Conrad is already tired two weeks into her job.
She's over it.
Charlotte went home last week, after a week of getting to know her mate, promising to come back every weekend she could until she was able to secure a transfer, which Conrad was attempting to help her with.
Jeanne was still being weird with her since they had their disagreement over making fun of Meg, so Conrad felt slightly isolated.
She had become pretty friendly with everyone in the office, especially Aaron and Scarlet, the two trackers.
They had gone out together the week before, and got absolutely smashed.
They had all regretted it the next morning, but they enjoyed it before then.
"Do you have the files for the interviews?" Carlos asks, swinging into her office abruptly.
He scares the shit out of her for a minute, and her heart is in her throat with fear until she recognises him.
"Yeah. They're on the table over there," Conrad mumbles, opening one of her eyes to stare at him.
"Are you okay?" He questions, furrowing his brow as he walks towards her.
She sniffs the air absently, able to scent some coffee.
He notices the sniffing and slides her his mostly-full mug of coffee, a frown on his face as he examines her closely.
"Yeah. I stayed up way too late organising my work," she mutters, straightening up and forcing her eyes to open wider.
She's half-asleep, and there's no denying that.
"Hey, did you sleep at all?" He wonders, walking around to her side of the desk and then squatting down beside her.
"I think I got two hours," she whispers, covering a massive yawn.
"Go back to bed," he exclaims, a look of alarm on his face.
"It's too far," she murmurs, leaning on her hand.
She can't even fake being awake; she's had around five hours of sleep in the last three days.
"Go to mine," he orders, hauling her out of her seat.
Conrad stares up at him, an expression of confusion on her face.
"No, I'm serious. It's three minutes from here; I'll walk you there," he frowns, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"I'm fine; I can walk by myself. I'll go back to my hotel," she mumbles, and he stares at her.
"That's fifteen minutes away. Just take the offer, please," he pleads, walking her to the door.
He kicks it open with his foot, the loud noise drawing some of the other workers' attention.
"Is she okay, boss?" Scarlet calls up, and Conrad gives her a small smile.
"She's exhausted; I'm taking her to the hospital wing," Carlos shouts back, and Conrad frowns.
"I'm not actually, but I'm not telling them I'm taking you to my house; they'll take it wrong," he mutters, stepping onto the first step.
Her legs shake a little as she steps down, and Carlos shakes his head, scooping her up.
Jane is knocked out, having taken the hit of exhaustion for the past few days.
"Do you want me to go with you?" Scarlet asks, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs with a look of concern on his face.
Conrad rests her head against Carlos' chest, enjoying the heat from his body.
His scent is strong, and Conrad loves it.
It's comforting and slightly masculine, and the familiarity helps to lull her into a light doze.
"No, it's fine. She always overworks herself at first, and she forgets that she needs to sleep. I'll stay with her for a while, just to make sure that she's safe," Carlos whispers to Scarlet, who nods, looking down at Conrad with a concerned frown.
"Please make sure she's okay, I really like working with her. I don't want someone new to come in and ruin the atmosphere," Scarlet jokes, returning to her desk.
She's fidgety and worried about her friend, but she doesn't want to interfere with her boss unless she sees something wrong or worrying.
She knows that Conrad and Carlos are close and friendly, so she trusts him not to do anything stupid.
Carlos signs himself out of the quarters, entering the silence of the hallways.
He closes his eyes for a moment, adjusting Conrad in his arms.
This is one of the first days she has worn trousers, and he's relieved she did, because he would be hugely scared of flashing anyone her underwear otherwise.
"High Alpha Amaretti, how are you doing today?" Laurie Hutch appears, her bright red hair a startling contrast to the sterile and reflective white of the tiled walls.
"I'm doing well; how are you?" He asks politely, and his fellow Society member smiles widely at him.
She is one of his allies, and they generally agree on all policies.
She's a little creepy, though, and she reminds him of a murder-y puppet or something.
"I'm perfectly fine; thank you. Who's the sleeping beauty in your arms?" Laurie questions, her wide eyes sparkling in the bright lights.
"My chief-of-staff. She fainted," Carlos lies lightly, deciding to save Conrad the embarrassment.
Wolves were supposed to take care of themselves, and Conrad not sleeping, or making sure she was well-rested enough to carry out her job perfectly, was slightly shameful, especially for someone in her role.
"Oh, the poor girl! She was on trial a few weeks ago, wasn't she? I'm not surprised she fainted, the poor dear, she must be so distressed over the whole issue with her mate," Laurie exclaims, shaking her head.
Carlos furrows his brows, looking over at Laurie.
"I mean, can you believe what just came out about that man? I would say he's relieved he went home early, especially with the scandal he and the girl left behind," Laurie shrugs, her mid-calf length dress swirling around her legs.
"What scandal?" Carlos asks curiously, and Laurie presses a hand to her chest, ever the dramatic soul.
"Did you not hear? Apparently, it's triplets, not twins. That's practically unheard of, and she's so young," Laurie mourns, and Carlos raises his eyebrows, stopping in his tracks.
"Triplets? She'll be lucky if she survives," Carlos finally says after a minute of absorbing the information.
"I know! Her age doesn't help," Laurie sniffs, shaking her head.
Laurie is Carlos' age, twenty-nine, but she acts so much older. He supposes it must be her upbringing, because she's very prim and proper until somebody tries to provoke her.
"How old is the girl?" Carlos asks unsurely, and Laurie mutters something to herself while continuing to shake her head.
"She's barely twenty, apparently. A bit shocking, considering he's twenty-eight," Laurie comments, a frown on her pink lips.
