3. Chapter Three

Heavily booted feet stomped the ground behind her, jolting Cortana out of her skin as she pivoted around with her enhanced speed. In less than a millisecond, her dagger was held against the throat of the perpetrator.

Riaz. Again.

Except this time, she'd threatened the werewolf alpha with bodily harm in front of sixty of his packmates. The dagger was neatly tucked under his chin, the blade biting deeply without breaking the flawless ebony of his skin.

The air had gone deadly quiet, and even Ava had gone supernaturally still beside her. And Riaz, the sadist, was smiling like the fool he undoubtedly was.

"Jumpy little thing, aren't you?" he asked. "I did promise to announce my approach, Cortana."

"Do you have a death wish?"

Cortana narrowed her eyes while she holstered the dagger. The sounds of conversation ignited around the hall, a few chuckles interspersing the playful banter. Even Ava sniggered beside them.

"Riaz doesn't know the meaning of self-preservation, Cortana. It'll be woefully apparent if you stay more than a day."

"Lesson learned," she mumbled. "Count me glad he won't be on the scouting mission."

A wolfish smile slanted over Riaz's mouth before he inclined his chin. "I've had a change of heart. Ava, I'll take over from here."

Ava's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You … take over introductions and the tour?"

"I am the alpha, am I not?"

He obviously failed in his attempt at being sanctimonious, if his beta's snort upon departure was anything to go by.

Cortana remained unimpressed. She shot him an expectant look, letting her gaze rake down his body. While she'd meant it to illustrate her imperviousness to his charms, she couldn't help the heat that surfaced in the wake of her leisurely appraisal.

Built for sin, the man was a distraction of the most delectable variety. His skin, the color of deepest chestnut, was without blemish. Underneath his black Henley, his well-defined musculature hinted at a body forged in battle and built to the Spartan physical ideal. Trying not get lost in eyes of a golden russet brown, Cortana lingered on his strong, refined features. Handsome would be a misnomer; the man was positively devastating. A bewitching smile twitched over ripe lips, begging for her touch to verify if they were as soft as they appeared.

Riaz radiated joy. The effect was only overshadowed by the way he exuded confidence in a way that wasn't at all artificial.

"Are you just as slow in wolf form?"

Clutching at his heart dramatically, Riaz shrugged off her criticism like water rolling off a duck's back. "Come along; let's give you the grand tour."

She caught up to his retreating form as he strode toward the waiting hallway. "I'm eager to scout the Citizens facility. Perhaps the tour can wait until we've completed a base level of reconnaissance?"

Studying her as if she'd grown another head, Riaz recoiled. "Kick up your heels for five minutes. We'll get there."

"I prefer my heels well-grounded."

And she did. Though she had a soft spot for the fancy footwear, she'd eagerly wear combat boots when the situation called for them. In fact, she had nearly one of every color she'd ever require, though the custom ordered lilac might see less use than those of a more natural variety.

Riaz, in the meantime, was unrepentantly staring at her blood red heels where they paced beside him. "Planning on skewering someone with those?"

"I can think of a few who might deserve it."

Rounding the corner of a wider corridor, doorways buttoned in on both sides. Lights illuminated several offices, but Riaz paid them no mind as he marched toward the one at the end of the hall. Curiosity awakened, Cortana peeked into each, noting that most of them were empty.

She gazed up at Riaz. "Will you introduce me to your betas?"

"Eh, they'll be around."

Incredulity short-circuited her. "They'll be around? You don't plan on holding a formal meeting? I'm here in both a strategic and diplomatic function. How will your team know what I can aid with and the scope of my role?"

In what world did it make sense to not organize proper introductions? How could this man stand for such a blatant disregard for formality? Though admittedly, Cortana preferred order to chaos, Riaz made laissez-faire leadership into an art form.

Lost in her own world of outrage, she didn't notice that Riaz had stopped. She ungracefully bumped into a wall of hard muscle, ricocheting off before she regained her balance.

Stepping out of his personal bubble, she frowned at him as he spun. Before she could apologize for the breach of conduct, he beat her to the punch.

"Does it bother you?"

Riaz cocked his head, the action distinctly wolf-like. Amusement danced behind the burnished brown of his eyes, and she couldn't help but soften at the expression.

"Does what bother me?"

"That I'm not doing formal introductions?"

