In Her Heat - Ainsley's Story

In Her Heat - Chapter Thirty Five

The Man dropped us in front a huge building, with marble steps and huge Italian doors. When we stepped inside, nobody noticed me, which was a complete relief. The reception hall at the Council headquarters, it was perfect chaos. People rushed in and out of hallways, in and out of the building. Almost every one of them carried a smart phone and had a small flashing Bluetooth hooked to their ear. Funny, like cancer was a real danger with their superbodies. Someone even had the nerve to brush me and the snarl at me as though it was my huge muscles that disallowed two people to pass through a door simultaneously. Those were Weres for ya. Arrogant as hell.

Cade stepped to the front desk, which was about the length of my old apartment. Smartly dressed people presided over the mammoth desk, their faces the perfect expression of not caring. I couldn't wait to see their customer service.

“We’re here for Councilman Nikon Der.” He said.

The woman, a pretty Native with cat-like eyes blinked once but said nothing. One waxed eyebrow slowly rose. All she needed was to pop her bubble gum.

“I’m Cade.”

“Level 13. Someone will meet you there.” Her voice was as bland as her expression.

Cade stepped away and rejoined us. “What a friendly welcome, huh? We’ve got to go to the thirteenth floor. She says someone is going to meet us there.”

“They’ve made great leaps in robotics,” said Declan as we passed the front desk and the cat-eyed woman. I knew the woman had to have heard Declan, what with Were hearing, but to her credit, she didn’t even blink. If I didn’t know she was Were I would have seriously considered Declan comment.

We waited the next ten minutes for an elevator. How many people were there in this building anyway? I just prayed we wouldn't have to stop at every single floor. One of my pet peeves.

When we finally got into the elevator, the elevator man asked us which floor we desired. At Cade’s reply he pressed the button and the elevator proceeded to glide up. The elevator man stood at the back of the elevator, his face as unreadable as the front desk woman. Unlike those receptionists, however, he was dressed more casually. I almost wanted to scream, just to see if he’d react. It was like taunting the guards at the Buckingham Palace.

Beside me, Kat was fidgeting slightly. The woman never flinched. She could probably take down a Sumo wrestler in less than two minutes, she never had a reason to be nervous.

I nudged her lightly and her eyes snapped to mine. “What’s up?”

“The thirteenth building? No building has a thirteenth floor.”

“Who cares, Kat. It’s just a stupid superstition,” Declan commented.

“It’s not stupid and it’s not just a superstition,” she insisted. “You’re the one who’s stupid.”

“Wow, nice comeback,” he retorted.

“You’re going to wish you could come back from the dead if you don’t shut up.”