Beyond the Grasslands (Mirage Islands Mates #2)

9. Business as Usual

Chapter 9

Business as Usual

NIKA

I didn’t expect Thorin to agree to wait.

In all honesty, I didn’t expect to continue with what I thought he would think of as a farce to bide my time until a plan to escape could be put together. Not that I planned to escape, but if I were in his shoes, that would be my first thought if he asked me to wait for months. Thorin surprised me, though. He showed up the day after our first post-kidnapping conversation and what he did then made me question everything.

“Can you say that again?” I asked as I stared into Thorin’s dark eyes that seemed to twinkle with amusement.

“I asked if you would join me on a date this evening.”

I glanced around as if someone might pop out and laugh about the joke being on me. “I’m sorry,” I muttered quietly. “I thought we were headed to work in your office?”

“We are, but that’s work. I don’t want us to build a working relationship only. That is not the kind of mating bond I hoped for. If it is all you can give me after everything, then I will learn to live with it. I thought-” Before he could tick off a list of reasons for going on a date, I cut him off.

“I would like to go on a date with you this evening, Thorin. Maybe we can discuss the details during our lunch break.” He grinned and moved to my side, so that we could walk together to his office. We didn’t have far to go as it was within the pack house too. Luckily, he made sure his office was on the opposite side of the pack house from his suite of rooms - where I stayed. Thorin had explained to me before that he set it up that way after his father passed because he wanted people to understand he needed private downtime the same way they all did.

It made my heart warm a little more toward him to know that he was somewhat nervous about having a date, or if I would agree to one.

“Your wolf didn’t come to me last night.” The words were little more than a whisper, but I knew he heard me.

“I was called to the border of our lands to check on some things last night. Our scheduled patrol didn’t show up.”

“Is everyone accounted for and okay?”

Thorin nodded. “They are. The patrol was meant to be Viktor’s. I’ve already summoned him this morning. I hope he has a damn good reason for missing his scheduled shift, but I’m honestly tempted to throw him into one of our cells because something isn’t right with him and hasn’t been in many months.”

“Have you spoken to him about Janella?”

“No, I’ll do that later, if he shows up. If he doesn’t, then I will have him hunted and brought in against his will. In that case, he will be questioned in the cells below.”

An involuntary shutter zipped through me. Thorin winced as he noticed, but there was nothing I could do about that. Mention of prison cells was still a little too fresh in my mind for comfort. “I’m sorry. That must be a hard decision to make for any pack mate, but especially your cousin.”

Thorin nodded. “As hard as this is to ask of you, especially after seeing your reaction to the mere mention of the cells, I want you there for all of it. It’s time for you to know the whole pack. That means good, bad, and everything in between. When I introduced you before, it was with rose colored blinders on.”

“I knew what I was getting into.”

“I didn’t.” Thorin’s admission threw me for a loop. “I never would have thought my pack was capable of trying to run off my moon-blessed mate, let alone conspiring to harm her. Everyone knows what happens to an Alpha without a mate. I don’t understand how they could think that would be a better fate for all of us.”

“If it helps, there was only a small group, centralized around Miriam and her family, who treated me poorly. Everyone else in the pack treated me well.”

Thorin gave a quick tip of his head to indicate he heard me, but his eyes glazed over in a tell-tale sign that someone from the pack had mind-linked him.

I waited as he had the conversation in his head. It was the equivalent of a human having a cell phone conversation and forgetting they had someone in person who might think it was rude to cut out in the middle of a conversation to have another one. The difference was that Thorin was the Alpha of the pack and it was to be expected even if slightly annoying.

“Sorry about that,” Thorin finally said as he looked up at me. “I had asked Warren to track down my cousin earlier, but Vik seems to be blocking the usual methods of contact.”

“I assume it is not the norm for pack members, especially family, to go to such an extreme.” When he shook his head, my thoughts wandered to Janella. I truly hoped the man was not her mate because his behavior did not bode well for her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think to take you by the dining hall to get some breakfast before we came here.” We stood outside Thorin’s office by then and I shook my head as if to say it was okay. “I’ll have someone bring us some food. We can eat here and get to work.” He glanced back at me as he unlocked the door. “What would you like?”

“I’m not picky. Anything that will sustain me through work will be just fine.”

Thorin nodded and then his eyes clouded over again as he threw his hand out in invitation for me to enter his office. I was shocked to see that there were two, identical desks set up. Each of them faced the other from across the room. There were no chairs in front of each desk. Instead, the chairs and a couch were placed around the room in a semi-circular pattern that branched out from the desks. The setup intrigued me.

Thorin must have taken notice after he put in an order for our breakfast to be delivered because he smiled and then moved toward the desk on the right. “This is your desk,” He explained as he tapped the wood along the edge. “If you require anything that isn’t here, all you need to do is ask and I’ll have it prepared for you.” Then Thorin pointed across the room. “That is my desk.”

“This is an unusual setup.”

“My parents worked together like this right up until the end.” His brow furrowed a bit before he added. “Well, right up until my mother’s health took an unexpected turn. They didn’t believe that either of them held a more powerful, or more important, position. My father always thought of them as equals in running the pack. My mother took on the plight of the families, women, and children for the most part while father took on the men, security, and diplomatic situations between packs.”

“That seems to be a fairly normal split.”

Thorin shook his head and I watched as a smile bloomed on his face. “My mother was the one who wielded the purse strings for the pack. She was a natural with numbers and took to accounting like a duck takes to water. My father was happy to hand that over to her. On important matters, they conferred with one another and came to an agreement before anything was done.”

