Chapter Seventeen

Ayelet

The view from Magnus’ penthouse was spectacular, in a very urban sort of way.

I wouldn’t have believed it, but my company allowed me to work remotely on a temporary basis. As a supervisor, I would have expected to be required to be in the office every day, but since most of those I supervised only came in a day or two a week anyway, it didn’t seem to matter. I would need to work West Coast hours, but that didn’t seem too onerous. It meant I would get to sleep in. And the company did not mind not having to pay my rent for the rest of the six months they’d agreed to, so they would of course cover any travel expenses if they needed me on-site. This would not be long-term, probably, but I’d deal with that issue when it became one. My company did have offices here as well, but nothing I’d heard about them made me want to transfer.

With that in mind, I put my resume together. In New Mexico, in our relatively small town, there hadn’t been a lot of other opportunities, but here? There was no reason to pretend I worked for the only company in the world. Maybe it was a good chance to expand my horizons professionally as I had personally.

Even that first move came together so easily. Because of Fate? I’d been amazed at getting the transfer to San Diego to start with, an office everyone wanted to work from with its short walk to the beach and beautiful views from every window. I loved it there but not as much as I loved my mates.

Moving toward the bedroom window, I surveyed the view from this high, high perspective. Buildings, many skyscrapers marched on toward the other end of the island of Manhattan. We could also see Central Park’s green acreage, and well, I knew that many people would pay any price to be here, to be us.

I should be more grateful about it.

People looked so small down below, scurrying back and forth on errands, coming and going from work and school and wherever their day took them. And there were so many of them. More humans and paranormals visible right at this moment than the population of the town where I grew up…or at least so I estimated. From this height, I couldn’t really tell them apart, but it only made sense that there would be all kinds of people down there.

Magnus had taken us to some of his favorite restaurants and dives, shown us how to order food and other supplies on the accounts he had set up, and been a terrific host all the way around. Unfortunately, I did feel more like we were guests with a host than people who shared a home. Unlike the penthouse in San Diego, this one had been professionally decorated to meet Magnus’ taste to the point it felt like there was no room for us.

There was not a thing wrong with it, every piece of furniture perfect for its space, even the dishes and flatware selected to look perfect on the marble-top table. The bedroom where I now stood was a designer’s dream. And nothing like the “bedroom set” my omega dad was so proud of. Each piece—the bed, dresser, pair of chairs by the window, etc.—was selected to blend into a perfect whole. Although some of the pieces were antique and others brand-new handcrafted items, with the addition of the luxury bedding, I couldn’t imagine anything nicer.

And sliding into those billion-thread-count sheets with the fluffy comforters piled on top almost made it worth leaving my favorite place on the face of the Earth. What did make it worthwhile was who lay in that bed with me. If they wanted to move to the face of the sun, I’d just buy lots of sunscreen because where they were was home.

Down below, the shadows lengthened as the sun moved on toward the end of the day. All those people lived here by choice, and they didn’t even have the two best mates in the whole world. I could live anywhere as long as we were together. Maybe we could take the subway to a beach and walk along. It wouldn’t be the Pacific, but the Atlantic was sure to have its own beauty and charm, and it was unreasonable of me not to at least give it a chance.

“Penny for your thoughts, alpha?” Harbor spoke from so close behind me, I could feel his warm breath on the back of my neck. “Or maybe it should be a quarter now?”

I reached back and brought him around in front of me, his back to my front. “Just admiring the view and wondering where everyone down there is going in such a hurry.” I pressed my lips to his nape, inhaling his scent. Tension seeped from my shoulders.

“I sometimes do that, too. It’s a beautiful city, isn’t it?”

“As cities go.” I rested my chin on his shoulder. “And the penthouse is fabulous.”

“True. Are you sure you weren’t missing San Diego?”

So perceptive, our unicorn. I’d carefully not said that, never wanting to take the least chance of Magnus feeling like I wasn’t happy to be here. “Maybe a little.” Saying anything different would be a lie.

“I do too, but it feels ungrateful. Magnus doesn’t even care if I work or not. He just wants us to be happy.”

“I know.” Outside, the sky darkened and lights began to come on. “And it will be fine. We just have to adjust. Magnus has his whole business here, and his home. So far, my job is being really good about it, and I’m thinking of looking around for something different. Maybe I’m missing out on a better opportunity.”

“But you love your job.” Harbor turned in my arms and faced me.

“Not as much as I love the two of you.” I bent to kiss him, and as always, the outside world faded away. As long as we were together…