Stakes Claim On Her

Chapter 4: New Assignments Suck 

Gabrielle Once I make my way up to the third floor I'm given the list of the conference rooms I'm to clear.

Each room is being assigned a worker to get things people need during the meeting and to clean up afterward for the next one.

Basically, I just have to stand at the back of the room until someone asks me to grab them another pen because they are too stupid to bring spares and then to clean up the garbage they leave behind.

I make my way to the door marked with a gold '8' and walk in.

This room hasn't been used today yet but because of the overflow, they have scheduled a few meeting over the next couple of hours.

I start by pulling out a glass pitcher and cups from the cupboard at the back of the conference room.

I place a few cups around the table before grabbing the pitcher and heading out into the hallway.

I have to ask the receptionist, whose name I don't know, where I go to full the pitcher.

She begrudgingly tells me to go use the sink in the lounge, clearly annoyed at my having to ask.

The lounge is where the creatures would go while they are waiting for a conference room to open up.

It has some couches and tables to sit at and serves coffee and little things to eat.

I make my way around the hallway and into the small, brightly lit room.

My eyes fall on the sink at the back of the room, next to an arrangement of coffee pots and bagels.

I quickly fill the pitcher and head out.

There are far too many wolves in that room to make me feel comfortable.

After the pitcher is all set up there isn't really anything else for me to do.

So I just wait.

As I hear the door open I straighten up and clasp my hands in front of me, bending my head downwards, toward the floor.

I plan to stay as silent as unnoticed as possible until I'm needed.

The last thing I want is to piss off some arrogant wolf because he thinks I'm ‘challenging his authority’ and end up with another bruise to match the faded one I already have.

Luckily the men take their seats without even sparing me a glance.

But the moment all the men take their seats a harsh voice cuts through the murmur of their pre-meeting small talk.

"Are you blind, deaf, and stupid? Because clearly if you weren't you would have your sweet ass bent over this table filling up our glasses, seeing as you were clearly too lazy to do it before we came in.’’ I had honestly just assumed that they would have just filled their glasses themselves.

I mean come on! The pitcher is literally two feet in front of them.

These men are so big they probably wouldn't even have to lean over to grab the pitcher.

Before the man, who is sitting at the head of the table, has a chance to scold me again I make my way quickly over the table.

I silently begin to fill their glasses as they start the meeting.

They start discussing a lot of stuff that I don't really understand so I just focus on the task at hand and keep filling glasses.

Once the last one is filled I place the pitcher back on the table.

But before I can even fully turn around I feel a strong arm wrap around my waist and yank me down onto their lap.

The man whose lap I ungracefully end up in is the one who scolded me about the empty glasses.

Once he has me facing the table he grabs my chin and makes me look towards the pitcher a few feet in front of us.

I feel him lean his head down closer to me.

"Tell me.What do you think is wrong with this situation?"

He whispers in my ear.

Despite the softness of his voice, the anger is clear.

"I don't know, sir’’ At this point, I was thoroughly frightened.

I wanted to stand up and yell, and I so badly wanted to slap this son of a bitch.

But I'm just a human, one who knows the consequences of talking back to a wolf, let alone harming one.

"You don't know?"

He says is a mockingly sweet manner, as though he was speaking to a child, which I was clearly not.

"You decided not to go and refill the pitcher and instead left us with a half-empty one.

That's not very nice, now is it?"

His arm is slowly tightening around my waist, as his other hand is placed high up on my thigh, his thumb inching under my skirt.I can feel my heart thumping in my chest.

I'm about to be assaulted and none of these other men have said a word in my defense.

They are just carrying on the meeting like nothing is happening.

"W-would you like me t-to refill it, sir’’ I feel like I am a solid two seconds away from puking.

I'm so afraid that I can barely talk.

"Why yes, I would, darling."

Before he even finishes his sentence he roughly shoves me out of his lap.

My stomach slams into the table.

Pain spreads throughout my abdomen but before they can see my pain I've already snatched up the pitcher and am out into the hallway.

Once the door closes and I am safely alone I let out a long breath.

I untuck my blouse from my skirt and lift it up to expose my stomach.

In just the short time it’s turned an angry red, which seemed to darken with each passing second.

Before anyone has the chance to walk around the corner I tuck my shirt back in.

The waistband of my skirt is pressing into the newly forming bruise painfully.

Damn these high waisted skirts.

I head down the maze of hallways towards the lounge area as quickly as possible.

I don't want to go back there, but I'm worried if I take to long I'll get a worse punishment when I get back.

I'm moving quickly, the water sloshing in the half-filled pitcher.

I'm walking so quickly that when I round the corner I don't have time to stop myself from slamming into the person on the other side.

I fly backwards while a pair of firm hands instantly grip my waist to prevent me from falling.

The size of this person clearly indicated they are a wolf, and thanks to their amazing reflexes I don't end up with a bruise on my ass to match the forming one on my stomach.

Unfortunately, the person was so focused on making sure I didn't fall they weren't able to stop the pitcher from spilling all over us.

The pitcher clatters to the floor, completely empty, its previous contents all over mine and the wolf's clothes.

I'm mortified that I just dumped a pitcher of water on someone.

I thought I was in for an awful punishment if I didn't bring back the water fast enough, but what this wolf could do to me for this mistake would pale in comparison.

It could be seen as an attack on a werewolf, I could lose my job over this.

Hell, I could get a dozen lashes for this.

I take a second to get a grip, to figure out how I'm going to fix this.

I begin to open my mouth to apologize, but am stopped by the sudden urge to look away from this person's broad chest and look at their face.

Despite my better judgment, and knowing it could get me in even more trouble, I look up at their face. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

When I do, it's like the world freezes around me.

The man standing before me becomes my only thought.

He's a decent foot and a half taller than me, with broad, strong shoulders.

His dark brown hair is short on the sides and long on top, perfectly framing his face.

His sharp jaw and lush lips add to his sex appeal.

His blue eyes look as though they are glowing, black swirling in them.

This man is absolutely mesmerizing.

I lose myself in his stunning eyes but am slowly pulled back to reality when I realized he isn't looking into my eyes.

He's looking downward.

I reluctantly pull my eyes from his and follow his line of sight.

Very quickly I realize what he was looking at.

While the water didn't show on his black dress shirt, it was clearly visible on my white blouse.

Or should I now say completely see-through white blouse? My blue polka-dot bra was on full display.

Before I can even react to this very embarrassing situation the whole atmosphere shifts, like something inside of him snapped.

"Mine"