Page 20 of Manifesting a Mate

“I can only imagine how difficult that must be for you.”

“Not as difficult as the next forty-five minutes is going to be for you.” He smirks, making me sit forward. What is he up to?

“And why is that?”

His smirk widens into a toothy smile “I knew you forgot we had a meeting with the accountant today. Let’s see how easy it is to concentrate on so many different spreadsheets. You know how Marvin can get if he thinks you aren’t following along.” The bastard is laughing now.

Groaning, I scrub my hands over my face in an attempt to scrub away all thoughts of Everett for the time being. Our accountant, Marv, works at my old employer. I hired him to help us with the bar as a little side hustle for him. He’s very good at his job and trustworthy to a fault.

It’s just slightly unfortunate that the guy is the physical definition of an accountant. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him wear anything other than a full suit. Hair parted evenly and slicked back with gel. His round, metal-rimmed glasses that seem to slip down his nose every time he looks down is the cherry on top of the plaid cake that is Marvin.

I'm pretty sure he’s allergic to any and all attempts at humor and blind to social cues. My brain hurts every single time we meet because he drones on and on in his monotone voice. The thing is, he’s actually excited about math and equations, and wants to explain every minute detail. Except, when there is zero intonation in somebody's voice, it just sounds a lot like white noise. Making concentration a feat.

“Thank you, Marvin, your report was as detailed as always. We will be sure to take your suggestions under review. Hopefully, we will see the account a lot more in the black than it currently is.” I stand up to shake his hand, discreetly stretching my back, hoping to get some blood flowing back into my ass. That was a long ass meeting. Most of which was spent going over his forecast of the business's finances for next quarter. It’s not bad for a bar in its infancy, but we still have a lot of debt to recover from the renovations. Hopefully, we can book a few more events.

Austin tries to cover a laugh with a cough at the way the bones in my back crack, but fails miserably, earning him an exasperated side-eye from our number’s guy. Fucker yawned at least three times during the meeting. I had to fight for my life not to yawn back at him.

“Sorry, Marv.” At least he sounds somewhat genuine. “I wouldn’t be able to do half of the shit you do, it’s just so fucking boring man, I have no idea how you stay awake doing this eight hours a day.”

“Well, you’re not the first and probably won’t be the last to share that opinion, Mr Wilder. It’s a good thing I don’t. I truly enjoy my job and being damn good at it means I get paid the big bucks.” He chuckles and turns to leave. “Next quarter, same time?”

“We will see you then. Pleasure doing business with you.” Austin says, winking playfully. I’m convinced my best friend is missing a few screws. His attempts to dismantle Marvin’s ever-professional manner bounces right off him like water off a duck’s back as Marv disappears through the door with a wave of dismissal over his shoulder. I’d be worried Marvin was offended by Austin’s immature jesting if the accountant wasn't laughing as he left.

“Pleasure?” I ask with disbelief. “I don’t know about you, but nothing about the last two hours has been pleasurable. I’m not even sure Marvin would know what a pleasurable experience looks like, and what’s with the fucking winking?” I ask, my face screwed up in disdain. Not that there is anything wrong with Marv, he's objectively cute if you look past all the talk of equity and assets. It’s the fact that he’s the polar opposite of Austin's type and he's an alpha. It's weird.

“I don’t know about that…it’s the quiet ones you gotta watch.” He smirks, wiggling his eyebrows at me. “You heard him, numbers do it for him. bet he recites Pi when he comes. ”

I choke on my own saliva. “What the fuck is wrong with you, man?”

“Oh come on—”

A loud roar in my mind cuts off whatever Austin said next. My bear rears up on its hind legs and slams back down. Making my brain rattle in my skull. The sheer force of his distress almost takes me out at the knees.

Mate. The word isn't spoken so much as growled at me. The warning obvious. He wants us to find Everett, but why?

Gripping the back of the chair and closing my eyes, I take a deep breath. Confusion competes with my bear's demand for immediate action. I have no idea what he’s sensing or where he even wants me to go. Surely, if Everett was in danger, I would feel his fear or his pain.

Reaching through the mate bond, I try to figure out what has my animal acting so demented. Now that he has my attention, he still hasn’t stopped his relentless roaring. He’s never acted like this before, which has a lump forming in my chest.

“Sweetheart, is everything okay?”

Nothing. Not even a faint flutter of awareness. I focus harder, pushing my concern through the connection, hoping for a pulse of assurance to come back. The silence is loud and fucking terrifying. We haven’t had our connection for long, but the absence of it was crippling

“Henry?” Austin asks, his hand reaching out to steady me. I hadn’t even realised I’d started to sway.

“Everett?” I try again,

Our link is still in place, slightly weaker than it was a few hours ago. When I was trying to focus on the never ending spreadsheets Marvin was explaining, I had to push my mate to the back of my head. Maybe if I had kept him in the forefront, I would have sensed when the bond weakened.

“I gotta go.” I tell Austin, who nods and steps to the side, not trying to stop me or question me further. He simply grabs his jacket and keys and quickly follows behind me. I appreciate it more than I can explain right now. Fear has me in a chokehold. What if something awful has happened to Everett, what if he's hurt? I don't even know where he is.

CHAPTER 17

“If it’s meant to be, it’ll be, baby just let it be.”

Everett

“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Christopher covers his mouth with a shaking hand.