Lifting her chin, she admitted, "It does. But I'm happy to wait if they're busy."

A flicker of orange glinted in his gaze, but Riaz jerked his chin toward the office at the end of the hall.

"Come, little Pet, and I'll show you where the magic happens."

Clearly, it couldn't have happened here. Breezing in behind him, Cortana's eyes widened to a comical degree. The alpha's office was an absolute mess.

Books piled high in the corners and stacks of dog-eared papers towered to obnoxious heights. A half-dead potted plant sat alone in one corner, crumbled brown leaves decorating the floor around it. Two guest chairs were sitting at odd angles to the massive wooden desk in the middle of the space, and though they were clearly of quality, bite marks and claw scratches notched along the bottom of both.

No signs of technology were present, though she was fairly certain she spied an ancient calculator sitting underneath an unopened box of full-sized candy bars.

"This is a disaster area." The words slipped from her mouth without her conscious volition, and dread pitted in her stomach as she realized she had no chance of taking them back.

The wolf had the audacity to offer her a toothy smile. "Yes, but it's my disaster."

"How can you find anything?" She shook her head, eyes flitting around the—albeit large—workspace with disbelief.

"I know where everything is. I know the transfer-in papers are there, under the pack contact list. I keep the financial records underneath the marble paperweight over there, organized by date due. If you feel like quizzing me, I'd happily accommodate you. It's all up to date, cross my heart. I got a system. It works."

A skeptical laugh lodged in her throat. "For who?"

"Me and my wolf."

"Well, you and your wolf have some serious issues," she said. "Do you even own a computer?"

Cortana took a seat, her back ramrod stiff to avoid touching any precarious pile that might tip over and compromise his ‘system'. Riaz dropped languidly into the highbacked red chair across from her.

"I prefer a pen and paper."

"What are you, a caveman? Are you sure you wouldn't prefer rock and chisel?" Upon receiving a snort from the wolf in front of her, she begrudgingly added, "It's chaos in here."

"Another thing that bothers little vampirella?" Riaz smirked. "My my, the list grows long."

Fighting the urge to strangle him, she asked, "Can we get a move on?"

"Why do you think we're here?"

The shift in his tone was instantaneous, underscoring his seriousness. Out of nowhere, he pulled a laptop onto the desk, tapping the power button to illuminate the screen and shoving papers to the side.

"See, Danger Fangs, I'm don't completely live in the past."

Fingers flying over the keys, concentration transformed his face. Though he was devastatingly handsome when he smiled, the smolder he was working while he was completely unaware was mind-boggling. Transfixed by his aura, she didn't realize he'd begun speaking again until his eyes caught hers.

"Cortana?"

Blinking, she attempted to cover her mistake. "My apologies, was running through the list of things that bother me."

Riaz gestured for her to come around the desk. "Come look."

The urge to further poke at him barely repressed, she rose at his beckoning and sidled around the desk to hover next to him. It took her only seconds to identify the facility that was shown on the screen.

"The Citizens' plant?"

"Yep." He nodded, every trace of mirth gone from his face. "We've got several images of it from the few scouting missions we've deployed, but nothing inside. Given where it's located, it's not easily accessible. We've had to be creative."

Narrowing her eyes, she tapped on the screen. "What's that?"

"An electrified silver fence, if you can believe it—and it's tall," he growled, the rumbling noise making her shiver in a way that had nothing to do with the air-conditioned chill.

Suddenly overwhelmed by their proximity, Cortana's breathing hitched. Now, so close to the vexing man, the delectable cedar scent that clung to his skin was proving hard to resist. The idea of it was as laughable as it was damning, yet she found herself barely beating back the impulse to bury her teeth in his neck.

Riaz hadn't noticed her sudden change. His pointer finger hovered over a bird's-eye view of the facility. "We'll enter here. They patrol the perimeter, but the guards change at ten p.m. We'll use the cover of darkness to our benefit. Our scouts noticed they're cutting corners, and they didn't equip the night shift with infrared or night vision goggles, so we're in the clear. Once we get in, we can verify if they are partnered with the Citizens or are simply a supplier."

Not satisfied with her half-hearted noise of approval, he turned his head to glance up at her. Riaz had clearly misidentified her proximity to him, and in turning his head, he'd closed the distance between their faces to a scant few inches.

That was when his eyes turned wolf.