16. My gift to you

Arthur was at the table with a cup of coffee in one hand and a tab in the other when I walked down for breakfast. It's been over a week since Rhea came to my office. After the chat that night in the kitchen, Arthur and I have had a relatively peaceful week.

I opened the fridge to find that the pack of bread I brought last evening gone. Correction, he left only two pieces for me, so it wasn't all gone.

"I have questions" I turned to him.

He hummed in response.

"The other day I went to visit your mother" that caught his attention and he peered at me putting the tab away "you told your mother that someone brought you breakfast"

He frowned "So?"

"You eat here and then you eat there too?"

He nodded at my fridge "I can't survive on grass"

"Hey! That's offensive. Some of the vegetables I order are exotic" Not to mention, expensive. I definitely wouldn't want to waste them on someone who can't tell them apart from grass.

He shrugged "That's all you wanted to know?"

"You must have a high metabolism" I say putting the last two pieces of bread in the toasted and pouring myself some coffee.

"I shift often" he replied "Don't you?"

"I......don't" I had to pause to recall the last time I shifted "Not often"

He didn't get up when I settled on the chair opposite to him with my tub of peanut butter and toast. I suppose we have come to tolerate each other's presence now that we know there's an end to this chaos.

"Thought so" he turned his attention to his tab probably checking his mails "haven't seen your animal in years"

"It hasn't been that long; I probably shifted a few mo.... Wait!" I frowned turning my attention to him "You never saw my animal as far as I can recall"

He observed my confusion calmly for a moment before taking a sip of his coffee "Well sometimes to stay alive you have to do some things that you aren't proud of"

"Like stalking?"

"I couldn't control my animal" he answered.

Mia did say that it was impossible for a predator to maintain distance for years. I was a fool to think that Arthur never thought of his mate for the years we stayed out of contact.

"I guess you couldn't help it" I nodded not exactly sure how to react to this new piece of information "As long as it was your animal"

"That's it?" His brows rose in surprise "That was easy"

"You said it was your animal"

"It was" he agreed "I suppose my animal can get away with a lot of things that I can't"

"He's innocent" I defended my actions.

"He is me"

"I know"

"This is temporary"

"I know" I narrowed my eyes at him "What are you implying here?"

He smiled "You are so strong Amelia" he leaned forward, his eyes shining with emotions I never saw on him. It made me nervous. "Hold on for a few more weeks okay. Listen to your friends and family. Don't let me or my animal influence you"

"You aren't making any sense Arthur"

"You and me" he gritted out "We can't happen"

"I know"

"Keep repeating that in your head" he insisted

"Do you do that too?"

"A thousand times every day" he replied.

"I suppose there isn't a problem here then" I said standing up. I couldn't bear his gaze any longer "You have done well to control yourself all these years. I see no reason for that to change now"

"This was a bad decision" He stood up too "Living together"

"No one is stopping you from leaving"

I don't know how we got here from talking about breakfast. This isn't the worst fight we had in all these years but this definitely feels like one of the most important ones.

"I can't leave now but I'll....soon" He picked up his coat.

"Good for you" I said with more venom than I intended to.

"I'm meeting Rhea today"

That caught my attention "You didn't tell me you had a meeting with her"

"It's not a meeting. It's a date. And I don't recall making you my personal assistant"

"What's wrong with you Arthur?" I had to finally ask him. He seems so much in stress "Why are you behaving so......What's going on? What do you want from me?"

"Nothing" he hissed "Make sure you send your spy there. You will be extremely pleased with what she reports back"

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I think I should be extremely pleased at what Alice reported back.

"With these" she grinned pushing her glasses up her nose trying to contain her excitement "I know we are going to nail this case boss" she grinned looking at me and then at Sophie and Mia, taking turns to seek our approval "I have a video too. Just in case you know"

"Thank Spirits, the headache is finally going to be done with. No more threats on our business. Looks like we are going to a Leoline wedding soon huh?" Sophie made a show of yawning out loud "Spirits save his poor mate"

I couldn't respond. My eyes were fixed on the picture on the tab in front of me.

"Thank you, Alice" I heard Mia say softly "You can leave now"

He was kissing her.

"We need to celebrate this" Sophie declared.

"That's not a good idea" This was Mia, Alice shut the door to my office after her.

"You are the forever party popper Mia" Sophie groaned "Leoline's going to bring us loads of money and so many more clients. You realize his wedding is probably going to air live on tele. Leolines are royalty. Spirits! I am ashamed to admit that I doubted Amy's decision when she took up his case. You rock Amy girl. You deserve a treat"

"Soph not today" Mia hissed.

