4

No!

I froze mid-movement, a shiver running through me.

For some reason, it didn’t feel right. I was as though I’d damaged something precious, something I had no right to disturb. It was almost as if I’d taken something away from him.

Without thinking much, I quickly bent down and, with clumsy hands, started to repair what I had disrupted. I knew I shouldn’t; alphas had no business meddling with nests, touching them, or even commenting on them. But I couldn’t ignore the strange urgency I felt to fix it.

Damien watched me in silence, just sitting there with his eyes wide open. I spliced the blanket back together with the decorative red ropes and reinforced the structure with a long, silky scarf. My movements were not graceful, but I was determined.

After a few minutes of effort, the job was done.

"Why did you do that?" Damien asked quietly. "Why did you fix my nest?"

Did he seriously ask me that? It seemed so obvious to me. I looked up at him, still sitting in the middle of the nest, his disheveled amaranth hair framing his face. He was naked, his pale pink body marked by delicate freckles and… my kisses, glowing softly in the golden light of the bedside lamp.

I mumbled, unsure of my own reasoning, "It’s obvious. Out of respect for you. It’s the most beautiful nest I’ve ever seen, by far! And I want it to stay perfect." The words felt silly, even absurd, but I couldn’t take them back.

Not wanting to embarrass myself further, I straightened up and made my way to the door. At the doorstep, I paused, turning back to him one last time.

"Thank you for the honor of being your first," I muttered. "And… sorry for breaking the script. I’ll make sure you get your money back."

"There’s no need," he said gently. "You didn’t destroy it. You re-invented it. You made it perfect ."

Our eyes locked for a few… perfect seconds.

Time seemed to freeze; only our hearts were galloping.

Boom, boom, boom…

And I was… dying inside because I was leaving him.

My mouth opened to say what this all meant to me, but instead, I closed it and averted my gaze. He was still my client. And I had my duties.

Then I left in a hurry, my mind spinning as though I were on a wild merry-go-round. I broke into a full-on sprint toward the car, like running at top speed would somehow help me burn off some of this pent-up anxious energy. But it didn’t. I needed to process it all, to calm down, to somehow make sense of it all.

What had happened there? What had really happened between us?

***

I don’t even know how I got home. It felt like I had stepped into some surreal computer game. My head was spinning, I was completely dazed. All I could think about was going back to Damien’s apartment and continuing what we had started.

Maybe it really was that bad with me—the whole paid-for-sex thing?

My inner desperation and longing for an actual human connection probably made me a poor fit for what the company expected from its employees.

When I got back to my house, I didn’t bother showering. I just collapsed onto my bed and sank into endless ruminations. I had no idea when I fell asleep; my thoughts were so scattered and disjointed that I couldn’t keep up with them.

My phone woke me up. The screen displayed Mr. Ragu’s name, and waves of stress immediately hit me.

Could this be about my next assignment? So soon? So mercilessly? I hadn’t even had time to process everything that had happened.

I hesitated, debating whether to answer. But eventually, I did.

To my surprise, Mr. Ragu wasn’t calling about Johansson. He got straight to the point, asking if I could drive to his husband’s company the next day, around 1 pm, to talk. Apparently, the rest of his week was packed, and this was the only available time slot. I felt a wave of relief, happy that I didn’t have to think about Johansson.

But just as I started to relax, Ragu added, "One more thing. This morning, the client you saw yesterday contacted us."

I froze. Of course, this part of the conversation was unavoidable. If Damien had decided to file a complaint about me, I would just have to accept it with humility.

"He was so impressed," Mr. Ragu continued, "that he gave you a bonus for how brilliantly you executed his script. Twenty thousand dollars."

What? I sat up, mouth open, blinking.

"How’s that possible?! He only paid a thousand for the commission itself. And now he’s giving me so much more? Is he rich?"

"Yeah, he is," Mr. Ragu replied casually. "He’s from the famous Lowen family, though he keeps his life low-profile. But he asked for it to be revealed to you. He had his reasons for going with the low price initially, though it’s not my place to explain that. But I’m sure he will—when you ask. The money will be sent to your account today."

Wait a minute… something didn’t feel right. I could easily just accept it, pay off the rest of my installments, and move on. Easily?

Hell no.

Instead, I heard myself saying, "I want to return it."

Incredible. Returning money while repossession agents were chasing me?

And Damien certainly wouldn’t be any poorer for paying me. The Lowen family was one of the wealthiest in our country, being the shareholders of Malden Pharmaceuticals, DevApp (a large software development company), and also press moguls, owning East Times Magazine, among many other ventures, including The Omega Red Line Agency.

"Excuse me?" Ragu’s voice sounded like I’d yanked him out of a dream in which it was simply incomprehensible to refuse money from someone in an actual billionaire family . Hard to believe, and yet…

"That’s right. I want to return the money."

Mr. Ragu snorted loudly. "You’re crazy, Storm! That’s not how we operate. It’s not even—"

"Either you return it, or I quit. Right here, right now. Return it!" I raised my voice.

The silence that followed was long and deafening.

Finally, he cleared his throat and said warningly, "You're being difficult, Storm."

"Don’t care. I need you to return all of it. Every cent—including the initial thousand dollars."

"You're out of your mind… Lowens sleep on money!"

"It’s not about that."

A few seconds of silence. "Was he that bad or that good?"

If he’d been standing in front of me, I might’ve slapped him and ended up in jail for assaulting my own boss. It took everything I had to respond calmly.

"I’m dead serious. Return the money."

Finally, I heard him let out a long exhale.

"Fine, Storm. I’ll do it."

For a moment, only our breaths could be heard on the line.

Then Mr. Ragu cleared his throat and added, "The thing is… there’s more. You don’t know what happened after he praised you. He said his first heat starts in two or three days, and he wants to hire you for that period! He’s offering another considerable sum."

My emotions boiled over.

My brain was about to fry from the overload of conflicting emotions, and a strange rage surfaced. Like hell, I would have such an intimate moment with Damien for fucking money! I could never taint it like that.

"I refuse."

I really didn’t even control my own mouth. Be paid for making love to Damien? A person I truly didn’t even know… but hoped to change that. Nope, never again, not if I had any say in this.

The silence on the other end of the line was heavy and tense.

"He offered fifty thousand," Ragu said eventually.

I burst into laughter, feeling like a madman. "Mr. Ragu. Offer me a million, and I still won’t take it. Don’t care. Doesn’t change my mind. I won’t take a dime from him."

The silence deepened.

Finally, he asked, "May I know why? The company's reputation is at stake. He specifically requested you—no one else. We need to deliver!"

My eyes closed and I lowered my head.

"I just can’t, boss, because me and him… we’re True Mates."

I wouldn't even dare repeat what his answer was.

Thank you for reading ‘Invade Me’ .

If you want to find out how Storm's relationship with Damien unfolds, pick up the second part: ‘ Heat Me’.

Or maybe you’re curious about the challenging cases of people who signed guaranteed-mate deals with Fate's Choice, and how Storm would find their perfect matches? Check out ‘Buy Me’, ‘Accept Me’, ‘Unbreak Me’, ‘Unchain Me’, ‘See Me’.

If you encounter any issues with the text, please send me an email at [email protected], and I will take care of it as soon as possible!