Chapter 6 Ch Six

Freya One of the most important things that I had learnt from Dario was not to make enemies too early in one’s journey to power. It was just one last dance and it wasn't going to make things more annoying than they already were. I didn't trust the kids to stay put in the ballroom so I asked Jace to take them to the car and wait for me there. He nodded and walked out of the room with the twins who didn't even bother to protest. Within seconds, the lights in the ballroom were dimmed a little bit more and I had found myself a dance partner; the son of one of Dario’s business partners. It was a mixer dance style, so within about two minutes, paying attention to the cues from the band, I whirled into the arms of another male dancer. I immediately went rigid when I realized that I had made a terrible mistake. My mate’s scent filled my nostrils and stupidly, I took a deep whiff which went straight to my head. Dancing with Blaine was the last thing I wanted to do and even as his scent threatened to pull down my defences, I tried to wriggle free from his embrace. The bastard held on tight and I fixed him with a hate-filled look. “Let me go, Blaine,” I ordered. Another cue came from the band to switch partners again but he didn't let me go. “Freya, please,” he murmured, moving his hand slowly and gently down my back until it came dangerously close to the curve of my butt. His scent combined with his gentle touch was enough to fan into flames, the embers of my desire for him. A desire I thought had died the day I realized that he wanted both me and my then unborn children, dead. “No,” I whispered, even as my body began to melt into the cradle of his arms, wishing he would move his palm even lower to cup my butt. He let out a low groan as he pressed me even closer to him and my treacherous body reacted shamelessly. I could feel my nipples harden against the hardness of his chest and found myself wishing his shirt would somehow disappear. “Mate,” my wolf suddenly purred triumphantly and that was enough to jerk me out of my desire-filled haze. Immediately, I wrenched myself from his embrace and without another glance at anybody, hurried out of the room and made my way to my car. *** If I had thought that the annoying events of that night were going to end in the ballroom, I was sorely disappointed. I was in the Study with Dario going through yet another business proposal from another Pack when Jace walked in. He gave a deep bow to the Alpha and me before handing me the newspaper he had been holding. My eyes narrowed in suspicion as I took it from him. “What am…..” The rest of the words died in my throat as my eyes fell on a very bold picture of me in Blaine’s arms. I realized that the picture must have been taken when the bastard had been trying to make me dance with him. My eyes widened as they ran through the words written underneath the picture and I uttered every profane word I could think of. “Aren’t you supposed to be a lady?” Dario said in an amused tone, snatching the paper from my hands, “You sound like a truck driver.” “That son-of-a-bitch did this on purpose,” I snapped. “I'm certain that he hired someone to take pictures of us and publish them in the papers just to cause these dreadful rumours.” “Now, everyone must think that I am his mistress and I'm trying to destroy the happy marriage he has with his wife. I swear I'm going to kill him.” “Calm down, Freya,” Dario replied in a soothing tone. “You can easily use your position to make this go away and stop the rumours from escalating any further.” He was right and I didn't hesitate to use my influence to request an open interview with several reporters just to deny the rumours about my being in an affair with him. It took a whole month for the rumours to die but I couldn't complain. What mattered most was that at the end of the day, my reputation was saved. Now, it was up to me to avoid any situation that was going to put me and the Alpha of the Crimson Valley Pack in a compromising position. Unfortunately for me, the universe had other plans. The Dreamscape Centre was one of, if not the largest store in the Emberclaw Pack and I was its proud owner. Even though I had numerous workers who could keep an eye on things and make sure the mall ran smoothly, I made it a habit to make myself present in the store once every month just to see for myself that things were in order. I stepped out of my car, humming a melodious tune under my breath. It was a lovely sunny afternoon. Like a sudden thunderstorm on a perfectly sunny day, my countenance immediately darkened when I ran into Blaine and Amanda at the entrance. Reminding myself that I had a reputation to uphold, I decided not to confront him about the rumours he had caused. I was just going to ignore them but Amanda put it upon herself to be the stupid one. “Couldn’t you have found something less ugly and dull to wear?” she queried and I mentally rolled my eyes. “I understand that you are a mere employee here but that doesn't mean you should dress like you receive no paycheck at all,” she continued. Her words erased any doubts that I might have been harbouring about her lack of intelligence. It was clear that she was indeed dumb and judging by the embarrassed look on her husband’s face, he knew it too. Anyone who had read that newspaper from last month with the annoying rumours about Blaine and me would have realized that I was my own boss. Chris, my manager, walked up to us at that moment and offered me a small bow. “Good afternoon, Ms. Demont.”