"Nope" I stood up and flashed a grin at then "Soph is right. I f*cking worked so hard for this day. I deserve a treat"

"Amy"

"Don't be a party popper Mia" I repeated Sophie's words

"Yes Mia" Soph grinned "let me call Ricky"

________

"Hey there" blue eyes greeted me with a grin.

I was sitting on a couch in the pub. Sophie-Ricky, Mia-Joseph were dancing not too far from me, Mia's eyes trained on me.

"Oh hey!" I smiled back "I didn't know you were going to join us"

"Are you disappointed?" He raised a brow playfully.

"very" I made a upset face.

"Is there something I can do to make up for that?"

"A drink?" I suggested.

"A drink" he grinned "Right away ma'am" He winked and turned to walk to the bar with hurried steps.

Sophie grinned from where she was dancing. Mia narrowed her eyes before whispering something to Josh.

She left Josh to sit next to me "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Amy"

"It's finally going to over Mia" I took a deep breath "My freedom" I smiled "It's so close. I should be happy"

"Are you?" She took my hand in her "Happy?"

"Yes"

"You were never a good liar"

"I think it's like when I had long hair for four years" I smiled at her encouragingly "When I chopped it off, I didn't feel as free as I thought I would feel. That was only for a week though. I got used to my bob soon after"

"You got attached to him"

"I don't want to talk about it" I looked at Adam making his way towards us "I don't think I will have much time from now on. I have so much to do, so much to look forward to"

"You know I will always be here. You can ring me up anytime. I'll be there"

I nodded "I'll be fine"

"Don't you think you should wait until he marks her?" She hurriedly said watching Adam.

I didn't have the time to reply "There you go" Adam handed me my drink "Sorry Mia I didn't get any for you. What will you take? I'll go...."

"It's fine" Mia smiled at him "I'll go back to dancing. Josh's waiting for me" she pointed at her boyfriend standing awkwardly in the middle of the dance floor with Sophie dancing crazily around him trying to indulge him since his partner left him alone. I don't think poor Josh appreciated her thoughtfulness very much.

I talked to Adam as we finished our drinks and then Sophie pulled us to dance. She was halfway drunk by then. I guess she's really happy with the finances this case is bringing us. She's a number person and one of the strongest reason we achieved success with our business.

The song turned slow and Adam placed his hands on my waist pulling me closer with a smile. Yeah! I'm going to have babies with beautiful blue eyes. I can see that. I was about to place my arms around him but I felt myself being pulled backwards instead.

I frowned and was about to turn to yell at the huge hands that gripped my shoulders but the owner of the hands decided to lift me up on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes instead.

"What the f*ck" I yelled but there were other voiced that echoed my words making a loud enough noise for the entire dance floor to come to a halt.

"I'm taking her home" Sh!t! It's the bull.

"Put her down" Adam sounded furious "This instant"

I tried hitting him in his stomach here my legs hung but he held both my ankles down.

"Hold your people down or they face the same fate as the previous ones" Keith said probably to Mia. She's the only one he knows.

"Adam it's okay" Mia responded and the bull started walking towards the exit happy with Mia's response.

"What the hell was that?" I heard Sophie's yell, the last sound before we were out of there.

"Put me down" I said calmly.

He didn't.

So I punched him on his back as hard as I could.

Tires screeched next to us, doors opened and I was dumped onto a soft car seat. I huffed and adjusted myself as the door shut after me.

"Couldn't you have called me like a normal person" I glared at the devil sitting calmly at the other edge of the long seat.

He made a show of closing his eyes and taking a deep breath "We will talk when we reach home" He said when the car started moving.

So I shut up and waited because I am the sensible one here. He's a predator. He gets away with 'I couldn't control my animal' and stupid reasons like that.

_______

I jumped slightly as the door rattled with the force that Arthur put on shutting it.

"It was just a dance Arthur" I yelled not caring about the damn neighbors.

"He was touching you" He gritted out, his voice the calm before a storm "I told you this was his last chance"

"He was not the only one touching me. Mia, Sophie, Josh, Ricky, even Keith touched me. What are you going to do about that?" I challenged him.

He took a deep breath; he has been taking a lot of those "Go take a shower"

"No"

"Amelia, do not test my patience. I'm not in the mood today" He took threatening steps towards me. I moved back until my back hit the head of a couch. I quickly supported my palms against it.

"Why?" I glared back "I thought you will be in an excellent mood today. You finally got what you wanted, didn't you"

A dangerous smirk rose to his lips as he caged me against the couch, his hands placed next to mine. I leaned back as faras I could without losing my footing on the ground.

"Did you like it?" he whispered, the gold in his eyes for once didn't feel comforting at all.

"Wh....what?"I frowned at the smirk on his face.

"The one I sent via your little spy? I thought you will appreciate it" he smiled calmly "It was my gift to you"

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