Shifting Boundaries

Original Chapter 13

Everett

It had been two weeks since I saw Felix, and I was feeling the strain of it. It was harder than I had anticipated, staying away from him. Maybe the strain was worse because I was sick with worry whenever he was out on patrol until he texted me that he was home and safe. Knowing he was out there, risking himself, and not being able to see that he was well and whole had me fighting against getting in my car and driving down to Lakota at night. It started feeling reasonable, commuting two hours in the morning and two at night just for the prospect of being with him.

I couldn't, though. My work days stretched out so I had time to eat, shower, and call Felix before collapsing in bed for the night. In fact, I had fallen asleep during our phone calls more than once, making Felix even more insistent on using video chat instead – a request I happily went along with. It let me see that he was unharmed and it let him see when I conked out. Win-win.

Usually I took weekends off, but we were still in such a state of crisis that I had meetings all throughout the weekend with concerned investors, trying to convince them not to withdraw the money they had left from our fund. I failed at that as often as I succeeded, but every person I met with would definitely have deserted us if I hadn't sat down with them.

When I wasn't trying to salvage my portfolio or meeting with concerned investors, I was shut in a room with the alpha and the heads of other divisions within the pack. Every part of the pack was impacted by the financial crisis. The lead warrior didn't want to cut back on security equipment and surveillance expenses, the chef didn't want to cut back his menu, the housing specialist couldn't bear to think of putting her newest building project on delay. It went on and on, with each person fighting against me and the alpha, clinging to every dollar in their budget – dollars I needed right now to infuse the portfolio with.

My life had turned into chaos. Gareth was getting irritated with me because I had missed the last three video game Saturdays with him. Zara, another good friend of mine, I managed to see at some meals. She also worked in the financial department of the pack, so her hours were just as crazy as mine. We often ran out of the office to eat when the dining hall was already picked through and mostly deserted.

It turns out, two weeks of living like that was about my limit.

First thing in the morning, I walked into Neil's office and shut the door behind me. He looked up from his monitor and frowned. "Everett? What is it?"

I sat down in the chair across from his desk and shook my head. "That crisis a couple of weeks ago, when I left suddenly and was supposed to have two weeks of leave?"

"Yes?"

"I ran out because I found out who my mate was, and that he was in trouble. He had been in a healing sleep for twelve days and I went to help him heal."

Neil stared at me for a moment, eyes wide. I realized I had mentioned Felix's gender casually, not worrying about how Neil might react. Was that why he was staring? But no, of course not. Neil said, "I didn't know. Is he okay now?"

"He's fine, but I'm not handling the separation well. Neil, I need to transfer to his pack. Making him move here doesn't make sense and I don't want to live like this, never seeing him."

Neil still stared at me, though his expression had shifted from surprise to something calculating. "I understand," he finally said. "But this is terrible timing."

I exhaled in a gust, relieved he didn't seem inclined to fight me on this. "I know. I can keep working on this remotely. I don't want to leave you in a bad position – I know how important my work is. I've been thinking about this a lot and I think I've come up with a solution. My assistant, Harry, has been working under me for years. He finished his master's in finance last spring, so he's qualified to take over my position, and he's intimately familiar with the way I structured the portfolio. He's been working overtime for weeks now, helping me put it back together. I really think he can handle it."