She could not have read that right. No no no no no. Ok, everything else out the window. She was not going anywhere near that apartment. Because first of all, she had already crossed those boundaries and that happened.
She wanted to keep her personal and work life separate. By all means necessary. Working from his house was going to blur those lines. If not for her then most certainly for him.
Rita dropped her glass of juice on the nightstand and started typing a reply to his email.
|| Dear Sir,
Thank you for asking about my health. I am doing fine. Is there no other way or option for me than working from your home? I can always work in mine, it is no problem.||
She pressed send. Rita was a bit worried that he would be mad but it is what it is. She was going to be as hard as a three week old scone. She was not going to step foot in that apartment, whether he liked it or not.
She took her juice and downed it all. And who was he to tell her when and when not to use her phone when she wanted to.
“Alice.” she called, suddenly really pissed.
In less than a minute Alice was beside her. “Yes, Madam. Do you need anything?” she inquired.
“Yes, more juice please. And some sandwiches. Make them big.” Rita replied.
“What would you like in them?” Alice asked, already taking the glass from the table and setting it on the tray.
Rita responded. “Anything but salami.” She did not know why but right now she really did not want to see or smell salami, anywhere near her.
“Okay Madam. Right away.” Alice replied and scurried away.
****
Samuel sent the email and went to his room to fetch something. Max had given details and how the guy from Rita's bakery looked like, also said he was a demon. And after a couple of hours he said he was going to leave for a while. He took most of everything from the bakery and left.
Samuel had sent the details over to Christina, one of the people on his payroll, to comb through every record, every which way for anything that resembled what Max had said and went by the name Kalzaar. Though he highly doubted that was the demon's real name.
When he came back to his laptop, he found a response to his email. Did he not tell her to stay off her phone. He opened and read the contents of the email.
He laced his fingers over each other as he read. He was expecting this kind of response and he had one of his own already prepared.
|| Nice to know you are doing okay Rita. As for your request, it has been denied. I meant what I said about both of us being in for it and I need you here. I understand your reasons for not wanting to come into my home, that is why I have made certain arrangements for you.
See you in two weeks.
And stay off your phone. Don't bother replying. I will not respond. Good night. ||
He pressed send and switched off his laptop. Until he found out who that demon was and why he was getting close to Rita, he could not let her out of his sight. Even if he had to go to the hotel she was staying in and do it himself.
His phone rang and he froze a little before snapping out of it. Thanks to the attack, his body had started associating ringtones with danger. He picked up his phone from where it lay on face up on the table. He looked at the caller and saw it was Xavier. He answered the call.
Xavier's voice came through and it sounded somber. “Good evening Alpha.”
“Good evening Xavier.”
“I called to inform you that the problem with the Delezes has taken a turn for the worse.” he said.
Samuel sat up slowly in his chair. “What happened?” he asked, not liking where this was going. At all.
“It's Sydney. He went out for a run and they ambushed him and messed him up bad.” Xavier informed.
They touched his gamma! Samuel seethed. “How do you know it was them?” he asked, his voice as calm as a summer breeze.
He heard Xavier swallow. “Aside from their scents and the blood, we found an arm next to Sydney's jaw. Looked like Sydney tore Klaus' arm off.”
The most anyone on this planet has gotten close to harming the bastard.
“There was of course the brothers usually fashion of claiming themselves the culprits.”
The sick bastards had used Syndey as a chew toy.
“How bad is he?” Samuel asked. Something told him it would not be good. It never was with those two.
“Broken legs, damaged ribcage, a badly punctured lung and a mangled throat with venom and demon blood in his system.” ‘That bad?’ Samuel thought. “The Pack doctors say that he might not make it.” Xavier answered. And a brief silence followed.
Sydney might have been a goofball but he did his job as gamma better than the two previous ones. And that was saying something. He was always down for a laugh. He was younger than all of them. His delta included. His mother must be devastated.
“There is more.” Xavier added. “Apparently, some of the west side packs want the humans residing in their territories gone and we are having an influx. Various law enforcements have taken an interest in the crisis.”
Samuel rubbed his left hand over his face and pinched the bridge if gus nose. For the love of Selene!
“And they don't like the concentration of humans in some packs, including ours most especially. The packs themselves are running out of living space. Four out of the seven neighbouring packs want them off all pack lands or they break off their treaties.”
Samuel wanted to break something. Anything. Preferably, Alpha Nicholas' face. At least. Samuel had no doubt that it was that conniving purity loving fucker who started all this. And he used what happened here in Alvas as an excuse.
Samuel understood. He was needed there.
Samuel sighed. “How much time do I have?” he inquired.
“As of right now, we have no estimated time but I would say until Christmas eve. Approximately. Sydney and I got the other three Alphas to help stall for time before he was attacked.” Xavier replied.
Somehow, Klaus and Dylan were mixed up in this. Samuel knew it. If Sydney did not make it out of this alive, he was going to pull off Klaus' other arm.
“It seems everything is a mess.” Samuel fumed. Thanks to the state government getting involved, the citywide lockdown will not be over for the next four weeks. That bastard Allison.
Samuel said. “Once this lockdown is over I'll be there as soon as i can. Keep me posted on Sydney's condition.”
Xavier responded. “Yes Alpha.”
“And keep an eye out for Alpha Nicholas and Red claw pack, I have a feeling he is going to try something.” Samuel added. He did not trust Nicholas as far as he could throw him. The damn bastard was always ready to prove his point whichever way necessary and that did not exclude war or sabotage.
“Understood Alpha” Xavier replied.
Samuel dropped the call and rested his head against the chair, his eyes to the ceiling.
‘Look what you have done Uncle Edward. You've gone and saddled me with all this and I feel like everything is spiraling out of control. What exactly were you hiding that everyone on both sides of the tracks wants so much? And if you had such a thing why keep it such a secret and never use it?’ he asked, hoping that some way somehow his Uncle would suddenly materialize like he always did and give him the answer. He mostly gave riddles instead of straight forward solutions but still. It was something.
Now he had nothing. And his mind was torn.
“Don't think about it too much.” someone suggested.
Samuel opened his eyes faster than his own hand could move and jolted in his seat. He looked to his right and Rita was there, dressed in a white blouse and a black skirt and her plaits left to fall. She looked so damn sexy and it made him harden.
“What are you doing here?” Samuel questioned.
“That doesn't really matter.” She breathed, sauntering closer until she was right in front of him and leaned to whisper in his ear. Her chest on display. He could see her black lacy bra. He gulped. “Especially since I'm with you.”
She gave the tip of his ear a lick and he reached for her to bring her closer only to come empty handed and Rita was gone. Leaving him behind with a rock hard dick to deal with.