The Lion’s Forbidden Mate

Chapter 3

The world of the bus tour was moving at a whirlwind pace. It was the kind of dazzling spectacle of pace and chaos that made Lucy really feel like she was in the middle of a hurricane that was spinning out of control, ready to hit the mainland any second and destroy the whole world. The truth was, however, that there was no slowing it down. Things were moving so fast that she felt like the whole garage had changed in the few precious hours that she had gotten for herself last night. To see it in such a dazzling and spectacular flow was kind of inspiring. Of course, if her nerves weren’t destroying her, she would have probably enjoyed it a whole lot more, but right now, it was hard to concentrate on anything other than her own troubles that were plaguing her.

At the moment, it felt like the most important thing that she could do was keep out of everyone’s way. She didn’t want to cause any kind of a scene and she didn’t want to get in the way of massive projects. As far as she knew, she was just a little ant that had become irrelevant to the rest of the group when Ben finished all of his jobs. She was the clean up crew and as she walked to the elevator and pressed the button, there were dozens of other people lining up to get into the elevator as well. She wondered if they were all Shifters and if they were, could they smell the pregnancy hanging off of her. Could they tell that she was pregnant? The thought horrified her and she tried her hardest not to think about it.

Going all the way to the floor that she knew her office was on, she watched the doors open at each floor, letting workers and office staff off at every level along the way. It was a long, trudging ascent to the floor that she was on and she tried her hardest not to let the frustration of it get to her. She should have taken the stairs. That would teach her. Tomorrow, she was going up the stairs.

The doors opened to her floor and the offices were bustling with people running back and forth and talking on the phone. She knew that the one thing that she needed to get done right now was to find out where Justin was and to see if he could point her in the direction of Rebecca Vance who was supposed to be the person that she was coordinating everything with. Without Rebecca she was completely lost.

Knocking on the door frame to Justin’s office, his door wide open and he was clearly on the phone with someone, Lucy waited for him to finish. When he was done, he hung up his phone and looked at her with a beaming smile. “How’s it going, New Girl?” he asked her with a kind of teasing voice.

“Kind of crazy,” Lucy said with a heavy sigh. “I was hoping that you could point me in the direction of Rebecca Vance. I think I should probably introduce myself to her.”

“Supply and construction,” Justin grinned. “Good call. You’re going to like her. She’s a real class act. She’s the kind of pretty that makes you wonder why you would ever let someone like her in a garage full of animals and tools, but she’s better than anyone else I know.”

“I’ve heard people call her Becca, does she prefer that?” Lucy asked him nervously.

“Who knows what Becca likes,” he said with a mischievous grin on his face. “She’s kind of like everyone’s big sister downstairs. She’s always looking out for everyone, and that means she’s hardly looking out for herself. But, I’m sure the two of you will get along famously.”

Lucy found herself back at the elevator, the last place in the world that she wanted to be. She stared at the doors, waiting for them to open and when they did, they were flooded by people coming and going, cramming into the tight space in hopes of getting to their destination as quickly as possible. This was nothing more than insanity to her, but Justin didn’t seem to mind.

Downstairs, it wasn’t hard to find Becca Vance. She was the woman in a white and green floral dress that looked like she belonged in a painting with hair as crimson as a dark rose. She was telling a pair of men who were loading a box with tools how they should be doing their job properly. While others probably thought they would resent the lecture, their faces expressed something close to honored pleasure. They were grateful for her words.

“Hey, Becca,” Justin called for her as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and strolled up to her. She turned and looked at Lucy with enormous blue eyes that looked like they were in danger of falling out of her pretty face. “This is the newest member of our party, Lucy. She’s taking over for Ben. She wanted to stop by and meet you.”

“Hi, Lucy,” Becca declared in a beautiful Southern accent that made Lucy feel warm inside. She shook Lucy’s hand and her grip was soft, but there was a firmness there that couldn’t be denied. “I’m glad that you’re finally here. Ben tried his hardest to get everything ready for you.”

“Yeah, I have some boxes to still consolidate, but I’m getting there,” Lucy said with a smile. “Is there anything that I can do to help you?”

“Okay, while you two hit it off, I’m going to head back up stairs,” Justin said with a grin on his face. “Have fun, you two.”

“Bye, Justin,” Becca called after him. Her eyes turned back to Lucy after Justin was gone and she felt something close to friendship in those perfect eyes. “Look, I know that this job can be intimidating, but I promise you, everything is going to work out just fine. There’s lots to get done still, but that’s my job and you don’t have to worry about a thing. Your job is going to be that you make sure the crew has everything packed up and if we magically lose something, you have the information as to how we can get it back. Other than that, you don’t have to worry about a thing. I’m going to make sure that everything is just right for us on the construction side and you’re going to make sure that Lynn is confident in us.”

“So, you don’t need my help down here?” Lucy asked her nervously.