Page 4

4

Jax

W hen I arrived at the office, Seth was sitting at the security desk as usual. He always dressed crisply, though I thought a button-up was overkill when his job was to be spry and ready for action.

Which, okay, wasn’t all that necessary. Back in Idaho, it’d been a goddamn comfort to have someone as big as Seth as my second, to know that if anything happened to me when I stood up to our alpha, he’d take care of Jill. But I couldn’t remember the last time he’d torn off his shirt and wolfed out to protect any of us.

When I approached the counter to swipe my badge, he his black brow shot up high. “You know I can just let you in.”

I shrugged. “Protocol.”

And, well, it gave me a chance to see a normal, friendly face before I went up and started playing boss. Since we’d known each other forever, Seth was never going to see me as someone especially intimidating.

Fuck, he could probably hand me my ass if given a mind to.

Seth scoffed. Normally, he was a stickler for this kind of thing, but I supposed I had privileges. The nice thing was, they were friend privileges, not boss ones.

“Heard you had a good night last night,” Seth mused innocently, but I caught his smirk when he glanced down at the security feeds.

I puffed out my cheeks and let out a slow breath. “Like you wouldn’t fucking believe.”

Even Seth looked startled. “That good, huh? I heard he was a...”

He broke off with a grimace. What did I expect? Seth kept the pack safe, and bedding down with a mage opened us up to a ton of uncertainty.

Crescent relied on the business of mages who, quite frankly, wouldn’t look too kindly on us sniffing around their own, but that was the least of it. If I’d hurt Dakota—even just a graze of teeth that went too deep—it could be the end of us.

Well, the end of me, at least.

But I hadn’t. Dakota was well, and the night had been so damned perfect that I was half convinced there was something special about mages.

I gripped the edge of the counter and leaned over, my grin sharp and toothy. “A mage? Yeah. The night was downright magical .”

Seth groaned, shoving me back. “Go do your job, bossman.”

I shuffled back a step or two and spun toward the elevator, waving over my shoulder as I headed toward the sleek metal doors.

Upstairs, where Jillian was already waiting for me in my office. She leaned against the edge of my desk with her legs crossed. The heels she wore made me glad men’s shoes were simpler—I wouldn’t have known how to put them on, much less walk in them

Of course, my twin sister wasn’t afraid of anything, even intimidatingly pointy shoes. If I didn’t know she was there in her capacity as my sister and not the Chief Operations Officer of Crescent, she’d have downright terrified me.

Luckily for me, I knew I wasn’t in for anything more serious than some sisterly ribbing.

“Good night?” Jillian asked, her dark brown eyebrow arched high.

The left corner of my mouth tugged upward as I walked around my enormous desk and dumped my leather messenger bag.

Even as her chestnut eyes glittered teasingly, I couldn’t help grinning at her.

“What can I say? You were right. I needed to let off some steam.”

I’d woken up that morning feeling more present in my body than I had in weeks. Yes, I was a little sore from the night’s exertions—a little used—but only in the best way.

Dakota had been a delight. Sweet and needy, delicious and responsive. The way he’d reached for me had made me feel capable again. Watching his eyelids flutter and his eyes roll back when it was all too much? Knowing I held his pleasure as firm as I held his hips? Wonderful.

I had wanted him to stay.

It was a strange feeling, overly serious considering the situation. Just... if I could’ve buried my nose against the nape of his neck and breathed in his sweet scent all night, deep down, I knew that would’ve settled me like nothing else.

But that wasn’t in the cards for mages and werewolves. Rare enough for one of them to seek out one of us for anything they could manage on their own.

So I hadn’t pressed, and even the prick of disappointment watching him jog over to his rideshare wasn’t enough to ruin my satisfaction after a night that’d gone off so much better than expected.

Truth told, when Jillian had suggested I spend the night before our meeting out at Howl instead of brooding at home, I’d only thought about getting her off my back. If I was home and twisted myself up, then the meeting went poorly, she’d give me that “I know everything” look and offer platitudes about how it’d go better next time. I’d just gotten into my own head. No big deal.

Except this was a big deal. Huge. If we signed with Igarashi, Crescent would go from America’s premier supplier of magical texts and necessities to a worldwide name in the paranormal underground.

