Portia claps her hands together to show her delight, which is written clearly in her broad smile. “That’s wonderful, Alpha Brooks! When are you planning on making the official announcement?”
“Soon,” I smirk, winking at Portia. She proceeds with the task of moving my files over to Rissa’s binder.
“It appears Rissa is free after the patient she’s seeing right now,” Portia says. “She would have had her lunch break, but I’m sure she’ll be pleasantly surprised to see you.”
“Thanks, Portia.” I leave the older lady with a courteous nod before making my way down the west corridor, in the direction I’ve avoided since Rissa began working here.
As I approach her door, nothing about me being here to see her today feels odd, and I realize why I’d been avoiding her all these years. In hindsight, I felt the pull of the mate bond shortly after receiving my wolf. Denying that my wolf was drawn to her from the start, I kept my distance and pushed her away at every turn.
The last time I saw Rissa before the Elders called us for a meeting was on the night of our graduation, and our paths hadn’t crossed since then because I made sure I was never anywhere she was.
I guess I always knew, but I was just in denial. Even now, as I reach the door leading into her office, I glimpse her seeing to a patient and realize how wrong I was about her.
Through the small square glass panel on the door, I see her taking Emily’s blood pressure, a smile on her face as she does her work diligently. As if Emily wasn’t the one who tried to berate her outside my house.
It seems that no matter who tries to bring her down, Rissa will always rise and turn back to help the very same ones who hurt her.
Just like with me. She saved me when I was badly injured from the demon’s attack, and she still wears a smile on her face whenever she’s around me.
Though she hasn’t opened up fully to us being mates—I suspect she doesn’t have any idea that we’re fated mates—I do believe that with time, she’ll open up to me.
Smiling to myself, even though I have no idea how she’s able to exercise restraint and still manage to be kind to the she-wolf I’d caught outside my house, belittling her, I turn to the waiting benches along the wall outside Rissa’s office. I take a seat, patiently anticipating her face when she sees me.
“Alpha Brooks…?” a gut-wrenchingly sweet female voice echoes down the corridor, lifting my attention to find a familiar head cocked to the side.
Groaning irritably, I huff before saying, “Laura…what are you doing here?”
The blonde she-wolf who’d thrown herself at me on the night of our graduation became a regular hook-up when I returned from alpha camp, but I never had feelings for her, and could never see myself being mated to the she-wolf.
It hasn’t stopped her from trying to flirt with me every time we crossed paths.
Not feeling up to her antics now, I cross my arms over my chest and wear a blank expression when she approaches.
“I’m here to see the healer, of course,” Laura chimes as she uninvitedly takes a seat beside me. Becoming uncomfortable, my body turns rigidly tense.
“You remember Rissa from school, right?”
I grunt under my breath, keeping my eyes pinned to the wall in front of me.
“Rissa Rudolph,” I say my mate’s name with a firm nod. “She’s—”
“Not important,” Laura clicks her tongue, interrupting me when I was just about to mention that Rissa is my mate. I know Laura must know this already—everyone in the pack has already caught wind of the news, and they know Rissa lives with me now.
When Laura’s fingertips brush against my neck, I shudder from the unwanted touch.
“What are you doing, Laura?!” I exclaim with exasperation as I glare at the she-wolf angrily.
“Oh, come on, Brooks!” Laura rolls her eyes. “We both know that you can’t be serious about your mate bond with the worthless omega. I know you’re only doing it to appease the Elders. We’ll make a better match, anyway.”
“There is nowe, Laura!” I spit back with venom, growling as I glare at her, pointing a finger of warning in her face. “You’ve gotta get that through your skull. And if you ever speak a word against Rissa again, I will kick you out of Snehvolk myself. I have the authority, don’t test my patience.”
Laura gasps, a hand flying to her neck, but her shock doesn’t reach her eyes that flicker to Rissa’s office door just as itopens. She doesn’t stop her advances, reaching out long fingers toward my face. I flinch away from her touch as I get to my feet just as Laura’s friend, Emily, walks out with a sadistic grin and exchanges a nod with Laura.
That’s when I storm into Rissa’s office, only to find that Rissa is missing, realization hitting me.
Laura and Emily plotted to tear Rissa down, and now she’s fled her office.
I slam my way through the door at the back of her office, finding traces of her scent still hanging in the air like breadcrumbs that will lead me toward her. Through the staffroom, abuzz with activity with staff taking their lunch break, I notice that Rissa isn’t here either, her scent leading me to a back door that takes me outside.
