APEX

Ch. 7: A Forbidden Fantasy

"Oh," said Dev. "I thought maybe you and I could..."

"Of course, you wouldn't be here. It would just be me and him, and I would let him do all the things to me that I always wished you would do."

Harsh. Even though I was directing this fantasy, I couldn't help but feel a little bad for Dev. It wasn't his fault he was a human.

"So, tell me, Detective, what can I do to get control of myself? Because right now, what I'm experiencing is so primal. My wolf is begging me to let him have me. Oh my God." She'd swipe piles of papers and framed photos off Dev's desk and place herself upon it, back arched, as though she was readying herself for what I was about to do to her. I salivated as I imagined her hand traveling up her skirt. "I'm getting wet just talking about Rhys. I'm going to go wilding if I'm forced to resist him much longer."

That's when I'd appear on the scene. Office door flying open, I'd frame the entryway with my hands on my hips, a sexual superhero ready to save the day.

"Never fear," I'd say. "All you need to do is ask Dev to leave the room, and then you can undo your burden, put aside all your inhibitions, and show me just how out of control you can get."

"You want me to leave?" Dev would say. "It's my office."

Ignoring him, Calla would hop off the desk and approach me. "I want this Rhys. It's all I've wanted since we rode the elevator together at Apex. But we work together. Plus, you're Alpha of the biggest, most powerful pack in the city, and I'm from Crown, whose glory days ended in the era of hoop skirts and sock hops. Our families hate each other. We hate each other. Everyone will be so mad at us. We'll be in such horrible trouble!"

I'd raise an eyebrow. "Tell me that prospect doesn't make you that much more excited." It sure excited me. My cock twitched at the thought of the forbidden fruit I was about to pluck.

"Remember, Alpha," she'd say as she undid the top button of her blouse. "As much as I want your hot body, I don't like you."

"That's not a requirement to ride this ride. Get over here."

With this demand, she'd pick up her speed, until she stood before me, awaiting my next instructions.

"Tell Dev to leave." My command would come out half growl as my desire to claim her overwhelmed my senses.

"Sorry, Dev," she'd say, not sounding sorry at all. "If you could just give us a bit."

"We'll need more than a bit." I'd wave him away. "Go take a long lunch. And be sure to treat yourself to dessert. I sure will."

At this point in my fantasy, Dev would fade away, never saying a word or making a fuss. All my focus would now be on Calla, my hand caressing her bare leg, sliding underneath her skirt, just as I'd imagined doing on the car ride to Neutral Isle.

She'd sway as my fingers glided across her panties, a gasp escaping her. Wanting to feel the wetness behind them, I'd yank at the fabric, which would tear like paper toweling under my strength. My hand hovered over her. So close, So close. She'd pant and arch herself to try to make contact, to feel the pressure of my hand on her sensitive folds. But before I'd give her what she wanted, I'd ask her. "Are you sure you're ready for me?"

She'd licked her lips, turning slightly so that the delicate flesh where neck met shoulder was right there for the taking. A wall of madness would strike me as I leaned in, teeth bared.

Her desire for me to claim her was as transparent as could be. "Am I ready for you to do what?"

Oh, that's how she wanted to play it—making me spell it out for her. I lowered my hovering hand, while using my other to undo the button on my pants. I needed to release my rock-hard cock or the restraint was going to kill me. "Let me show you."

"Oh my God, open your fucking eyes, Rhys!"

Jolting awake, I realized I wasn't in Dev's office but in Simone's Lexus, with one hand on my pants, the other on the seat in front of me, all while Calla looked at me like she didn't know whether she should laugh or scream obscenities at me. "I really cannot stand you."

This would have been an embarrassing moment for a lot of men, but let's face it: I was an attractive Alpha with a healthy sexual appetite. Considering how off-putting Calla could be in the waking world, she should be honored to be the object of my fantasies in my dreamscape. I thought about laying my coat across my lap to cover my erection for modesty's sake, but I'd be damned if I was going to pretend I was ashamed of it.

"When did you get here?" I asked, wondering how much I'd said out loud. Vivid dreams, and especially ones on the erotic side, were common for me in the days following a full moon. This one, though... What I wouldn't give to reenact it in the waking world, maybe minus Dev's presence.

"Just now. Do you always fall asleep so quickly?"

"After a full moon? Yes. Don't you?"

She shrugged. "You came down here less than ten minutes ago."

My mind returned to the thought of Calla alone with her ex. "Is that all the time he needed?"

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind. To be honest, I didn't even realize I'd drifted off. Must be the residual full moon hangover messing with me.

"Hmmm. Is the sex dream part of your hangover too?"

I flashed a mischievous grin. "Just an added bonus. If you'd like to hear more about it—"

"Oh please, no. Let's never speak of this again."

If she only knew what she was missing out on. "So, what did you need to talk to the good Detective about? Care to share."

Her shoulders squared and her lips formed a thin line. "I needed him to investigate something for me. That's all I'm going to say, so let it drop."

"Whatever." I said, attempting to be nonchalant when really, it irritated me to be kept in the dark. "If it's none of my business, then it's none of my business."

I turned my attention out the window as we emerged back into the daylight chaos of the boulevard in front of the Office of Werewolf Affairs. The protestors were still at it. If anything, there were more bodies crammed into the streets than there had been when we arrived. To our right, just up the road, a bearded man with a megaphone stood atop an overturned dumpster shouting "Down with shifters!" The crowd echoed him.

"They'll get tired of this nonsense soon enough," I said, no longer convinced that would be the case.

Calla shook her head, but her focus was now on her phone. "Text your brothers, Rhys."

"Why don't you?"

"Clearly, they don't take me seriously. Text them and tell them to be at Apex by the time we get there."

Neil inched us out into the street, going in the direction opposite the yelling megaphone man.

"Why?"

"Because we're doing the press conference Dev mentioned and I want it to happen tomorrow. That gives us tonight to make sure we're all on the same page. We need to come across as a united front."

"Agreed."

"I swear, Rhys, if they're no shows for that as well, I'm going to fire their asses."

I opened my mouth to issue a half-hearted defense of my brothers—whether they deserved it or not, they were still family—but the words were robbed from me.

A flash of light, an earsplitting boom, a jolt that shook every organ in my body—and then the car, with its precious cargo, became consumed in the white light of oblivion.