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If the man had created even the slightest reaction in her body that shows attraction, she would have thrown away a lifelong ingrained value never to preposition a man and ask the man out.

But, he doesn't do a thing for her. Too bad. Too. Very. Bad.

"So, I'm Josiah Steele and you are?" He outstretched his hand.

She placed her smaller one in his and shook him firmly, "Ismena Cranes. I— wait. Josiah Steele?" Her eyes went wide, "THE JOSIAH STEELE!?"

"TheJosiah Steele." He confirmed, a smile feathered his hard features.

There's only one popular Josiah Steele here and that's the CEO of the company. Being a very big company, she—and half of the workers— has never really seen him before. Wait, there is a long standing rumor in the company that the boss is cold and calculating, almost robotic. Workers tend to avoid him.

Ismena looked carefully at the man standing before her. It most certainly doesn’t seem that way to her.

"Woah! It's an honor to meet you, sir!" She bowed her head, a grin splitting her lips.

"The pleasure is all mine too, Miss Cranes. Do you work here?"

"Yes, I do. I'm in the marketing department." She'd dressed up today so she wouldn't look any different than the others, even though she's currently on leave. But, the CEO doesn't need to know that.

"Oh? Under Macdonald, Clinton or Rard?"

"Macdonald, Sir." The one and only jerk-boss.

"Alright, I hope we'll be meeting again very soon." He glanced at his gold Rolex wristwatch, "But, I have to go now."

"Of course." She inclined her head again.

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Wolfariane Daminor Throne admitted to himself that his mate managed to win one over him. The sassy, sneaky female.

He'd stalked her that night, and enjoyed it, but then he'd gotten an urgent call from Cronus which took his attention away from the female. It took hours, and had him ingrained in the conversation. It had been a very long call.

By the time he'd finished, he lost her scent. He couldn't scent her anywhere. She'd disappeared on him.

At first he'd hunted her all around the vicinity and beyond, but there was no trace of her. When he'd drawn her scent from within and went hunting for her, he realized that she'd left the city.

Deep down, he'd admired her smartness and toughness, even if it had irritated him. Since then, he'd taken every opportunity he can to search the cities of America for the infuriating woman. Sadly, he had little time on his hands for that because businesses were calling to him, both from Cronus's side and from Naturiah.

Today, he just got out of a meeting with Cronus, his pack and other members of the board. He entered the black limousine, relaxed back and closed his eyes, while Degar, the leopard Alpha, got into the driver's side and started the ignitor.

He was in a black mood for a lot of reasons.

"Where to, Alpha King?" Degar's deep voice filled the air. He spoke in a small voice, knowing that Wolfariane's sensitive hearing will pick it up anyway.

"The mansion," He has houses scattered all over the world—everywhere the branch of his company took root. But he has mansions in New York City, Oklahoma, Egypt, China and Uganda because that's where his headquarters are.

Through the silence of the journey, his cellphone shrieked loudly. Eyes still closed, he pulled it out from his pocket and received the call.

"Alpha King?"

"Josiah." He recognized the deep, robotic voice of the mountain lion alpha, the CEO of NAALC, the branch in Oklahoma.

"I do not know if there's a mistake somewhere, but I just passed by a non-changeling female that carries your scent. It's faint,very faint," he emphasized, "but you have a very unique scent—we all do—so I was wondering..."

His eyes snapped open, he leaned forward, "Describe this woman to me."

"Petite, very beautiful, pointed nose, brown-eyes, curvy, smells like death—"