Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

When I reach my apartment, I take a long shower, then treat the scratches on my back and hands with some Neosporin. They’re not bad, but you don’t get away from a forest fuck without a few scrapes to show for it.

There’s a text waiting on my phone from Leon.

I’m glad you and Eli worked things out

We certainly did.

Me, too

Did anyone follow you home?

I smile down at my phone.

No, I was alone

But that reminds me that there’s still the matter of Mr. Bosley. I can’t possibly tell him it was Eli who vandalized his house and risk the cops coming after the brothers. I consider calling my idiot boss to try to convince him not to do whatever foolish thing he’s got planned—but if I were to hedge a bet, the damage is already done, probably long before a werewolf pounded me into the ground out in the woods.

I want to say that I’m sorry about it, that I should’ve done something when I found out what Eli had done. But I can’t bring myself to care.

Mr. Bosley’s the one who made me sign those incriminating order forms, who made me “fix” the spreadsheets. He made sure my name was all over his dirty business.

Whatever trouble he’s gotten himself into, he can get himself out of it again. He’s not my responsibility.

The next morning, I get to the office right at nine, but I have to unlock the door to get in. I flip on the lights, deliver Mr. Bosley’s coffee to his desk, and settle down in my chair.

It’s almost ten when he finally comes in, hair disheveled and clothing askew. I’ve never once seen my boss look so unkempt.

I raise an eyebrow as he walks past me without acknowledging my presence. Once he’s in his office, though, I get a call to the phone right away.

It’s from Mr. Bosley. Who’s in the next room.

“Um, hello?” I answer.

“Talk quietly,” he whispers through the phone. “The office is bugged.”

So Leon was right. A prickle of fear raises the hair on my neck.

“Why?” I whisper back into the receiver. “Who would do that?”

“I think I’ve made a mistake, Ms. Dockett.” His voice goes even quieter, and cold dread fills my veins.

“What did you do, Mr. Bosley?”

He inhales sharply, then says, “I kicked the hornet’s nest.”

I hold the phone very still, wondering what he’s done now.

“Are the hornets coming for you?” I finally ask in a hushed voice, covering the receiver with one hand.

Through the glass window into his office, I can see him shaking his head.

“No, Ms. Dockett. They’re coming for us .”

Oh, fuck.

I slam the phone down and get out of my chair, throwing my purse on. I am not going to get pulled into whatever hurricane Mr. Bosley has set into motion. However he managed to piss off Beatrice, I don’t want to be here when she comes for him.

“Ms. Dockett!” He throws open his office door as I head for the exit. “Where are you going?”

“I’m not going to stay here and wait for them to show up,” I say over my shoulder.

“You can’t go.” His voice drops lower. “You’re just as involved in this as I am now. Your name’s all over the files.”

“Because of you !” I spin around, my fear and rage twining together into something even bigger and uglier than either of them. “You’re the one who sucked me into this! What, you had me sign those orders so you’d have someone to blame?”

Mr. Bosley splutters weak objections, but I know I’ve caught him. He set me up. He wanted to pin it on me should this exact thing happen.

“Those three big guys of yours,” he says quickly. “That’s where you’re going, right? For protection?”

I hadn’t thought about it yet, but that’s exactly where my instinct is driving me. The landscapers’ den out in the countryside is the only place I could possibly feel safe from the storm that my idiot boss has brought down on top of us.

“Yes.” I pull out my phone and start typing out a quick text message to warn Leon I’m coming. They’re probably at the work site this time of day, and I hope they’re willing to meet me.

“Take me with you!” Mr. Bosley claps a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. I wrench away from him at the sudden contact, feeling as if I have slime all over me where he touched me. “Please, Ms. Dockett. That woman is dangerous, and she’s going to be after my skin now.”

I freeze. Mr. Bosley might be the biggest asshole I’ve ever met, but that doesn’t mean I should leave him to the wolves, so to speak. I don’t want his blood on my hands should Beatrice decide to take severe action.

But he’s the one who painted a target on himself. If she’s after him, taking him with me could mean leading her straight to the brothers, and I can’t do that to them.

I turn to my boss, clenching my phone tight to steel myself for what I have to say.

“Go to the cops, Orland . It’s not my job to help you get out of this giant hole you’ve dug for yourself.” I head for the door, clutching my purse to still my hands. “None of this was ever my fucking job. You took advantage of me, you used me, and now you’re going to pay for what you’ve done— by yourself .”

Mr. Bosley stares at me, open-mouthed. “Ms. Dockett,” he says in a warning tone. “If you leave me here, you’re fired.”

