Page 22

22

Jax

T hey were... having fun.

Dakota had somehow put everyone at ease.

All right, Maia undoubtedly had a part in that. She was an exceptional employee, a fantastic packmate, and still, the swell of pride I felt looking at Dakota dwarfed everything else.

“Ah, yes. I’d love to. Karaoke, you said?”

Behind me, Seth snorted. “I’ll go call Charles.”

“For a ride,” I added when Igarashi arched her brow at me. “He’s my driver. I take it you haven’t found anything out of order?”

The smile she sent my way was full, her dark brown eyes twinkled merrily. Was this the same woman who’d marched into our office only a little while ago, wanting to see how we treated our employees?

Something in her seemed to have opened up, and even knowing Dakota only a short time, I understood why. When I glanced over at him, he gave me a tiny nod to let me know it was going well.

By the look of their empty sushi containers, I suspected so.

“We... haven’t,” Igarashi admitted, though when she spoke to me, she seemed less relaxed than she did around the others.

Well, maybe it wasn’t because I was a werewolf. Maia didn’t seem to offend her. We just couldn’t trust each other entirely while trying to look out for our own people’s best interests. I could understand that, even though I hoped, in time, this would get easier.

Seth returned when Charles pulled into the parking deck, and we piled tight in the back of the town car.

The karaoke place wasn’t quite what I was expecting. When we got there, we were led to a private room for our party. It was cozy, almost intimate, with bench seating and comfortable chairs, and a QR code on the table for us to order drinks and snacks.

When the waiter came in with the first round of drinks, I slipped him the company card for our tab and told everyone to order anything they liked.

Maia sang first. I got the impression everyone else was too on edge, maybe needed a couple of drinks in their system first.

Her voice was lovely and light, slipping over my nerves like warm honey. This was all going to be fine. One night out, show Igarashi a good time, don’t act like a jackass.

I could handle it.

While she moved through the song, Seth watched intently, leaning over his knees. I knew that look too damn well.

Another sip of my IPA settled in my stomach.

“Care to order something to eat, or are you full?” I asked Dakota, holding out my phone. The menu was already pulled up, and something in me wanted Dakota to order from my phone. More alpha-impulse driven provider nonsense, sure, but he took the phone, and I felt a thrill at it, even imagined the way his fingers would warm the cool glass and leave an imprint there.

I stared, thinking about impossible things that weren’t helped one bit by the way he bit his lip as he looked over the menu.

Dakota pressed against my side when he handed back my phone. He nudged my knee with his. “Do you want to sing something?”

I stared at him, and while I didn’t shrink, I could still feel heat flood my face. “I’m not half as drunk as I’d need to be for that.”

He caught his tongue between his teeth, smiling.

“What?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I thought wolves liked to howl.”

I blew out a breath while my heart did a little skip in my chest. Igarashi Minori stepped to the front of the room, picked something on a tablet and music began to play, the screen behind her flickering through an absurd video of a woman in a flowing dress, clutching her hands melodramatically.

Igarashi, for her part, was the perfect amount of dramatic.

I watched, stunned, as she belted her way through Total Eclipse of the Heart .

How the fuck was this the same woman who’d tersely taken over our office for the day?

She finished, and we all clapped, Dakota even letting out a whoop.

When Igarashi Minori sat down beside us, the bench bounced and she grinned. “You’re not...” She narrowed her eyes at me as she searched for the word she wanted. “Uncouth.”

I snorted. “And you’re not uptight, so let’s just leave it at we’ve both surprised each other?”

She took another second to size me up. Igarashi wasn’t a woman to make decisions on a whim, but when her expression softened, I almost let out a sigh of relief.

“To more opportunities to impress each other, then.” She lifted her glass, and I did the same. We clinked them together and took a sip, and when she lowered hers, she narrowed her eyes at Dakota steadily.

Was she going to ask him to come and work for them?

He... could. He might’ve signed a contract with us, but I wasn’t in the habit of forcing anyone to work for me who didn’t want to. Still, it took everything I had not to put a possessive hand on Dakota’s knee to keep him there.

Instead of a job offering issuing forth, a tiny frown puckered Igarashi’s lips for a moment, before she sighed. “Your smile... it reminds me so much of my uncle’s.”

I scowled, confused, and Dakota laughed nervously. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No,” Igarashi shook her head fast, taking a surprisingly large gulp of her drink. “No, not at all. I just haven’t thought about him in years . I forgot what he looked like until you smiled and it... hit me.”

“Oh,” Dakota whispered. He ducked his head, and my wolf reared up when he shrank into the bench.

Maybe I couldn’t protect him—maybe there was no reason to—but I could still jump in and give him a moment to process that. “Is he no longer with you?”

Igarashi shook her head again. “He died. In a car accident, when I was in college. It was terrible. His wife and baby—one day, they were all there and—and so lovely. And in one night, they were?—”

She shivered, looking away like, right then, she couldn’t quite bear to see Dakota’s smile, or the haunted look that hollowed his cheeks and parted his lips.

After a tense, quiet moment, Igarashi shook herself. “He was meant to take over the company from our grandfather, but it didn’t work out for him. Not for my father, either. He died shortly after, but we’re—we’re lucky Jiro was ready to step into such a significant role. And so young.”

The tightness in her smile set my teeth on edge. Every werewolf in the room had heard this strangely heavy conversation, and no one wanted to belt out pop anthems while grief had wrapped around Igarashi like a veil. For too long no one seemed to know what to say.

And then, there was a knock on the door.

The waiter entered, and Seth clapped his hands. “Pizza’s here!”

If melted cheese couldn’t help us recover from the tension, we were doomed.