Guarded (True Alpha 2) (6 page)

Mia half-laughed and ducked into the bathroom right behind her roommate. She didn’t know how temporary this move was going to be—her stay at the dorms at UDub was never going to be permanent anyway—but it was ever more clear that the only thing she would miss from McMahon Hall was Jupiter.

And it was sweet of her roommate to say Mia could come back, but she was a shifter living among humans. She never really felt like she belonged among the drunken, bed-hopping college kids anyway—not with her drive to finish school and find a way to get her mom out of the slums. But now that Lucas had awakened her inner wolf, living in the dorms just felt like a badly fitting dress that she constantly had to tug to sit right and not flash some part of her that she didn’t want to reveal.

In fact, when it came to
belonging
somewhere, the only person who had ever made her feel that way was back in her room, packing her things and moving her away.

And when she thought of it that way, it felt exactly right.

There was exactly one box and one medium-sized duffle bag in the back of Lucas’s car. That was the sum total of Mia’s belongings. His wolf growled its disapproval, and Lucas had to agree: it wasn’t so much that she packed light, but that she had nothing of permanence. One photo of her mother, but no personal effects. Nothing of her past. No hint of her dreams for the future, beyond an armful of business textbooks.

It was far too much like his apartment. And it made him angry.

She
should have more of a life than that. Maybe
he
was a train wreck after Tila’s death, but Mia still had everything ahead of her. Not with him, but with someone.

Until he dragged her into the mess that was his life.

After Lev had pulled him back out of not only the Olympic mountains, but the deep, dark forest of his despair, Lucas had torn out everything in his apartment that reminded him of Tila—her clothes, the photos, every memento of their brief and beautiful time together. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her—he would have given his life for hers. There were nights he would gladly have laid down in a cold grave, if it would have brought her back to life. He simply couldn’t bear the torment of having her all around him all the time. He nearly left the apartment altogether, but in the end, Lev packed her things and took them away… and Lucas could breathe again.

He gripped the steering wheel harder, wheeling onto Interstate 5 to head downtown. Mia sat quietly in the passenger seat, her new clothes a perfect complement to her features. The ink black pants matched her long, dark hair, now pulled back and clipped behind her neck. The sapphire blue silk top brought out the power of those mystical eyes… only her gaze was turned away from him, studying the skyscrapers of Seattle in the distance.

He had to wonder what she was thinking. It was the right thing to move her out of the dorm—she had to know that—but what of the rest of it? The sex… him pushing her away… his reluctance to tell her anything about
why
.

God, he was such an asshole.

He kept looking over at her periodically, but she didn’t give any hints as to the thoughts swirling through her mind. They were halfway to downtown before she looked at him in return.

“Is the hotel near the office?” she asked.

There was a fatigue in her voice that he didn’t like. At all. His wolf growled at him, and he agreed again: he had to do a better job of taking care of her. It was his fault she was in this situation. He needed to make it as easy as possible on her.

“Yes,” he replied, “but I need to stop by the office for a minute first. We kind of left in a hurry on Friday.”

She frowned, then seemed to figure it out. “The LoopSource reports.”

“I was just going to pick them up and bring them with us to the hotel. While you take a rest, maybe get some lunch, I’ll look over them. I need to have some kind of recommendation for my father on Monday.”

She shook her head. “I’m not tired. Maybe I can help with the reports?”

His first instinct was to say
no.
The dark circles under her eyes belied her claim of not being tired. Dammit,
he
was tired. They’d spent half the night exploring each other’s bodies. He couldn’t bring himself to regret that, but she had to be lying when she said it hadn’t drained her energy. Which meant she must really want to help with the reports. Or, more likely, find a way back into his arms. Which was definitely not something he could allow to happen again, no matter how much he wanted it. Or how much she did.

But that was on
him
to resist. Short of that, he would give her anything she wanted.

He looked forward again, studying the traffic and avoiding her gaze. “That would be great. I could really use someone to double check my analysis.” That much was true—he’d be lucky to form half a coherent thought this weekend with her nearby. “But Mia…” He glanced back, and her blue eyes were still trained on him. “We’re just working.”

“Right. No sex. Not even kissing.” The corner of her mouth lifted.

He looked back at the traffic. “I mean it, Mia.”

“I know.” This time her voice was soft, and when he glanced at her again, she was back to looking out the window.

Yeah, he was definitely an asshole.

Another ten tension-filled minutes later, they arrived at the parking garage for the Russell Building where SparkTech sat on the 32
^nd
floor. There was no sign of last night’s attack by the Red wolves—the limo was gone, there was no blood on the floor of the garage—but he parked as close as he could to the elevator door, just in case.

“You need to come inside with me,” Lucas said as he turned off the car.

“Right behind you,” she said.

He hopped out of the car and came quickly around to her side. He got there before she managed to climb out of the car in her tall, black heels. He took her by the elbow to help, but she pulled away—not strongly, yet he felt the rebuke nonetheless. And she was right: he would have to watch his tendency to put his hands on her without thinking. Still, he kept by her side, scanning the nearly empty concrete spaces for any bad actors. Or lurking wolves. There was nothing but the sound of her heels clicking on the tiled entryway to the elevator.

The ride up was just as tense. He wanted to get in and out of the office as quickly as possible. Then maybe they would have a chance to talk. Sort things out.

As they emerged on the 32
^nd
floor, Lucas said, “I think we left the reports in your office.”

“You don’t think Lena would have locked them up after us?” Mia asked.

He was about to answer, but his attention was drawn to the light coming from his father’s office. The other rooms were dark, the shades having been drawn for the night and not opened in the morning, but his father’s was occupied. Or somehow Lena forgot to close up shop last night. She was meticulous, so he doubted that very much.

