Page 28 of The Wolf She Shouldn't Desire

I sigh as exhaustion overcomes me. With a pointless, hopeful wish I can sleep good and deep tonight, I walk through the house checking on a few people before heading to bed.

***

A few nights later, I find myself in a meeting with a bunch of our suppliers in the city in one of the back rooms of club Depraved. They are droning on about this and that. None of it is particularly relevant as they like to hear themselves talk. But that’s the point. My father finds this as part of my punishment for not killing the vampire I was supposed to a few nights ago. He knows I hate these types of tasks. I itch to slap the shit out of these egotistical peacocks so they’ll shut up. Unfortunately, I can’t. It’s not good business…at least in some people’s minds, including my father who will smack me around for making a fool of myself and him.

I’ll let you shoot me in the foot or something if it will get us out of this dull ass meeting, Danny interjects into my head.

I chuckle back to him through the bond.Can’t I just shootthem?

This time he is the one chuckling down the bond.Unfortunately, no.

Party pooper. If I could, I would stick my tongue out at him, but instead, I keep my face in a stoney and bored expression.

“Is there any business you would like to discuss, Talia?” one of the men drawls, pulling my attention back to the group around me.

“No,” I state.

“Okay then. I think we are done here.”

Thank God,I groan.

I feel like I’ve aged a hundred years in this room, Danny replies back.

The men file out of the room, and once they are all gone, I stand from my chair. “I need a drink now.”

“I need five,” Danny jokes.

We make our way to the bar, jostled by the many bodies we have to wade through on the way there. Once our drinks are ordered, we wait. I lean my back on the bar and place my elbows on the edge of the bar top, allowing me to look out onto the dance floor. Music thumps around the bodies in the room and urges those on the dance floor to grind their bodies seductively against others. One couple near us catches my eye briefly as they look like they are about to rip each other’s clothes off and have at it right there on the dance floor.

I give a quick chuckle and a shake of my head before I continue my perusal of those in front of me. My eyes pass a pillar as I turn my head to the left, but I quickly jerk my head back to zero in on the man leaning against the pillar with his arms crossed while staring directly at me.

Jordan.

How is it that this man never showed up anywhere I was in the past, but now he seems to be everywhere I am? Althoughit could have been that I didn’t know him or take notice of him until after the night he jumped into the fight with Jackson. He could have been creeping in the shadows like he is doing now. It would make sense with what pack he is alpha to.

I turn towards Danny. “I’m going to head out.”

“You haven’t even gotten your drink yet.” There’s a question in his tone. He can tell by the subtle change in my posture and tone that has become slightly stiff that something has caused a shift from the lazy laid-back attitude I had a second ago while leaning against the bar.

I want to get out of here. Being near Jordan is…uncomfortable? I don’t really know. I still feel the sting of his quick retreat the night the group of werewolves got after him for interacting with me. So, why not stay out of his way and avoid any interactions with him all together.

The bartender chooses that moment to set our drinks on the bar in front of Danny. My hand whips out quick like a cobra, grabs my glass, and brings the drink up to lips. The alcohol goes down with a quick burn as I chug the whole thing within two seconds. “There I drank my drink. I’m headed out.” I smack him on the shoulder.

Danny’s hand grabs onto my forearm before I can walk away. “You need me to go with you?” he asks as his eyes penetrate my own.

“I’m good Danny,” I reassure him.

He stares at me for a second longer before letting me go.

Quickly, I make my way towards the exit without looking towards the pillar I saw Jordan leaning against a minute ago.

Weaving through the streets, I feel the tension in my shoulders melt as I move farther and farther out of the city until eventually, I walk through the wall of greenery that opens up to my secret getaway. My little oasis.

With a thump, I plop down on the bench with a heavy exhalation of breath. I tilt my head back and close my eyes for a second. Then, I open them to take in the midnight sky that I love to look at so much. Without the view being polluted with the lights of the city, I can see the milky way, the little dipper, Orion’s belt and so much more, bringing me peace along with the damp greenery smell enveloping me in the forest.

That slice of peace it all brings me though is snapped in a heartbeat.

“You avoiding me darling?” Jordan’s voice travels through the wall of greenery I just came through, and then he appears before me a second later. I curse myself for not being more aware, since I didn’t hear him until he spoke.

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