I expected it would sting, that it would unleash another wave of panic to know I’d be losing my job.

Instead, I feel nothing. Eli was right. He doesn’t deserve a second of my pity. This man has only ever done damage to my life, treating me worse than an object, abusing my better nature. Now he’s pinning his idiotic crimes on me, when I’ve never done anything but try my best at this job.

Now, I am fierce and clawed. I tamed a werewolf yesterday. I have people in my corner, my friends and my lovers both, who will help me if I fall. I’ve been hiding myself for too long, making myself smaller so other people will be happy, when the truth is that they’ll always be impossible to please.

Maybe it means sacrificing the regular paycheck and the healthcare, but I refuse to get caught up in this nightmare Mr. Bosley’s created for himself. No fucking job is worth this. It’s too bad it had to get to this point before I woke up, but there’s no one to blame but Mr. Bosley for taking advantage of me.

“Fine,” I say at last, turning to face him. “Then fire me. I’m done being your punching bag.”

My boss blanches. “Ms. Dockett?—”

I jab a finger into his face, and he leans away from it, eyes wide.

“Shut up!” The words come out sharper and louder than I expected from myself. “I’m fucking tired of you. Of this job. You’ve treated me like shit since the day I started.”

I feel like a volcano about to erupt. Or maybe I’m already erupting, and all my pent-up hurt and rage is too much to hold inside now.

“I’m not going to take it anymore. Go turn yourself in, and maybe the cops can protect you from whatever hell you’ve pulled down on top of us.”

“Your name is all over the documents,” Mr. Bosley says, but he sounds pathetic, even to me.

“I don’t care,” I hiss back. “I’ll tell them you made me do it. In fact, I should have reported you already.”

He narrows his eyes. “You have no proof.”

I’m done arguing with him. I turn around and head for the office door when my phone buzzes in my hand.

It’s Leon’s reply.

Come to the den right away. We’ll meet you there

I exhale a breath of relief, then head to the door.

“Wait!” Mr. Bosley takes a few steps to follow me, his expression pleading. “Come on, Ms. Dockett. Please. I can’t go to the police. They’ll throw me in jail. And if I don’t, Beatrice will find me no matter where?—”

“I’m done with this,” I tell him firmly. “You can deal with the consequences of your own actions, on your own. At least you’ll be safe in jail.”

Saying these words, a powerful sense of relief floods through me. No more speeding to the coffee shop, hoping I don’t get into a wreck. No more walking on eggshells, praying I don’t upset Mr. Bosley. No more of him breathing down my neck and watching my every move like a hawk, waiting for the moment to strike and bring me down a peg.

Mr. Bosley stands there, mouth hanging open, as I stride out of the office and slam the door closed.

If the office is bugged, then Beatrice most likely knows where I’m headed. And surely if she’s as competent as I think she is, she already knows about the brothers, too. I hope I’m not leading all five of us straight into a trap by finding refuge with them.

I’ll always protect you . I have to believe Eli when he said it. I have no other choice.

I drive as fast as is safe out of town, down the long country road that will take me to the brothers’ place. I can only hope that whatever is coming for me, they can handle it. We can handle it, together.

When I arrive, the Lupine Landscaping truck is parked beside their spare car. I pull in next to it, and when I do, Leon, Quinn, Eli and Jace are already waiting. They surround me as I get out of my car.

“Fuck, Tiff,” Leon says, dragging me into a firm hug. “What has that asshole done?”

I bury my face in his firm chest. “I don’t know, but whoever he pissed off... I doubt they’re going to just let me off the hook, not with how much I’ve seen.” All the invoices, all the orders, have passed over my desk.

Someone pats my hair. When I look up, I find Quinn smiling at me confidently. “Don’t worry. They won’t get past us.”

I want to believe him. I have to believe him.

We walk to the den, all four of them clustered around me like a battalion. As I close my eyes and breathe through all my fear, all my worry and anxiety, Eli takes my hand in his and squeezes it.

“Thank you for trusting us,” he says quietly. “If there’s any night that something like this should happen, well, I’m glad it’s tonight.”

I blink at him. “Why? This could be really bad, Eli.”

He just grins, then tilts his head up to the sky and points. “See that?”

The moon is round and full tonight as it rises, a glowing silver disk floating above the earth. I nod. “A full moon?”

Then it clicks. They’re fucking werewolves .

Jace smirks. “It gives us strength,” he says with a sultry lilt to his voice. “Oh, and it makes us really, really horny.”

I have to laugh at that. “Isn’t that the same as any other day?”

Leon snickers behind me. “You have no idea.”