E.A. Price - Valentine's Wolf (Grey Wolf Pack #11) Page 3

  There were a number of men who had shown an interest in her profile and sent her a ‘love poke’ – ugh, that made her cringe – but she figured they would get over it. Plenty more fish in the sea to send a love poke to.

  Just as the show was getting good – Brandine had just confessed to sleeping with Judy’s boyfriend! – her intercom buzzed.

  Damnit! Someone was at the front door.

  Val paused the TV and skittered over to the intercom, hoping to get rid of whoever it was quickly. Tumbles hissed and started spitting, but that wasn’t exactly unusual. The ornery cat didn’t like anyone – he only tolerated Val because she fed him.

  “Yes?” she demanded irritably through the intercom.

  There was a pause on the other end. Security in her building wasn’t exactly great, she’d have preferred to live somewhere that had someone sat at reception who could see visitors coming and going, but the fact that you had to buzz people in was better than nothing. Of course, it didn’t stop unwanted guests tailgating behind actual occupants of the building.

  “Is that Val?” asked the voice tentatively.

  Val tapped her foot impatiently. “It is.”

  “It’s Lester, can you let me in?”

  Lester? Who was Lester? Oh, it clicked, Lester was bad date number four – the creep. “I don’t think so…”

  “Let me in,” the voice demanded coldly.

  Val felt a chill of fear flutter up her spine. How did he find out where she lived? He certainly hadn’t dropped her at home. “Please leave, Lester.”

  “Open the fucking door!”

  She jumped in surprise and scrambled away from her front door like she expected him to burst through it any second. No, it was fine, he was still outside the main door downstairs and she was safely ensconced on the second floor. She was safe… for now.

  “Open the door you disgusting half-breed!” the voice rattled over the intercom.

  With trembling fingers, Val grabbed her cell phone and punched in 911. In a jittery voice, she told the operator that a crazy guy was trying to get into her apartment. She’d taken self-defense classes in college, but had never needed to use them before. Except for that one Halloween party where a drunken classmate dressed as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle wouldn’t take no for an answer. She wasn’t sure she wanted to find out just how much she remembered of those classes at that moment.

  Five minutes later, crouched in her kitchen holding a spatula for defense, she saw the bright red and blue lights flickering through the window and she breathed a small sigh of relief, although she couldn’t stop her hands shaking.

  By the times the cops arrived, Lester was long gone, but they made a report and took all the details they could about him. They were kind to her, but they made it clear that it was unlikely that they could do anything about him. Even if Lester admitted to being there, all they could do was give him a warning not to come back.

  One of the cops was overly attentive and gave her a card; he told her to call if Lester came back. If she weren’t so shaken, she might have actually been able to appreciate it, but at that moment all she wanted to do was climb into bed and forget the whole night ever happened. That was exactly what she did do when she was finally alone, and after having rechecked the locks on her door and windows seven times.

  Tumbles, in a fit of compassion, jumped on the bed and lay next to her, even allowing her to stroke him. He hadn’t allowed that since he was a kitten.

  After staring at the ceiling for an hour she finally drifted into an uneasy sleep, the words ‘disgusting half-breed’ nagging at her.

  *

  28th February

  Val rested her head on her hand and closed her eyes. Mmmm, she was just closing her eyes for a few seconds…

  “Val!” boomed Conrad.

  Her elbow slipped, and her head banged against the desk. She withheld the ‘damnit’ and the ‘ow’ that wanted to escape.

  Her tall, salt and pepper boss chuckled heartily. “Good night last night?”

  Val let out a nervous laugh. “Oh, you have no idea.”

  She detected a twinkle in his eye. “I’ll bet I can.”

  She bet he couldn’t… On the plus side, at least she had a boss who was a little pervy, and who was tickled at the thought of her being wanton. It was easier to handle than a tight-ass boss who was pissed at her for almost falling asleep. Although she wished he wouldn’t leer at her ass quite so often.

