Marked Mate

17

SCARLETT

A few days passed. Roman had still been working hard, and although it appeared he was battling with himself to keep distance between us, we still hadn't spoken a whole lot. I had made him breakfast once. He clearly appreciated it, but still kept conversation to a minimum.

I had been using the foundation on my face to keep up with the facade that I had purchased it for my blemishes. I tried my best not to overdo it, but I couldn't help but think it looked a little weird when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. Perhaps it was because I wasn't used to seeing myself with such baby-smooth skin.

I was on my way to the office complex to visit Brandon. Erica had set me up with some work to do, since I had a conversation with her about wanting to earn my own money. It didn't feel right receiving a handout from my mate. I understood he felt like he needed to provide for me, but I had always been independent, and I didn't like the idea of sitting around expecting people to pay for me. It wasn't my style.

Brandon was waiting for me down in the foyer, and he beamed once he spotted me. "Hey, Scar."

I mentally recoiled. The nickname was oddly fitting.

"Hey, Erica said you have some work for me?" I questioned, choosing to ignore the pen name..

"I do. Roman and I have been swamped with paperwork, and it's got a little messy. We just need it sorted into their correct piles, and the ones no longer needed can be shredded. Think you can manage that?" Brandon began leading me up towards his office. I had been under the impression that he and his brother shared one, but apparently I was mistaken.

"Sure can." I smiled. The thought of actually having a job was exciting. How pathetic did that sound? It hit me how peculiar my upbringing had been, but I shoved the thoughts away. I needed to focus on the task in-hand. Not only because I was going to be getting paid, but because I was being trusted to sort through confidential files.

I was going to need to keep an eye out for any paperwork that mentioned Nyx and the Enclave Clan.

We passed Roman's office on the way down the corridor, and I stole a fleeting glance at the door, the action catching Brandon's attention.

"He's not in there. He's on his break," he told me. "But he wasn't too keen on the idea of you getting a job. He stated that there's no reason for you to have to work for your money, but Erica told him how lonely you get on your own, so he agreed to let me find you something."

I wondered if Roman knew what I was actually doing. Would he approve of me having access to files that other wolves weren't allowed to look at?

"I'm going to work in Roman's office so you can have some peace and quiet while you're sorting. I've got a few calls to make." Brandon grabbed his laptop and phone before going into more detail about the task I was being given.

It sounded pretty straight forward. Pile everything into their correct category and shred anything that was received over six months ago. Easy.

I was relieved when Brandon left. It meant I could rummage through the papers looking for information on Nyx and the people that wanted me captured. Although there was a niggling part of me that was worried that he had cameras in here. Was he going to play them back and see me reading all the documents? It wouldn't look too suspicious, surely? It was what Brandon asked of me.

I spent the next forty five minutes organising files, having to shred most of them due to them being years old. There were a few pieces of paper that mentioned the Enclave Clan, but it was general information that I already knew.

There wasn't anything of interest, so I allowed myself to enjoy the quiet time. The buzzing of the shredder cut the silence in the large room like a knife, and eventually, my knees began to complain from leaning down on them for so long.