She took a folder from a pile of identical folders, turned it around to face me, and opened it, leaning forward as she slid it toward me until I could hardly avoid the view of her cleavage within her low-necked blouse. Red lips smiled up at me.
The low growl from next to me reached my ears. An instant later, my brain tossed up the unwelcome and belated realization that the woman across the desk was attempting to flirt with me. I shifted back in my chair to put more distance between us, my eyes drawn instinctively to Jez.
By contrast, Jez had leaned forward, her hands clenched around the edge of the desk so hard her knuckles had turned white. If her fingernails hadn’t still been torn and ragged from the aftermath of the bomb attack, they would have been digging crescents into the oak laminate surface.
“I’m not hisdaughter,” she snarled. “I’mmated to his pack. So,back the fuck off, bitch.”
Francine shoved backward so abruptly that her chair squeaked across the floor. My breath lodged in my lungs, trapped there by the swell of animal lust that rolled over me like a tidal wave as my omega staked her claim with teeth and claws bared.
The three of us sat frozen in an awkward triangle for an agonizing few seconds. Then Jez sucked in a breath, the blooddraining from her face as she, too, shoved her chair backward and shot out of it.
“I’m... I didn’t mean—” she stuttered, backing rapidly toward the door. “S-sorry!”
The last was a high-pitched squeak, then she turned and literally ran from the office. Blood was still rushing in my ears as I stood more slowly and looked down at the beta woman, her face trapped in an ‘oh’ of surprise and humiliation.
“My apologies,” I said, impressed with the even tone of my own voice. “But I’m afraid we’ll be seeking the services of a different provider. Thank you for your time.”
After which, I hurried out, following after Jez with long strides.
FIFTY-FOUR
Jez
OH, MY GOD—WHAT WASwrongwith me? It was bad enough when I was plotting Paolo’s demise for daring to use Knox’s given name in front of me. I wassupposedto hate Paolo. But in what world did I have the right to growl and snarl over some random basic bitch flashing her cleavage at the alpha that I’dactuallytried to murder?
I rushed out of the building, seriously considering darting into the nearest alley and disappearing into the city. The phone in my pocket—a phone thatKnox had bought me, for fuck’s sake—buzzed. I ignored it, but I couldn’t ignore the concern battering me from two directions inside the bond.
That concern dragged me to a stumbling halt. In the next instant, Knox’s longer stride brought him outside as well. He scanned the area, his dark eyes falling on me. His shoulders slumped in relief as he approached.
Maybe he’d suspected that I’d try to run rather than face the fallout from my feral outburst. Iwantedto run... it was agonizing standing here while he stared at me as though he’d never seen me before. I looked away. Not showing my throat to him—never that. But hiding my face, which I could tell was flushed beet-red with humiliation.
He stopped several paces away. It still wasn’t far enough to keep his cedar-campfire scent from tickling my nose. The deep alpha pheromones were twisted up with uncertainty and half a dozen conflicted emotions that I couldn’t read.
Belatedly, it occurred to me that if I tried to run, Heath would just track me down through the bond. I slumped in defeat, still not meeting Knox’s gaze.
“I’m so sorry,” I mumbled, relying on alpha hearing to make out the words past the background noise of the city around us. “I didn’t... I don’t know why I...”
Great. I still couldn’t put a sentence together.
The phone in my pocket buzzed again.
Knox let me trail into silence before he spoke.
“That woman was being incredibly rude to you,” he said. “You were well within your rights to call her on it. There are plenty of other driving schools in Chicago—or I can just as easily hire someone to give you private lessons. Seriously, don’t give it another thought.”
