Of course, he had someone tailing me. Ever since he had found out I was pregnant, Sam’s protective instincts had gone into overdrive. This shadowing was only the most recent example. He had tried to insist on my having a bodyguard at all times. When I told him no, I started catching some of the guardswho worked for him following me in secret. Sam insisted on meeting me after work, regardless of whether I walked or drove. And I had caught him chatting with Amelia on more than one occasion, as if trying to assess how I was doing.
“He’s just worried about you,” Oz said.
“Why would he be worried about me?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral. If Sam had told anyone about the baby, then I really would tear him to shreds.
“Because you’re his mate?” Oz asked. “Is that a trick question or something?”
There was no sign on Oz’s face that he knew the truth, so at least Sam had kept his promise. I breathed a little easier. That didn’t mean I was any less furious with him. Only that I was less angry than I would have been otherwise.
I let out a deep breath as I looked around, half-expecting to see Sam himself lurking somewhere in the distance, unsatisfied with only one guard shadowing me wherever I went. Oz still lingered to the side, waiting to see if I was about to kill the messenger. But my issue had nothing to do with him. I intended to cut this problem off at the source.
“Hop in if you’re coming with me,” I said, marching to the car without bothering to stop for him. “There’s no sense pretending that you aren’t supposed to keep tabs on me until I get home, so we might as well save gas.”
“Are you heading home?”
I snorted, my anger still surging as my wolf bristled in frustration. “Hell, no. I’ve got other things I need to take care of.”
“Where are we going exactly?” Oz asked, trotting until he caught up with me.
I gave a grin with bared fangs. I didn’t miss the fact that Oz leaned away as I started up the car.
“I’m going to go have a chat with my mate,” I said.
***
I barged into Sam’s office without bothering to knock. His head shot up when the door burst open. He stayed seated behind his desk, the sun from the window shining on his hair as his expression remained impassive, though I didn’t miss the surprise flickering in his eyes as he saw Oz and me.
“Sorry, Sam,” Oz said. “I told you I was never any good at stealth.”
“We need to talk,” I growled at Sam, ignoring Oz’s quip entirely.
That surprise on his eyes morphed into what I could only describe as uneasy caution. He exhaled as he set down his pen.
“You set one of your guys to tail me everywhere? And didn’t tell me?” I snarled, marching up and pressing my palms onto his desk. “You have got to be joking.”
Sam glanced behind me. “Why don’t you go grab lunch or something, Oz?” he suggested.
“You know, now that you mention it, I’m starving,” Oz agreed. I heard the door shut seconds later as if he had bolted out of there at the speed of light.
“Are you out of your mind?” I snapped at Sam when I knew we were alone. I marched toward the desk, forcing myself not to slam my hands on the table. “You’re having people stalk me at work now?”
“Oz wasn’t stalking you,” he fired back, his tone infuriatingly even. “He was just keeping an eye on you to make sure you’re safe.”
I laughed, folding my arms as I glowered up at him. “Like I’m going to get attacked at work?”
“You were attacked at work,” he pointed out. “Remember?”
“That was completely different, and you know it,” I countered.
“It doesn’t matter,” he replied. The tone of his voice held nothing but cool, rational certainty and conviction. He felt that what he had done was the right thing, and nothing I did or said was going to tell him otherwise. “It’s my job to keep you and the baby safe. I can’t be there all the time, so I’m having people keep an eye on you.”
Biting my lip, I tried to quell some of that anger, trying to see things from Sam’s perspective. I knew that none of this could be easy for him. He was used to being able to control things. It had to feel like things were spinning further and further out of his grasp. Having someone keep an eye on me probably made him feel as though he still had a grasp on a wild situation. At the same time, none of that gave him the excuse to treat me the way he had.
I sighed, trying to get my frustration under control even as I continued to bristle. I could feel my wolf snarling in frustration. I couldn’t keep doing this, no matter if it kept Sam at ease.
“You know that by having people tail me all the time, you’re only drawing attention to me. It isn’t going to take a genius to figure out why you’re having people tail me.”
“You’re my mate,” he said. “They’ll just assume it’s because of that.”
