Dark Heart Series- His Lonely Reign

Chapter 2: The Mysterious Miss Adams

Noah

~Half-hour Before~

The minute I picked up the phone, I knew I wasn’t going to be happy.

“Boss?”

“What is it, Ace?” I sighed, hand lifting to run my fingers through my hair before I remembered I had an important investment meeting later, and if I messed up my hair, Janice, my public relations manager, would kill me. She was a harpy with a bad attitude when personal appearances were made to be anything but perfect.

“We’ve got an issue,” he replied. Gritting my teeth in response, I dropped my hand back to the desk, slowly curling it into a fist.

“I figured since you were calling,” I said with a heavy breath. “What now?”

“There’s been another attack—”

Of course there f*****g was.

Years I spent working to get my empire on top to ensure I could set a good example for other supernaturals in the world, and yet no matter how good things got… I constantly hit snags at every turn. Lately, those snags were in the forms of supernatural killings.

Killings that left no answers to the questions constantly being thrown my way.

Which was another reason why my phone never stopped ringing off the hook. Letting out a low groan, I ran my hand over my face.

Trying to remain calm, I pulled myself together, knowing my men were already hesitant towards me when it came to delivering bad news. The last time I had been told less-than-stellar news was when my wife had been killed, and that news caused me to almost kill one of my guards.

It wasn’t their fault the incident had happened, but I wasn’t an easy man to talk to when it came to death. Death and I weren’t on the same page, so it seemed. Yet, if he came now—after losing her… I’d probably welcome him like an old friend. “Where?”

“Subway. 110th street.”

Leaning back in my chair, I stared at the ceiling trying to collect my thoughts. “Start from the beginning. What happened?”

“Two vampires were rounded up. Which doesn’t make any sense. New York City is neutral territory. Everybody knows this. Not that it stopped the humans from accusing them.”

“What are the charges?” I asked, completely ignoring his rambling.

“Elite Humanity claimed they attacked a human.”

“And did they?”

“I—”

“Did they attack a human?” I asked again.

“I’m not sure just yet.”

“Then find out and get back to me,” I snapped and hung up before I could hear more.

This was the same s**t that had been happening for weeks, and though I wanted to believe the supernaturals weren’t actually lashing out at humans, I had begun to question it all. There was no way Elite Humanity would be this stupid to cause issues.

It just didn’t make sense.

If these vamps really did attack a human, Elite Humanity had every right to put them down. That was the way things were. We followed the rules, and no one got hurt. That was simple and clear; don’t attack the humans. Don’t cause problems. But Elite Humanity was never one to follow rules—even their own.

Leaning forward, my elbows pressed into the wood. My fingers laced together, the knuckles turning white. I’m not sure what anyone expected me to do about any of this—especially if the supernaturals were as guilty as Elite Humanity kept claiming. Without proof of their innocence, there was no way to protect them.

Fuck, why does this s**t have to be so difficult all the time?

Footsteps coming down the hall caught my attention, pulling me from my thoughts. I could hear Mr. Grey’s voice well enough, though it wasn’t his steps I heard. Vampires were too quiet for even my senses to catch. The scent of a human woman drifted into my office, powerful and distracting. Freezing, I listened as they came closer.

“And this will be your desk.” Mr. Grey’s voice was silky and smooth but lifeless. There was never any emotion to his words, which I rather liked. With him, everything was concise and to the point.

His shadow fell across the door of my office, with a smaller one moving toward the secretary’s desk just beside him. Her words were slightly muffled as I listened to what sounded like a sarcastic comment from him, followed by nervous female laughter. Grey wasn’t funny at all… in fact, most called him an assshole, so the laughter was concerning. Glancing at my calendar on the computer screen, I noticed the small appointment Grey had set up earlier.

New Secretary Interview.

Well, crap.

Absolutely perfect. Might as well check out what he had brought me.

Standing to my feet I straightened my suit jacket and smoothed back my hair. The stress of Ace’s call fell away, leaving nothing but cold indifference as I headed toward my office door. Stepping out, I saw Grey right away. He studied the human girl with narrowed eyes filled with distaste. The woman, I didn’t see much of at first. Her dark red hair fell over her face, hiding it from view as she surveyed her desk. Her curves were just barely contained in a black pencil skirt and white blouse.

“Mr. Grey.”

The woman jumped slightly, whipping around to face me as I leaned against the office door, watching her reaction. Her emerald eyes swept over me, widening before flicking up to meet mine. Something I couldn’t quite place passed over her face; surprise, maybe fear?

I could certainly smell a multitude of emotions rolling off her in waves. A mixture of jasmine and roses swept through me like a garden I had once visited with my mother when I was younger. As her scent hit me again, like a sucker punch to the gut, I straightened, trying to ignore it. Whatever that was, I had no intention of letting it get to me.

“Is this the woman you’re interviewing to be my secretary?” I asked casually, my eyes never leaving her face.

“Yes,” Mr. Grey replied. I could hear the ‘but’ in his voice, but didn’t press the issue.