“Would you like us to run the pack in a similar manner?” I asked him, wondering if he held true to the same values his parents had held.

“I would, if you are amenable.”

“I’d have to be crazy not to agree to that. I’ve seen a few Lunas in my time who were relegated to breeding new Alphas and not much more.”

“Those Alphas are what’s wrong with our community. If they valued their women more, they might find their pack retained more families and they would grow more. Instead, they point fingers at everyone but themselves for their lack of success and eventually, they grow resentful, prideful, and try to wage wars they cannot win. The only people harmed in those wars are the pack members who tried to stay loyal for whatever reason.”

I giggled. “Tell me how you really feel.”

To my complete surprise, Thorin rolled his eyes at me. “Sorry, my father used to go off on tangents like that.”

“If that is a trait you inherited from your father, then it is a good one to have. I am happy to hear that you have taken all of those things into consideration and understand what it takes to keep a pack running smoothly, efficiently, and happily.”

“I hope to do more of the latter with you here by my side.” I nodded as we both settled at our respective desks.

“What do you think about putting a round coffee table in the middle of the room and have chairs surround it, that way, when you have meetings, everyone appears to be on equal footing? There’s so much space between these desks. Besides, that way, if your meeting runs over, you can order in food and have a place to serve it.”

Thorin’s wide smile made another little chunk of ice in my heart melt. The warmth his eyes directed my way said he approved of the idea long before he voiced the words.

“This is why there should be an equal partnership. You think of the details that I left out.” He pointed at the seating on the periphery. “You’re right, that isn’t very welcoming to others, is it?”

I had to laugh. “Not unless you were to sit there with them. It’s like they’ve been exiled to the far reaches of the room while we look upon them from our respective thrones on either side.”

Thorin chuckled and nodded his head. “You are right. We’ll remedy that immediately.” He huffed out another half-laugh and shook his head. “If only I had thought of that sooner, we might not have to share our breakfast from across the room.”

I grinned and pulled my chair around to sit in front of his desk. “We’ll make do this morning.”

The sexy, smoldering look he sent my way almost made me drop and present myself to him then and there. My fingers immediately flew to my neck as a reminder of why that wasn’t an option. My faith in my potential mates had been shattered and the reminder of what happened when I let my guard down was necessary. I needed to feel secure in the pack as well as Thorin before I gave in again.

Thorin’s smoldering look melted away to one of instant regret when his eyes tracked the way my hand moved to my neck and the mark his wolf had left there.

“Nika,” He whispered. I shook my head.

“I really don’t need to hear any further apologies, Thorin. I already know. That doesn’t mean the time and distance I put on our relationship will be swept under the rug just because we agree, or you seem far more charming than usual. It might be uncomfortable for you, but the reminder of what I stand to lose if I don’t do this right is necessary for me.”

“I understand.” He stood and moved to go to the office door. I thought he meant to leave me there, but he had apparently heard something I missed. He opened the door and two of the pack’s shifters moved into the space to deliver the breakfast he ordered. They set the trays down on his desk, bowed their heads out of respect, and then left the office as quickly and quietly as they had appeared.

Thorin returned and sat on his side of the desk as he uncovered the platters full of food. My uneasiness of accepting prepared food from his pack came back then. It smelled delicious, but I knew first hand that some scents overpowered the ones that could signify a problem.

“You look as though the food just made you ill. What happened?” Thorin asked as he quickly covered the platters again.

“I-Um…” What the hell could I say to him without offending both Thorin and his pack. “The day I was attacked, I didn’t feel well. It was like walking through a fog and not having total control over my limbs.”

“That’s understandable when you have a head injury.”

“No, Thorin. That’s how I felt before Miriam hit me over the head. It was the reason she was able to sneak up behind me to begin with. I have reason to believe someone in this pack put a tranquilizer in my food or drink that morning.”

“Why hasn’t anyone told me this?”

I shook my head. “Honestly, I think the only person I told was the girl who has been charged with bringing food to me since being brought back to the pack.”

“What in the hell have you been eating and drinking, if you didn’t trust the food we serve?” He was angry, but I knew immediately that it wasn’t with me.

“She brought me prepackaged stuff that I could inspect after the first time.”

“So, you’ve been living off of what? Junk food and bottled drinks?” I nodded my head and Thorin returned a growl of frustration. “That is not acceptable.” He lifted the lid again and dug into the food and then seemed to remember something. Thorin pointed to the clock on the wall. “You time this.” He ordered me as he shoveled food into his mouth. “If nothing happens to me, then you eat too.” He swallowed another bite and then shook his head and growled again. “Then you’ll have to eat cold food.”

“Maybe, we could just get another person here who I trust to look out for me and make sure I’m not acting funny.”

“What if they give you a lethal dose?”

My eyes bugged out so wide it felt as though they might dislodge from my head. “Do you think someone would do that?”

“I didn’t think someone would give you a tranquilizer, attack you on my land, or offer you up to another Alpha.” He stood and paced behind his desk. “My pack’s behavior toward you still needs to be addressed, but we have yet to get through all the interrogations of the most likely suspects, and come to find out, we didn’t have all the information to ask the proper questions to begin with.”

“I’m sorry, I should have told you, but in my defense, you weren’t exactly in communication with me before.”

“Every time I think I couldn’t possibly fuck this situation worse than it already has been, I am proved wrong.”