In this day and age, you had to be the biggest fish out there, or you’d get eaten by someone bigger. Jill and I had gotten lucky—started right out of college in a fit of desperation at the beginning of the tech boom. If we’d risen, it felt like an effect of the tide rather than anything we could control, but this deal? This would secure us for decades . Whatever happened to me next, my pack would be safe and provided for, and maybe—just maybe—the demanding alpha in my head would calm the fuck down, knowing I’d carved a place for us and proven to be the leader I’d always promised them I would be.

They’d followed me, not knowing what our future held. I owed them the best one I could build.

Once I had it, I could figure out what I wanted next. It’d been impossible to table taking care of the pack long enough to figure out what would make me happy, but... one day. Just one more project, one more deal, one more billion, and I wouldn’t have to worry anymore.

Jillian pushed off the desk and rounded on me. From the tilt of her head, I should’ve known I’d stepped into trouble, even before she opened her mouth.

“I heard there was a mage involved.”

The first prickle of annoyance had my nose flaring. “Word travels that fast, huh?”

She snorted. “Half the wolves at Howl last night were in our break room this morning, Jax. You should know better than to think there’s privacy in the pack.”

Moon above, it wasn’t like I had any shame about this kind of thing—with our heightened senses, werewolves couldn’t afford to be shy—but trust Jillian to realize it meant more than nothing for me to take a mage home the night before we met with Igarashi.

“Heard he was pretty,” she said when I gave her nothing.

I grinned. It felt sharp on my face. “Gorgeous.”

“And of everyone there, he’s the one you wanted? The most dangerous one? The one most likely to insult our would-be business partners?”

“Why would they care?”

“How would I know how mages think? Just, if they were to find out?—”

“They won’t.”

She arched her brows again. “Was he Japanese?”

Truth told, I didn’t know. His accent had been flawlessly American, plain and smooth. He was clearly Asian, but I hadn’t thought to ask for specificity.

Hadn’t even considered?—

It was insane to think he had anything to do with Igarashi. Right?

I sighed, waving her off. “No mage is going to admit to?—”

“Something that’d throw a wrench in our plans?”

I hissed through my teeth. “He wasn’t like that. He was?—”

“Sweet as freshly whipped cream?”

It took everything I had in me not to growl at her. “He came looking for something. I give it to him. That’s it.”

Jillian rolled her eyes. “Moon knows you’re full of something .”

“Seriously. No one recognized him. You don’t need to worry about this. It was one night.”

“And you’re sure there are no ulterior motives?”

“We’ve kept word of this deal quiet. All involved parties signed the NDA. We’d know if they broke it.” I shrugged. The spells that bound our word would break. The ink on the agreements would glow, and they’d need to be redrawn.

Yes, all that required magic, but we weren’t na?ve enough to trust Igarashi to work that magic. A neutral firm had written and consecrated the NDA and would oversee our final agreement, once we settled on terms.

“Well, we know the families. If any of them try to get involved?—”

She had a point. Maybe mages didn’t mix with shifters, thought we were beneath them, but they sure did like the convenience of having grimoires and potion supplies shipped directly to their door.

One-day shipping, baby.

Because we were so much more convenient than hunting down spells and ingredients themselves, we knew more about the big American mage families than they could stand to think about.

“It’s not going to be an issue.”

“We could do a background check,” Jillian said, “just to be sure.”

Absolutely not. My wolf bristled at the very idea of handing Dakota over for that kind of inspection, but the last thing I needed was to admit to Jillian that my instincts were that off. “He didn’t tell me his last name.”

“Wise of him.”

She didn’t mean it the way I heard it—I knew she didn’t mean it—but my jaw ached painfully. “Indeed. Wouldn’t want word of his exploits getting out. How scandalous—taking a werewolf home.”

Jillian rolled her eyes. “No mage walks into Howl without knowing what they’re getting into. And don’t pretend you were all that interested in swapping surnames last night, hm?”

I wasn’t going to tell her that the scandal was so much worse than she realized. I’d been the catalyst of Dakota’s Awakening, and surely, the aftermath of such a thing didn’t usually include letting the fresh mage go home in a Lyft he’d ordered himself.

But, thinking about it, there was no way a mage would trade his Awakening to get information about a business deal negotiated with werewolves. It simply wouldn’t happen.

Sighing, I dropped into my office chair and opened the top left drawer. I usually left my nicer watch in there—it wasn’t the kind of thing I wanted to wear out. Too flashy. Ostentatious. When I wore it, I was acutely aware of the place I’d come from and how little this sort of indulgence really fit the pup who’d fought in the mud just to escape our oppressive, backwoods pack of origin.

