Wild Game (Wilding Pack Wolves 1) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (13 page)

The next morning Nova was exhausted… and had never been happier in her life.

She and Owen were stumbling in late to the office. They’d showered the endless sex off their bodies and dressed like they normally would‌—‌him in a dress shirt and jacket, her in one of the costumes from
AfterPulse
‌—‌and they vowed to act completely normal. Not at all like Owen had given her more orgasms in one night than she’d had in the last year.

But the glow must have been evident on her face, judging by the copious amounts of whispering happening behind cupped hands‌—‌and she wasn’t even halfway across the office. When she and Owen reached her office door, she cringed.

Brad was waiting for her. “Sleep in late?” he asked stiffly. Then he narrowed his eyes, flicked a look from her to Owen, and started grinding his teeth, if the way his jaw muscles were working was any indication.

“We don’t exactly punch a clock around here.” She let the annoyance drip from her voice, but when she glanced back at Owen, she felt the blood drain from her face. His look of smug satisfaction was unmistakable. If she didn’t already
know
they’d spent the whole night in bed together, that look alone blared it out to everyone in the office. Her tight-lipped disapproval only made him smirk more… but it was really all for Brad.

She turned back to him.

“Well.” Brad’s voice could freeze a waterfall in place. “While you were enjoying time in your bed, the rest of us were working hard to make sure the beta will be ready for release in two days.”

She scowled at him. “
AfterPulse
has been tested endlessly. It’s ready to ship now.”

He arched one brow. “If you’d been in this morning, you’d know that’s not exactly true. We’ve found a glitch that aborts gameplay halfway through when playing a certain combination of players.”

“What?”
She leaned back. “How is that possible? We’ve tested‌—‌”

Brad coolly held out his hands. “I’m just the messenger. The lead development team’s been brainstorming workarounds. They want to meet with you in the design room.” He sent a chilly look to Owen, who had already taken his normal seat outside her office. “That is, if you’re ready to get back to work.”

Something was completely off about this. Either Brad was sabotaging the launch intentionally, or they’d somehow missed a major operational failure mode. One that really shouldn’t happen.

“Of course I’m ready to work,” she snapped at him. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

Brad swept his hand out, gesturing down the hall toward the design room‌—‌it was a war room of sorts where they gathered with the coders to brainstorm solutions to unexpected gameplay problems.

Owen rose up to follow.

Brad glared at him. “It’s the
design
room. I think she’ll be safe.”

The last thing she wanted was Owen’s presence in the middle of a design review‌—‌those sessions were heated as it was, and she could tell the two of them were ready to brawl at the slightest provocation.

She waved Owen back into his seat. “I’ll check back when I’m done.” She gave Brad a pinched look. “I doubt this is anything serious. I won’t be long.”

He just tipped his head for her to go first.

Nova marched toward the design room, leaving a fairly pissed-off looking Owen behind. She’d have to figure out a way to keep them from killing each other while she sorted out this newfound relationship with Owen‌—‌for now, she would just have to keep them apart.

When she and Brad reached the design room, the lights were off. She strode in and waved her hand at the motion-activated controls, looking around at the empty room in confusion. Brad followed her in and closed the door behind him.

What the hell?
“So… I take it there’s actually
not
a problem with the game.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “What’s this really about?”

His lips pressed into a straight line as he covered the distance between them in three long strides. He loomed over her.

“You’re losing your way, Nova.” His voice had a hard edge to it.

“What the hell are you talking about?” A flutter of panic rose up in her throat. Brad would never hurt her, but something was up… and she didn’t like it.

“You’re distracted. It’s not just your father’s death. Or the attack. It’s this bodyguard… he’s no good for you.”

Her face flamed. “I’ve already told you, that’s none of your business.”

His hard expression didn’t change. “Oh, but it is. And you know it. What’s more, the rest of the pack knows it, too.”

Her heart fluttered again.
The rest of the pack?
“What do you mean?”

Brad stepped closer. “They’ve seen the way you look at him. The way you’ve brought him into your apartment. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out you two are fucking each other’s brains out‌—‌”

“Fuck you!” She jabbed a finger at him. “You don’t get to tell me‌—‌”

“No,”
he cut her off, his dark eyes glittering. “I don’t get to tell you how to run your life. But I told you already‌—‌the pack won’t wait forever for you to pick a mate. And now that it looks like you have… only he’s not one of us…”

Her eyes went wide. “What are you saying?”

He nodded, knowingly. “There’s talk‌—‌lots of talk‌—‌of leaving Wylderide. Lead developers, head coders, all the key players. They’re talking about taking the game engine with them and rebuilding on their own.”

“
What?
They can’t… they wouldn’t…” She was sputtering with disbelief. “You have to stop them!”

“With what, exactly?” His expression grew harsh. “Promises that you’ll pick one of them eventually? Or me? They’ve seen us fighting, Nova. And to be honest… there’s not much reason for me to stay, either.”

Her mouth ran dry. Everything was falling apart. If Brad took the lead staff… they’d never get the game out the door. And even if they did, there would be no support. Wylderide would implode, collapsing due to a talent drain from within.

“Brad… no…” Tears had jumped to her eyes.
Ruined.
All of it, ruined. She couldn’t hold her father’s company together for even a month after his death.

She had failed him.
Completely.

Brad edged closer, his expression softening. “I know. I don’t want this to happen, Nova, I swear. I’ve tried to talk them out of it, but the only way they’ll stay is if…”

She blinked back the tears and peered up at him. “What? What is it?”

