“Huh? What?” I lift my head, disoriented.
Paper stuck to my cheek falls onto the large, oak desk.Crap.I fell asleep working again.
“Dude, were you sleeping?” Tyler asks with a grin evident in his voice.
My lips smack together, and I rub my eyes. “No,” I say, yawning.
“Surrre you were,” he says sarcastically. “Well, wake up. The council’s here.”Shit.
Frantic, I spring from my chair and frantically sift through and stack random things. Not awake yet, I gather a stapler, a binder for inventory and other random crap in my arms.
Tyler watches me scurry around the office, stuffing things into drawers, scratching his head. “What’re you doing?”
I pause. WhatamI doing?
“I don’t know.”
Everything in my arms as I clutch the tresses of my tousled hair as if to hold my scattered mind together.
I figured we’d heard from them sooner or later, but I didn’t expect them to drop by unannounced. I’m unprepared and can’t think clearly. “I need coffee.”
I catch a glimpse of something red and look down to see I’m also without pants.
Tyler retrieves my trousers that were hanging on the back of the sofa and chucks them at me. With one hand, I snatch them from the air and put them on.
He crosses his arms across his chest. “What’re they doing here anyway?”
I throw on the blazer strewn over my chair and loop a tie around my neck.
“If I had to guess, they’re probably looking to discuss my request to choose my mate,” I say to Tyler, communicating with him through the mirror, while I navigate my tie like my father taught me as a boy.
Over, under... There.I make the final adjustments to my tie and then smooth it down my chest.
I chime in before he can say anything. “I don’t want to get into this with you.” Not again.
Tyler has verystrongfeelings about chosen mates, morallyandspiritually. He believes it goes against our Goddess to choose someone and hates that you could be taking someone from another who was meant to have them.
Not finding his mate in the Hunt this past year really did a number on him. It gave him a new perspective. He’s different from the douchebag I remember. He can’t stand the idea of someone else marking the person meant for him. He’d wait forever for his love, so the idea that they wouldn’t is devastating.
“If that’s what you want,” he sighs, reserving his judgment the best he can. “Who do you have in mind?”
I thought I’d have more time to think about my options. I run through the potential within the pack as it’d be better to choose someone who is already familiar with our ways. “They need to be well-liked, respectable. Bonus points if they have powers.”
Tyler taps his chin. “Who’s that she-wolf with the supernatural green thumb... Her name is... Oh, what was it?”
“Amaya.”
Recognizing her name, he snaps his fingers. “Yes, that’s the one!” He tilts his head to the same side of the shoulder he shrugs and considers, “She’d be good. Her family belongs to generations of successful farmers. It’d pair well with my hunting abilities.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“Hmm... The only problem is her hygiene is not the best.”
Iwishthat were the only problem, but there’s a simple fix to that. The real issue is that I’m not attracted to her. Not that she’s not beautiful, but because I’ve already seen Jay. But the mate bond will take care of that.
“So, where are we meeting with them?”
***
