Werewolf CEO 2, page 4
“We can get it delivered,” Mia suggested as I opened the front door, and we walked in. “Beats going out again and getting into another drift-off.”
“Yeah, that felt like something out of an action movie,” I snorted. “I’m gonna have to take my car into the shop at some point.”
“I’m sorry.” My mate winced. “You know, if that was the Beta in the car, hopefully, he won’t be causing us any more problems.”
“What, because he’s dead?” I joked. “As harsh as it sounds, I sure as hell hope so.”
“He’s poked the bear,” Mia said with a smirk as she rested her hands on my chest. “Never come between a man and his car.”
“Especially a car with his mate inside,” I said and put my hands over hers.
“You did good, Josh,” she reassured before she reached up to kiss me. “Let’s just hope that’s the end of it for now.”
I wanted to believe her.
I really did.
But something deep inside told me this was just the beginning.
Chapter Three
Mia and I chowed down after getting takeout delivered to the apartment, and after stuffing our faces until we physically couldn’t eat anymore, we crashed out on the bed.
The stress from the car chase had really taken it out of me, and when I finally opened my eyes, it was eight in the morning, and I did not wanna go in to work today.
Mia stirred beside me, and she snuggled into my side to avoid the harsh light beaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, since we’d forgotten to draw the blinds last night.
“Mmm, what time is it?” the blonde groaned and pulled the covers up until they covered half of her face.
“Eight,” I said with a yawn. “I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to go in today.”
“Me, neither,” Mia sighed. “Maybe you should give Emily a call? She might be able to tell us something about the Beta that the others couldn’t.”
“Yeah, I feel like we’ve exhausted any other leads,” I agreed. “And if she can’t tell us anything, then we’re gonna have to rethink our approach.”
“Let’s hope she can tell us something good then,” my mate said as she rolled over and snuggled into her pillow. “Let me know what she says.”
“Will do,” I said as I regrettably peeled myself out of bed, and I grabbed my phone off my bedside table before I headed into the kitchen area.
I leaned against the cold marble countertop as I flicked through my contacts until I found Emily’s name, and then I pressed the call button and waited for the barista to pick up.
Emily had been one of the Betas in Drake’s pack who had managed to get herself out of there before shit hit the fan. She’d been a little cold toward us at first, but it was kinda valid considering she didn’t know us or our intentions. For all she knew, our promise of help could have been bullshit, but she stuck around and ended up helping us in the final showdown with Drake.
She’d rejected my offer of joining my pack, but the offer was always open to her. And after everything she had gone through, I wasn’t gonna force her to do anything she didn’t want to.
The phone rang for long enough that I thought she wasn’t going to answer, but at the last second, I heard her pick up and the bustle of the coffee shop she worked at in the background.
“Hello?” she asked in a slightly pissed-off tone.
“Emily, it’s Josh,” I said. “I was wondering if I could talk to you. It’s kinda urgent.”
“I…” Emily trailed off with a sigh. “Yeah, okay. I’m at work, but if you’re that desperate to talk to me, you can come on my break.”
“Okay,” I chuckled. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me,” she grumbled. “I am running on two hours of sleep. And this better not be for a free coffee.”
“It’s not.” I smirked. “When’s your break?”
“Forty minutes,” she said bluntly. “If you’re not here, I’m going to the bagel shop, and you won’t see me until my shift’s over, St. James.”
“Got it,” I snorted. “See you in forty.”
“Yep.” Emily hung up the phone abruptly, and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.
She was… interesting, to say the least. And I kinda liked how blunt she was. She’d never really been intimidated by me. Sure, when we’d first visited the coffee shop, she thought we were up to something insidious, but me being an Alpha had never really frightened her, and she held her own remarkably well for a Beta.
She’d make a great asset to my pack, and I wouldn’t complain about sharing a mental link with her all the time, but that would have to wait until she was ready.
If she was ever ready, that is.
I walked back into the bedroom and shook my head as I saw Mia still snuggled into the covers. Then I headed for the chest of drawers to find some casual clothes to wear for today.
“Emily says we can meet up with her to talk,” I said as I rifled through the various pairs of trousers and jeans.
“When?” the blonde asked in a muffled voice.
“Soon,” I said as I pulled out a pair of blue jeans.
“Okay, have fun with that,” Mia said with a weak wave of her hand.
“You’re coming with me,” I chuckled as I slipped on my jeans.
“Am I not allowed to rot here in bed all day?” Mia groaned and sprawled her body out against the bedsheets.
“Nope,” I said and popped the ‘p’ just for effect as I slipped a blue polo shirt over my head. “I’m not letting you out of my sight while there’s a maniac out there after us.”
“A potentially dead maniac,” my girlfriend pointed out.
“I’m not taking that risk,” I said as I started to rifle through my mom’s drawer for some casual clothes.
I pulled out a loose white blouse and blue jeans and threw them over to Mia, who was still sprawled out on the bed.
“But I’m tiredddd,” she pouted.
“Tough shit, babe,” I snorted. “Come on, her break’s in forty minutes.”
