Bewitching the Werewolf (3 page)

I pulled away from him and went to the chair, sitting down with a thunk, on top of all the clothes. Zack sat back down on the bed, his head in his hands as he took deep breaths. Now he really looked like a man in pain.

Very calmly, head still in his hands as he looked at the floor, he said, “You know, we used to have a witch on retainer. And it
never
felt like that.” Then he turned, a very forbidding and closed expression on his face as he scrutinized my appearance.

“
Magic is unpredictable. That was my fault. I should have shielded differently…uh, it won’t happen again. We don’t want to be late.” I stood up and grabbed my purse from the table, making a beeline for the door. I reached for the handle but he was right behind me, hand on the door near my head, keeping it closed.

“
Not so fast. Has that happened before?”

I didn’t want to turn around. See him that close to me, lips close enough to touch, body close enough to press up against. I felt his head descending towards my neck, heard him sucking in a deep breath.

“
Do you want all your clients this much? Is this why you get the big retainer?”

My laugh was brittle. “No. But it happens sometimes. Not often, thankfully.”

I actually didn’t know anyone that it happened to. It was one of those rumors wiccans tell each other—the orgasmic aura—like ghost stories, a get rich spell, or having multiple orgasms. It wasn’t supposed to be true!

I was here to find this guy a mate, not sleep with him.

“
Did you do it on purpose? Get me all hot and bothered, then send me into a room full of my own kind and hope I fuck someone in a darkened corner while every professional contact I have is there? This isn’t just fundraising but networking and talking to clients. It’s not a joke. Whatever you are going to do is something I need to know about and approve. I’m not going to be led around by my dick, do you understand?”

I turned around and had to look up to him. He was too close so I pushed on his chest, moving him back from me a little. “I didn’t do it on purpose! I am
actually
a professional. It was an accident and it won’t happen again, alright?”

“
If it does, you’re fired.”

“
If it does, I quit!”

His eyes were a golden brown and I could almost see the wolf pacing inside of him. He licked his lips and took a step closer to me, the air whooshing out of my chest as I realized that he was about to kiss me.

“
You’re not going tonight. I’ll call you in the morning. This may not work out, you understand? Be ready to pack your bags.” Then he reached beyond me, yanking open the door, while I scampered out of the way.

He jerked past me, the door pulled open so hard it slammed into the wall. He cursed and threw me an irritated glance, clearly infuriated at the loss of control. Then he was gone.

And I had the sad realization that I was all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Chapter 4

Actually that wasn’t entirely true. Yes, I did stand around for a moment or two wondering if I should do what he wanted, or even worse call to apologize. But then I realized that doing what I was told would be totally out of character.

So I did a little glamour spell to ensure that no one would be able to see me at the party. The place was hopping and I had a moment of chagrin. If I had just given the man a damned pill I could be here right now, on his arm—like candy, probably of the penny variety— but at least I would be able to ogle and hold onto him. Hear his jokes or listen to him talk about business, but instead I was incognito.

I paused next to the buffet table while I looked around the room. Why
did
I care about what had happened? Why did I want to hang onto Zack? He was just a job. And the job was terrible. Find hot guy his mate even though I had a crush on him.

Already. So pathetic.

That’s why I’d behaved like a new little witch and tried to take away his headache magically. I had wanted to impress him…and touch him. And see how our energies combined.

Stupid.

I saw Zack across the room talking to an elderly couple, champagne glass in hand. I meandered over, listening in on the conversation, “They think they’re only going to be giving a 5% yield but their last three projects have had a return of over 20%. We’d be stupid not to invest in it.”

Voice sexy, words boring.

Then the couple walked away and Zack set off, cutting through the people to the other side of the room. I followed him, feeling a bit let down when he stopped before his mother. I’d thought something exciting was going to happen, like I could follow him into the men’s room or something.

“
She’s here.”

His mother’s eyes widened, “You’re sure?” She began looking around the room, almost frantically.

“
I’m positive.”

My heart started pounding and my palms started to sweat. Btw, those are two things that mess with magic. Excitement and fear can really mess with a spell. I decided to get out of there fast, worried my magic would fail and I’d be caught with my glamour down.

As it was, I could deny it tomorrow. Sure, he thought I was here, but he couldn’t
actually
see me. I’d just tell him I had stayed in the room like a docile dachshund.

I followed a handsome man out the door and turned to the right, walking back to my hotel feeling unaccountably bereft. He’d been really irritated that I was there. I feared that maybe I should just quit now and go back to New York.

Chapter 5

The next morning I had a plan. I was going to keep it professional and bring him a coffee. He couldn’t fire me if I came with a mocha, could he?

One Grande, half chocolate mocha with light whip, and one percent milk later, I went waltzing into the office building. People were working at desks and computers in a huge open space, but apparently Zack hadn’t come in yet. His secretary let me into his office, keeping the door open, to wait.