Mia’s gaze was drawn to it as well. “Is your dad here?” she whispered.

He nodded. They paused at her office, halfway down the hall. “Go in and get the reports. I’ll wait.” He paused, then met her blue-eyed gaze. “I think it’s time to introduce you to my father.”

Her eyes went wide, but she scurried quickly into her office and returned with an armful of reports, both his copy and hers. He took them from her, then gently guided her toward his father’s office with a hand at the small of her back. Just before they reached it, he remembered he wasn’t supposed to be touching her. He dropped his hand and used it to open the door.

His father was bent over his own nest of papers spread on his desk. His head jerked up, and he was on his feet, claws out, before Lucas could say a word.

“It’s just Mia and me,” Lucas rushed out. He’d never seen his father so on edge, or so quick to shift. Things must be worse than he thought.

His father’s body immediately relaxed, and the claws disappeared. “Lucas. Good. I’m glad you’re here.” He frowned and dipped his head to Mia. “Sorry, to startle you, Ms. Fiore. I’m sure shifters are the last thing you’d like to see at the moment.”

A glance to Mia showed her rigid in the doorway, but he didn’t think it was fear that held her there. At least, not fear of his father’s claws. More like his father’s position in the company. Her boss’s boss, he supposed, although he hardly thought of the structure that way anymore, not since he left his father’s pack.

“Father, there’s something you should know about Mia.” When Lucas called his father last night to report the attack, he left out the aftermath—including the hot sex against the door and the fact that Mia was a shifter. He had no idea if the Red pack had managed to bug their phones or what, but he didn’t want to take any chances with that secret getting out. Yet now that they were in person… “Mia is a wolf.”

His father’s eyebrows flew up, and he did a double take of Mia before pinning Lucas with his gaze.

Lucas cut off the question he knew was on his father’s lips. “She doesn’t belong to any pack. She’s really only half blood, on her father’s side. And she’s not pack-raised. She’s been a recluse.”

“Um… excuse me?” Mia said. “I am
not
a recluse.”

He turned to her, an apologetic hand holding her off. “It’s just a term we use. For shifters who are hidden from everyone, even their pack. Or their families.”

“Kind of a pejorative term, don’t you think?” She frowned at him.

He really didn’t need this right now.

His father’s chuckle brought his attention back. “She’s right, you know.” His smile for Mia was kinder now, softer than any Lucas ever had directed at him. It was the kind of smile he saved for his daughter, Lucas’s sister, and the other females of his pack. Mia probably didn’t realize it, but she had already won his father over, simply by being wolf and not taking any flak from Lucas.

This wasn’t exactly a surprise. Lucas had long ago realized that all the alphas of his family—his father, his older brother Llyr, and not least, himself—liked their women strong. Alpha females in their own right. His inner beast growled its appreciation for something Lucas was just now figuring out: Mia was likely an alpha herself. Loner. Stubborn. Driven. She just didn’t realize it.

And somehow he had been blind to it until that moment. Still stunned by that thought, his father’s gruff voice brought him back out of his own head.

“After your call last night, Llyr and I and several members of our packs went to the parking garage right away.” His father shook his head. “The Red wolves were already gone.”

“I left one unconscious,” Lucas objected, but he winced as well. He had waited too long to call, too wrapped up in getting Mia to safety—which was excusable—and giving into his wolf’s craving for her—which was not.

“I don’t doubt you, son,” his father said. “Not least because I received a call shortly afterwards from Crittenden. He claims it happened without authorization, and those wolves are being punished. But the offer, or I should say
threat,
still stands.” He glanced at Mia, but his pointed, and definitely angry, look was all for Lucas.

“The offer that they’ll leave Mia alone if we back down on Loop Source.” At his father’s raised eyebrows, he added, “She knows everything.”

“Well… not really,” Mia protested. “Who is Crittenden?”

His father’s look for her was soft again. “He’s the alpha of the Red pack. They have the same reports we do, Mia. They seem convinced LoopSource is the next big thing in mobile computing, but they know we can outbid them. The only way they’ll be able to score the deal is by getting us to back down.” He glanced at the reports clutched in Lucas’s hands. “I’m still waiting to hear whether LoopSource is worth our time…” He looked back to Mia. “But I promise you. Under no circumstances will we allow them to hurt you.”

Mia seemed to relax a little under his father’s warm assurance. The man in Lucas was glad to see it, but his wolf growled at the intrusion of his father’s alpha. He pushed his wolf’s jealous thoughts to the back of his mind. His father had already extended pack protection to Mia, and he was simply reassuring her of that. Lucas was lucky his father was willing to step in and help where Lucas couldn’t without a pack of his own. He had little to offer Mia and no claim to make. His wolf had better get used to that fact.

“However,” his father continued, “now that they’ve attacked, that puts me in a very bad position. Mia wasn’t harmed, so technically, my prior threat to hold Crittenden personally responsible hasn’t been triggered. But the fact remains that the Red pack violated our territory when they tried to take her. A pretty brazen act, even if it wasn’t authorized by their alpha. And not something we can just let go.”

“Are you planning to retaliate?” Lucas swallowed. This could escalate quickly. Which meant even more danger for Mia. Not to mention his brothers.

“I already have.”

Mia’s face had gone pale. “But I’m fine! I don’t want anyone to get hurt over me.”

“This isn’t your fault, Mia,” Lucas said. “This is pack business.”

“Lucas is right,” his father said, with an approval that unexpectedly warmed Lucas. “None of this is your responsibility. You’re just a bartering chip to the Reds.”