Because she's new to wattpad, and requested a dedication, so this one's for you honey, and welcome to wattpad!
Tristan
After settling on a good location just on the outskirts of the town below the pack house, I called in some of my workers, and had a trailer delivered so I could start to set up my office. I called Evelyn, giving her directions to where she would need to meet me, and set up an interview for 2 in the afternoon.
Samantha wanted to help me get everything in order, but I knew she needed to jump into her pack duties, which today would require her and Devin to welcome some new pack members, check on some elderly members, and discuss some new business opportunities that have recently come their way. I couldn’t know all the details, but Sam was able to at least give me a tentative itinerary. It was hard to know that they were working so closely together, alone, since my daughter would be spending the day with her aunt Jenny, but I trusted Sam and I knew she was only concerned with the pack, nothing else.
Promptly at 2 on the dot, Evelyn arrived. Punctuality is always a plus when hiring a new employee, so she was already earning some big points with me. As she walked into my office, I noticed that she was dressed very professionally in a nice business suit. The skirt may have been a little short, and there may have been one too many unbuttoned buttons, but over all there wasn’t anything scandalous about it, which was another plus. At least she knew how to dress appropriately for the job.
“Hello again, Mr. Redwood.” she said in her sultry voice.
A weaker man may have melted and the seduction in her every word, but I was anything but weak.
“Hello Evelyn, please feel free to call me Tristan. Although I take my business seriously, I believe in a friendly atmosphere, so formalities won’t be necessary.”
She smiled, and took the seat I offered.
“Thank you, it’s nice to hear, my last boss was a bit of a nit pick. He wanted everything in it’s place and done by the book.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I basically require that as well, I’m just not as stuffy about it.”
She smiled wider, and I had to admit that she was a beautiful woman.
“I brought a copy of my resume for you to see, as well as a recommendation from one of my previous employers.”
I liked that she took the initiative to have all of this ready, and wasn’t just expecting the job to be handed to her because she was referred to me by Devin. As I studied her paperwork, I couldn’t help but notice how she kept playing with the necklace that dangled low on her neck, or the way she gently shook her right leg that was crossed over her left, causing her skirt to ride up dangerously high. It almost seemed as if she was deliberately trying to distract me.
I won’t lie that I wasn’t tempted to look, I was a man, after all, but my love for Samantha always won out over any temptation put in my way and this one was no different. Ignoring her coy antics, I continued to review her resume and saw that she was more than qualified for the position. I just needed to ask her one more question.
“Everything on paper looks good, but a few questions for you before I make my final decision. What caused you to leave your last job? It says here that you were there for almost two years, why leave?”
She stiffened slightly before answering, “Well, it’s kind of personal. Not something I’m supposed to be discussing until the case is finished?”
“The case?”
“I guess I could at least tell you that it has something to do with the sexual harassment case that I’m currently involved in.”
Sexual harassment? That didn’t sound very good. Whether it was against her or not, red flags started to pop up.
“Don’t worry, it will in no way affect my working for you, if you choose to hire me. It’s just a little bit of a misunderstanding with my old boss, that I hope to settle soon.” she assured me.
I wasn’t convinced. By her nonchalant attitude, it had me thinking that she was the one who did the harassing. Not wanting to get myself involved in any sticky situations, I immediately made the decision against hiring her. I don’t think I needed to know anything beyond that.
“Okay, well, I promised I’d see a few more applicants before making a decision, so I have your number and I’ll be sure to give you a call as soon as I’ve decided.” It was a complete lie, one I’m sure she saw through by the glint in her eye, but she stood up to leave, or so I thought.
She came around my desk, placing a hand on each side of me, and said inches away from my face, “Why do I get the feeling you’re lying to me? You seem a bit scared of me too, why is that? Are you having trouble fighting your desire for me? Is that why you don’t want to hire me? You’re afraid I’ll cause you to stray from your wife?”
Was she off her rocker? Where the hell did this come from? How could me telling her I would give her a call, cause her to think I wanted her so badly I would cheat on my wife to have her. Then it clicked, Devin. She probably thought all men were weak like him. Well, it was time to show her I was no Devin, and Samantha was the only woman I wanted anywhere near me.
I placed my hands on her forearms, ready to push her away, when the sound of the trailers front door opening and closing resulted in a sneaky look crossing Evelyn’s face as she quickly kicked off her heels and before I could object, jumped onto my chair with me, straddling me and effectively locking me in place.
“Tristan, are you back there?”
The sound of Samantha’s voice had my veins filling with ice cold fear. If she found us in this position, it would be over for me. After the past she’s had, it would take a miracle to make her believe there was nothing going on here.
