Carve My Pumpkin (The Night Realm: Halloween Marked #3)

Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

MATEO

I called her Colette.

Not Ms. Rothchild. I’d said Colette.

Saturday night when that wolf was about to lose control and shift and potentially hurt people I’d been instantly panicked about her. She’d been too close, too in the danger zone. I’d just needed her to get out of the line of fire. That had been the only real thought running through my mind, to get her out of the way. Neither of us had done anything wrong, we were just there to ask a simple yes or no question, and yet if she had gotten hurt because of it . . . I would never have forgiven myself.

Colette. Please, back up.

Those words haunted my dreams for two nights. All day yesterday I’d looped over that moment. Both, the fact I’d called her Colette and the fear I’d experienced for her well-being. I couldn’t care about her that way. I had a soulmate in a different person. Yet my heart was apparently ignoring all of those orders and preparing to jump off the cliff without a parachute and make a crash landing at my new assistant’s feet. It made no sense. I didn’t understand how I could be falling, rather quickly, for someone else when I knew I was about to find my soulmate.

I am in so much trouble.

My entire Sunday had been one intrusive thought after another. I barely slept. I hadn’t really eaten. There was definitely a desperate need for a shower that I hadn’t taken. I was unintentionally making myself sick over this. The only thing breaking the pattern of my masochistic loop was the arrival of Monday morning. I glanced down at my watch and took a deep breath. I’d intentionally arrived half an hour early to work so I could get inside my office and shut the door before she arrived. I just needed a moment’s peace so I could think about what to do. As I walked through the front door of the building I went through my options in my head. Again. There was absolutely no way she could continue as my executive assistant. An executive dating their assistant was bad form for anyone, but an executive falling for his assistant while he had a soulmate that wasn’t her was so much worse.

It wasn’t fair to Colette though. She hadn’t done anything wrong. She didn’t even know I adored her and was low-key obsessed with her. Me being an asshole to her was a form of self-preservation that I couldn’t seem to control. It just came out. However, it also protected Colette. From me. It would be so much easier for her to move to a different department this way. I just had to figure out how and where to move her to. Lexington would demand answers and justifications. Which meant eventually I was going to have to be honest with him about how I felt. I probably needed to be honest with someone about all this before I lost my mind but admitting my feelings for her out loud felt . . . awful.

Nash would understand. He’d know how to handle this, he was so much better at this stuff than I was. But my twin was busy planning his own wedding to his soulmate, I didn’t want to rain on his parade. He was so happy, the idea of tainting that in any way made my stomach sick.

One day at a time, Mateo. Just get through to Friday. Give her the full two-week trial then send her back to Lex for relocation. Maybe if you’re actually nice and helpful for this second week Lex won’t rip you to shreds when you fire her. Time to put on your big boy boots and treat Colette like you would any other employee at Prescott Tech.

I could do that. I could be professional.

The office was eerie quiet, then again, it usually was on Monday mornings. Most of the executives on the Island were pretty flexible with hours, especially Monday mornings during holiday seasons. I felt a glimmer of hope that my plan was going to work, that getting here this early would allow me to hide from her. But as I was about halfway up the stairs to my floor I heard voices carrying down the hall. From my wing. There were offices between mine and Lex’s but I knew for a fact Kallahan was still home reading the newspaper and eating waffles while Orson and Liza were still in bed. I’d seen Pippin heading out with Thomas and Jonathan to drop all their kids at school and when I left Fina had been racing behind her husband with the two children he’d forgotten at home.

“Olivia, to the left about eight inches, please?” Ernald’s voice carried down the hall just as I reached the top of the stairs.

I sighed with relief. It was just my brother and one of his employees. Though I had no idea what they were doing down by my office.

“Eight inches? Eight?” Olivia’s sarcastic and mocking tone was not missed.

“Nine would be too many.”

“It’s true, eight inches has always served me well,” another female voice said with a giggle.

“ Natalie, ” a third female voice said with a hiss.

I frowned. How many of them are down there?

“What Melissa?” Natalie giggled.

“You can’t say that to our boss.” I assumed it was Melissa answering. I knew their faces but those three fae were always together so I confused their names sometimes.

“Right, because our gay boss has zero opinions on eight inches,” Olivia mumbled but it was not quietly.

Ernald’s sigh was loud. “I’m sure my husband does.”

The three fae cackled.

Ernald may have been seven-hundred-years-old but he rarely acted like it. The guy was as playful and full of pranks as Nash and Orson were. I’d been behaving rather sourly so knowing him, he was probably using his three favorite employees to set up an elaborate prank in my office.

“Yeah, that’ll be perfect.” Ernald chuckled. He moved into the middle of the hall with his back to me like he was inspecting their work on my office. “This is going to be fantastic.”

I smiled and shook my head. I couldn’t see anything but my brother so it couldn’t be too bad. My mind was trying to anticipate what they’d done. Ernald hated repeating his pranks unless it was an inside joke – then he’d repeat it relentlessly. I was still finding miniature reindeer figurines in coat pockets, sock drawer, inside my shoes, and everywhere else in my room. I was just picturing a giant reindeer inflatable sitting in my office when I stopped came up behind him.

Olivia, Natalie, and Melissa flew back and forth across my wing like little worker bees.

“Right . . . ladies back up.” Ernald rubbed his hands together. “We’re ready.”

