Chapter 324
Chapter 324
He did put his feet down, but he did it very slowly, like it was an enormous effort. Then, he propped his head on his forearms on the table and sighed heavily.
I smiled at the Hartwell team. “I apologize. Let’s continue p>
We continued, and for about four more minutes Bjorn was quiet again until he started snoring.
Loudly.
I closed my folder and stood.
“Could you give us just one moment?” I said to the room, trying my best not to show my frustration.
I crossed the conference room, took Bjorn by the arm, and hauled him to his feet. He wasn’t sleeping, purely faking it, and was obviously trying to hold back a smirk as I walked him out into the hallway. I pulled the door shut behind us and crouched to
his level.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“I was just sleeping p>
“You were awake, Bjorn. And clearly just trying to get everyone to look at you p>
He shrugged. “I was bored p>
“I don’t care if you were bored.” I tried not to get angry, but I couldn’t let him get away with this. “This meeting is very important. All I needed you to do was sit quietly for an hour. I know you’re capable p>
“I could do it if I wasn’t so bored,” he groaned. “You should have let me bring my video game p>
I let go of his arm and took a breath,
“Fine,” I said. “You want something to do? I’ll give you something to do p>
I walked him down the hall to the copy room, a small windowless room with a large industrial copier, a paper shredder, two shelving units, and not much else, I pulled up the document queue on the copier’s screen. There were forty-three jobs backed up from this morning.
“You’re going to stand here and run copies, I said. “Press the green button to start the next job, then stack everything neatly. Don’t leave this room. Don’t touch
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Chapter 324
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anything that isn’t the copier or the paper. Can you do that p>
Bjorn looked at the copier, then up at me.
“Do I have to p>
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll come check on you in an hour. And if you’re good and helpful, we can get lunch at that sub place you like p>
I left him there and went back to the conference room.
The rest of the Hartwell meeting was salvageable, although just barely. I smoothed things over as best I could, and by the end they were still willing to move forward.
After that, I made my way back to the copy room. The door was open, which was the first sign that something was wrong. I stepped inside.
Bjorn wasn’t there. Of course he wasn’t.
But more concerningly, the copier was on and still running. It was making a strange, grinding sound it definitely shouldn’t have been making. The paper tray was hanging open with a crumpled paper stuck in it, and the display screen was flashing an error code.
Cursing under my breath, I pressed the emergency stop button. The grinding slowed and died, but I knew I’d have to call maintenance to come fix the jam.
I walked out into the hallway. “Has anyone seen my son?” I asked.
Two of my employees exchanged a look. One of them pointed toward the far end of the hall, near the elevators.
I walked that way, hands clenched at my sides.
Strangely, I heard Bjorn’s voice and an older male’s voice, which was out of character for him because he wasn’t a naturally chatty kid. I figured one of the male employees cornered him and was trying to keep him occupied until I found him.
But when I rounded the corner, I froze,
There was a man with him, tall and handsome in a dark, finely tailored suit. I knew from his scent right away that he wasn’t one of my employees, nor was he a human at all.
This man was a werewolf.
And an Alpha, no less.
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