The Hunter’s Mate

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

 Lizzy’s point of view

MATE! What the actual…. Oh! dear God as if my life is not complicated enough, now I have some mystical bond to contend with and not with a mere human but my mortal enemy a Lycan Slayer! Like whom in heaven wrote the script from my life? they have to be having a laugh at my expense!

Now I am going to be drawn to him, controlled by emotions, unable to be to far away at any one time from him! How am I ever going to keep the wolf away when she will be fighting with me gaining strength from the mate bond, and he can never know, because to kill me would be to kill himself. Although the mate bond on the side of a human is different, not as powerful, but it is still stronger than any human to human “love” he will be putty in my hands, and I will be at the mercy of his silver sword.

My urge to change him and to leave my mark on his neck is going to be unbearable, especially as I would never want to change him, how could I condemn him to this life! Plus, the amount of silver, he wears would he even change, this is intolerable, and I have no clue what to do next.  

Sleep evades me, as I toss and turn fighting with my desires, the urge to go find him and claim him is consuming me, and how much worse if I had not had copious amounts of wolfsbane in my system, but I dare not top up, I was dangerously close yesterday to overdosing.  my wolf was already gaining in strength, how can I keep her at bay now, she needs to be under control, my fear of turning back into the monster of my story clouding my mind, and hot tears of anguish stream down my face, as all I can foresee is impending doom.

The clock flashes 4 am, and I get out of bed, giving up on trying any sort of sleep, I need peace, a resting place for my mind.  Quickly I shower and change, then head out over to the only sanctuary I can think of, the cathedral.  I circle the grounds, and the doors are locked and bolted, but sit on the ground beside the ancient old walls, hoping the feeling of contentment would find me, I close my eyes to all that surrounds me concentrating on the peace that starts to fill my being.  

I feel a presence and as I open my eyes, I see a grey haired man, dressed in the long black Cossack looking at me quizzically.

“Are you okay?” he asks, concern in his voice as he looks at me

“Just fighting the monster inside” what, why did I say that? what a stupid thing to say to this man.

“yes, we all have the daily struggle, what is your name?” he asks as he sits beside me

“Lizzy” I find myself suppressing the mocking feeling, how could this man, who has devoted his life to peace know anything about living with a real-life monster inside.

“Lizzy, I find it helps, to remember who you want to be, and not who you are, then your resolve to be a better person will strengthen,” he smiled, then got back up onto his feet and walked away, his words brought some comfort, he was right, I knew who I was, and I knew who I wanted to be, maybe I could manage this situation, but it would be the battle of my life.

I looked at my watch for the time, and seeing it was now 5:30 am, I decided to walk over to the office, and make a start on the day, concentrating on the penetration testing would hopefully take my mind off all this unbelievable crap I am dealing with. “and maybe he will be there” my wolf said, she sounded hopeful, and I need to supress her, but it is going to be risky to have even more wolfsbane in my system.

I enter my office, at 6 am, and as I do, I instantly notice a bowl of potpourri that smells of wolfsbane on my desk, along with a pure silver round paperweight on the edge, Richard had been here, I was tuned into his scent, now I had sniffed it, my mate bond had it imprinted in my mind.  The mask he wore of silver and herbs no longer shielded his true aroma, and the smell of him caused my body to be covered in pin pricks of anticipation at seeing him soon.

He had placed these on my desk, not as a test, in his mind I had passed that little episode.  The mating bond between us confirmed that.

These were an act of protection, his instinct had kicked in, and he wanted to safeguard me from being a target for wolves, not understanding that I am the very thing he wants to shield me from.  The silver being so close to me as I sat, was disturbing, and I will not be able to concentrate at all with it being in such close proximity to me.  However, it did cause my wolf to retreat, she was submitting, quiet and restrained, giving me hope that I can control her urges. 

I picked up the cloth for wiping down my computer screen, and placed it over the paperweight, in a bid to take away some of the burn, then moved it to the bookshelf at the opposite corner of my office, I could feel the heat on my skin through the fibre and had to resist the urge to drop it.  I placed it at the end of some books, and returned to my desk, the fire on my fingers starting to subside slightly.   Maybe, just maybe the potpourri of doom would work today, allowing my stomach to rest, but what if he gives me some more of his blasted toxic tea!

Richards Point of View

I was searching through the files of the people that had been in Millers team looking for a suitable replacement for him in the senior position, and what I found was not surprising at all.  That ‘thing’ had not been good at his job, his team were the brains behind his promotions, how had the people I left in charge of this division been so blindsided to his incompetence.  It was causing me to question their ability, so a reshuffle would be taking place today. 

Firstly, the manager of his team, Harrison Carlton would be moved, his inability to spot that one of his seniors was so incompetent was beyond my contempt, he was not fit for purpose, and I would remove him from his post immediately.  Looking at who would replace him, there was only one person that stood out, recommended by HR and by my knowledge of her work and that was Lizzy. 

I had found myself unable to stop myself from placing protection in her office, if Miller had survived maybe he would hunt her, in a bid to protect his identity, she was not safe and it was my duty to protect her as my employee, and as a human, after all I am the one responsible for placing her in such danger.

Once I remove Harrison from his current role, I will call her in to give her the promotion, and she can then have her own input on who she would recommend taking over from her, and Miller.

I emailed Susan for her to arrive in my office for 9 am sharp, then sent and email to Harrison to arrive at 9:30 then Lizzy at 10 am.  I wanted this sorted by the end of today, so called an all staff meeting at 4pm there is nothing more destructive to productivity than uncertainty amongst employees.

The time was 6:30 am, and I headed towards the kitchen area to make some much needed coffee to clear the tired fog in my mind.

