Chapter 1 - Prologue
Xavier
“Have you heard what happened with Paw-Enterprise?” asks Aiden as we finish our weekly meeting in my conference room and move on to pack matters.
Although none of us have done anything new in the last few weeks. So it’s more like a get-together of friends and business partners.
Sam nods in agreement. “I didn’t think Harvey would be stupid enough to go public with it.”
“Simply disgusting. What kind of light is that supposed to shed on us? It was exactly right to ban these idiots from our table. Imagine if his name had been associated with us,” says Jean, sinking back in his chair.
“That had nothing to do with it,” Aiden reminds him, to which Jean just shakes her head. He and Harvey have always hated each other, but ever since Harvey found his mate in a human, Jean has been insufferable.
“They’re coming to the company party, maybe you should learn to control your hatred of people, especially them, by then,” I explain to him and watch as he grimaces in disgust.
That’s all I need, two wolves trying to rip each other’s throats out on my company premises.
“When you talk like that, Xavier, it almost sounds like you approve of his mating,” Sam remarks and closes his laptop.
“I find it just as disgusting as the rest of us. But all I can see is one less big shark in the tank and even more opportunities for us.”
Harvey Hanson was a good manager and had really earned his place at our table. But six months ago, he started to change something in his life. We brought it to his attention, told him time and again that his figures were getting worse and worse.
But he didn’t want to listen, and then we simply stopped inviting him to our table.
The table that we dominate, like almost the entire city.
Everyone wants a place with us, but only the most powerful, the most influential get it. And that’s just us. There is no real competition for us. Nobody even thinks about messing with us - whether human or shapeshifter.
We had considered whether we should simply buy Harvey’s company as a joint project. We studied with him, he was a friend. He could have remained managing director and we could have just been partners, but he squandered that opportunity.
Because he has publicly introduced his mate in the media as his future wife. He has even tagged her. A human. And as the alpha of his pack.
Humans are a huge vulnerability, he knows that, but he doesn’t care.
Harvey’s pack is not large, not even a handful, but they are so loyal to him that they put up with it and even defend him. As if he wasn’t putting the future of the pack at risk.
“His puppies will be half man, half wolf. Weak, useless, fragile wolves,” Jean interjects, shaking his head.
“If they even have puppies,” Aiden says, and Sam looks at him with raised eyebrows. “You know they can have puppies together, right? There was a mongrel born in my pack just last year, and he turned for the first time this year.”
Jeans snorts contemptuously. “That you allow such a thing in your pack almost makes you an accomplice.”
’That’s not a crime,′ Sam admonishes him, knowing full well that he is provoking Jeans. Because if it were up to him, it would be.
“Let’s look on the bright side. We’ll see him a few more times this year and the company will be gone next year at the latest anyway,” I say.
“Better for me,” Sam explains with a grin. Harvey had been known to have flirted with entering the tech market, but now he won’t be taking that step, and Sam’s market-leading position is even less at risk than it already was.
Harvey will be lucky if his company isn’t bought out by one of us for a ridiculous price in the near future or if he doesn’t earn a penny from it.
There’s a knock at the door, and when Sam sees my assistant, he packs his laptop in his bag really quickly.
Once our meeting had started, she poured coffee over his laptop.
Good thing Sam is an absolute nerd and therefore always has two with him, but now he’s very skeptical of her. Understandable.
Sam usually has himself and his wolf under control. It’s really hard to get him upset, except when it comes to his technical shit. And that’s why he yelled at her, whose name I haven’t even tried to remember since day one, in front of us.
Jean immediately laughed at this, while Aiden tried to hide it at least a little.
I just watched. If Sam hadn’t done it, I would have done it or Jean would have done it. He just loves to make people look small.
Since then, she has actually avoided coming in here, not that I would have wanted her to. She’s only supposed to bring the coffee at the beginning and when I call her, she’s supposed to bring more. Other than that, it’s none of her business, especially not when we’re talking about pack matters.