  Conrad perched on the edge of her desk, and she really wished she’d taken the time to put on a little more makeup that morning. Honestly, she had been yawning so hard she could barely drag a comb through her hair.

  He clasped his hands together and gave her his best fatherly smile. It was totally at odds with his gaze lingering over her breasts. Of course, if she hadn’t dropped a spoonful of hummus down her shirt over lunch, his eyes might not have been so deliberately drawn there.

  “So, Val, you’ve been with the company for what? Six years now?”

  “Seven.”

  “Yes, seven years. And you started your job here in the finance department…”

  “As your assistant.”

  Where was this going? Crud, was he going to fire her for sleeping on the job? It had never happened before… well, maybe just once or twice when her next-door neighbor’s sex-mad daughter and boyfriend were visiting. They could go for hours…

  “Of course. But now you’re the…”

  “Office manager.” She thought it best just to tell him.

  “Right, well, I have excellent news for you.”

  “Oh?”

  Well, that sounded hopeful; put whatever spin you want on it, but nobody could really construe getting fired as actually being excellent.

  “You’re receiving a promotion.”

  Conrad grinned at her, and Val blinked in surprise.

  “Oh?”

  Okay, she was perplexed. She hadn’t heard anything about this before. This was completely out of the blue. Getting promotions in this company was akin to squeezing blood from a particularly stubborn stone.

  “Yes, I just met with John and Gary and we’d like to make you a Project Manager.”

  Val’s mouth gaped. John, Gary and Conrad were the heads of the company, having founded it together fresh out of college thirty years ago. The company handled construction design and management and was pretty successful.

  “You want to make me a Project Manager?” she asked slowly.

  “Absolutely! Congratulations.”

  She bit her lip. Was it April? Was this an April fools joke?

  “Conrad, I’m not qualified to…”

  He waved his hand. “Nonsense, we’ve been watching your career closely for the last six years,” she didn’t bother to correct him, “and after all your experience we think this is the natural step for you. Normally, we would expect you to have the appropriate degree, but with your own qualification of, ah, uh….”

  “Business with a minor in art history,” she supplied quietly. Yep, learning about Leonardo Da Vinci was really going to come in handy.

  “Exactly, with that, and all your hands on experience with the company, you’re a natural to take over the job vacated by Glenn.”

  “Glenn’s leaving the company?”

  “Sure is,” replied Conrad tightly.

  Glenn, Conrad’s golden boy? The golf playing, martini swigging son he never had was actually leaving? That was news to her, and judging by Conrad’s slight reaction, it wasn’t good news all round. Val assumed that Glenn was waiting for Conrad to have a heart attack while bouncing around a high-end hotel with one of his many 20-year-old mistresses so he could take the older man’s place.

  “And,” continued Conrad, “we know how much work you put in on behalf of Henry.”

  Val flushed at that. Henry was the sweetest Project Manager who ever worked at the company. For one thing, he was devoted to his wife, and another, he didn’t get drunk and try to grope all the assistants at the Christmas party.
So when Henry’s wife was sick, and he needed to be at the hospital, yeah, Val stepped up and covered as much of his work as she could. She kind of got a feel for what the job was like doing that, but to be suddenly thrust into a Management gig on her own…

  “This is really generous of you, Conrad…”

  “You’re welcome, Val,” he interrupted. “Now, you’ll be getting a raise, and you’ll be able to start putting lunches and travel on the corporate expense account, but we’ll talk about you getting your own office when you get back.”

  “Wait, back? Back from where?”

  Was it her or was this conversation hurtling along like a runaway freight train?

  Conrad looked at her indulgently. “Well, you’ll be taking over Glenn’s position, and he was right in the middle of a current project, so you’ll need to pick up where he left off.”

  Val frowned. “Can’t Glenn just finish off this project before he leaves?”

  Conrad’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly, and although he was still smiling, his face had more of a glacial quality than before. Think about Mr. Freeze coming to kill Batman.

