Pheromonal: One Night With the Alpha novel Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Barracudas

The rest of the day is as much of a shitshow as the morning.

Every damn place I go, the conversation ceases, leaving only awkward silence. Yeah. I get it. My love life is top gossip material right now.

As angry as I am with Scott, I have no intention of airing my dirty laundry.

Who wants to advertise that they were a fool engaged to a cheater? Ugh.

I spend way too much time avoiding Scott, which only serves to drive resentment deeper. Dating in the workplace is stupid, and now I have to worry about every interaction between us.

Not to mention dating your boss.

Double stupid.

I must have thrown my brain in the dumpster when I gave in to his persistent overtures.

A sharp snap jolts me from my brooding. I blink, focusing on the hand waving in front of my face.

"Earth to Nicole. You in there?"

Shit. How long has he been talking? I plaster on a smile, hoping it doesn't look as fake as it feels. "Sorry, Mike. Got lost in thought for a second. What were you saying?"

Mike leans against my cubicle wall, his brow furrowed. "You okay? You've been spacing out all day."

"I'm fine." The words taste like dirt in my mouth. "Just partied a little too hard last night." Which is very true. A little too true. And now my brain wants to go down the rabbit hole of powerful hands and firm abs and—Oh my God. Not here, brain! I'm at work!

He nods, but I can see the doubt in his eyes as they flicker toward Scott's office. "If you say so. Anyway, I was asking if you'd heard about the new liaison project?"

My eyebrows shoot up. "Liaison project? What liaison project?"

Mike's eyes widen. "You haven't heard? I thought for sure Scott would've told you."

The mention of Scott's name sends a fresh wave of anger through me. I grit my teeth, forcing my voice to remain neutral. This is a clear fishing expedition, but the information is desirable enough that I take the bait. "Scott and I aren't exactly on speaking terms right now."

"Oh." Mike clears his throat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to—"

Liar. I wave off his apology. "It's fine. Tell me about this project."

He hesitates for a moment, then shrugs. "Well, from what I've heard, we're going to be working with another department on some big case. Something a little bigger than our usual consulting."

My curiosity piques, momentarily pushing aside thoughts of barracuda gossipers. "Which department?"

"That's the thing," Mike leans in, lowering his voice. "Nobody knows. It's all very hush-hush. Some people say it's over the serial vampire murders."

I scoff. "The Supernatural Enforcement Division would never stoop to consulting with us."

Our company is the best of the best. That comes with a price tag. SED Officers aren't fond of that.

"Do we know anything about the case?"

Mike shakes his head. "Not much. Just that it's big enough to warrant interdepartmental cooperation."

I lean back in my chair with a frown. For something of this level to happen, it would need to be in the works for a while—or something huge happened behind the scenes to necessitate urgency.

"When did you hear about this?" I ask, trying to keep the edge out of my voice. It isn't his fault that I'm in the dark, after all.

Presumably, none of us should even know about it.

But if Mike knows and I don't—I know exactly who to blame.

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