Lizzy’s point of view.

After logging on to the computer and sending out the daily tasks to my team ready for their arrival, I headed to the kitchen to make milky tea, hoping it would settle my stomach down a little. As I walked down the corridor, his scent hit my nostrils, it was almost overpowering and my heart started to jump around inside my chest, my wolf awoke from her enforced slumber and was circling around excitedly. I decided to try and turn around and head back, away from the intense situation, however my legs seemed to have a life of their own, moving towards him at increased speed. 

As I entered the small kitchen, he looked amazing, in black pants with a white open collared shirt, the close proximity to him was driving my senses wild, I wanted, no scrap that, needed to touch him in some way, and before I could control myself my hand reached out and touched the side of his arm at the top as I moved alongside him to the kettle.

“Hey, it is boiled, you are in early, are you okay?” he smiled, and I noticed just how amazing his smile was, his teeth perfect and white, the smile itself warm and inviting. I need to get control quickly.

“Yes, I am okay, confused about what happened last night with creepy Cameron, but I am okay” s**t, did I just call him creepy Cameron, yes, I did, but the feeling of familiarity caused by the mate bond was so strong, the normal reverence and respect from the person who was my employer had all but disappeared.

Richard chuckled “yeah he was creepy”

“He will not be returning to work here Lizzy, he has been fired due to his plagiarism of his teams works and efforts, would you like some coffee?” Richard chuckled.  

“Thank you no, I am going to have some good old English tea with milk and sugar, the only way to start the day” he smiled down at me, his eyes staring intensely into mine. My canines ached with the need to sink into his neck and mark him as my mate, and I quickly turned away from him, busying myself with the tea bag.

“Lizzy did he try to harm you last night?” Richards voice was low, full of concern.

“no, he just got really sick, and argumentative, so I pulled over, it was really strange, but then you turned up and that girl appeared from nowhere, I mean who was she?” I feigned innocence, desperate to keep my secret intact, and wondering what lengths he would go too in a bid to keep his own.

“I do not know, but as long as you were unharmed, I care not for creepy Cameron” he smiled again, using the analogy I had given as a way to distract me from asking any more questions, and expertly shutting the conversation down. He was good, incredibly good at avoiding the questions that any normal human would have around about now.

“Oh, you will see an email from me,  we have a meeting at 10 am, no need for any prep work this time Ms Black” his voice turned to the professional.

“Okay, see you then Mr Knight” I smiled, and he left the kitchen and me to my thoughts.

The milky tea was helping my sore stomach, and I busied myself of my task at hand.  As I worked away, Nathan arrived he too was early arriving at 7:30 am, he was a diligent worker, and very good at what he did. As always, he bounded into my office smiling happily.

“So how was it, hob knobbing with the big boss man last night” Nathan smiled at me running his hands through his long dirty blond waves.

“Miller got sick, so had to take him home, he was trying to show off in front of him drinking his herbal tea and had some sort of reaction, you would have loved it” I smiled, it was true, Nathan hated creepy Cameron with a passion, he had originally worked in his team, and the guy tormented him for his sexuality, and took, as always, the credit for Nathans work.

“Yeah, sorry I missed that, anyway, did the big boss man look hot to trot tell me every last detail” Nathan smiled settling himself down in a chair, ready to lust after his latest crush, yeah but this time his crush was my bloody mate/nemesis.

“he was hot Nathan” I acknowledged

“Woah like… your blushing, you have the hots for him girl, don’t you dare deny it!” s**t, so now what do I say.

“Well, he is an attractive man, but he is our employer, so lets just retain some professionalism and get on with this bloody testing, I have sent you the stuff I need doing to your email, and I have been summoned for a meeting at 10”

“pulling the boss card on me now, Touché Lizzy Touché!” Nathan smiled and left my office, settling down to his work. 

Immersing myself into my job, before I realised it was 09:50 hours, and I headed off with my note pad and pen up to Richards office.

As I entered the elevator, my heart started to pound rapidly, and my wolf became excited again I could feel her strength return to her to closer we got to his presence, and that irked me.

I noticed Susan from HR was sat in his office, my wolf growling at her for being to close to her mate. s**t this was not going to be good, but I was calmed by the fact he would be surrounded by silver and wolfbane which would put her back into submission. I knocked on the glass door, and Richard shouted “Come”.

I entered, and took a seat, no use in waiting to be offered, I had made a point yesterday regarding that, I could not cower now.

Susan looked at me shocked at how relaxed I was, then continued to write something in her file.

“Ms Black, thank you for coming so promptly, Now let me firstly thankyou for all your hard work, it has been noted” s**t is he going to fire me!

“Harrison Carlton has been given a new task within the company that best suits his abilities, so I have called you here today with Susan to offer you a new contract of employment, which includes your promotion to his position.  There is a 10,000 a year pay rise, along with a large expense account.  Please do take a look through what we are proposing” he said, motioning to Susan to hand me the new contract.

I had worked hard for this promotion, and well I am putting all thoughts that I have only gained it because of his reaction to the mate bond to one side.  Because let’s face it I am the right person for the job. As I read through, there was one sticking point, s**t, how would I manage this new situation, written down was “Expected to travel to the head office in Washington state USA at any time deemed necessary” What if it fell on a full moon, what then, I was safe here, or rather humans were safe here with my ritual to stop me shifting, but what about in America, how would I even manage that! Fear flooded through me, I could not turn the position down, nor could I go off when ever requested, but the mate bond was pulling me to accept without hesitation because my wolf knew that to be in America would mean being in close proximity to him.  What the heck do I do now?