He grimaced. “They’re looking to me as their alpha. It’s what the pack wants. You know that’s how it works‌—‌they need a leader, and they’ve already decided I’m it. If you’re off with someone else…”

Her mouth fell open. It was getting hard for her to breathe. “They’d turn to you anyway.” And now that she knew Owen couldn’t shift, it was clear he could never be their alpha, regardless. If they would even accept him… which they wouldn’t. Her father’s pack would follow Brad. The company would go on, but it would be without
her.
And without her influence, her guidance, she knew exactly what Brad would do‌—‌he would port the game to consoles, add in-game purchases, all the things her father would never have wanted. The things
she
didn’t want.

Her father’s dreams would be a smoking pile of ruins.

Her heart was crushing under a tremendous weight. It hurt so badly she actually pressed a hand to her chest to stop the pain.

Brad’s hands were suddenly on her shoulders. “It doesn’t have to be this way, Nova.”

She blinked up at him, not understanding. “They’re abandoning me. Betraying my father. He’s barely cold in his grave‌—‌”

“They
aren’t doing anything.
You
are.” His expression turned hard momentarily, then softened again. “It’s not too late to stop this.” He drew even closer. “
You
can stop this from happening.”

She shook her head, a strange buzzing in it short-circuiting all her thoughts.

She’d failed her father.

“How can I‌—‌”

“You know how,” he cut her off.

She stared up at him.

“Submit to me. Show them you’ve chosen me for your alpha. They’ll stay. It’s what they want to do, anyway. Do the right thing, Nova, and keep your father’s company together.”

“Submit to you.” She said the words in a daze, and they were even more thick and awkward in her mind than they were on her tongue.

He ran his hands up and down her arms and drew her against his hard body.

She numbly didn’t resist.

He pressed his lips to her hair. “You know I love you. You know I’ll treat you well, care for you, just as your father always has. I’ll carry on the company just as he would, I promise. We’ll do everything in his name, to honor him, just as you want it to be.” He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “But you have to show them,
now,
that you’ve accepted me as your alpha.”

“Now?” A tremor was running through her. He meant
right now
.

“They’re ready to bolt,” he said, softly, frowning with concern. “If you want to make the release date‌—‌”

“I have to submit to you. To show them.” A ringing in her ears numbed her… no, that sound was her wolf howling in the distance, protesting this. But she had no choice. She knew that. It was all coming apart at the seams, and she had to stop it now… or there wouldn’t be another chance.

She’d run out of time.

“Submit to me, Nova, and this will all work out for the best. I promise.”

She nodded, numbly, and then squeezed her eyes closed. She had to drag her wolf out of the simpering, whining ball she had curled up into, but eventually, she managed to shift. When she opened her eyes, Brad was already in wolf form, standing before her with his ears up, tail erect‌—‌the alpha pose.

Submit to me,
he commanded, sending his thoughts washing over her.

A whine and a whimper came out of her wolfish mouth, but she stretched her front paws forward, raised her rump in the air, dropped her tail… and last of all, bent her head in submission. The magic pulsed between them, her submission bolstering Brad’s magic and bonding her to him. It was just a temporary bond‌—‌until the next full moon‌—‌but it was strong. He was a powerful alpha, and submitting to him flushed her full of magical uplift as well.

Rise, my love,
he said, and the words jerked her up from her submission pose and beat against her heart, bruising it. She didn’t love him. Would never love him. But he was now her alpha, and any command he gave her, she would be hard-pressed to resist. Not without extreme duress for her wolf and herself. And soon… he would claim her for a mate. He would take her with his body and his bite, and then she would be magically bound to him forever.

This was her fate.

She’d thought she’d dodged it‌—‌thought she’d found a way out of it‌—‌but she was wrong.

Shift for me, my love,
her alpha commanded. When she did, she stood naked before him in her human form. His tall, broadly-muscled body towered over her, his erection large and sticking out from his body. He swept her into his arms, pressing his naked flesh to hers, his hands touching her all over.

“I can’t wait to make you mine, Nova Wilding,” he panted into her ear, his voice hoarse, his erection pressing into her side.

She didn’t answer. The shudder that ran through her wasn’t pleasure… it was a numb sort of horror.

“Soon, my love, very soon.” Then he planted a wet, possessive kiss against her neck.

She shuddered again and kept her eyes downcast.

He released her. “Get dressed,” he commanded, and she did.

When she was done, back in the costume she had worn into work this morning, mere minutes and a lifetime ago, she stood before him, blinking and still in a daze. It wasn’t just the magical bond and the overwhelming sense of connection to Brad‌—‌
her alpha
‌—‌that put her in that state. It was the inescapable fact that she had submitted to him, that she would let him claim her, and that the fantasy she had last night about belonging to Owen in any way had blown away like so much smoke from a distant, lovely fire that was now dead.

“You know what you need to do,” Brad said to her, peering down to catch her vacant gaze.

She nodded and followed him out of the design room, down the hall, and to the chair outside her office to where Owen sat.

“You’re fired,” she said to him.

Then she turned and walked into her office and closed the door behind her.

Owen couldn’t believe it‌—‌Nova had just fired him.

He stood there for a moment, staring blankly at her closed office door. His brain was still trying to make sense of it, but when he saw Brad’s big smirking face next to her door, it all fell into place.

“What did you do to her?” His body tensed up, ready to surge. His beast raged from his core like a volcano.

Brad crossed his arms over his chest, and his smirk grew into a small laugh. “I didn’t do anything to her.”

Owen lunged for him, unable to hold himself back from wiping that goddamn smirk off his face, but Brad was more than ready for him‌—‌he met Owen with a fist to his face. It knocked Owen back, making him stumble. By the time he was ready to go again, a half dozen shifters had hopped the cubicle walls and surrounded him. Some had claws out, others just their fangs, but their snarls couldn’t have been more clear. The only thing holding them back was Brad’s upraised hand.