CHAPTER 4

Without a concrete plan in her head, résumé in hand, Shana applied for the job of a temporary secretary that appeared like a rabbit from a magician's hat at Anderson Group.

It was just the thing she needed. She applied for the job and went for the interview, praying with all her soul that she would be accepted and she knew that in itself was wishing for far too much because her résumé didn't come up to scratch for the requirements needed to work at Anderson Groups.

But a girl could always wish.

The fifty two storey building with the main offices of the group at the centre of New York city was both imposing and she had to admit, impressive. If her sources were correct, he designed the place and supervised the building from nothing. She hoped the man wasn't as imposing as the building because she was going to flee with her tail in between her legs.

Shana had a plan which presented itself in how to get close to him but she knew not what she would do after that. But she had to get the interview over with first.

She was directed to human relations on the thirty third floor and the milage of people there shocked her. She had no idea there was still that many people unemployed but what does she know really?

Nothing, because she looked so drab in her black pump and old suit she used in her former job compared to the sophisticated women in their stilettos and elegant two pieces, she could have been mistaken for a time traveler from centuries in the past. She felt bleak, now absolutely sure she was never in a million years, going to be hired.

She got long side glances as she made her way to the receptionist that had a placard displayed on her desk with the word "Questions?"

"Excuse me," she said forcing a fake smile.

The woman behind raised her head to give her an accessing look and in that second, Shana was mesmerized by her uncommon beauty. Her beautiful face just simply took her breath away. She had the most golden, straight blonde hair with a startling gemstone shade of baby blues that drew attention to the feline arch of her lids. Her bow like mouth had the perfect blood red lipstick that screamed "I'm hot and I know it."

Shana knew her body was going to be all a ladies ever wished for. The lady was seated but she did not have to stand for her to know that much. She radiated sophistication and smoothness like a vintage wine.

"How may I help you?" Her smooth accent spoke of a English heritage. Nice. And she was smiling but it wasn't reaching her eyes. Shana had spent her lifetime observing people to know that much.

"I'm here for the interview" she answered, feeling so small next to the woman.

"Oh." The single word spoke volumes Shana was not in the mood to start analysing. Then the receptionist gave her a thorough look. "It's the last door by your left down the corridor." Her face seemed to lit up after the description, the smile finally reaching her eyes but in a way that sent alarm bells ringing in Shana's head.

"Thank you," she mumbled and ambled down the corridor, wondering why she was being sent to another place while other people who seemed to be there for the same purpose as her remained where she was leaving.

Something definitely did not feel right.

Adele watched the lady moving away, delighted at her own intelligence. The woman was definitely her chance at retaliation against Asher treating her like she was nothing to him.

Adele gave the woman's departing back a scrutinizing look, she was the palest thing she had seen in her entire life, like a vampire who never went out in the sun.

But she was certain she wasn't one of the bloodsuckers as she hadn't picked any scent of that on her plus, she would not be waltzing around in the day if she was. Her dull auburn hair looked like it needed some trimming with it falling everywhere around her small unimpressive oval face with few strands even almost getting into her fathomless brown eyes.

The woman had looked...weird and her dressing did not fit in.

She chuckled with glee, almost picturing the look of irritation on Asher's face.

★★★★★★★★★★

Asher stared listlessly at the moving mouth of his head of operations, not really paying attention to what the geek was saying but certain it would be something that would make head spinning profits and that was good enough for him.

Like majority of the top executives in Anderson Groups, Nathan, his head of operations was a shifter like himself and it was a secret they tried to keep as much as possible.

His concentration of late was becoming something he was worried about. His work kept him going but of late, he did not even have the least interest in working and he was always distracted. He could attribute it to his incessant headaches but that would be a lie. He just could not get his head in the game.

Maybe with Adams gone, there was no one to impress anymore.

His wolf rumbled in protest. "He's not our only reason to keep going."

Nathan's phone vibrated and the shifter looked like he was about to excuse himself from the meeting. He finally caught Asher's attention and he gave a single shake of his head to show his undisputed disapproval.

Lycans were the superiors race, left to him. They had the sensibility and intelligence of human and the wild and passionate nature of their wolf combined and that made for a very high class race. They had the super active sensibilities with the unearthly strength and healing abilities that came with their increased metabolism with a long life expectancy.

But the only thing he detested about his race was the mating and life bonding with just one person. Just the thought of having to go to bed with one woman for the rest of his life made him want to retch and he never did that. He could not believe he had once considered it with Adele.

Thank the Moon goddess he never had that kind of spark with her.

Put in the thought of the bond and marking that allowed the other person to be in his thoughts and be able to intrude his decisions, know his next move and his darkest secrets and he was ready to throw himself from the fifty second floor of his office.

He knew the call was from Nathan's wife and the devoted mate was ready to abandon all else to attend to her. He was happy to be the fly in his ointment, putting a stop to the emergency exit and he did not care about the look he was getting from Nathan.

The left corner of his mouth lifted in a humorless smile. If he was not the alpha, the other man would have called his bluff.

