Bonded

Chapter 15

Greyson and Patrick exited the Olsen Estate confident in their day of hard work. They made it to the rental car and closed the door before talking business.

"The key is going to be figuring out how much to buy. We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves. I am going to get on the phone with the Elders and try and narrow down the list." In the short walk from the mansion to the car, the winter wind had blown Patrick's bright red hair around enough that it looked like a bird had tried to make a home in it.

"We're going to have to record the buyers of some of the objects that we would like but will have to skip this time around. We can have some of the other Alphas try for private sales later." Greyson eased the car onto the highway towards the hotel.

"Grey, I swear to you I think I saw a book written in Lykos." Patrick's excitement level had been increasing steadily all day. Currently, he was at '10-year-old on a trip to Disneyland' level.

"Lykos? The ancient language of werewolves? Are you sure? Do you even know what that looks like?" Greyson wanted to be as excited as Patrick, but the fact that he hadn't seen his mate since their brief encounter at the auction had him on edge.

"My grandfather had a tattoo. This looked a lot like that. I mean, I could be wrong, but Grey, what if I'm not?" Patrick bounced in his seat causing Greyson to smile at his antics.

"Trick, you are going to have to pace yourself. The viewing continues tomorrow, the auction isn't even until Thursday. At this rate, you're going to explode well before then."

"I plan on going for a run when we get back to the hotel. My wolf deserves to stretch his legs a bit. This close to a full moon he always gets a bit antsy anyway."

Greyson pulled into a parking space in front of the hotel.

"Alright, I've sent all the names and any other details I could gather to the tech guys. You get with the Elders. Tomorrow, we do this all again."

Getting out of the car and walking toward the hotel, Greyson smiled as an instrumental version of a GirlHead song pumped through the outdoor speakers. He had reconnected with Rebecca, maybe it was time to try reconnecting with Devon.

The minute the two men entered the lobby, Greyson knew something was wrong. Something clenched in his chest. It was like a vice around his heart. Any thought of Devon or anything that wasn't his mate flew out of his head. Without a word to Patrick, Greyson made his way through the lobby and over to the small office Rebecca had claimed as her own.

Rebecca reached over to open her desk drawer, only to grab air. This wasn't her desk. Spinning in her chair to grab what she needed out of her laptop bag, she banged her knee into the desk leg for the fifth time that day. Sighing, she cranked up the volume on her phone. She tried to let the music soothe her mood. Traveling for work stressed her out. Nothing was where it was supposed to be. Her desk in her office had everything just so. Everything had a place and there was a place for everything. The transition from that to only a laptop and her phone was disconcerting. The internet connection at the hotel was slow so downloading the information she needed for her report took forever. The keyboard on her laptop was cramped and she kept hitting caps lock instead of shift requiring a lot of backspacing and re-typing. She had hit send on her finished report two minutes ago, but the email had yet to send. The slow internet connection interfering with her day again. She felt a very familiar feeling creep up her chest. No. She couldn't do this. Not a panic attack. Not here, not now. At home she could promise herself a long soak in her tub and a large bowl of ice cream to relax. The hotel wasn't the same. It wasn't her space. It wasn't home. Everything felt foreign and off. Nothing was familiar.