Instead, I clocked in and headed to the changing room.
Unfortunately, there was no birthday cake, but there was an old pot of coffee, and I slugged down a quick cup as I collected my cart.
As I was leaving the staff room, Tina, Kate, and Becca entered, laughing, and chatting about something that had happened at a bar last night.
Envy flared briefly, and I nodded at them in greeting when they looked at me.
Once upon a time, they’d asked me to join them, but I’d said no so many times they’d stopped asking. I didn’t even go out with Meg, who was my only friend, so I wasn’t going to start going out with them.
Still, it was lonely sometimes.
“Get it together,” I muttered as I pushed the cart into the hall. Life was easier alone. Minimal friendships—just Meg—and minimal connection. No family.
Definitely no family.
I was making my way through the bottom floor of the hotel where the conference rooms were located when I spotted Garreth Locke.
I nearly stopped in my tracks, my heart leaping into my throat as I met his gaze. Something flickered in his eyes that made heat flush through me.
He recognized me.
Holy tits, he definitely recognized me. I could see it in his eyes. Hell, he was looking at me like he knew me. Like he knew my hopes and fears and darkest desires.
I turned on a dime and headed into an empty conference room. Panting, I leaned against the door and stared at the ceiling.
What the hell was happening to me?
Garreth
* * *
It’s her.
My breath caught in my throat, and suddenly, I couldn’t breathe.
I’d had no idea what she looked like, but I’d know her scent anywhere. She was still ten yards away from me, but I caught the faintest hint of it in the bland hotel hallway.
Lavender, honey, and a fresh breeze.
I resisted drawing it deeply into my lungs, but I couldn’t look away as she darted through a nearby doorway. Though she was out of sight, her features were imprinted on my mind. Dark hair, big green eyes, full lips. She was slender but strong, a woman who looked like she could get shit done.
“Garreth. Snap out of it, man.”
I blinked, turning to look at Seth, my friend and beta. As second in command of the pack, he was a powerful wolf. The long scar that cut across his face made it clear that he was a man who had seen some shit. But it was the hardness in his eyes that kept people at bay.
“I’m fine.” My voice was unexpectedly rough as it left my throat, and I nearly cringed. I would have if alphas did such things.
As it was, I’d trained myself to show little emotion. Wolves were known for being sensualists. Food, music, dance, sex. We loved it all.
But I was alpha, and as such, I had a responsibility to the pack. A particularly important one given my family’s history.
Seth frowned, a knowing glint in his eyes. “You’re not all right. What is it?”
My gaze moved toward the space where the woman had been standing, and I immediately cursed myself. It had been an unconscious gesture, but it was enough for Seth to notice.
“The woman.” Seth’s face cleared as understanding dawned. “Her scent. I thought it was familiar, but I didn’t place it at first. She was in your suite yesterday.”
I nodded. “She’s a housekeeper in the hotel, it seems.”
“You didn’t see her while she was there?”
“Just missed her.” But was that the explanation for her presence? Something as simple as the fact that she was a housekeeper in the hotel, and she was doing her job?
But no. If she’d just been cleaning, she would have left through the front door.
“She’s not the staff member assigned to your suite,” Seth said. “You were very specific that it was meant to be the same person.”
I nodded. It was a common precaution I took when staying in human hotels. One housekeeper meant less opportunity for them to discover that something was odd about me.
“Perhaps it was a mix-up,” Seth said. From the suspicious glint in his gaze, it was clear he didn’t believe it. His eyes narrowed on me. “But there’s something more here.”
I shook my head casually and met his gaze. “Not sure what you’re talking about.”
But my heart was still racing, pounding against my ribs like a wild animal that wanted to be set free to run. My wolf did want to be set free, to run right toward the woman who smelled like home.
“Holy fates.” Seth breathed the words, a shocked expression on his face. “She’s your mate.”
“I’ve no idea what—”
“Oh, come on. I’ve never seen you look so shellshocked in your life. And your heart is going a mile a minute, your pupils dilated.”
Clever bastard. His attention to details was one of the things that made him an excellent beta, but it wasn’t working in my favor now.
“I don’t have a mate.”
“Of course, you do. Everyone does.”
“She’s not pack.”
“Right.” Disappointment and understanding echoed in Seth’s words. “She’s not even a wolf. Not sure what she is, but it’s not a wolf.”
“So, you see the problem.”
“Just like your father.”
“Just like.” My gaze was still riveted on the door the woman had disappeared behind.
My father had been alpha before me. After the death of my human mother when I’d been sixteen, he’d fallen for Marguerite, a woman who wasn’t pack. Unlike my mother, Marguerite had been his true mate. That didn’t mean she’d been good for him, however. She’d destroyed him. Hell, she’d nearly destroyed our pack.
I wouldn’t let the same thing happen to me.
“You’re not your father, Garreth. And having your mate by your side would be good at the winter gathering. It would make diplomacy easier. And she might hear things we wouldn’t since she’s not officially part of our pack.”
“I can’t afford to risk being near her.”
Skepticism pulled at the scar that sliced across Seth’s face. “You’re too hard on yourself.”
A bitter laugh escaped me. “Too hard? Never.”
Lyra
* * *
After too long of a break in the empty conference room, I returned to my duties. Garreth Locke was gone, and the rest of my day was uneventful.
Until I got outside.
Four hulking men stood at the end of the alley, and I immediately knew who they were.
My father’s old mob buddies had found me.
Shit. Triple shit.
My throat tightened as panic made breathing difficult.
After so many years of running, my cover was blown. How the hell was today so eventful? Garreth Locke and the mob my father had worked for? It was like I’d drawn an unlucky fortune from a cookie.
It made one thing clear, though—I had been followed last night.
One look at them, and I was moving faster than I ever had in my life.
Fortunately, my bike started on the first try. I spun around in a quick U-turn and headed down to the other end of the alley. As I entered onto the street, a car pulled out of its parking spot on the side of the road.