  “No, he can’t. He had a family emergency and had to leave very suddenly.”

  Yeah, right. Glenn would sell his own grandma before he’d up and leave a cushy job like this. Val couldn’t imagine any kind of emergency would lure him away. All the Managers got obscene bonuses for finishing their projects early, so they were always in a rush to get them done as quickly as possible, refusing even to take sick days when they were disease-laden.

  She affected her most innocent look. “I’m sorry to hear that, I should arrange for some flowers to be sent to him in his time of need.”

  Briefly, panic crossed Conrad’s face. It couldn’t have lasted more than a second, but she saw it before he smothered it with a grin.

  “No need,” he said smoothly, “already taken care of by my assistant.”

  She nodded and made a mental note to check that with Lois later. Lois was reliable for little else other than office gossip and filing her nails, but she certainly wasn’t good at keeping secrets and actually might be able to give Val some clue about why Glenn had suddenly left.

  “So, I guess you should start packing.”

  Conrad stood up swiftly, and Val stood up as well, flapping her arms, unsure what to do or say. This was all so sudden. Within ten minutes, she’d been promoted to a job she was unqualified for and was being shipped off to who knows where. How about a couple of moments to breathe?!

  “Wait, Conrad, no, I…”

  The genial smile was gone, and he looked at his watch pointedly. “I have a meeting to get to.”

  “This is just so sudden…” she admitted lamely.

  “We have great faith in you, Val. But if you don’t want this promotion, then you don’t have to accept it. Although, I have to say, I’d be very disappointed if you didn’t take it,” he didn’t have to say that, “especially given that we wanted to take a chance on you in spite of you being less qualified that other candidates we looked at.”

  Great; she couldn’t have felt worse unless he’d told her that every time a promotion goes unaccepted a puppy dies.

  Val sucked in a breath as all the reasons to say no flashed in front of her – right in big neon letters. But then, if she said no, would this be it for her? She stuck to the job she was in because it was safe and easy but was it really going anywhere? She was 30 with no man, no children, a dingy apartment and a cat who snubbed her. Maybe this was the shake up she needed, and after last night, maybe getting out of town and away from Lester wasn’t such a bad thing.

  Before she could stop herself the words, “I’ll do it,” leaped out of her mouth, and Conrad was giving her a hearty handshake.

  “Excellent; Lois has booked you a flight out to Alexandria this evening and Shannon, Glenn’s old assistant, will meet you at the airport. Lois will give you all the details.”

  Val looked at him bewildered. “Alexandria? This evening?”

  “Yes, you’ll be managing the construction of a new health spa hotel in a small town called Rose. I hear the locals are a pretty inbred bunch of shifters, but I’ve no doubt you’ll handle them. Now I really must dash, call me if you need anything.”

  With that, he strode out of the office. Val slumped into her seat trying to process what just happened. Hurricane Conrad just happened!

  The nerve of him just expecting her to up and dash across the country like that! She couldn’t just up and leave; she had… ah, well, she had to… she had a cat, darn it! A cat who didn’t really care who brought him food as long as someone did – but still!

  Yeah, okay. So apparently, she could just up and leave. All she needed was someone to feed Tumbles and scoop out his litter tray once a day and he’d be fine. In fact, he’d probably relish the opportunity for time apart from Val, she could tell that the crotchety feline was getting a little sick of hearing about her bad dates.

  Other than Tumbles, the only other person who would really miss her would be Hilary, and Val was sure that her best friend would be the first person to tell her to go for it. Even to the point that Hilary would be willing to feed her mortal enemy, Tumbles. The two of them didn’t get on; they were locked in a battle of wills.

  Val slapped her desk. She could do this. Since turning 30 and indulging in some truly awful dates, she’d felt a little restless about her life, and this could be just what she needed. A change of scenery and a new job – yep, this could be just what the doctor ordered. And who knows? Maybe there might be some interesting guys in Rose. Conrad hadn’t exactly been complimentary about them, but then he considered anyone who lived outside of a city to be a hick.

