Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

They fell into a routine of sorts, with Avery meeting Ozen after lunch each day. It wasn’t necessary for an incubus to feed daily, and Ozen would have been satisfied for a few days with the way he reacted to Avery’s desires, but he was proceeding with caution. He felt healed from the two weeks of starvation, but he didn’t want to reach that point again. He’d nearly gone feral, and the results would have been disastrous. Especially for Avery when he came to assist him.

The question of his reaction to Avery nagged at him. Not only could Avery feed his magic to bursting, Avery didn’t seem as affected to the frequent feedings as Ozen would have thought. Ozen made sure to check before each coupling, and each time, Avery’s energy and well being was pristine. It was almost like Ozen’s feedings had no effect on him whatsoever, aside from the pleasure. Most feeders need a day or two to recover afterward.

A knock on his office door interrupted his thoughts, and Avery popped in a moment later. It was a point in Avery’s favor that his professionalism never wavered, despite such frequent couplings. He was quick to return to work and always greeted Ozen with a smile at the start of each day.

“Good morning, Mr. Hawksley. There were a few deliveries at the front desk for you, and Mr. Cunningham asked to reschedule lunch. He’s meeting a thunderbird outside of the city to potentially help with research. He didn’t want you to wait for him.”

Ozen hummed, taking the offered documents from Avery. “When did he tell you this?”

“Just now. He stopped me as I was waiting for the elevator. He looked like he was already on his way out.”

Ozen nodded. Either Taron forgot to tell him, or the meeting was set last minute. Taron didn’t adhere to schedules as strictly as Ozen did and could be forgetful at times. His own assistant had said several times that she deserved permanent overtime pay for keeping up with him. She got a significant bonus every year.

Avery was a bundle of energy already, listing off the meetings Ozen had and the projects he needed to approve. He disappeared long enough to get Ozen a cup of coffee, his hair still a little tousled from the wind. Ozen’s office was darker than usual thanks to the gray weather, and Avery set about turning on more than just Ozen’s desk light to brighten the room.

Ozen looked over the documents he’d received while listening, nodding along to show he heard Avery. It wasn’t until he opened the manilla envelope on the bottom of the stack that he stopped listening. He made a tsk sound, flipping through the papers with a scowl.

“Mr. Hawksley? Is everything alright?”

“It’s fine.” If you could call being sued by your former feeder for breach of contract and defamation fine. He picked up his phone, dialed the legal department, and asked to be connected to his lawyer.

“Van Buren,” a gruff voice answered.

“Mav. I need you in my office.”

Maverick was quiet for a moment before he sighed heavily. “Who’s suing you now?”

“The man who tried to kill me,” was Ozen’s terse reply. Avery had been about to leave to return to his own desk but he froze at the doorway at the mention of Calvin.

“This will be a story,” Maverick grumbled. “I’ll be right up.”

After he hung up, he turned his attention to Avery. “This may take a while. Please reschedule my morning meeting for after lunch.”

It meant he’d miss their scheduled session, and with how busy he was today, he probably couldn’t reschedule it before the end of the work day. He’d probably end up working late. Three days without feeding was possible. He’d enjoyed the daily feedings, but it couldn’t be helped. He had to deal with this before Calvin got any traction.

Avery didn’t argue, hustling out the door to make the appropriate phone calls. Ozen sighed wearily. Things had just started to settle. Less than a full week with Avery as his feeder, and his magic was stronger than it ever had been. The company was doing well, he’d finally convinced Taron he wasn’t about to keel over, and he just acquired an item he’d been hoping to attain for years for his personal collection. Ozen wished things could remain on a high note for longer than a few days.

Maverick didn’t bother knocking, striding into his office with a single minded purpose. Ozen had the papers in his hand and waiting because the dragon shifter wasn’t known for his patience. He was known, however, for hoarding office supplies, so while Maverick looked over the lawsuit, Ozen cleared his desk of anything that wasn’t paperwork. His favorite pen was locked away in his desk drawer because Maverick had been eyeing it for quite some time.

“He says you ended the contract without cause.”

Ozen scoffed, scrolling through his email for anything important he had to attend to that day. “I ended the contract because he refused to pick up his phone or meet me. He was trying to starve me.”

Maverick’s low growl filled the room. Calvin would regret suing him. Maverick was one of the most cut throat lawyers in the country. He was also licensed to practice law almost everywhere in the world. When you live for hundreds of years, you pick up licenses and hobbies like candies. Like Maverick, Ozen was fluent in most supernatural languages and a few human ones as well. He had businesses on almost every continent and was an advocate for minority supernaturals at the government council level. He also had an affinity for painting in his spare time. All Supes who lived as long as he did were the same.

