Something told him that this time he wouldn’t be kept waiting.
He was right. Within seconds of stepping off the elevator, a harried-looking man with sweat beading on his brow barreled through the glass doors, eyes locking on Sebastian with an immediate expression of relief. There were bags under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept in days, and his hair was sticking up like he’d been running his hands through it in frustration.
“Mr. Mann, thank you for coming,” the man said, ignoring Vano and Alvarez completely. “I’m Liam Harding. I work as a liaison here at Life Mate. I’m sorry we had to call you here on such short notice.”
“That’s okay,” Sebastian said, reflexively polite. He figured that everyone knew that he didn’t want to be there, so there was no point in making a big deal about it. “What was it you wanted to see me about?”
Harding reached into his pocket and grabbed a handkerchief, patting it against his moist forehead. “I think we should discuss that in my office.” He looked at Alvarez and Vano, shooting them a tight smile. “Thank you, officers. I can take it from here.”
Neither Vano nor Alvarez seemed particularly impressed with Harding, but they both nodded and took a step back. They looked down at Sebastian, pity written clear across their features.
“All right,” Alvarez said, clapping Sebastian on the shoulder. “Good luck, kid.”
Sebastian watched them move back into the elevator, wishing he could go with them. The doors closed, the elevator making a sound as it carried the two cops away.
“Right this way.” Harding turned around and started to walk without waiting to see if Sebastian would follow.
Sebastian hurried to catch up, wondering why he was in such a rush.
They walked down a long corridor, Harding’s long legs forcing Sebastian to jog to keep up as the older man marched toward his office. Harding still had his handkerchief out, dabbing his forehead periodically, and Sebastian wondered why he didn’t just remove his jacket.
“Did you need another scent sample?” Sebastian asked when they reached Harding’s office, knowing even as he asked the question that the reason he’d been summoned wasn’t going to be anything so simple.
“In a manner of speaking,” Harding said, opening the door and letting Sebastian walk in ahead of him. He nodded at a chair facing the narrow desk in front of the window, indicating that Sebastian should sit. “I’ll explain everything.”
Sebastian sat down, placing his hands on his lap and perching at the very edge of his seat.
Harding took a seat behind the desk, opening a folder and shuffling through the papers inside in what seemed like a nervous habit.
“So why am I here?” Sebastian finally asked when the silence became too much to bear.
Harding looked up and closed the file, shoving it forward and folding his hands on the space he’d cleared on the desk.
“One of the werewolves I’m currently working with, Alpha Blackwell, had a very positive reaction to your scent sample. He’s requested an in-person meeting.”
“Oh,” Sebastian mumbled, taken off guard even though there was no other reason for Life Mate to have the police bring him in to their offices.
“Based on your scent – or more accurately, your pheromones – he believes very strongly that you and he might be a match, and if it turns out he’s right, he wants to claim you.”
Harding studied Sebastian closely, gauging his reaction. When Sebastian didn’t object or have a breakdown, he nodded to himself and pulled the folder back, opening it up and looking over the papers inside.
It was definitely a nervous habit, Sebastian decided. He could tell that Harding wasn’t actually looking at the papers.
“So when is the meeting?” Sebastian asked, wondering how to mentally prepare for something like that. He’d never talked to a werewolf before, but the ones he’d seen on TV had just looked like normal people. Taller than average, obviously, but other than that Sebastian didn’t know how to tell a werewolf apart from anot-werewolf.
Thinking about it, Sebastian wondered if maybe he’d met several werewolves and just hadn’t realized.
“The thing is,” Harding said, avoiding the question. “Alpha Blackwell has been looking for a human for a little over four months, and you’re the first candidate he’s wanted to meet with. He’s quite impatient.”
“Is that unusual?” Sebastian was getting a bad feeling about this.
“Every client is unique,” Harding said, which to Sebastian sounded like a circumspect way of sayingyes.
He wondered why, out of all the scents Blackwell must have sampled, his was the one that stood out.
“So I’m meeting him soon?”
He already knew the answer. Harding winced, closing the folder again and nodding.