There are few rules, but somehow nobody manages to stick to them.
“Mr. Caldwell?” she asks, poking her head into the conference room. I can’t bear to look at her face. I should have fired her yesterday.
“What can’t wait?” I ask her and instead of writing me an email, as I told her to do in an absolute emergency, she comes in and puts a note in front of me.
It says whether she can leave early today. Aiden grins like he did at university and tries to direct his gaze to the window, as if he sees something incredibly interesting out there.
“You can go, of course. You don’t have to come back on Monday either. If you go, let Jennifer know,” I explain to my now unemployed assistant and the color drains from her face.
She says nothing, just nods and quietly closes the door behind her as she leaves.
“How long was she here?” asks Jean and Sam points to his laptop. “Far too long.”
“Four days.”
“That’s very long by your standards. Did you fuck her?” Aiden asks and he and Jean start laughing.
You know very well that I would never do anything with my employees. It’s even forbidden, it’s right at the top of our company regulations.
But that doesn’t necessarily count for me, after all I’m the one who sets these company regulations in the first place.
But it has to be, because people are easily distracted and make mistakes. I can’t imagine what it would be like if there were also love dramas at work, in my offices.
The only good thing about people is that they will do anything for money. Even if it’s just to apply to be my assistant, although it’s well known throughout the city that no assistant has lasted longer than a week with me for a long time.
Maybe it’s because of the coolness with which I treat them that word gets around so quickly. Because Jean wears out his employees and especially his assistants just like I do, only he always shouts at them like a madman.
This is probably easier for people to understand than anything else.
But even if I didn’t have this rule in my company, I would never have started anything with her, although she is nice to look at by human standards.
But that’s also the problem, she’s human.
And humans are anything but interesting to us. By nature. I know that there are wolves, even alphas, who sleep with humans - even if it’s just for fun.
But the four of us, and actually Harvey too, have sworn never to have anything to do with a human.
They are sexually unattractive and weak.
“Shall I send you one of mine for Monday?” Sam asks and I shake my head. The HR department has enough applications from assistants who could start in an hour if I wanted to.
On Monday, a new one arrives who, like the one who has just been fired, accidentally shreds the files instead of copying them. Who breaks Sam’s laptop while serving coffee or forwards unimportant phone calls to me of all people, even though I’ve told her not to do that.
Good people who want to work seem to be hard to find. But at least a good salary seems to encourage people to shed their dignity at the entrance and put it back on later when they go home.
“I actually would have had another punk,” Aiden remarks as he waits for Jean, Sam and I to turn our attention to him.
“Vince...” he begins and I raise my hand. He pauses immediately. “Don’t say his name in front of me.”
Aiden looks at Sam skeptically, apparently Sam already knows what this is about. “What should we call him then? You have the same surname.”
“Don’t play dumb. What’s wrong with him?” I ask, annoyed, and look at the two of them. I’d like to fire them like my assistants and throw them out of the building at the mere mention of my brother.
But they don’t work for me. They’re not even in my pack.
“Vince has secured the right of first refusal on the winery and therefore on the Peroma family business,” Aiden explains, but something tells me there’s more, and I look at Sam.
Sam is an equally strong alpha and also a very good businessman. But he’s an honest guy and wears his heart on his sleeve. And I want to answer, because my impatience is growing.
“He’s organizing the mating ball this year,” explains Sam.
“Then we just won’t go.”
“Do you really want to give him that satisfaction?” Aiden asks, giving me a narrow-lipped look.
I look at Jean, but he just shrugs his shoulders. “If you found your mate there, it would be a slap in the face for him.”
“Can one of us contest the right of first refusal? Have you checked that yet?”
“There’s nothing to do, it’s all signed,” explains Sam.
I gasp angrily and look out of the window, where I can see my mangy brother’s company building.
My biggest competitor in every respect.
“I really wish he had died in the accident too.”