“What’s this about negligence of duties?” Maverick queried.

Ozen rolled his eyes. “Of course he’d add that. I didn't feed from Calvin. I’d fed from someone else the day we met and didn’t need to until a few days later. He started ignoring me before I had the chance.”

“A few days? Did you dislike him that much?”

“It had nothing to do with like,” Ozen replied, though he could admit, the idea didn’t thrill him. It had been a long time since he enjoyed his feedings. Not like his sessions with Avery. Those he actually looked forward to. “The feeding I had before we met was very satisfying. I didn't need to feed, and I wasn’t going to do it just to appease him. I’m not there to provide him pleasure at his beck and call. I wasn’t hungry.”

Maverick’s eyes narrowed for a moment before he waved his hand dismissively. “We’ll come back to that later. So to my understanding, he refused to answer when summoned for a feeding, and he was angry with you when you didn’t give into his demands for sex? That’s a contradiction.”

“I’m well aware,” Ozen growled. He went through the timeline, growing more annoyed as he laid out all the facts. Three days. That’s how long it took for Calvin to decide to starve him. Had he waited even a few hours, he would’ve gotten what he wanted and Ozen’s suffering could’ve been avoided.

Maverick grunted, pacing by the window as he looked over the papers. He did that when he was thinking. The smoke that seemed to hover around him only appeared when he was in a bad mood and his dragon was close to the surface.

“So he’s an idiot, then?”

“More a petulant child. I didn’t know him well enough to comment on his intelligence.”

“And he says you defamed him? How?”

“I had him blacklisted,” Ozen replied. “I didn’t want history to repeat itself with a less controlled incubus. Had it been anyone else, the results could have been disastrous. I was lucky that my assistant volunteered to feed me. Any longer and I worried I’d go feral.”

The unnatural green of Maverick’s eyes began to glow and the smoke grew denser. Like Taron, Maverick had been Ozen’s friend for years. He was a little standoffish, he liked his isolation, but he was insanely protective of those he considered friends, Ozen included.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn't think it was relevant.”

“Ozen…” Maverick growled.

He sighed. “The issue was resolved on its own and the agency took full responsibility. Calvin and the person who hired him were fired and blacklisted. It should have ended there.”

“And your feeder?”

Ozen gestured to the doorway. “You passed him on the way in. He’s diligent and professional. I am fully healed from the event, and it’s been less than a week. I couldn’t ask for anyone better.”

Maverick grunted, which was as much acceptance as Ozen was going to get on the matter, though he considered warning Avery that Maverick might question him. If Maverick was worried about him, he’d interrogate anyone involved in Ozen’s life to make sure they were to be trusted. Colette had been on the receiving end of that behavior more than once, despite her loyalty to the company.

Returning to the subject at hand, Ozen gave a significant look to the papers in Maverick’s hand. “So? Do I have something to worry about?”

Maverick scoffed. “No. It’s a frivolous lawsuit. I’ll need to get statements from anyone who’d seen you during the weeks where you went unfed. And I want copies of all attempts you made to contact him. Did he ever reply when you asked him to come in?”

“Yes. For the first week, he’d say he was busy. If he was hoping that behavior would change anything, he was sorely mistaken, and by ten days under contract, he stopped responding entirely.”

“So then he was the one who breached the contract, not you. It’s his job to show up. The whole purpose of the contract is to ensure that. Have you gotten him to pay back the money he was given? He didn’t earn it.”

“I wasn’t going to waste my time with that,” Ozen admitted. “This is already more than I wanted to deal with.”

He’d hoped Calvin would be smart enough to understand what was wrong with his behavior. Things were never that easy, though. Ozen rubbed his temples to ease some of the tension.

A warm hand settled on his shoulder, and when he looked up, Maverick’s stoicism warmed just enough to pull off reassurance. The man really wasn’t good at expressing himself at the office. He only ever relaxed around his friends.

“I’ll handle the twerp. Have your assistant start gathering the things I’ll need. I also want to see the contract. I helped Martell write it, but you’ve been recycling the same one for years. I can’t remember everything that went into it. Your new feeder should have a copy, yes?”

“Yes. Wait– No. Avery’s contract isn’t the same. He updated it.”

Maverick’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why would he do that?”

Ozen felt a smile pull at his lips. “Why don’t you read it and find out?”

The easiest way to prove to Maverick that Avery was a good choice was to show him the demands Avery made on his contract. None of them were to his benefit; they were all to protect Ozen. His chest warmed as he remembered reading through the notes for the first time. No feeder ever went to such lengths to protect him like that. Not even Tristan.