Claimed by the Primals

Chapter One

Before we get going, I just want to make something very clear. You asked for the whole story in explicit detail. So, I'm going to give the whole story in explicit detail. None of this "just the facts, Miss Stryker" or "that's wildly inappropriate, Miss Stryker". The explicit, inappropriate parts are just as relevant as the other stuff, okay?

Okay, great. Where do you want me to start? The beginning? Oh, Jesus, fine. From the top, then. I was born in the middle of July in nineteen-ninety... Oh, so you don't want me to start at the beginning. Well, when I asked you where you wanted me to start you said...

Okay, okay, stop giving me that look, Christ, it was just a joke. Do you have to give up your sense of humor in exchange for all those stars on your coat?

Fine. From the beginning of this story.

I didn't have a typical childhood. My dad was an army ranger and got moved around a lot, so I never really felt like I had a hometown. My mom, sister, and I lived in military housing more often than not, earning us the nicknames as military brats or barrack brats. There were a couple, but not a lot of other kids around the different places we ended up. It was fine. There were a couple other men from dad's squad that usually ended up in the same base, so at least there were familiar faces.

Oh, I've been all over the place. Apparently, I was born in Italy, though we moved long before I was old enough to remember anything. Germany, Belgium, and even Japan. We've lived in probably half of the east coast states as well as Colorado and Texas. Thank God for my mom, because, holy shit, I would have snapped a lot sooner than I did if it weren't for her.

Anyway, we ended up in Arizona when I was sixteen, and I refused to move when dad got his next set of orders a year later. In hindsight, I probably should have been more concerned with his willingness to dump me on someone else's doorstep. I also probably should have been more freaked out that a man I'd never met before was so willing to take me in, take care of me, get me through physio, and put me through college.

Give me a break, I wasn't in a good place at the time!

Matthias Brigg was about ten years my senior. My dad had one hell of a temper, and I just assumed he would have one too. I was so wrong. He was supportive and sweet. When I had to take a gap semester, he encouraged me to use the time not just for my physical recovery, but to get my mental health in the right place. He helped me decide what I actually wanted to study, got me through my applications, and even spent a few all-nighters with me at exam times.

By the time I got my degree, I was a confident-ish, well-ish adjusted, somewhat educated young woman who was definitely not ready for the real world. All I'd known is the tag-along military life, so I begged Matthias to put in a good word for me with the admin corps.

He would not. The admins have just as much chance to be transferred and redeployed, and he wanted me to have some stability in my adult life. Which I guess, I appreciate. That didn't fix the job thing, though and after a bit more begging he put me in contact with Anthony Cardale. Anthony and Matthias had been friends since high school, and while Matthias joined the military, Anthony became a partner at a law firm and was in need of a new personal assistant. I really should have seen the red flags that I, someone who has no work experience in anything, let alone in law, got the job without even interviewing.

I got lucky, in terms of my ability to do the job. Anthony mostly did divorce law, so it was a lot of emails and paperwork, which I'm good at. There's also phone calls and client introductions and intake, which I am less good at. When things start getting awkward and tense, I have a hard time closing my mouth and shutting the fuck up.

Yeah, shocking, I know.

Anthony himself was an... interesting man. He... okay, I'm not going to beat around the bush about this. He got a little handsy at times. At first it was innocent enough, standing a little too close for comfort. Then he would touch my shoulder or my back when we talked. I tried to talk to Matthias about it, but he said that Anthony was just a really personable guy and didn't mean anything by it. He asked me not to make a mountain out of a molehill, so I tried not to be bothered by it.