“Fiiine,” Mia said with a dramatic sigh, and she begrudgingly climbed out of bed and started to slip the clothes on.
I smiled as I walked over and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“That’s my girl,” I said with a wink, and then I went into the bathroom to spray myself with some cologne and freshen up a little.
When I was done, Mia had finished getting dressed, but her cheeks were bright red, and I could hear her heart thudding against her ribcage.
“What?” I asked with a chuckle.
“What you said, about me being your girl… it was cute,” she said with a casual shrug.
“Duly noted.” I smirked. “You ready to go?”
“Sure.” Mia nodded and smoothed down her hair a little before she tied it up with a hair tie from her wrist. “Do I look okay?”
“You look beautiful,” I said as I reached for her hand. “As usual.”
“Flatterer,” my mate teased.
“Only for you.” I winked. “Okay, let’s head out. If we miss her break, I’ve got a feeling it’s gonna be pretty hard to pin her down for a talk.”
“She give you a hard time?” Mia asked knowingly as we left the apartment and got into the elevator.
“Not as much as she could have,” I said. “Surprisingly. But she is running on two hours of sleep.”
“Great,” Mia sighed. “I suppose we really shouldn’t keep her waiting then.”
“Nope,” I said and felt the elevator start to drop down to the ground floor. “You think she’ll ever fully warm up to us?”
“One day,” my mate said. “Maybe in the far, far, farrr future, but one day, I do.”
“I hope so,” I said with a sigh. “She’s nice, when she wants to be. Not to mention one hell of a fighter.”
“You’re not wrong there,” Mia giggled. “Watching her put that asshole in a headlock and strangle him was the highlight of my week.”
“And there’s that hidden sadism again,” I tutted. “I never pegged you for having such a dark streak, Mia.”
“Like I said, you’d be surprised,” she said with a wink and led me out of the elevator as soon as it pinged open.
We headed straight to my car, and I immediately started surveying how wrecked it was from last night.
The damage wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. There were scratch marks on the side that I’d slammed into the black car with, as well as a few big dents. The back bumper was the worst out of all the damage. The metal had crumpled from the impact when our assailant had rammed into the back, but it was still somehow clinging on. At least enough that I shouldn’t get pulled over when we went to the coffee shop.
I didn’t want to risk walking and miss Emily’s break, even if Mia and I could walk faster than the average human without drawing attention to ourselves. Knowing our luck, another evil Beta might show up and try to take us out in broad daylight, and I definitely did not want to deal with that spectacle.
“I’ll book an appointment to get your car fixed for you,” Mia said as she got into the passenger seat. “And I can arrange for someone to take it for you. I’m sure Roland won’t mind driving you to work until it’s fixed up.”
“Thanks, babe, that would be great,” I said as I forced myself away from the damage on my brand-new car and got into the driver’s seat. “Of course we got into a car chase after I got a new car.”
“Yeah, the timing was not great, huh?” Mia giggled. “We’ll get it fixed, though.”
“Yeah,” I said as I started the car, which thankfully started. “Shame it’s such an eyesore.”
“I think it looks cool.” My mate shrugged. “And you did get into a car chase, it’s not like you’re a poser.”
“True,” I snorted. “But what are the general public gonna think when they see the esteemed inheritor of Lunar Corp. driving around in a jacked-up car?”
“You worry too much,” she teased. “No one’s gonna bat an eye at a scraped-up car. It’s New York, everyone’s too focused on themselves.”
“Here’s to hoping,” I joked. “Let me know when it needs to be taken into the shop. The sooner it’s done and out of the way, the better.”
“I will,” Mia said and pulled out her phone to probably look at availability. “I’m also getting your suits fixed up. You know, the ones that were ruined.”
“Great,” I said as I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road. “I’m glad I’ve got my dad’s suits in the meantime.”
“Yeah, I don’t think you’re getting any better than those,” my girlfriend joked. “I still have no idea how he managed to customize them like that.”
It turns out when I shifted into my full wolf form while wearing one of my dad’s suits, it hadn’t ripped at all. Instead, the fabric had just woven itself back together after it was torn from my body, and it was gonna be super handy if I ever needed to suddenly shift into my wolf form again.
“Me neither, but then again, I’ve sorta come to the realization that there was a lot I didn’t know about my dad,” I said with a weak laugh.
My parents had hidden my wolf side from me my whole life by giving me shift stoppers. It was only when they’d died and I stopped taking them that I realized who I actually was.
It was crazy to think that for all my life, I’d just been a simple human being. I was completely unaware of the power inside of me, and that I was actually a Supreme Alpha. Supreme Alphas were Alphas with enhanced powers, far greater and more powerful than regular Alphas.
Basically, I could not only use an elite humanoid form when I shifted, but also my wolf form, too.
Supremes were much rarer than normal Alphas, and it only made me realize how much I’d missed out on even more.
We arrived outside of the little coffee shop Emily worked at in no time, and there was a space I could park just down the street.
It was pretty busy today, and as we stepped out of the car, we were swept along with the morning hustle. I managed to drag Mia to the side right as we passed by the coffeehouse, and I pulled her inside with me before she got lost in the sea of people.