Frozen in place, all I could do was watch in horror as Samantha’s beautiful face peeked in the doorway of my office, and took in the scene before her. The first thing I saw was shock, followed closely by a pain so deep I knew she would never forgive me. Just as I was about to say something, Evelyn jumped off of me, smoothing out her clothes as if we were up to no good. I wanted to strangle her, but first, I had a wife to convince of my innocence. I stood up and made my way to sam as fast as I could, and said the first thing that came to mind, “Baby, it’s not what it looks like.”
The rage that filled her eyes as she looked first at me and then at Evelyn, was so powerful, it caused me to step back in fear. Her wolf was just under the skin, and ready to come out for blood. Who’s exactly I wasn’t certain, but I’m sure we were about to find out.
Samantha
The day had gone quite well. Devin was being on his best behavior, and we were tackling our tasks quickly. We visited with some of the new wolves that had asked to be part of our pack, and welcomed them. Devin was very admirable, being welcoming yet intimidating at the same time, making sure the three new unmated wolves knew that though they were welcome here, if they didn’t abide by our pack rules, they would be severely punished. Devin could be scary when he wanted to, and while delivering this particular message, he didn’t disappoint. Needless to say, the wolves got the message, and by the smell of fear I was picking up in the air, they weren’t planning on breaking any rules.
Our next stop was a visit to some of the elderly members of our pack. Although our werewolf genes slow down our aging process, it doesn’t rid us of it completely. We aren’t immortal, and time will eventually catch up with us. As with most werewolf families, especially those that only bore daughters, the elderly eventually lose their family members when the females mate with males of other packs. It is always required that the female join the pack of her male mate, so they must say good bye to their family and move on. As alpha and alpha female, it is our job to assure the left behind granparents and parents that they are still very important, and their loyalty to our pack still very much appreciated. That is why we make regular visits to them, and give them some of our time. It’s not hard to do, and the stories they offer are very entertaining and full of knowledge.
At around 2, Devin gave me a much needed break, “Samantha, why don’t you go and join Tristan for a late lunch. We’ve been working non stop since this morning, and you could use a breather.”
I thought it was sweet of him, to suggest I spend some time with Tristan, knowing how he still feels about the whole situation. I was happy he was trying to let me be happy. It’s the first time in a long time that he’s put my needs first, and it meant a lot to me.
“Are you sure? We still have to meet with some of the pack members that were thinking of opening a security company. Don’t I need to be there for that?” I asked, not wanting to shirk my duties.
“No, they just want to run some ideas by me, I’ll take some notes so I can fill you in later. No definite decisions will be made today. Go ahead, you better catch him before he leaves the office or something.” he pushed.
I did think it was a little strange that he was so eager for me to get to Tristan, but I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to spend some alone time with my hubby, so quicker than you could say boo, I jumped into my car and took off for Tristan’s brand new office.
As I pulled up, I noticed there was another car here besides Tristan’s. It was a nice, sleek Porsche in bright red. Really flashy, it practically screamed, ‘look at me’. I wondered who it might belong to, then I remembered Tristan mentioning that he was planning on setting up an interview with the woman Devin referred as soon as he was set up. It would probably be a good idea if I sat in on it with him, so that if he decided to hire her, I could ease her into her position by showing her my filing system and letting her know how Tristan likes things done.
Rushing to the door, I opened it and noticed that it was much like our other office. It was a simple room, with a small kitchen to the left in which I knew Tristan would set up a table so that the workers could stop ] for a cup of coffee before getting to work every day. To the right of the room was a desk for the secretary, and past that was a little hallway that would lead to Tristan’s office. I heard voices coming from there, and wanted to announce myself before just barging in on their meeting, “ Tristan, are you back there?”
The voices stopped, and silence greeted me.
That was a little strange. What was going on?
The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention, and I couldn’t ignore the feeling that if I took one more step towards the back, I wouldn’t like what I found. Regardless, I continued toward the office, finally taking a look inside.
After the shock left my body at the sight before me, all I could think as pain engulfed me was ‘No, this can’t be happening to me again. Not Tristan.’
A redhead, in a tight and short business suit was straddling my husband, and he was doing nothing to get her off. She got up quickly, smoothing out her clothes and making me think they had been up to whatever they were doing for some time if she had to get that many wrinkles out of it. Her face showed no real embarrassment, which caused some suspicion to grow within me. It was almost as if she expected me to catch them.
Tristan approached me, and I couldn’t hide the anger I felt at the thought of him with his hands all over another woman. “Baby, it’s not what it looks like.”
Ah, the famous line used by all cheaters when they get caught. My blood boiled, the rage was beginning to overwhelm me as I looked from Tristan to the whore still standing in this room, way too close to my husband. My wolf was ready to take over, and fight for what was ours, while my human wanted to turn around and run, escaping the pain of the situation before us.
