Sins of Time (Book 4 of Desert Series)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Sin

“You’re letting her stay with us!?” I exclaimed at Allie. We were all in her office now, so we could speak freely and openly without fearing her cousin overhearing.

“It’s for one night, max two. She’s newly divorced and has never lived on her own. You, of all people, should know how that feels, Sin. Young, alone, and broke. And what’s worse is that knocked up,” Allie defended her choice.

“I get that, but she’s human, Allie. What if someone slips up, and she finds out what we are? How the hell are you going to explain to her that you’re no longer human?”

“On my order, no one is allowed to shift until Nari is gone. We’ll be fine.”

“And how do you plan on explaining all the people living in this house?” Leah asked.

“I already did. I just told her that it was because people worked for us. Which isn’t a total lie,” Allie said and sighed heavily. “Dammit, all I wanted was to relax and enjoy my comeback to the pack, but I’m already having to work,” she grumbled and slammed her head on her desk.

“I don’t envy you. Filling your role and having to do my stuff as Beta sucked. Don’t ever leave us again, Allie,” Leah stated.

“I’ll try not to,” Allie replied with her head still on the desk. I was going to repeat something, but I received a link.

Honey, is everything okay at home?

Hola, Mi Amor. Just peachy. Everything is just peachy.

Uh oh, you never use that word unless something is wrong.

Nothing is wrong, per se, but it’s not perfect.

Is it the kids?

No, Allen and Brie are with your parents. They’re fine. We had an uninvited guest, and she’s of the human variety.

Why is there a human in our house?

She’s Allie’s human cousin.

Say what? Does Dorian know about this!?

Not that I know of. Allie wants to wait to tell him when he gets home. Allie has put all of the pack members on shift arrest.

Shift arrest?

Yeah, no shifting until the human b***h is gone.

Honey, why do I sense hostility?

Because she’s from Allie’s maternal side, the ones that called her all those degrading things, Allie is too forgiving sometimes.

Gizmo is only forgiving when she deems it necessary. You know this better than anyone. If Gizmo has opted to forgive her cousin, who are we to say otherwise?

I want my girl to be able to live her life again with no worries and no drama. She’s already gone through so much, and I can’t help but feel that her cousin showing up out of nowhere is a bad omen. Especially since my girl just got home from being in therapy for a year.

I know, honey, but this is Gizmo. Let’s trust her instincts. Hm?

I hate you.

I love you too. I’ll see you soon.

When Mikey broke the link, all the girls were looking at me, and Allie lifted her brow in my direction.

“What?” I asked.

“You told Mikey about my cousin being here, didn’t you?” Allie asked. I rolled my eyes and avoided eye contact. “Sin, promise me you won’t bully her? She’s young, naïve, lonely, and pregnant. Don’t cause her unnecessary stress. I am begging you.” I looked at her, and she was pleading with her eyes.

“Gah, fine!” I caved, making all of the others snicker at me.

“Thank you, skank.” Allie came over and hugged me, and pressed her lips to my cheek.

“Gah! Off with you slut!” I shouted and pushed her away. Allie smacked my arm suddenly. I looked at her and saw her smirk. I smiled and shook my head, and hit her back. The next thing I knew, we were wrestling on the floor of her office, screaming, laughing, and dog piling on top of each other as we played our favorite game, Tap ‘n Tickle.

Mikey



After cutting off the link with Sin, I wondered if I should talk to Dorian about Gizmo’s human cousin being at the packhouse. It’s one thing when humans become the mate of a werewolf. It’s another when one shows up. We can never be too careful when it comes to exposure risks. Unfortunately, it was never easy dealing with mortals in our supernatural universe. I twitched my lips a few times before thinking it would be best to tell Dorian.

I get up from my desk and head to his office at the firm, where I know he’s probably neck-deep in paperwork, contracts, and all other things CEOs have to deal with after taking a year of sabbatical.

“Hey, Dana,” I greet his office assistant.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Rays. Are you here to see Mr. Shaw?” she asks kindly. Now let’s not take her kindness for flirting. Dana is gay and happily married at that. It was a breath of fresh air when we all found out because, let’s say, my honey could be a little too possessive sometimes. Her jealousy made for great s*x at the end of the day.

“Yeah, do you know if he’s busy?” I asked.

“Of course he is. He’s been gone for a year. What CEO isn’t busy after being gone for a year?” she said with a smart-ass tone. I smirked, knowing that it was just her playful side. Dana fits in well, and she’s never too serious with all of us. Too bad we can’t have her and her wife over for dinner, not with her being human and all that.

“Can you buzz him and see if he has a moment to spare?”

“Of course.” Before she could buzz Dorian, his office door swung open, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in ages. I looked at my watch, and Dana and I made eye contact.

“Mr. Shaw? Are you all right?” Dana asked, looking at his disheveled image.

“Dorian, what the hell happened to you? We’ve been here all of two hours,” I say to him and put my hand on his shoulder. Dorian doesn’t answer but pushes the door open behind him and points at the massive stack of papers on his desk.

“Does that answer your question?” he snaps at me. I press my lips together and nod. “Dana, what happened while I was on sabbatical?” Dorian asked her.

“Well, Mr. Dubois had multiple contracts come in from foreign military, and since he’s no longer with the company, or at least local anymore, I had to sign them over to you so you could go through them. Additionally, Mr. Callaghan’s services were requested about half a dozen times. When I mentioned that he also no longer works for the company or doesn’t do individual work anymore, I got a lot of angry phone calls. And with you and Mr. Ray’s being out, I had to take that many more messages from that many more angry clients,” she explained. “People were unhappy when I told them you were on personal leave until further notice. I don’t think I’ve ever been yelled at by that many people in the three years I’ve been here, sir. Also, some of them acted like animals. Some even growled over the phone before hanging out. It was like I was speaking to rabid dogs,” she added. Dorian and I looked at each other and mentally smacked our foreheads with our palms.

