chapter 12: Henry’s POV

As I push through the door of Greg's accountancy office, all heads turned in my direction, and the place went eerily silent. Even though I pride myself on being approachable and friendly to all pack members, wolves operate in hierarchical structures and most pack members are naturally submissive to the pack leaders. For those who rarely have reason to interact with me, this instinct to submit is hard to overcome and they feel on edge as soon as I enter the building. I smile politely and nod at everyone I pass, greeting anyone I recognise by name to put them at ease as I make my way through the open-plan area to Fiona's office.

I knock gently on the door, and then, as the door is already ajar, push it open slowly without waiting for a response. Fiona is sitting behind her desk, which is covered in a sea of papers piled haphazardly, with brightly coloured pens and post-it notes strewn everywhere. Her shoes are under the desk and her bare feet are tucked up underneath her on her office chair. Her gorgeous caramel- coloured hair is pulled up in a messy bun, with a pen jammed through it to keep it in place, and she is chewing absently on a highlighter as she gazes down at the pages in her hand. Her expensive-looking cream silk blouse is open at the top couple of buttons, and from my standing position, I can see the edge of her lacy white bra peeking out, looking unbelievably sexy against her tanned skin. Fuck me, she is sexy. I shake my head and take a deep breath to calm myself down, then clear my throat to catch her attention. She's so deeply engrossed in whatever she is reading that she hasn't sensed my presence.

"Oh gosh, Henry, I didn't see you there. Come in." She gestures to the seat opposite her and unfolds her legs, slipping her pretty feet back into the nude high heels under her desk; hiding her dainty pale pink painted toes from view.

"Sorry to interrupt, you're busy. I just wanted to drop these quotes off. I was going to suggest we could grab lunch and run through them, but..." I wave the plans and quotes for the work we had discussed yesterday with one hand, and gesture to the mess in front of her with the other.

"Oh this, it's always like this. Organised chaos. Don't look so horrified!" She laughs as she sits back and studies me for a second, then checks her watch.

"Lunch sounds great, actually. My brain needs a break. I've been looking at this for too long." She stands up, rubs her eyes, and arches to stretch her back. The movement pulls her blouse tight across her breasts and makes my mouth water. As she turns to grab her cream blazer off the back of her chair, her burgundy fitted pencil skirt shows off her pert ass, and when she bends to pick up her purse, I bite back a groan. I turn away to get control of myself before I grab her and kiss her senseless right here in her office. Or worse. A smart professional woman might intimidate some guys, but not me. I am finding it sexy as hell, and I can't help the thought of her bent over that desk that pops into my mind.

"I couldn't cope with that mess. It makes me anxious just looking at it," I admit as I place my hand lightly on her lower back as she passes me on the way to the door. Any excuse to touch her and feel those sparks. She laughs again, amused rather than offended by my comment, as she walks ahead and leads me outside. Again, this is something that a she-wolf would not do. They would never walk ahead of me, waiting instead to follow my lead. It's refreshing to be around someone who doesn't act differently just because of who I am.

"I know it drives some people crazy, but it works for me. I don't think my brain works in straight lines." She shrugs unapologetically and turns to me with a breathtaking smile. "So, do you have anywhere in mind?"

"Tina's?" It's a local café, very casual, not where I had originally planned, but realise after my impromptu appearance at her office, the local rumour mill would go into meltdown if I took her anywhere fancier. I'm supposed

to be hiding the fact that she is my mate. Not announcing my interest in her to the entire town.

As it is, I notice a lot of curious glances in our direction when we walk in. Unfortunately, my love life, or lack thereof, is a popular topic of debate around the pack. Everyone knows my parents are keen to retire but are trying to hold out until I have a Luna by my side to lighten the load. Any sighting of me with a member of the opposite sex will get pounced on by the local gossips in a heartbeat.

As I pull out her chair for her and she sits down, I catch a subtle scent in the air that irritates my sensitive nose, and I recognise it in an instant. Marcus. That damn bear is still bringing her coffee. His scent on my mate irritates my wolf. I need to find out why these two are such great buddies when he barely tolerates anyone else.

"I've listed out all the jobs we went through. Have a look through it all and let me know whether that looks right, and which jobs you want me to start for you." I push the papers over to her and she frowns as she flips through the pages, pursing her full lips she looks adorably.

Henry, this is crazy. You're hardly charging me for anything." She looks at me as if I have lost my mind.

"Well, I'm out of action with time to kill, so I may as well make myself useful. I don't have any work on right now for some of the crew and it will keep them busy rather than temporarily laying them off. I've priced in the materials at cost, but honestly, mostly what you need is just labour for the smaller jobs." She gives me a look that says she doesnot believe a word that is coming out of my mouth, but she doesn't contradict me.

Smart girl.

"My mother doesn't want me to charge you anything at all, so this is a compromise, cost price." I know she isn't buying it, but the mention of my mother seems to have made her soften, as though it's more acceptable to take a gift from a grateful parent, rather than directly from me.

"It's far too much, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I appreciate it. I didn't think I'd be able to afford some of this stuff until next year. My sisters will be eternally grateful that they don't have to earn their keep with hard labour when they come to visit." She laughs and smiles at me, and my chest swells at how happy she looks. It's as if I've just taken an enormous weight off her shoulders.

"Sisters?" I ask, keen to learn as much about my mate as possible while I have the chance.

"Yes, two. A twin, Zoe, who's a veterinarian and lives in Dexter, and my younger sister Leah. She's still finishing college. I have a brother too, Chase." She pauses and looks sad for a second as she stares into her coffee.

"Everything okay?" I reach out to put my hand over hers. She glances back up at me with a soft little smile, and to my relief, doesn't pull away from the physical contact. I wasn't sure how she'd react after our kiss yesterday if she enjoyed it as much as I did.

"Oh yes, fine. I just miss them. I haven't seen them for a few months, since Christmas, or my parents, either. It's... complicated, but hopefully, they'll be able to come and visit

soon." I can sense the deception of what she is saying. She's not lying, but there is more to it than she is letting on. I don't push. It's none of my business, yet.

"You've met Leila, obviously, and I have two brothers as well," I say, trying to lighten up the conversation again, "Rex is a couple of years older than me. He's been away travelling for the last year, but he'll be back in a few days. Nathan's the baby of the family and acts like it, too."

"Are you going to come out for Leila's birthday?" I ask, aiming to sound nonchalant, but as I meet her twinkling eyes again across the table, I don't think I've succeeded. She grins at me mischievously, whispering in a low sultry voice that has my balls tightening in response, "I might be convinced."

She winks, and I chuckle at her playfulness, grinning back at her like an idiot.

And the chase is on.