“Okay, I’m pushing the green button . . .”

I gasped at the sound of Colette’s voice from out of sight. My heart stopped in my chest. No, no, no. I let my guard down. My head snapped in the direction her voice came from and my breath caught in my throat. She looked incredible in her little three-piece power suit. My whole body warmed at the sight of her in all red. I’d never even loved the color red before but something about it on her made her look fiercely powerful. Butterflies danced in my stomach. Her long blonde hair was braided down the back of her head and the thoughts swimming in my mind over how badly I wanted to grab ahold of it were wildly inappropriate. The red stiletto heels were not helping.

“I lied. The green button is the wrong button.” She laughed and I loved the way her cheeks dimpled ever so slightly and how her green eyes sparkled in the light coming off her tablet. She shook her head then tapped on the screen again. “Okay, pushing the blue button now!”

Lights flashed across the open space so quickly I actually flinched. I peeled my gaze off of her and followed the lights toward her desk and my office door – and my breath left me in a rush. There were lights and projections spread across my whole wing. It was sensory overload. Too much to look at at once. I couldn’t decipher where one thing ended and the next began.

“ What the hell . . . ” I heard myself whisper. My eyes wide and locked on the sight before me.

Colette gasped and spun around to face me. The three fae ladies hissed then darted to hide behind Ernald. My brother just chuckled.

“What . . .” I gestured wildly. “The f?—"

“It’s my murder board,” Colette said in a rush.

My eyes widened. “ I beg your finest pardon? ”

Colette’s cheeks flushed the same red as her three-piece suit. But she held her chin high and her shoulders back with pride, and dammit if it didn’t all the tinglies racing through my body. My body was an absolute traitor.

“ I said, this is my murder board?—”

“I heard the words you used, Ms. Rothchild,” I snapped with a growl in my voice. I didn’t recognize myself when I reacted to her like this. It was like the beast I was caging wanted to break free.

She narrowed those pretty green eyes at me. “Murder. Board.”

“Ms. Rothchild?—”

“It’s obviously not literally for murder, as that’s cause for deportation,” she snapped. One blonde eyebrow arched and it made my stomach tighten into knots and sent adrenaline rushing through my veins. “Then again, Bash is the ruler of Third Realm now so perhaps it would be worth it.”

My eyebrows rose. “Are you threatening a prince, Ms. Rothchild?”

“Don’t provoke me, Your Highness .”

“ And . . . that’s our cue,” Ernald said with a chuckles. “Ladies, fall out?—”

“ Where are you going? ” I hissed at my brother.

Olivia, Natalie, and Melissa flew like bats out of hell away from my wing.

Ernald laughed and put his hand on my shoulder then squeezed and shook me a little. “Breathe, little prince. Your assistant is brilliant.”

I KNOW THAT, DAMMIT. WHY ARE YOU MAKING THIS WORSE?

He narrowed his eyes at me and pursed his lips. He nodded. “Why don’t you ask her what all this is?”

“I did. I got threats in return,” I said through clenched teeth.

He lifted his hand off my shoulder then lightly slapped my cheek. “Might have something to do with this thing, kiddo.”

I gasped.

“There we go. Relax the muscles a bit. Put the fangs away.” He winked then turned toward my torturer. “Colette, excellent work. Let me know if you need us again – and let me know if you’d like to abandon this ship and return to my department.”

Her face softened. “Thank you, Ernald.”

Ernald. NOT Mr. Vauntero. My stomach turned. My whole family preferred to be on a first name basis with everyone. We liked it casual. Personal. Being called Mr. Vauntero was a pet peeve of mine until I laid eyes on the flawless Ms. Rothchild. I’d told her to call me that in an effort to put distance between us . . . in reality, every time she said it there was an opposite reaction within me.

I licked my lips and took a few breaths through my nose as my brother strolled back to his office. “Well, Ms. Rothchild? What is all this?”

She took a deep breath. “Murder board is a figure of speech, Mr. Vauntero. I’m using the same principles detectives – and serial killers – use for crime to construct a visual method of attack for your soulmate hunt.”

I nodded as she continued to explain it in detail but the words weren’t fully registering. Every sentence sent my pulse flying faster and beating harder until all I could hear was the heavy thump of it in my ears. My toes and fingers throbbed. This woman had the strongest effect on me than anyone I’d ever met. I would’ve loved it, would’ve relished in this sensation if not for the damned mark on my arm.

And if I was being honest with myself that just pissed me off so much.

Fate was a cruel son of a bitch.

For the first time in my entire adult life a strong, powerful woman came into my world that was absolutely perfect for me and I couldn’t have her. She was everything I could possibly have asked for in a romantic partner but no. I must’ve done something horrible in a past life to warrant this karmic torture.

And I wasn’t even sure reincarnation was a real thing.

I’d have to ask Zuriel.

Colette cleared her throat. “Well, what do you think, Mr. Vauntero?”

I think you’re brilliant. I think this is creative and also fun. I love the initiative you had to ask for help from the other department. I’m so impressed by you every day that I can’t think straight.

But I didn’t say any of that out loud. Instead, I just growled and marched toward my office. I yanked the door open. Say SOMETHING to her, asshole.

“Better work, it’s your last week.”

Then I slammed my office door shut and collapsed against it. That is not what I meant, dumbass.