  She rubbed her aching back as she started making a mental list of all the things she needed to pack. Yes, the more she thought about it, the more excited she became.

  Rose, here she comes.

  Chapter Four

  “Oh my god! You look so handsome! Let me get another picture.”

  Carly bounced up and down in front of the sheriff’s station snapping photos of her mate, Cain. The seven-foot bear shifter had been offered a job as a sheriff’s deputy, and after much deliberation, he accepted it.

  Both Alec and Adam had been taken aback at Jake’s choice. They weren’t exactly the bear’s biggest fan. They found him to be both aggressive and impatient. Although, he had calmed a little since mating with the tiny she-wolf, Carly.

  Cain fingered the collar of his uniform. “It’s too tight,” he complained.

  Carly cooed at him and stroked his considerable bicep, “You look sexy.”

  Cain preened. Maybe a little tightness was worth it.

  Jake gave them both a half-smile. “Ready to go?” he asked Cain.

  He ducked into a patrol car as Carly and Cain said their goodbyes. There were lots of kisses and proclamations that he would miss her, and she told him to stay safe… It went on for a few minutes until Jake beeped the horn and, with one last longing look, Cain jogged over to the car, and eased himself inside.

  As Jake drove, Cain turned to him, “Thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “For giving me this job; Carly’s thrilled. I know the Alpha and Beta didn’t think it was a good idea.” He let out a small snarl, showing just what he thought about that.

  Jake shrugged, but his wolf pricked up his ears, unhappy with the bear’s attitude toward the Alpha. “It’s their responsibility to ensure the pack is safe, if something happened, if you fucked up, then it would be bad for the pack, and bad for Carly.”

  Cain tensed but didn’t say anything. The suggestion that he might do something to hurt his mate riled him.

  “Humans and shifters get along okay, but there are some humans who aren’t exactly thrilled about seeing shifters in power. And things seem to have been getting worse over the last couple of months. We have to be careful we don’t give them another reason to hate us. So don’t fuck up.”

  “I won’t,” said Cain simply. He would do anyth
ing to ensure Carly was happy and safe.

  Jake nodded, and his wolf growled softly, pleased with the bear’s acquiescence. They lapsed into companionable silence. He was glad Cain had said yes to the job. With a little training and self-discipline, he’d make a good deputy. He wasn’t exactly bright like Delilah or Deanna, and didn’t have Gabe’s instincts, but he was determined, and lord help anyone who tried to step out of line when he was around.

  Other than Cain, Jake had hired two other new deputies. The first was a human who used to work as a deputy in a town to the south. Her name was Susie, and she’d helped them out a few times. She applied for a job at the station; she said she wanted to move out of her old town.

  The second was a newly returned pack mate. He had been serving in the army as an MP and was keen to come home and start as a deputy. His name was Ford Carver, and he was currently living with his sister, Felicity, and her mate, Esther.

  Jake didn’t know Ford particularly well, having only met him a couple of times when he was on leave. He understood Ford had been a bit wild in his younger days, which is why he chose to join the army. Some of the more aggressive wolf shifters did that to try and learn self-discipline. For some, like Ford, it worked, for others, like Hans Lucas, it didn’t. Although, Hans was a lot calmer than he used to be; meeting his mate had done wonders for him.

  He was considering hiring another deputy, but he wasn’t exactly sure who fit the bill or whether he could afford it. Ugh, that was the part of being the sheriff that was least appealing – dealing with budget matters.

  “Where are we going anyway?” asked Cain.

  Jake’s face tightened. “The construction sight. They reported some vandalism.”

  “Again?”

  “Yeah, again.”

  It was the third time they had been called out there since Jake took over as sheriff. A few things had gone missing, and there was graffiti, and someone had even tried to set a fire. The guy in charge over there, an oily character called Glenn, was convinced that the pack was responsible for the problems.