The meeting continued but with a tense atmosphere, and he continued to hold in the pain in his pounding head, all the while wishing he could leave the meeting himself.

Then a knock came at the the door of the conference room and it swung open almost immediately.

He saw the small, wide eyed woman standing at the door, with her round honey brown eyes going around the room in shock. Every head in the room had turned in her direction since she opened the door, which she still kept open with the knob in her hand and the mortified look on her face as she was being watched.

He saw her, just her eyes though, and hers had clashed with his, cold, stony blue and warm honey brown. Her scent assailed his senses and he had felt the pounding ache stop, like the carpenters hammering away at his skull had taken a moment to also stare in amazement at her unprecedented entrance like everyone else in the room.

Or maybe her scent was the medicine he had needed all along.

She smelled like a garden full of flowers...and something else he couldn't put his finger on. But her scent was definitely driving him crazy and he could not seem to break their staring match.

He felt his wolf going crazy within him, clamoring for the human female. "I want her. I must have her."

He felt a stirring within him for her, a kind of beckoning of her soul to his. He resisted the urge to stand and go to take her in his arms.

No, this was not happening to him. He never craved women, he just took them, taking from them and never giving even the tiniest bit of himself. He had always been that kind of selfish bastard.

He was never emotionally attached to them-except Adele and she had been a one time thing and that was how it was going to be. He could not even really call his attachment to her the deep emotional sort, more of an affection born out of his not need to impress his stepfather by dating her. He didn't even know it while they were together.

"No," his wolf growled in protest, the animal ready to show itself to make it's point. "She's mine, ours!"

Just moment ago, he had believed he was never going to form an eternal bond but it seemed like the choice was never even his to make.

There was no escaping those brown eyes, ever again.

He felt the excitement of that thought go through him like a refreshing summer breeze.

From the first confused look she had taken around the room, he was sure she already knew she was not meant to be there and he was pretty sure the only reason she had gotten access to the door was because Adele was not at the thirty third floor reception or she had been there and had directed the woman to the conference room to spite him.

He would not be surprised if it was the latter. She knew how much he hated interruptions and distractions and she was probably doing it in retaliation.

He lifted the left corner of his mouth in another cynical smile, his wolf roaring in approval as he thought to himself, "Why not welcome a little distraction with skin the color of milk just this once?"

God knows he needed a distraction, in form of a mate.

★★★★★★★★★★

Shana felt faint, the blood rushing to her face when she swung the door open to see about thirty heads turning in her direction.

She should have suspected something when the receptionist had gotten the weird look in her eyes but her foolish self had refused to listen to the voice of reasoning and here she was in a meeting that did not look like an interview in the least. After all, could the post of a secretary, a temporary one at that, be of such outmost importance that about thirty people would be gathered for the interview?

Of course not.

But that was the least of her concern as her gaze had clashed with that of Asher Anderson immediately she opened the door and the most unexpected thing had happened to her.

Shana had almost seen the bolt of electricity rushing at her from him, then it had crashed into her with a zing, making her feel so light on her feet that she tightened her hold on the door.

She never believed in love at first sight, or any form of love at that. To her, it was just an unnecessary emotion that deprived you of logical reasoning all in the name of putting another person's feeling first. It made one vulnerable, just like her mother had been vulnerable with a lover turned father of her child who never cared for the child they had together.

But the truth she had always convinced herself to believe, stuck out it's tongue at her, waltzed across the room and threw itself out the window the moment she set her eyes on Asher Anderson.

She couldn't describe how she felt entirely, but her body was singing, harmonizing her breathing to his and every other occupant of the room who were staring at her in amazement seemed to vanish and her attention was all on the blue eyed sinfully handsome man.

Pictures had not done justice to the well sculpted proportions of his aristocratic face and his eyes were like sapphires glazed over with ice but when he continued to stare at her, that layer of ice seemed to melt away, making his blue eyes turn a darker shade. She could not break the gaze and it did not seem like he was going to do that either.

"How can I help you ma'am?" The voice sounded so far away, distracting her from her staring contest with Asher. She heard the voice again, with a face moving directly into her line of vision, cutting off Asher from her sight. She was jolted out of her awestruck state.

And that, made her notice the unfamiliar, rhythmic thumping of her heart.

She unconsciously let out a surprised gasp, the hand not on the door knob going to her chest, confirming what she could not bring herself to believe.

Never once, in all her twenty three years, had her heart ever beaten, not even when she was born. Her grandmother had told her that it was the case for all true Criers.

"How may I help you?," the large hulking man in front of her questioned again. He was probably a bodyguard. He had been standing right by the door when she opened it.

"I..urmm.." She seemed to have lost her ability to speak as she continued to stammer, lost for what to say. The man stared at her, expecting her to say more but when she did not, he took hold of the door and gently ushered her out of the room. All the while, she was in a daze, trying to rationalize why her heart was beating and her reaction to Asher.

She turned one last time to catch Asher's unwavering gaze on her.

Shana asked herself, how she was going to ruin the one person that made her heart race and sputter.

For the first time, she was torn between her duty as a Crier and something else she had never felt before.

Love.