The smell of coffee beans and the sweet scent of vanilla hit me like a ton of bricks the moment we stepped inside, and my sensitive ears perked up a little as I tuned into every conversation going on in the somewhat busy shop.
“Wow, you actually showed up in time,” Emily said dryly as she walked out from behind the counter and took her apron off. “There’s a surprise.”
Emily had dazzling light blue eyes and dark red hair that was cut sharply at her shoulders. She also had an incredible figure that was only accentuated by the tight jeans she wore and the low-cut black shirt she had tied into a knot around her waist.
“Nice to see you too, Emily,” I said with a playful roll of my eyes. “You still willing to talk?”
“Willing is a strong word.” The Beta flashed me a teasing smirk, and I felt my heartbeat accelerate. “But I’ll give you ten minutes. Just out of goodwill.”
“We’ll take what we can get,” Mia said with a small smile. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” Emily said as she looked my mate up and down.
Weirdly, I didn’t feel as protective as I would have if anyone else did that, but seeing Emily check out my girlfriend like that made me kinda turned on.
Is there anything else you want to ask her while we’re here? Mia asked down our bond with a knowing smirk.
Don’t tease me, babe, I replied as I fought back a smirk of my own.
Honestly, the thought of having those two in my bed at the same time was driving me insane, and I had to concentrate so I could ask Emily the right questions rather than picturing what she looked like under her uniform.
“So, what do you need me for?” the Beta asked as she led the way to a small table made out of a recycled barrel in the corner of the rustic coffee shop.
“We wanted to ask you about the Beta back in the den,” I said as I pulled out a stool and sat down. “The one you fought and had in a headlock.”
“Oh, that asshole?” Emily scoffed as she threw herself onto the couch opposite us. “What about him?”
I shared an uneasy look with Mia before I leaned in closer to the cherry-haired Beta. Then I opened my phone and showed her the picture of the delivery truck that Victor had sent me with the message ‘We’re Coming’ torn into the side. Emily’s eyes widened a little as she looked at it before she sat back in her seat.
“You think that’s him?” she asked.
“He was the only one who wasn’t afraid of me,” I said. “Who’s to say he didn’t run off to the wolves attacking the delivery truck to tell them about what I’d done?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” the Beta grumbled. “That asshole always was a piece of work.”
“Do you know his name?” Mia asked. “Or anything that could help us find him?”
“I know his name, but it won’t do you any good,” Emily said as he crossed her arms, which pushed her cleavage up a little higher. “He lived in the subway station. His whole life was the pack, and willingly.”
“So, what’s his name?” I asked. “It’s better than nothing.”
“Carter,” she said. “No last name. See? Not much good.”
“At least I can put a name to the face of the asshole who possibly tried to kill us the other night,” I grumbled.
“He tried to kill you?” she asked as she blinked in surprise. “Where?”
“On the road,” I said. “He chased us in a black car. Then he totaled it flying over a bridge to try and catch us off guard.”
“That… doesn’t make any sense, Josh,” Emily said, and her brow furrowed in confusion. “Look, Carter was an asshole and about as rotten as Drake, but he was a Beta, through and through. He worshiped the ground Drake walked on, it’s why he joined him on his own terms. There has to be someone else pulling the strings.”
“You think someone’s controlling him?” I asked. “Another Alpha?”
Emily shuffled uncomfortably and put one leg over the other as she repositioned herself.
“When you killed Drake, that left his territory open,” the Beta said. “You didn’t officially claim it, which means someone else is probably trying to. Or worse… already has.”
“I don’t understand.” I frowned. “I thought that after I killed Drake, it was mine?”
“It’s not quite as simple as that,” Emily said with a wince. “There will always be competitors for territory. And Drake’s territory was… well, it was never really his.”
“I’m confused,” I said with a shake of my head. “If it wasn’t his, then who the hell was it?”
“Drake’s father,” Emily said plainly. “Leon Drake. To avoid confusion, he was always just Leon, though. He was allowing Drake to prove himself so he could give the territory over to him, until you came along. I never got to meet him, but whenever Drake spoke about him, it was nothing good.”
“Do you think he’s the one who set the Beta on me?” I asked.
“It’s highly possible.” Emily nodded. “I don’t think Carter would be able to plan things like a car chase without it being orders from an Alpha. And the only person close enough with Drake to care would be his father.”
“Great, so I’ve pissed off his dad,” I said with a sigh as I ran my fingers through my hair. “How come Leon was giving away his territory?”
“I don’t have a goddamn clue.” The Beta shrugged. “Maybe he has bigger fish to fry? Manhattan is small, and the territories have pretty much been the same longer than you and I have been alive.”
“Care to share?” I asked with what I hoped was a charming smile. “I’m sorta new to this whole thing.”
“Fine,” Emily sighed. “If you need someone to teach you the basics, I can give you a rundown, but you owe me.”
“Aren’t I already in your debt?” I asked with a tilt of my head. “Do I really want to be even more?”
“Depends.” The smirk on her face set my heart racing. “You don’t know what I want yet.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to find out,” I said as I mirrored her smirk. “Let’s hear it then.”
