Chapter 10

Renee’s POV

Eric’s admission startles me. Our eyes meet, only briefly but it’s enough to recognize that sadness in them that I thought I saw before.

“I’m surprised an Alpha like yourself is having a reaction to such a rejection,” Jasper says, only meaning it to sound medically impressive still it’s enough to pull a reaction out of Eric who starts to square his shoulders

“Shut up,” Eric barks. Unaffected by Erics outburst Jasper take out a lined notepad from his pocket and begins to scribble on it.

“I’ll prescribe you this medication,” Jasper says nonchalantly and then lifts his eyes to his eyebrows to look up at Eric. “And some rest,” with that Jasper rips the paper clean off the pad and hands it to Eric who snatches it out of his hand.

“You got it, Doc.” Eric says waving Jasper off, shoving the piece of paper into his pocket.

“We’ll just have to have more family time,” Mia says with an air of satisfaction.

I force my face to remain straight as I look over at Debbie toying with the lollipops on Jaspers desk and think about how it should’ve been Debbie and me that family time. Instead, Debbie has crippled alpha traits and a feverish desire for a father.

“Just wait at the front desk, I’ll give you the first bottle of your medicine now, and you can use that prescription for a refill if you need it. Let me just finish up with Renee and Debbie here,” Jasper says.

I look at him curiously. I thought we’re finished. Eric grumbles something and turns to exit the room, Mia lacing her polished fingers around his arm.

I pivot myself towards Jasper, anxious to hear what he could have to say. The way his eyebrows are knitting together doesn’t comfort me the least. “Debbie, I think Mary at the checkout desk has some new flavored lollipops, why don’t you go see. With mom’s permission, of course.”

It takes me a second to realize that’s me. “Yeah,” I say, turning halfway to Debie. “Just one,”

“Only one?” Debbie whines.

“Fine two,” I concede just wanting her to leave.

“What if there’s more than two new flavors?” Debbie says pressing her luck.

“Debbie!” I snap.

“Fine,” Debbie pouts and storms off. Once she’s out of the room, I almost regret it because now Jasper is looking at me like I just revealed to him some dark secret- except that I didn’t.

“I don’t usually yell at her,” I say wondering if maybe he’s judging me for that.

“You’re his wife,” Jasper says and he isn’t asking, he’s telling me.

“What?” I stammer and the reaction isn’t totally a bluff. Seeing that he’s sure of this and not budging on it, my shoulders drop. “Please don’t tell him. He would want custody over Debbie.” I say holding back hot tears threatening to fall from my now watery eyes.

Jasper holds up his hands as though in surrender. “I won’t. It’s hardly my business anyway,”

I chew on my thumbnail, a bad habit that I’m aware of but can’t break. “How did you figure that out so quickly?” If Jasper could easily come to that conclusion when I said less than ten words to Eric then how much longer will it be until Eric figures it out?

“Debbie’s alpha qualities that can’t properly form because of your wolflessness, not to mention your wolflessness in of itself, and how clearly obvious it was that you were avoiding him. I mean the tension was almost tangible,” Jasper says.

I groan. I need to work on that. Seeing my distress, Jasper pulls me in for a comforting hug. At least it’s only him that knows. “Why don’t I drive you and Debbie home?” Jasper offers and I nod an agreement in his chest.

“Ahem,” Jasper and I release one another and turn to see Eric standing in the doorway, his face stoic and his body tense. How much of that did he hear? My heart begins to thud in my chest and blood rushes into my ears, I almost don’t hear Eric when he starts talking.

“Actually, Renee, I found some design errors in your latest assignment and I need you to come back to the office and fix them so we can meet the deadline.”

I would argue back about workers right, but I don’t think I have any fight left in me. In fact, my knees feel weak. All I can think about is how he didn’t hear our entire conversation.

I look back at Jasper who’s already nodding. As though reading my mind he agrees to drive Debbie home while I go back to the office.

“Thank you,” I tell him and hopefully he knows I mean that for more than just driving Debbie. With that, I follow Eric back to work.

The building is practically empty except for some night security guards to monitor the imported rare fabrics.

They give a stern nod in greeting to Eric who barely gives them a passing glance. He keeps his chin high and his eyes ahead as I troll behind him feeing the lingering stares of the guards bore into my back.

The lights are off except for a few automatically generated one scattered throughout the building, the halls are silent except the echo of our footsteps. It’s like I’ve been sucked into a horror movie and the killer is lurking around the corner.

Every time I get the urge to check over my shoulder I remind myself that Eric is the one people fear.

The walk to his office seems much longer at night than it does during the day, but maybe that’s just because when I’m with Eric I become acutely hyperaware of every passing moment, analyzing his every move and readying for an attack.

Only now does it dawn on me that maybe he made this up, maybe there are no design flaws at all. Maybe Eric does know who I am and he’s going to kill me for real. Everyone thinks Annie is dead anyways and he could just tell everyone he fired me, no one would think anything about it.

Besides, if he’s been having headaches for five years since I rejected him then he must truly hate me. He probably wants me dead.

Just when I consider making up an excuse to escape, we get to his office.

He pushes the doors open and the empty space seems to swallow us whole Without Mia, Andrew, and that other blonde assistant the size of his office becomes domineering.

For an instant, Eric looks small- like even this office is too grand for him. Then he sinks into his leather seat at his desk and the energy flips, the room shrinks and Eric commands dominance.

I shift my weight on my feet as I wait for him to pull up the design, ready to make a run out the door if need be, not that I could get very far but maybe one of the security guards would hear me scream. At least one of them has to have a heart and would come to my rescue.

“Renee?” Eric asks pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Hm?” I ask and he just looks at me like I’m crazy and I think for a second that maybe I am.

“The design,” Eric says motioning to the sleek computer that illuminates the sharp angle of his jawline in a low blue light.

“Right,” I say and move over to take his seat at the leather chair while he rises. He points out the errors and I’m both relieved and shocked to see some design flaws. I’ve never been so careless before, I’m actually quite embarrassed. I guess working here is getting to my head more than I realized.

I get to work and expect Eric to leave me to it, but instead he plunks himself down at his curvy plush couch seated directly across the desk. I feel his scrutiny on me and I refuse to meet his eye.

I keep myself glued to the computer, ensuring all mistakes are corrected so that I don’t have to come back here and do this again. I move the mouse across the screen and make the finishing touches.

Once everything is done and I’m positive it’s all correct I waste no time calling Eric over. He rises and walks over to me without a word. I sit in the big leather desk and he hover over from behind me to check my work.

I feel small under his domineering presence, like he could crush me with one hand. It suddenly feels like I can’t breathe. I take a deep breath that comes out shakier than I want it to, and then I nearly choke.

That can’t be. It’s faint, but I know I’m not mistaken. I can smell Erics scent. His wolf.