My wolf whined, urging me to go around the desk and get closer to Percy. It was more than a little distracting, as was the fullness of Percy’s lips even as he twisted them into a condescending smirk.
I fought to keep my composure, to ignore the way his presence made my wolf feel out of control. It was no easy feat, but somehow, I managed.
“You don’t know me at all, so don’t pretend like you’ve got me figured out,” I retorted. “And I’m more than happy to keep it that way.”
“Oh, the feeling is mutual, believe me.”
“Good. Then how about you stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours. I don’t think we need any more proof than this that we definitely aren’t meant to be together.”
The look on Percy’s face stopped me from saying anything else. A little shocked, a little hurt, more than a little uncomfortable. But it was gone as fast as it appeared, and I almost wondered if I’d imagined it.
My wolf practically howled, hating the words I was saying, the things I was thinking, but I did my best to ignore him.
“I’d be more than happy to oblige you on that,” Percy said. “Except you’re going to have to deal with me for the time being. From now on, any questions you have for Senator Bates need to go through me. I’ll be present for any further questioning.”
Great. Just fucking great.
How the hell had it come to this? Now I was going to be forced into dealing with this asshole just to get my job done? My wolf settled a bit at the thought, and I grimaced. Of course he liked the idea of spending more time around Percy. Well, I’d make a point of those meetings being as infrequent as possible.
“Is there anything else, or are we done here?” I asked, exhausted from the internal battle with my wolf and from the conflicting feelings Percy seemed to spark in me.
“Just watch that you don’t overstep your boundaries, and we won’t have to take legal action,” he said, tapping the file folder as a reminder of the senator’s threats.
I crossed my arms over my chest and angled my head toward the door. “You can show yourself out.”
Percy narrowed his eyes and studied my face, my posture, and then he turned on his heel and stalked out of my office. Just in time because that quick perusal had my body heating up in response.
“Fuck,” I growled when I heard the outer door of the office slam shut. I wanted to throw something, anything, to take out my frustration. But all I had was my coffee mug, and I needed the caffeine too much. I settled for pacing the office.
How the hell had this happened? Percy of all people was working for the very man I knew in my gut was guilty? Senator Bates was vile. How he hadn’t been voted out of office was beyond me.
My stomach twisted, and I felt nauseous. This was another layer of attestation that Percy and I didn’t belong together. How could my fated mate represent such a horrible person? We were obviously complete opposites. My wolf just had to be mistaken.
But when he stood across from me in the office, I’d felt that strange pull I’d felt the first time I met him. It was like everything in me was drawn to him on some subconscious level.
No. Just no. It couldn’t be. If I’d had my doubts before, today was confirmation. I could never be with a person like Percy.
And if that meant that I would spend the rest of my life without my fated mate, then so be it.
5
Percy
“This is going to be so much fun!” Amy practically bounced on her seat in my car, her face lighting up as we pulled into the parking lot of the park.
While I hadn’t been able to get away from work last weekend—especially after that blowup with Easton—I’d made a point of taking this weekend off to follow through on my promise to spend more time with Amy. I couldn’t be more glad that I had.
“Looks like this is the hottest place in town on a Saturday morning,” I commented. At least if you were a kid. The playground was swarming with kids around Amy’s age.
She nodded. “Yeah, a bunch of my friends said they’d also come today!” She glanced at me with wide eyes and worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course it is.” I ruffled her hair and laughed. “Today is all about you. Whatever you want to do.”
Amy grinned, showing off the gap where her silver capped tooth had fallen out, and threw her arms around me once I’d parked my car. “You’re the best, Uncle Percy!” And then she was gone, hopping out of the car and running toward the playground, calling out for her friends.
I smiled and followed her at a slower pace. I’d needed this kind of break more than I realized. Work was stressing me the fuck out, and it was nice to just relax for a change. How nice it must be for these kids to have no more worries in the world than who was going to be “it” in the first round of tag.
I found a seat on a bench at the edge of the playground, trying to let go of the stress of the week, but I found it hard not to think about the Bates case even in my off hours. That was how it had been from the start.
This past week I’d spend a lot of time working with the senator’s manager on how to handle the press. They had done an amazing job of keeping it out of the media up until this point, something that had only made me more uneasy about the case. The fact that Milo had disappeared without a trace and the only person who was alarmed was his mother was more than a little suspicious.
As I’d done my own research and due diligence, my suspicions about the senator had started to grow. While I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, things just weren’t adding up. As a criminal defense lawyer, I’d had my fair share of representing people who may not have been as innocent as they’d claimed. This case, however, pushed my boundaries in ways I wasn’t entirely comfortable with.
This past week I’d discovered several things. Bates was definitively anti-shifter, which had made choosing our firm bewildering until I found out his first choice had dropped him, then it made a little more sense. I didn’t like it, though. On top of that, Milo was a shifter. His human mother had adopted him, and then she’d married Bates. But it had me questioning the senator’s motives even more. Something was off, for sure, but I couldn’t speak out against Bates and his prejudice or my suspicions. He was my client, and my job was to defend him no matter what.
I didn’t want to overthink the fact that the biggest reason I hadn’t pushed back was that my father had given me this job. A huge task that indicated he may finally have realized I was more than capable. Letting him down just wasn’t an option.
I sighed, vowing not to think about it anymore today. Everything would be right there waiting for me on Monday morning. I needed this break away from the office. So I began circling around the playground to make sure Amy was doing okay and didn’t need anything. I immediately felt the gazes of multiple pairs of eyes, male and female. Apparently, there were some single moms and dads in the crowd. And they were scoping me out.
A little spooked, I settled down on another bench in the shade, but no sooner had I leaned back and stretched my arms out, one of the moms came and plopped herself down right beside me. Way too close for comfort. I gave her an aloof smile that was decidedly more of a grimace, hoping she’d get the hint that I wasn’t interested. No such luck.