Taking a deep breath, I was about to do just that, when I finally registered the look on Tristan’s face. Though there was fear and worry there, I saw no guilt at all. The many times I’ve had to face Devin after he’s been with another she wolf, guilt was always plastered all over his face and actions, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Tristan was visibly shaking, but not from the fear of being caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. No, by the love for me I still saw in his eyes, I knew instinctively that his fear was solely caused by the thought of losing me because of this. Scanning over the pictures in my head of what I just witnessed, I noticed some key things. The look of disgust on Tristan’s face as he stared at the red head while she was straddling him, the satisfaction on her face once they were caught, and the worry and heartache in Tristan’s eyes as he looked at me now. After all I’ve been through, I knew he wanted to explain things to me, but he didn’t think I would believe him.
He didn’t have to explain anything to me, though, I knew this red head for what she was. The type of woman that gives the rest of us a bad name. Going after a man that doesn’t belong to her, just because she can’t find a man to love her on her own. Allowing my wolf control, I was across the room in a flash, tackling her to the ground, poised above her with both my hands around her throat. My hands were now claws, drawing blood from her neck where my nails dug in. I knew my eyes were probably dilating, filling my socket black, but my wolf was tired of being treated this way. We had already lost and given up our mate to other women, she refused to let our human soul mate be taken away as well.
“WHY ARE YOU HERE?”
Her eyes were rolling in the back of her head, and I knew I was cutting off her oxygen, but I wanted answers. This was too much of a coincidence, to have her throw herself on my husband, after Devin practically pushed me to get here quickly. Something wasn’t adding up, and my wolf knew it.
“Honey, I don’t think she can breathe, much less answer you right now.” Tristan said tentatively, standing his ground when I snapped my head in his direction. Seeing my anger now directed at him, he quickly set out to reassure me, “She came on to me, out of nowhere, she straddled my hips and started saying that I wanted her. It wasn’t even on my mind, yes I thought she was attractive, but that‘s all! I never even for a minute thought of her in a sexual way! I swear you’re the only woman for me.”
My wolf growled at his admission, but deep inside I couldn’t help but find the humor in it. Even at the brink of his destruction, my Tristan was honest to the core. He knew admitting that he found this woman attractive would anger me, but still he let me know, not leaving any secrets between us.
My glare snapped back to the woman on the ground, and my grip loosened enough so that she was able to speak. I heard a big release of breath behind me, and knew that Tristan was thanking his lucky stars that I didn’t release her to tackle him down.
I demanded once more, “WHY ARE YOU HERE AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?”
She struggled, trying to buck me off, but I wasn’t having it. I straddled her waist, squeezing my thighs as tight as I could, crushing her sides, all the while maintaining my grip on her neck, “I’m going to ask you one more time, and then you get no more chances, why are you here and what do you want?”
Sensing that I wasn’t about to let her up, she gave up the struggle, and forced out, “D-devin s-sent me.”
She confirmed my suspicions, but I pushed her for more. “Why?”
“He w-wanted Tristan to mess up, so that he could win you back. I was sup-posed to seduce him to cheat on you, and Devin would help you through it and make you fall b-back in love with him.” she choked out.
I thought Devin didn’t have the ability to hurt me anymore. I couldn’t have been more wrong. To plot against me with this whore, knowing what his betrayal did to me, he had to have known that a betrayal from Tristan would have cut just as deep. He wanted to inflict more pain on me, even after all that I’ve already been through.
Disgust at the she wolf before me filled my throat with bile, and all I wanted to do was snap her neck and be done with her, but a familiar arm on my shoulder stopped me, “Don’t do it Sam, you’ll hate yourself for it later. I know you, just let her go. She’s not worth it.”
I knew what he was saying was true, but I couldn’t seem to let go. All the anger and hurt my wolf and I felt, caused by Devin, wouldn’t let my hands loosen. Until Tristan whispered, “Do it for Ariana.”
The adrenaline left my body in a flash, and I released my grip on her and slid to the side, allowing her to make her way to her knees and scurry off in fear. After I heard the scuffle of her wheels on the gravel outside as she made her escape, my wolf finally gave me back control, and I began to fall towards the floor, only to be caught in a pair of strong and reliable arms, “I’ve got you baby.”
I soaked up the comfort of Tristan’s arms, letting it be a balm to my pain.
Now that the anger and rage was gone, all that was left was the pain of what she revealed. Devin had set out to hurt me. He would never stop till he got what he wanted. I would never be allowed to have my happily ever after as long as I was still tied to him.
He was never going to let me or Ariana go, and I wasn’t sure I could make him.
But I would try.
After I calmed myself down, and organized my thoughts, I would confront Devin. I needed to make him see that a relationship between the two of us was never going to happen again. There was too much pain and hurt that could never be forgotten.
I knew it was going to be a battle of wills and emotion, but it was long overdue. I wasn’t stern enough when I agreed to come back, and that caused Devin to have a false hope that we could work out our relationship.
It was long overdue for me to set him straight.