Chapter 26 – Alpha Nocturne’s Contracted Mate by A E Randell

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“No, thank you! I have to work!” Ann squeaked suddenly, shaking her head voraciously as she backed away.

Maeve roared at her furiously and Ann angrily shut her out as Adam watched her every movement, as if he wanted to devour every inch of her. She was struggling to think straight under this amount of pressure.

“I can make my own way to work, Adam, I don’t want to inconvenience you,” Ann announced, trying and failing to keep the tremor from her voice.

Adam chuckled.

“It’s no inconvenience. I insist on being the one to take you to work. I won’t have my Luna wandering around with her arousal so easily recognized.” He answered firmly, almost possessively

Ann shuddered. This was not how her morning was supposed to have started.

As Ann shut the car door behind her and she watched Adam speed off, she let out a sigh of relief.

The journey had been almost unbearable because of the s*e*xual tension between them both.

Maeve had made things even more difficult with her lewd suggestions for scratching that itch and Ann had resigned herself to the fact that her wolf was insatiable and it was something that she was going to have to learn how to deal with.

She had shut her out in irritation and was still seething when she entered the company headquarters. Ann swiped her key card and nodded to the ladies at the reception desk as they greeted her hurriedly.

Ann breezed through the foyer and straight towards the elevator where she waited patiently for the elevator to arrive that would take her up to the 18th floor. Veritas Estates had flourished since she had taken her position at the helm.

They specialized in buying run-down and derelict properties and renovating them, before selling them on for a profit. Her predecessor had focused only on commercial properties or acquiring failing businesses before s*tri*pping them down and selling their a*s*sets.

But Ann had seen the potential for highly specialized properties, renovated to fit the needs of the wider supernatural community. Displaced packs and other shifters, new nests of Vampires or established nests that had been f0rced to move, there was a huge market for properties that had already been adapted to suit their needs, and often they were willing to pay whatever it took.

Ann had managed to form a close relationship with the Vampire Council and let them know in advance of any properties that would be available in the coming months, they too, kept Ann aware of their need for locations and they shared a profitable relationship in that sense.

Ann stepped out of the elevator as it reached her floor and swiped her keycard at the secure offices.

Her a*s*sistant Eva, looked up in surprise and hurried over to greet her warmly.

“Ann! How are you?! I wasn’t expecting you in this early …if at all actually considering everything that’s happened recently…” Eva trailed off, her warm smile fading to a grimace.

Ann chuckled.

“Life happens to us all, Eva. Besides, you know I’d rather be busy with something productive rather than moping about in my own misery.”

Eva looked at her seriously and seemed to hesitate a little before speaking.

“For what it’s worth Ann, I think you deserve better… I always have. You’ve raised this failing department up to one of the most successful and most profitable under the Veritas Brand… you should be proud of yourself. It was no easy feat!”

Ann felt the color rise to her cheeks in embarra*s*sment. She had never been good at taking compliments. “Really Eva… it’s my job…”

“No, Ann. It’s more than that. You’ve made sure that your workers are taken care of too and inexperienced members of the packs who wouldn’t have ever stood a chance in the corporate world otherwise…”

Ann laughed.

“Look, you know how I feel about that. The circ*umstances of your birth shouldn’t limit what you can achieve. By the time I’m too old to run this, I hope that I’ll have children who share the same ethics as I do, otherwise, I’ll put one of my own workers in my former position.”

Eva smiled warmly at her.

“I hope that Ada doesn’t mess things up too much for you Ann. You deserve better than what that rotten step -family dealt you…”

“I wasn’t aware that my life was such a hot topic of gossip,” Ann answered cooly, with a single eyebrow raised.

Had Ada already been spreading her poison within the company?

Ann frowned. She knew that she was safe from gossip within her own department, but that didn’t necessarily apply to the rest of the company.

Eva shifted uncomfortably.

“It’s not just your life Ann, the life of the royals is usually followed closely by the office workers and socialites… you know how they can be.” She grimaced.

Ann nodded and sighed.

“Unfortunately, yes I do. I’m going to check my emails, were there any messages left at all?”

“No, oh! Wait! Yes… you have about 40 or more from Brad…” she trailed off hesitantly at the icy glare that had landed on her.

“If he calls again, tell him I’m busy. If he refuses to listen tell him that I’m not interested.”

Eva visibly gulped and nodded vigorously.

“No problem. You go ahead Ann, I’ll handle it don’t worry. I’ll bring you a coffee.”

“Thanks, Eva.” She smiled tightly and made her way into her office at the back.

Ann had busied herself with emails for the majority of the morning and sat back with her third coffee of the day clutched tightly in her hands.

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