“We’re friends for lack of a better word. I’m Malcolm Slade. Most people call me Slade.”
He picked up a small jade statue from her bookshelf, turning it over in his hands before placing it carefully back in the same spot on the shelf.
“Why are you here, Mr. Slade?”
Grinning, he faced her fully. “You do have spunk, I’ll give you that.”
Olivia took a deep breath as he dropped his jacket and pulled his t-shirt off. “What in the hell are you doing?”
She noted the tattoos on both arms and on his chest. She saw a circular mark on his chest, like the one she’d left on Micah. His brown hair just brushed his shoulders as he bent forward to push his jeans down and toe his shoes off. She couldn’t help but notice that he went commando and that he was built a lot like Micah. Jumping to her feet, she grabbed the phone to call Security.
“Don’t panic, Olivia. I’m only here to show you something. I’m definitely not into blondes. Besides my mate would have my hide, literally, if there was anything else on my mind. That mark on your neck, it’s been aching, hasn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“The bite mark, the one Micah put on your neck, the one I can smell from here. It’s been aching lately, hasn’t it?”
Despite her reluctance to give this stranger any personal information, Olivia nodded. He huffed out a small laugh. “Yeah, that’s what happens when you’ve been away from your mate for too long. We mark one another as mates, it’s expected we stay together. That’s one reason I never marked a shifter bitch. Hell, never wanted to mark anyone until I met Joie. She might be human, but she’s mine and I am most definitely hers.”
With that, the man disappeared and a large gray and black wolf with luminous gold eyes stood in his place. Olivia sat heavily in her chair. She’d known, as soon as he walked into the office, she’d known by his evergreen scent alone. But still, seeing it again caused her breath to catch, her heart to race and a longing to fill her from the souls of her feet to her throat. She wanted to see Micah, not this wolf. She yearned to let her own wolf loose and run through the woods again.
He shook from head to tail and changed back into a man. She saw the mark on his chest, an almost circular mark on the left side of his chest, right where she’d left a mark on Micah. Dressing just as casually as he’d undressed, Slade pulled a chair up to her desk and sat. Propping his feet on the edge of her desk, he put his hands behind his head.
“Yeah, Shifters, like real wolves, mate for life. Being away from your mate this long has made your mark hurt, Micah’s hurting too, I imagine. Once we mark one another, the idea is that we’re together for life. Unless you release him from the mating, admit you both made a mistake, he’s in it forever.”
He moved his hands from behind his neck as he stared at her. “If you’re away from your mate for more than a day or two, the mark will hurt. If you’re away for longer, the male will get sick. Not sick enough to die, but sick enough to wish he would.”
Olivia started to say something, but he kicked his feet from her desk, startling her back into silence. “That goes away, or so I’m told. See, even if you break up permanently with Micah, he’ll never mate again. You’re free to do whatever you want with whomever you want. One of the perks of being a female shifter, I guess, but once a male is mated, he’s done. No other female will satisfy him, sexually, physically, in any way. Basically, we get screwed in the deal and not in a good way.”
A solid thump echoed as he balled his hand into a fist to strike her desk. “I’m going to share a little bit of wisdom with you, Olivia. Something our mutual friend said to me a couple of years ago. Something that opened my eyes and set my feet back toward my destiny. He looked me right in the eye and asked me how many times I could reinvent myself before I forgot who I was.”
Her breath shuddered as she tried to suck in a lungful of air. Slade growled softly, but when he spoke, she heard pain in his voice. “Now I want to ask you, how long can you run until you don’t have anywhere else to go? You’re one of us, how long is it going to take you to accept that? You marked Micah as your mate, Olivia. You let him mark you as his. Now you’re condemning him to be alone, to be in pain for a very long time and you don’t give a shit.”
“That’s not true.” Olivia got deftly to her feet, unwilling to let him intimidate her. “I do care for Micah. I care more than you could possibly know. But I’m not like you.”
“Bullshit. You’re a shifter. You’re a wolf.” He laughed softly, but there wasn’t any real humor in it. “Hell, you’re a real Alpha bitch, even if you don’t acknowledge it.”
He leaned forward then gave a short bark of laughter. “Think about this, your staff is scared shitless of you, none of them will cross you, especially when you’re on the rag or just pissed about something. You’ve scared the shit out of men twice your size, gotten them to back down from you when there’s an issue you’re really passionate about, and if you ask them, they’ll tell you it’s something about your eyes.” At that, Slade’s eyes started to glow.
Olivia watched, fascinated and angered at the same time. “Get out.”
“Not fucking likely, babe, not until you hear what I’ve got to say.”
“I’ve heard what you’ve said. You’re telling me I’m a shifter, like you. The same thing Micah told me. I refuse to accept that.”
“Refuse to accept it?” Mockery clear in his tone, Slade lunged to his feet, leaning over the desk so they were face-to-face. “You can’t refuse something that’s an integral part of yourself, Olivia. You can’t refuse to be a shifter. You can refuse to be stupid, but you damn sure can’t deny your own nature.”
He growled-a dark, contemptuous sound. “Try it. Take off that starched shirt and change your life. You don’t have a clue what true freedom is, what true power is. Micah offers you his life, his world and you’re throwing that away for this? You’re content to stay in this stinking concrete jungle when you could be so much fucking happier in the middle of the woods with someone who loves you? You’re fucking stupid.”
“I am not stupid.” They were both breathing hard. Olivia felt anger rise up inside her. Black emotion roiled just beneath her skin, clawing to get out. She wanted to lunge at him, to bite and tear. To make him back down and leave her alone.
Before that feeling would have sent her running to the medicine cabinet or the shrink. This time she didn’t cower away from it. She didn’t reach for pills like she would have. Instead she met his eyes dead on. She stood her ground.
He held her gaze. His lips twisted as he rasped out. “Prove it. Strip and shift.”
“Get out.” Olivia picked up her phone. “I’m calling Security.”
“Don’t bother. Just do the man a favor and release him from the mating. He won’t accept it, but do it anyway.” Slade stormed back to the office door. He yanked it open then turned to face her again. “Micah deserves better than you. And he needs to be free of you so he can focus what energy he’ll have after that on getting his kid back. If not for him, do it for Talia.”
He exited, slamming the door behind him. Olivia sank down into her chair, shaking. She replaced the phone in the cradle, folded her arms on her desk, put her head down and sobbed.
A few minutes later, she sat up, wiping her face. Slade was right. The past two weeks she’d felt like she was walking through a fog. Micah did deserve better from her-better than her.
With that in mind, Olivia picked up her phone again. “Kim, get me a flight to Minneapolis, Minnesota, please and book me a car with four-wheel drive. I’m taking some personal time. I’ll let you know how long I’ll be gone no later than tomorrow.”