Instead, I stepped closer, glancing down at her small petite frame. I towered over her by a good few inches. She was almost pixie-like, around—what, five foot four? Despite the luscious thickness to her hips and her chest, I could break her easily enough. Her green eyes narrowed, almost as if she could hear my thoughts.

Yet, she said nothing.

“This isn’t an easy job,” I murmured, watching as the hair along her arms rose at the sound of my voice. “You’ll need to be able to track the reports and files from each of the different departments, schedule meetings, collect the quarterlies from each department head, among…other things.”

Her throat bobbed slightly at that last part. I hadn’t meant for it to come out as sultry as it had. She was beautiful—for a human. Eyes as rich as emeralds, lips as red as blood. Her porcelain skin worked well with the soft burgundy of her natural red hair. And that body…Clearing my throat, I forced myself to turn away.

Mr. Grey caught my eye. “Well?”

“If you believe she can handle the work, then let’s give it a try,” I replied, words dripping with indifference. It didn’t really matter to me whether or not she could keep up. There were always more secretaries. More humans. Though the others had never intrigued me as much as this one did.

Grey wrinkled his nose slightly, a movement too quick for the woman to catch. But I did.

“Then that’s settled,” I said quickly. “Get her the paperwork.”

Surprise flashed across Grey’s eyes. “Sir?”

I don’t know what made me do it. Maybe it was her scent that had my mind blanking. Or maybe I was just too damn tired to deal with another issue on top of everything else. It really shouldn’t have been this hard to find a replacement secretary. I wasn’t exactly easy to please, so maybe it was. Regardless, for some odd reason I wanted her around.

“Paperwork,” I said again, slower this time. A hint of a warning lined my tone. “Unless there’s an issue I don’t know about?” With one eyebrow raised, I waited for his reply.

“None, sir.” Grey’s shoulders stiffened, which was a feat unto itself, considering vamps were always stiff.

“Excellent.” I glanced over my shoulder at the woman who resembled more of an owl than a human at this point. “And you are…?”

She swallowed again, drawing my gaze to her throat. “Sydney.”

“Sydney, what?”

“Adams.” The word sounded unfamiliar on her tongue.

“Grey, please take Ms. Adams to sign the paperwork and get her set up.” I didn’t wait for his answer. I didn’t look at her again, either. The scent of jasmine and roses filled my nose, making my head light. I needed to get out of there.

I needed her to get her away from me, at least until I could clear my head.

My office door swished shut, the lock clicking in place. I stood there for a few minutes, hand wrapped so tightly around the handle, the metal nearly bent beneath it. There was a slight hesitation from Grey before he briskly ordered Sydney to follow him once again. Even though the door was closed, I couldn’t get her beautiful green eyes out of my head.

Sydney.

She seemed young and sweet enough. However, I was hesitant on whether she would be able to do the job I needed her to do. Not to mention she was human, which meant I had to be careful in the office—but that wasn’t anything new. I'd purposely hired humans to work in my company to show Elite Humanity that I could play nice, that all of us could play nice. So far, it’s run smoother than butter. They were treated well. Paid well.

Sydney would be no different.

But it felt different. Even as I listened to the elevator doors shut down the hall, I could still smell her. Her presence lingered in the hall, drifting in through the cracks of the door. Closing my eyes, I took another deep breath. It had been a long time since a woman had gotten me bent out of shape, for a woman to make my beast stand on edge. Pushing away from the door, I stalked back towards my desk, forcing myself to sit down.

“s**t,” I huffed out to myself. I needed a drink, but unfortunately polished off the rest of my sanity over the last few days dealing with other s**t.

Taking a moment, I let my mind clear and as soon as I did, guilt ripped through me. My eyes caught on the framed photo on my desk, the only personal item I allowed in my office. In it, a woman smiled back, looking so wild. Carefree. Her dark hair whipped back from her face, frozen in time as she sat on the beach. Her tanned skin glowed, her silver eyes bright.

My mate.

Roya had been my whole world. My everything. We’d been mates for so long, surviving together, building together. Until Elite Humanity took it all away. Took her away.

My claws snapped out, raking across my desk. Elite Humanity was the bane of our existence. Our overlords that no one could defy. They’d had centuries to perfect their killings, their plans. They outnumbered us in more ways than one. And I knew, better than anyone, not to mess with the fire lest I wanted it all to burn.

Jasmine and roses mixed in the air, taunting me. Maybe it had been a mistake to hire the woman. There was something off about her… something that bothered me, though I couldn’t pinpoint why. I’d hired her without thinking. As if I’d been possessed by something I couldn’t explain.

I was back on my feet before I realized what I was doing. I just knew I had to get out of here before whatever spell that woman had me under tore me apart. The memories, the feelings of loss, left me completely useless. Grabbing my things, I tucked my phone into the suit jacket and slipped out the door. Hoping to keep out of view, but at the same time knowing that I wouldn’t be able to escape her.

Especially since the scent of her followed me all the way to my car.

And would more than likely follow me home.