tobias said, and then his hand went behind my back, pushing me forward. “While we’re still in the process of resolving this, but we want to promote Sage.”
“What?” I asked, staring up at him.
I got one little look before he charged on.
“She’s still finalising her bonds with us, but…Sage is our true mate. Whatever we have, its hers. Whatever we have to give her, we need her to have, but it’s more than that. She needs recognition for who she is, how important she is to the leadership of this company.”
“There’s an emotional bond, certainly,” golf guy said with a frown. “But that doesn’t entitle the girl to higher duties.”
“Hold off, Frank,” Clive said, raising a hand. “There’s been a radical shift in the way Dacian is being run. We’ve all complained long and hard about the separation ofthe Lockwoods, and Sage has done more to improve that than anyone with an MBA. Let’s listen to their proposal.”
“Director!”Joey yelped as we walked out of the boardroom, her arm going through mine. “You’re a fucking director! This means I can come to you and complain if Fido is pissing me off again.”
“Stop fucking calling me Fido!” Max shot back at her. “I went to fur like two times.”
“Three. I’m still picking wolf fur out of my favourite vest.”
“Joey, shush.”
Tobias stepped forward, the rest of his brothers following behind him, so that all four of them surrounded me. Their warmth, their presence was both comforting and…
“You fucking dicks!” I hissed at them. “How could you spring that shit on me?”
“Because you wouldn’t have accepted if we asked,” Lucien said.
“Because you would have come up with all of these excuses as to why that wasn’t possible,” Beau said.
Lucien moved forward and stroked my hair.
“Because you deserve it, even if you think you don’t.”
“Because you’re literally the only person who gets through to us all,” Max said. “Something we can’t even do for each other. You’re the one—our director, our mate, our everything.”
“Oh gag…” Joey said, theatrically imitating just that. “Look, I’m supportive of hetero relationships as much as the next person, but do you have to be all lovely-dovey in public? You don’t need to shove all of this…” —she waved her hand around— “in my face.”
“She’s right,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “We should head home, because what I have in store for you four? Small children and animals shouldn’t be around to see.”
60
“We need to go to Scarlet’s, not home,” I said in the car, my arms still crossed defensively. Apparently, that was funny, as the guys all chuckled.
“Why?” Lucien asked with a lazy smile. “Need us to tie you up and release some of that tension for you?”
“God, yes. Say yes. You can do that, can’t you, omega?” Beau said, leaning forward. “Y-E-S.”
“Oh, I’m not the one being tied up,” I snapped. “You are. How could you just dump that on me like that?”
“We explained why,” Tobias replied coolly, looking completely unrepentant.
“I shouldn’t tie you up and just beat your arse, should I?” I snapped. “Like, that’s bad BDSM. I’ve only done a few classes with Scarlet, but I’m pretty sure that’s against the rules.”
“You want to tie uptight and suited here?” Lucien said. “Don’t need to go to Scar’s to do that. He has his own red room.”
I blinked, stared, and then peered at Tobias more closely.
“As in Christian Grey’s red room?”
“Do not talk about that bloody character in my presence,” Tobias snarled. “That woman did more for bad kink than a million romance writers combined.”