NALEDI’S POV
Caellum was losing it. No surprise there.
I wondered how it would feel if I told him no, Just for the fun of it.
“Do you think I can handle him, Alpha?” I retorted, smarting my way out of a direct answer.
“You know what I think.” His eyes bore holes at me, “Are you fishing for compliments?”
I smirked, “Now why would I do that?”
“You tell me.”
Tension racked the air between us as we stared ourselves down, wondering who would crack. I did.
“I’ll handle Luka,” I said, wearing a confident look. “I’m the best man for the job.”
Saying that aloud felt empowering. Judging from the last 24 hours I’ve had, I never thought I’d be feeling this way so soon.
“Good girl.” Caellum purred, unable to hide the delight in his eyes.
Butterflies flapped in my stomach at his appraisal. What was it with this man?
“Now that’s settled, let’s get on to business,” I stated, wanting to get the mushy feelings out the door. “I want to bring him down. Sooner rather than later.”
Gone was the lightness in the air as we rubbed heads on the best way to deal with Luka. Once and for all. I wasn’t stupid to think I could do it on my own. Not that I was insufficient, but something told me working with Caellum would make the job a lot easier and quicker.
“And to do that, I need you to be in on the plan.” I offered and he nodded, getting on par with me.
“The borders were opened this morning. From my calculations, Luka would be having a field day with that news.”
“Thank you for trusting me.” I meant every word. “Since Luka isn’t calling to tell me of the good news, I think I might break it to him myself.”
I got up from the chair and headed for my phone which was seated by the bedside. I picked it up, ready to place a call when my phone started ringing. The motherfucker actually beat me to it.
“Speak of the devil and he shows up.” I tutted, flashing the screen to Caellum, and picking it up after a couple rings.
“Hello, Luka.”
“You did it.” His tone reeked of his disbelief. “You got the borders open?”
“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Luka.” My tone dripped with sarcasm.
“Where are you? I need to see you. I can come to you?”
I shook my head, only remembering afterwards that he couldn’t see me.
“No need, I am on my way to yours. I’ll join you soon.”
Per usual, I didn’t let him have the last word and cut off the phone.
“I have to go,” I said to Caellum who watched me with a look I couldn’t decipher. “Are you going to be here when I return?”
It killed me to ask that question. But I needed to know. I needed to know if I would be alone when I returned; to prepare for the night I knew I was going to have without him.
I have been through this before. The torturous nights that left me wanting to kill myself. Seeing how Caellum affected and helped me last night was something I was still trying to wrap my head around.
But as much as I was still confused about how he was able to reach me despite being so out of it, I didn’t want to have to go through that without him. No one should go through that after experiencing the other side.
The better, brighter side of it. The side where Caellum made the darkness go away and rescued me from myself.
“I’ll be here until you get sick of me.” His words brought relief to my heart. As well as awakened the butterflies in my belly. “I’ll let you get prepared while I set up my office.”
He got up from the chair and headed towards the door. Only then did I realise the implication of his words. “Your office?”
“Yes, Naledi. My office.” He drew his words. “You don’t expect me to sit around all day, do you? I have a business to run.” He said sassily, leaving me with an open mouth.
This was going to be interesting. That was my last thought before I headed to prepare for my meeting with the devil. Soon enough, I was spelled and on my way to Luka for another meeting.
******
“The queen.” Luka welcomed with with a big hug and a matching grin.
“Everything is going smoothly by my guess,” I said, walking side by side with him as he led me to his office.
“We have to celebrate!” He said, ushering me into his bugged office. “Everything is right on track and I have you to thank for that.”
He popped a wine and got some cups from the mini-fridge.
“We are partners. I only did what I had to do.” I accepted the drink, waiting for the perfect opportunity to ask him about his next step.
“I knew I didn’t make a mistake choosing you as my partner.” He took a seat in front of me, taking a sip of the drink.
I nodded, “Since the borders are up, when is the next shipment?” I asked in a very lax tone, sipping out of my drink.
Luka took a moment before he spoke. “Seeing I already went ahead to postpone the shipment, I’ll have to make new plans on the next date.”
“You didn’t think I would come through?” My tone was light but with heavy undertones.
“Of course, I trusted your abilities, love.” He got up and joined me on my couch, placing an arm over me. “But you must understand that this is business. I needed to have a failsafe should I not be able to deliver. An informed customer is better than an angry one. I just chose safe.”
“If that’s the case then I guess you have some calls to make,” I said and got up the seat. “Ring me when a date is set. I’d love to see how you run the business.”
“Are you leaving?” He sounded deprived, but I knew it was all an act. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the mood to play along.
“I have a business to run.” A curt smile, “Keep in touch.”