The Alpha's Mate Read Free Page A

distraction. That was alright, he had handled distractions before. All he needed to do was figure out why and then everything would be fine.
    Max did his best to convince himself of this as he lay on the ground. That owl hooted mockingly once more.

Kelly woke with a headache, but her excitement for her first day at her new job quickly overpowered it. While she got ready she examined her hickey from the night before. And that's all it seemed to be, a very bad hickey that covered several inches of the side of her neck. So whatever had happened last night, it clearly hadn't been as weird as she thought.
    She kept telling herself that as she covered the mark with concealer and foundation, hoping that it blended well enough with her skin that she would raise no eyebrows. Just to be safe, she wore a high necked collared shirt and buttoned it all the way to the top. On final examination, she looked unquestionably professional and not at all like she'd let an unbelievably gorgeous man chomp on her neck in an alley behind a bar.
    Though if he turned out to actually be a vampire she would need to reassess the situation.
    Smiling at the thought she headed into the lab and didn't even mind the mild traffic clogging the streets. The ride passed quickly, and almost before she knew it Kelly sat inside the large reception area of Silver Sky Research and waited for her new supervisor Abigail McKinney to come give her the tour.
    A tall African-American woman walked into the room. She wore a light purple business suit and her curly hair was held back by a silver headband. She approached Kelly's seat, "Kelly Shaw?"
    Kelly stood and offered a hand, nodding. "Dr. McKinney?"
    The woman laughed, "Abigail, please. Let me show you around before we get you started for the day." Abigail nodded to the receptionist and took Kelly through the door which lead to the rest of the facility. They walked down halls painted a stark white, the color only broken up by the portraits of past and present benefactors of the lab and of various pictures of wild wolves and other predators studied by Silver Sky. She met several of her new coworkers and almost thought she could remember the layout of the place before Abby handed her the new hire packet which included an office map.
    "Thanks," Kelly said as she tucked it in with the rest of her belongings.
    "I'll need to take a photo copy of your license for our records if you just want to wait in my office right here." They walked into one of the biggest offices on the floor. It overlooked the city of Boise out of two windows and could easily accommodate ten or more people. Kelly sat in a chair and dug through her bag to find her wallet.
    She flipped through each of her cards twice before pulling the stack out of her wallet and going through them one by one. She looked back at Abigail sheepishly, "It looks like I left my license at home. I can get it for you after lunch if that's alright?"
    Abigail looked her over for a moment, "I suppose that will work. But we can't go into the labs until we have it, it's a security thing. Do you need a water or something?"
    Kelly shook her head. "I've already done the background and medical tests, what good is my license?" She smiled. The heat in the room hit her all of the sudden and she shrugged out of her jacket. "Is it alright if I leave this here?"
    Abigail stood and grabbed a small bottle of water from the mini-fridge beside her desk. "You don't look too good right now, are you sure you're all right?"
    Now glad for the water Kelly uncorked it and drained it in two gulps. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she fanned herself. "I felt fine this morning."
    Abigail checked her watch. "It's about time for lunch, how about we go eat at the cafe across the street, see if you feel any better?"
    Kelly agreed and stood to go with her, but it seemed her legs wouldn't support her and she sank back into the chair. Abigail had turned away so Kelly tried one more time, breathing in deeply before