"That's not that big of a gap," Carlos reasons, and Laurie rests a hand on his arm, her eyes wide.
"Oh, no! You don't know the story! Apparently, they were courting when she was seventeen," Laurie whispers conspiratorially, shaking her head.
"And what's the story with her mate? Is that part of the scandal?" Carlos asks, humouring the woman.
Laurie is a huge gossip, and she's the only reason he has any idea what's happening in the Society. He appreciates the updates, even if he does take a lot of it with a pinch of salt, because she has a tendency to over-dramatize things sometimes.
"Allegedly, she met him when they were here," Laurie declares, a grin on her face.
She looks like a deluded fucking clown, Blaze comments.
"Wait, so the triplet-pregnant girl met her mate after having her Alpha boyfriend reject the Beta in my arms?" Carlos clarifies, and Laurie nods frantically.
"Exactly! You get it now!" She cries, clapping her hands.
"Jesus. That's a mess. We didn't even get to go after them for the different rankings; they wanted to end it before they could," Carlos sighs, adjusting Conrad in his arms.
"And she seems so sweet," Laurie says sympathetically, pouting a little as she looks down at Conrad.
Carlos resists chuckling, having watched Conrad train the day before.
She was lethal with blades, and she had taken her anger out on one of the mannequins in the gym.
"She is. She's a great co-worker and friend," Carlos comments, a small smile on his lips.
"Just a friend?" Laurie asks, her eyes squinting a little as she looks at him.
Oh, I wish we could say no, Blaze complains.
Carlos mutes his wolf.
"Yes, Laurie, just a friend. Don't say otherwise to your ring of gossipmongers, or I'll find you," Carlos warns her, and Laurie smirks, waving with her fingers as she takes one of the turns.
"You can find me anytime, Carlos," Laurie yells over her shoulder.
The sudden noise startles Conrad awake, and she looks up at Carlos, who is chuckling quietly to himself as he continues to walk.
"Hey, close your eyes. We're almost there," Carlos orders, smiling at her.
"Who was laughing? They sounded drunk," Conrad mumbles into his chest, and Blaze smirks triumphantly.
She agreed with me, without even knowing I was thinking that. She's perfect, he caws.
"One of the other High Alphas, she was just checking in. She filled me in on the gossip surrounding your mate and his girl," Carlos informs her, pushing the outside door open with his shoulder.
"Ex-mate," Conrad corrects him drowsily, nuzzling into his chest happily.
"Do you want me to tell you what I heard?" He asks, looking around as he walks along the path.
"If you want. I don't mind," she mumbles, "I wish we had a mindlink. Then I wouldn't have to talk."
"We could do a blood bond," Carlos casually suggests, and Conrad opens one eye, staring up at him.
"That would be so cool. But maybe we shouldn't; that could sound bad," Conrad murmurs, closing her eyes again as she inhales his scent.
Carlos smiles slightly, passing the group of trees by the start of the road with the houses.
"You should be a professional carrier. I feel so safe and warm," Conrad whispers into his chest, causing him to feel the vibrations against his ribs.
"I'll take note of that. Do you think it would be a good idea to put that recommendation on my resume?" He asks, a smile on his lips.
He nods to some of the children playing outside his house, climbing the stone steps.
He stares at the door, and then down at Conrad.
"I'm going to have to put you down for a moment so I can get my keys out," he sighs, and Conrad looks up at him.
She reaches into his pocket for him, pressing them into his hand.
"Or not," Carlos chuckles, opening the door.
He turns off the alarm with ease, scanning his thumb and his iris before typing in his security codes.
"You painted," Conrad states, gazing at the walls.
They were white when she was last here, and now they're a deep emerald green.
She loves it; it feels so much warmer and homely.
He doesn't respond to her, strolling up the wide staircase with her secured in his arms.
He pushes the bedroom door open, noticing the sheets in a bundle.
"I'm going to leave you in my room. I haven't made the bed in the guest room because we weren't expecting visitors any time soon," he admits, a red flush climbing into his cheeks.
"I don't mind. I just want to sleep," she mumbles, and he nods, walking into his own room and gently placing her on the gigantic bed.
He tucks her in, leaving her plenty of room to wiggle around.
"Thank you," she mumbles, opening her eyes a little as he walks towards the door.
He watches over her for a minute, making sure she falls asleep before he leaves.
He closes the door as softly as possible, cringing when the handle makes a loud squeaking noise.
Let's make her some food. We have to wake her up at lunchtime because she never eats breakfast, Blaze recalls, and Carlos agrees with his wolf, hopping down the stairs and strutting into the kitchen, clicking on the radio.
Some older songs from when his parents were young begin blaring, and Carlos dances around the kitchen, starting to chop up some fruit to make a smoothie.
He wastes some time watching some reality television, his eyebrows getting closer to his hairline with every high-pitched exclamation emitting from the blonde creatures on his screen.
He has no trials on the bench today anyway, and all of his meetings were yesterday. He only had paperwork planned; he can always do that later, once he's sure his Con is alright.
He sings along softly to one of the songs, waltzing from the fridge to the countertop with a knife in hand.
The kitchen door is thrown open, and he throws the knife at the frame, instantly taking on a defensive stance.
"Hi, daddy!"
"Sabrina," Carlos breathes.
I am drowning in work, and taking extra shifts at my job! This is a recipe for chaos, but at least I get to edit on my breaks now!!
Hope you're all well, it's finally getting a bit sunnier where I am and I've never been so happy to see the sun.
Drop any comments or questions you have!
- Aoife :) xx