Zack came in twenty minutes later looking a little disheveled and tired. He saw me and his mouth made a hard line before giving me a tight smile.

Shit, I’m still fired
.

“
I brought coffee! A mocha, actually.”

“
Thanks.” He threw his briefcase onto the desk haphazardly and it slid off, hitting his chair and then bumping to the ground. He looked surprised and then jerked his gaze back towards me, frowning at me. Distracted much?

“
Sorry, I’m a little off my game. My mate is here. But a coffee is really nice of you.”

I stood up straight, felt my stomach plummet into my two inch pumps and gave an odd smile, “Mocha, actually. Well, that’s great. I guess you didn’t need any hocus-pocus after all.”

“
What?” He threw me a confused look. “No, last night she showed up at the gala. But I couldn’t find her and now she’s back again. She’s here, somewhere in the building.

“
Well, I’ll just leave the coffee here and see you…never. It was nice to meet you, I’m sure they’ll want at least half the retainer but you’ll need to work that out with them. I just make the magic happen, don’t get involved with the billing much, you kn—”

“
Why do you have verbal diarrhea?” he said frowning. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I think you bring out the worst in me. He picked up the mocha from his desk and took a sip.

That comment made me frown. But I’d heard about my effect on people before so I was willing to let it go.

“
Eww. No I don’t. I was just trying to say goodbye in a polite—

“
Hold up. You can’t leave yet. Can’t you do like a locator spell or something?”

It was my turn to give him ‘confused face.’ “You lost her already?”

He growled at me and I took a step back. It was kind of hot, but mostly it just reminded that this guy wasn’t as human as he looked.

Definitely outside my comfort zone.

“
No. I couldn’t find her last night. She left the party before I could find her.”

“
What about your super power?” I tapped the side of my nose.

“
There were two hundred people in that room, believe me it was hard to smell anything. And that was probably for the best. Chanel no. 5 and salmon don’t mix.”

I wanted to say eww again. “Eww. Then how did you know she was there?”

He leaned back against his desk, legs crossed at the ankles. “I felt it.”

For a moment it seemed like he was talking just to me. I found myself walking closer, stopping a foot away from his crossed ankles, close enough to smell his cologne. It smelled really nice. “Hey, why do you wear cologne, I thought you didn’t like smells?”

“
I’m used to it. I don’t notice it. And she’s here now.”

“
Really?” I looked around, expecting some tall leggy blond with red nails like claws to jump out from behind the door or something.

“
Not in
here
, out there” He made a waving motion. “In the office.”

“
Well then why are you here? Go get her. Atta boy. Fetch.”

He looked at me with cold patience. “Do you know how many people are in this building?”

“
No. I don’t work here, I have no idea,” I said reasonably.

“
Three hundred.”

“
You’re right. That is a lot.”

“
I have no idea how to narrow it down. But I have to find her. I can’t risk her leaving.” His gaze slid away from mine and I felt like there was something he wanted to say but was trying not to.

“
I can’t locate her. I would need something that belonged to her. We’d have to know who she was first. But here is a thought. What if you pulled the fire alarm, like as a test, and as people filed out the door you’d know when she left the building. We could watch on the surveillance cameras.”

He looked at me in shock. “That’s a great idea!”

“
Do you know how often people tell me that? And they
always
look just as surprised. It’s really irritating.”

He gave me a small smile, and we headed down to the first floor security office. The security officer was named Chuck and he had a gut the size of a basketball. He also worked with a gal named Heidi. But, boy, was she misnamed. She was the female version of Chuck.

And I was pretty sure they batted for the same team.

They made an announcement that they were going to test the fire alarm and have everyone gather at the very edge of the parking lot, about five hundred yards away.

Hopefully, it would be far enough. We watched them file out of the building, Zack and I were staring at the screen, a few feet apart, arms crossed, leaning in as though that would make the image clearer. As the minutes ticked by, my shoulders started to ache with tension and I forced myself to relax. Finally, everyone was out of the building and shock— nothing had happened.

“
Well?” I asked, desperately curious.

“
She’s still here. I didn’t feel any change, she hasn’t disappeared or gotten closer or anything.”

I had a horrible urge to giggle. “So either she’s out there and we missed her, she’s in the bathroom with stomach poisoning and hasn’t left yet. Or it’s Heidi.”

Heidi didn’t know what we were talking about but she gave us an evil glare. I bet she had a mean softball arm.

Zack looked at me, giving me a quick once over, voice soft and intense. “Those are the only options you came up with?”

Gulp.

“
You better go outside,” he said in a low tone.

“
Heidi is coming too!” I said.

“
Fine. No offense Heidi, I’m sure you’re a lovely woman but I suspect you’d be just as surprised to find I was your mate as I would be.”