“What else did you tell them?” I asked her.

“Nothing, Mr. Rays. When they asked why Mr. Shaw was on leave, I told them it was personal and that I was not privy to the details. So, if they wanted to speak to him, they would have to wait for his return. Obviously, without knowing when he would be back, many of the same people called multiple times throughout the last year.”

“Ugh!” Dorian grumbled and rubbed his face again. “It’s going to take weeks to call back all of these people,” he said more to himself than to us.

“Well, phone calls can wait for a little while longer. How about we get some lunch?” I suggested to him. He looked up at me, and I gave him a knowing look that I needed to speak with him.

“Yeah, sure, I guess I could use something to eat,” he replied. “Dana, take lunch. I should be back in a couple of hours. If any of the clients are waiting for callbacks, call back and tell them I’ll return their call by the end of the week. Also, when you have a chance, put the calls in order from who called first to who called last.”

“Of course, Mr. Shaw. I’ll get right on that as soon as I come back from lunch. Enjoy your lunch, sirs,” she replied and grabbed her purse from her desk. After she was gone, we went to the private elevator that took us straight to the garage where our cars were. Once we knew we were alone, I turned to face him.

“So, we have a slight problem at home,” I tell him straight up.

“What do you mean?”

“Giz’s human cousin, the one you met at the event last year? Yeah, she’s at the packhouse.”

“What? Why? How?”

“Not sure. Sin wouldn’t give me all of the details. But apparently, your tiny wife has forgiven her for the crap she pulled last year, and Sin doesn’t seem too happy about it.”

“And why would Allie forgiving her human cousin make your wife unhappy?”

“Come on, man. You know how Sin and Allie’s relationship is. They’re like sisters, only without actual matching DNA. All of the s**t our wives went through before we met them, and even after that, Sin won’t stand for someone coming to cause trouble for Allie. So, if this human cousin of Giz’s causes trouble, you better believe my honey will give her a piece of her mind. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she already did.” Dorian looked as if he was going to reply, but his phone started to ring.

“Speak of the devil,” he says, showing me his phone with Allie’s smiling face filling it up. “Hi, baby,” he answers and puts on speaker.

“Mikey told you already, didn’t he?” she asks.

“About your cousin showing up at our house, yeah, he did.”

“Sorry, Giz, but he had a right to know,” I say to her through the receiver.

“Why am I hearing this from Mikey and not you, baby?”

“Because I figured you would be busy getting back into the swing of things at work. I didn’t want to bother you. However, I guess that was in vain,” she gritted her teeth. Dorian switched the call from speaker to FaceTime. “Huh, oh, hi there.”

“f**k, you’re beautiful,” Dorian said. I gagged over to the side. Dorian shoved me, and I tripped over my own feet. Allie chuckled at us. “Allie, where is Sarah now?”

“She’s in a guestroom on the second floor.”

“SHE’S STAYING IN THE PACKHOUSE!?” I exclaimed and came into view of the phone.

“Allie, explain,” Dorian said sternly. Allie looked around and held up a finger. We watched as she walked somewhere, then heard a door close. From the looks of the background, she was in their bedroom.

“Babe, she just got divorced because Alexander had been cheating on her with multiple women. He even fathered several children, and her family helped him pay off the woman. When she divorced him, her family disowned her. She literally has no one on her side except for her mom, and even then, her mom is being strong-armed into not helping her. What’s worse is that she’s pregnant.” Dorian and I both were taken aback by this revelation and looked at each other before turning back to the phone.

“How far along is she?” I asked.

“Maybe just past her first trimester? So, just over three months. Her pregnancy is different from ours with her human being and all.”

“I still don’t get why you’re allowing her to live with us,” Dorian said.

“Oh, goddess, that’s not what I’m doing. I’m letting her crash here for a day, two max. She needs a job and a place to live. I said I would help her find an apartment and help her get a job somewhere. And speaking of which, I know you have a lobby receptionist position still open since you finally fired that w***e Stephanie from up front.”

“You want me to hire your cousin!?”

“I don’t want you to. I’m asking that you consider it, baby. She has no work experience, but welcoming individuals and answering phone calls should be easy enough. Plus, with her being pregnant, I figured a desk job would be physically and emotionally easy for her.” Dorian looked at me, wanting my opinion.

“Hey man, this is your company. The decision is yours.”

“You’re my VP dickhead. Your opinion matters too,” he replies.

“Look, if you want to give Giz’s cousin a handout, that’s fine with me. But don’t think that she won’t have to work for respect here. Everyone earns their keep, even pack members that work here,” I state.

“This isn’t a handout, Mikey,” Allie snaps at me. “It’s not like I’m lifting her up on a f*****g pedestal. I already told her that she would have to work. I told her that she either took my help or could figure it out independently. She’s barely in her early 20s, and I know what’s she going through, except for being pregnant and divorced. If I had someone that would have been willing to steer me in the right direction, I would have gladly accepted their help. That’s all I’m trying to do for her. Steer her in the right direction. And it would mean the world to me if my husband and brother-in-law supported that decision.” I blinked and looked over at Dorian. We both knew that she had us dead to rights when it came to empathize with her cousin.

“Okay, baby. Send Abigail in HR Sarah’s information, and I will get her an interview. She has to do the rest herself,” Dorian answered.

“Thank you.” Dorian hung up and gave me a side glance. I just shrugged my shoulders at that point.

“Come on; I’m f*****g starving. I’ll drive,” I tell him and tap his upper arm. I turn around to get into my truck, with Dorian going over to the passenger side. I used the key fob to unlock the door but heard a buzzing sound. “What the f**k?”

“MIKEY, RUN!"