APEX

Ch. 2: Dangerous Secrets

Calla

I walked out of the Apex conference room regretting my decision to be at Simone Bardot's beck and call today. It had led me here, to the house of my sworn enemy, where I had to endure the scrutiny of Gerald Rawlings, a conniving, patriarchal son of a bitch.

The only person in all of Sury that I hated more than Gerald was his Alpha son.

Riding up the elevator with Rhys had been the ultimate test of my patience. No one presumed that the world belonged to him quite like Rhys did. He'd reached a level of entitlement worthy of any billionaire playboy, which made the fact that he looked like he belonged plastered on the cover of a bestselling romance novel all the more annoying.

It was a well-established fact that Alphas in general and Rhys in particular hit the full moon hard; the impact of last night's cycle showed today in the shadows under his eyes and unshaven face. Unfortunately for me, his uncharacteristic dishevelment made him twice as appealing. Then, along came his terrible personality to save the day. I had a thing for flawed men and Rhys, despite what he probably thought, fell into the damaged goods category. But even I had my limits. Rhys Rawlings shot past those limits all the way into outer space.

Alpha males worked with the assumption that they had an advantage over everyone, but this, in my humble opinion, acted as a weakness, not a strength. Rhys Rawlings was hellbent on underestimating me whereas I knew exactly how he operated. These were my thoughts as we exited the elevator on our way to the conference room. Of course, over the next hour, everything would change, and for the life of me, I had no idea if that change was to my advantage or not. It certainly didn't feel like it was.

Back in the elevator, this time with my mother, I caught Rhys's eye as he glared at me from the far end of the hallway. I gave him the finger as the door shut and then let out the longest sigh of my life.

"I know what you're going to say, Calla," my mother said. "I'm not unsympathetic. Apex is hardly an ideal environment for the young, up and coming Crown Luna."

I snorted. "You think?"

"Despite that, you need to take this job."

"Why? And don't feed me that PR bullshit excuse about the city needing to see werewolves in a positive light, because as far as I can tell, this is all on Apex. They messed up, not us. They attacked an innocent human, not Crown. We owe them nothing." I spit out that last sentence, thinking about Rhys reaching for the elevator hold button as he stared at my chest. I could smell the arousal wafting off him. He might hate me and my family but that didn't mean he wouldn't entertain a meaningless quicky with me in the elevator. Had my pulse quickened at the thought, even though I loathed him?

Ugh.

Damn that attractive asshole.

"Inter-pack relations are much more complicated than you realized, Calla. I'm doing my best to keep Crown going. Since your father died..." Simone Bardot usually carried herself upright. She was a proud woman and it showed in her stately appearance—not a hair out of place, not a wrinkle to be seen in her navy-blue power suit—but after mentioning my father, her shoulders slumped, and she leaned against the elevator wall as though she needed it to keep her from toppling over.

"I know, Momma." I offered my arm and let her lean into me instead, her weight a familiar comfort. Not having Dad around to help run Crown, and with no eligible Alpha male heir waiting in the wings, my mom was shouldering more than her share of the burden. And now, here I was acting like an ungrateful child.

Still, the idea of having to travel to Apex every day and work with the Rawlings brothers made me want to dry heave. Getting this news during the forgotten hours stung that much more. I handled the full moon better than most, but my resilience was lower on a day like today. If I had been a crier, my mascara would be coating my cheeks with black streaks by now.