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“Can you bring her food?” he asks. “She said that she was going to have a long day, and insisted on only bringing snacks.”

“Yeah, I can,” I say. When she’s busy, it’s harder for her to get the time to eat a full meal, so snacks work better. It’s almost four though, so I may be able to tempt her with tacos.

Walking out the door, I check my phone as I head to my car. I started my business right after I graduated with my masters degree as an analyst to help companies enhance their profit margins.

I wanted something that would allow me to help others while still being able to work from home when I wanted to. The business definitely exploded when I started proving how quicklyI could turn around a company that might be flagging in sales or marketing.

Opening my door, I get into my Jeep and start the engine. Georgia weather is so nice year round, I bought myself a new car to celebrate graduating. If I want Nina to enjoy her wins, then I have to walk the talk.

Her birthday is coming up next week, and she’s still weird about celebrating it. Vivian managed to ruin a lot of her birthdays until she stopped acknowledging them at all.

That’s unacceptable to me, which means I’m planning a surprise birthday party for her. She deserves to celebrate with people who love her.

The drive to the newspaper goes quickly, another plus for Nina since her commute is short. Parking in the underground garage, I hum to myself as I make my way to the elevator.

Nina started work at six this morning, and has barely responded to messages today. That means the day has been heinous. As her alpha, it’s my duty to kidnap her and ply her with tacos.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Impatiently, I sigh as I step inside of the elevator and stab at the button for the twelfth floor. I swear, it takes forever for the elevator to rise, and it constantly stops at different floors.

If I were my father, I’d just scare people out so I could get to my omega without having to wait. These are the times that I can appreciate being feral.

As soon as the doors open, I practically explode out of them, stalking past the cubicles to find Nina’s. The sound of people talking and keyboard tapping is loud and I wonder how she’s able to concentrate.

As I approach, I see her standing and arguing with her manager. What the fuck is he going on about?

“I’m sorry,” he says, shrugging. “Martin bought out the newspaper and said he doesn’t want you working here.”

Martin…As in Vivian’s ex-husband?

“I was barely his stepdaughter,” she groans. “I don’t know why his sleeping with my mother makes any difference.”

“Martin says you’re a liability?—”

Yeah, I’ve heard about enough of this.

“Excuse me, what exactly is the problem here?” I bark out.

Nina glances at me with a sad expression, and I fist my hand in anger. I fucking hate seeing her sad.

“Nina’s fired,” her manager grunts. “She needs to be out in the next five minutes.”

“Are you going to stand there while she gets her things together and continue to speak to her?” I ask. “I believe you no longer have that privilege since she no longer works here.”

“I…” Her manager swallows hard and shakes his head. “Five minutes or I’m getting security involved, Nina.”

My little queen rolls her eyes at him while I enjoy a bit of pettiness and shove her manager aside with my shoulder as I follow her into her cubicle.

“He blindsided you, didn’t he?” I ask, watching as she drops into her chair.

“Pretty much,” she says. “I was working on my piece for the newspaper, in the zone and ignoring everything when Milo interrupted me. He said that effective immediately, I was fired due to a change in owner. When I asked him why that would cause me to lose my job, he said that it’s because Martin is the new owner.”

“He didn’t seem to have a problem when Lyle encouraged him to sign divorce papers,” I mutter, crouching beside her.

“The piece I’m writing is about the new Omega Center that they’re getting off the ground in Savannah,” she says, flicking away a wayward tear as she reopens her laptop.

“Blog it,” I say, knowing there’s some gravel behind my words. “You have a following now, Little Queen. Use it.”