But if I didn’t put it on before the meeting, I’d forget entirely. What was the point of an expensive watch if you didn’t wear it to important business meetings?

As I closed the clasp, I stared at Jill. “Did you come to take me down a peg before we meet with Igarashi?”

Jillian scoffed. “Nope. Just to make sure your mage didn’t singe your dick off before the big meeting. You ready?”

I’d barely sat down, and it was already time to start this marathon. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

The day ahead of us promised to be a long one, but as we left my office, Jillian reminded me we were meeting with the team before Igarashi arrived to go over the plan and meet the new translator.

When we got to the conference room, I sat at the head of the table, not because I was already too exhausted by what was coming to stand. I was nervous. I didn’t want to make everyone nervous, pacing along the wall of windows.

From that seat, I had a perfect view of the door opening on Maia and?—

My whole world froze when my eyes met Dakota’s.

I was ashamed my first thought was that he looked a little sleepy, and that I ought to wrap him up in a blanket that smelled like me and make sure he got a good day’s rest.

More shameful, my second thought was how he looked in my bed, his eyes shut and mouth gaped so temptingly and?—

“This is Kent Medson,” Maia said as I stared. “Kent, Dakota Morris. He’ll be assisting with this deal.”

She was introducing Dakota around the room, but when Kent reached out to shake Dakota’s hand, and Dakota smiled at him, a soft growl rumbled in my throat.

Every wolf in the room snapped their head toward me. Kent looked confused, Jillian shrewd, and I—I cleared my throat.

“Nice to meet you,” Dakota said.

Kent’s eyes flashed my way, and when he realized I wasn’t going to turn into a beast at the very idea of him being reasonably polite to the new hire, he offered similar platitudes.

I stood from my seat, and Jillian was at my side in a second, pushing against my arm, her gaze cutting into me. I could practically hear her asking, Are you all right?

I dipped my chin in the tiniest of nods as Maia led Dakota over to us. “And Ms. Fyse is our COO.”

“Jillian,” my sister said, shoving her hand out to shake Dakota’s. “So nice to meet you.”

Even I could hear the sharpness in her voice. She knew how to act, but her defenses were up. She knew something was off here.

“And last, Mr. Fyse.”

Dakota flushed. He only managed to meet my gaze for a split second. “Your...” He stared at Jill pointedly.

I almost choked when I realized what he was worried about.

“My sister,” I spat out. “Twin. We started Crescent together. You can call me Jax. So nice to meet you.”

I shook his hand, ignoring the lightning that shot up my arm with his palm pressed against mine.

With Dakota close enough for Jillian to catch the scent of his magic, her nose flared. She stared at me, her eyes wide enough to see her full irises, her pupils red when they caught the fluorescent lighting above, and she—she knew .

Even if the way I looked at Dakota didn’t give me away, there was no keeping her in the dark now. I’d showered, but I was sure she could smell him on me if she tried hard enough.

My jaw flexed as I avoided her demanding glare. “I would love to have a moment with Mr. Morris, to, ah, discuss strategy. If you would—” I held my hand to the door, and Maia smiled at Dakota—yes, a bit nervously.

Jillian looked like she was considering planting her feet and refusing to leave, but Kent snorted on the way out. “I’ll get everyone coffee,” he called. “Requests, bossman?”

“Don’t care.”

“New guy?” Kent asked.

“Anything’s fine,” Dakota said. His voice broke a little. He was nervous—smelled like it, too. Sharp and worried and... was he embarrassed?

Okay, that didn’t seem like a guy with a grand master plan. But how could this be pure coincidence?

“Got it,” Kent said. “Two mega big cup soy mocha choka lattes or something.”

Jillian spared me one more worried look before she sighed. “I’ll make sure he gets you something normal.”

She left, shutting the door behind everyone, and I still waited until I knew they were out of earshot. For werewolves, that meant a long and awkward silence stretched between Dakota and me while he went pale, his heart rate sped, and my jaw started aching again.

“Last night,” I snipped when we were well and truly alone, “did you know who I was?”

“What?” Dakota started. “How the hell would I have known who you are?”

“Well, you showed up at Howl the night before starting here. Seems like a hell of a coincidence.”

“Right, sure. I totally knew who you were and where you’d be.” Dakota crossed his arms, leaning back enough that my wolf whined high in my head. Wrong direction. We were fucking this up.

“You could’ve.”

“Are you accusing me of something?” he demanded.

“I don’t know,” I shot back. “Should I?”