Klaus' lair, that's what Artec called the surveillance room, he even went so far as to hang a sign on the front door with that name. I would have loved to see Klaus' face when Artec appeared with the pink sign in his hand, perhaps he had a picture of that exact moment.

I didn't know what to expect from Klaus, in our few interactions he always stayed out of conversations unless it was to address something he saw on his security cameras. The rest of the members didn't talk much about him either, they just called him a hermit, a computer genius, and a stalker.

The lack of knowledge made me nervous, there was no guarantee that he would take my request positively and the last thing I wanted was to turn a member of the inner circle against me.

It's not like I had a choice, no one other than him could get the information I wanted. Taking a risk didn't sound so bad if I considered what I could gain if everything went well.

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Klaus answered from inside.

The light from the screens combined with the darkness of the room almost blinded me when I got inside. The air felt heavy, probably due to the lack of windows and the cigarette smoke.

"You finally got the courage to knock on the door, it's been more than fifteen minutes since I saw you arrive," Klaus said from his chair, pointing to the screen in front of him.

That was embarrassing. Of course the hacker in the group was going to have a security camera in front of the door of his lair.

"I wasn't sure if you'd mind having visitors," I confessed, there was no point in feigning disinterest anymore.

He turned his chair and the noise the wheels made made me grit my teeth.

"I don't mind as long as you don't make it a habit." He pointed to the bench next to him. "Don't just stand there, it makes me nervous.”

I took a seat, placing my hands on my lap. When the silence between us started to get awkward, I started playing with my fingers.

Klaus took one last puff of his cigarette and crashed it on the ashtray.

"Are you going to tell me why you're here or are you going to keep wasting our time? I don't remember you being so shy."

"Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind right now," I lied, hiding the fact that his presence made me uncomfortable. "Last night I suppose you heard what Kerian said about my uncle and Dainan Zylvaris, I wanted to know if you had found out anything about that."

"I'm working on it, for now I was only able to verify that Keiran told the truth. It would be very helpful if you have any idea of the relationship they had before they started their meetings.”

My mind worked a mile an hour trying to remember all the times I saw Dainan and what my uncle said about him. The Nightfall Pack alpha was almost a mystery to me but I knew something that could help.

"Dainan was one of my uncle's candidates to be my fiancé," I explained while trying to keep my anger in check. "My uncle insisted on marrying me to an alpha from another pack, I assume to grow his power. With my disappearance, I'm not sure why he would want to work with him."

"Maybe he wants his help to find you, does your uncle have any reason to want you back?"

"The only thing I can think of is that he might need me to keep my father's former followers on his side."

If they still cared about me, after all, no one did anything even though my uncle kept me locked up most of my life.

Klaus spun back to face the computer, his hands moving at rapid speed across the keyboard as he completely ignored my presence. I felt as if I had become invisible, one moment we were talking and suddenly I didn't exist for him.

"I guess some of what I said helped you," I tried to get his attention.

"Yeah, it might take me a while," he answered without looking away from the screen. "If you get hungry or thirsty there is a refrigerator on your right."

"Thanks, but I'll pass by for now. Can I stay while you work?"

"I don’t care." He shook his shoulders. "Why do you want to stay? Are you running away from someone?"

"Who would I be running away from?" I leaned over the table, resting my right elbow on it.

"Zaziel, perhaps, things seemed a little tense last night between the two of you." Klaus turned his head towards me. "Heated would be a better word."

A groan escaped my mouth. "Did you see that?"

"It's not my fault that you guys got horny in the middle of a mission."

I hid my face in my hands, shame wouldn't let me look at Klaus.

"I can give you a copy of the recordings if you want."

"Why would I want the recording?" I screamed and my cheeks turned red.

"There are many uses you could put it to, it's up to you what you do with it." Klaus fixed his glasses. "So are you or are you not running away from Zaziel?"

"I'm not running away, I just didn't see him today. It's not like I see him every day, he's usually busy with his duties as a leader, and I'm not interested in running behind him."

"Good for you, then you won't mind that he's coming here," Klaus said, pointing to one of the monitors.

I stood up at a rapid speed, causing the stool to almost fall to the ground. My hands began to sweat as I stood in front of the screen Klaus had pointed out.

Zaziel's figure was very clear as he crossed the hallway towards the security room. He ignored all the members who greeted him along the way, not even taking his hands out of his pocket to wave at them.

"Why is he coming here?" I asked Klaus, trying to hide my nervousness.

"He texted me to ask where you were and I told him you're here. I'd say he's very eager to talk to you."

What would he want to talk about? There was nothing to talk about between us, that wasn't our style either, the conversations were better left to Artec or Xara.

Moon Goddess, make it be something about the mission, I prayed as Zaziel continued to approach.

"You look like you want to run away," Klaus commented.

"I don't,” I snapped.

I did want to do it but there wasn't enough time. Zaziel had already reached the door.

As soon as he entered the room I felt his gaze fix on my back. My breathing turned uneven the instant his scent reached me.

I couldn't deny it, the more we eliminated the distance between us the harder it was for me to resist him. He was like a drug that I had become addicted to after trying it just once.

"Follow me." That was all Zaziel said, he didn't need to clarify anything else for us to know who he was referring to.

"Let me know what you found right away," I asked Klaus before walking away from him.

"Try not to do another show while I'm working," Klaus said, smirking.

"You can turn off the camera if it bothers you that much," Zaziel answered.

He didn't deny Klaus' comment, was he planning to do something?

No, Roselyn, don't think about those things. I scolded myself. I needed to keep my mind calm to survive against Zaziel.

He clasped my hand without asking and pulled me closer to him. Only that touch was enough to revive the fire we lit the previous night. I felt so stupid for falling that easy, all the talk I gave myself about not wanting a mate got ruined simply by Zaziel's presence.

Was he feeling the same? It would be a comfort to know that I wasn't the only one struggling with the mate bond. He had told me once that he didn't care about me, still his jealous scene at the bar showed otherwise. I wanted to know if Zaziel suffered as much as I did every time we were alone, if he spent his nights like me longing for each other's company.

My mind was so riddled with doubts that I didn't realize that we had already crossed the distance towards Zaziel's office.

I gulped as he opened the door and waited for him to guide me inside.

"Do you want something to drink?" Zaziel asked me, grabbing two glasses from the small bar. "I could use some whiskey."

"Just pour me the same as you," I replied, taking a seat.

“There you go,” said Zaziel, giving me my cup. Then he sat in his leather chair. “I think we should talk about what happened yesterday.”

Just the phrase I was expecting, it didn't take a genius to figure out why Zaziel would want to talk to me.

I crossed my legs and took a sip of the whiskey to prepare myself for the awkward conversation that was to come.

Zaziel rested his arm on the back of his seat and leaned his head on his hand.

"Last night you disobeyed my orders," he said.

"Oh, is that what you wanted to say?" I interrupted him before he could finish scolding me.

"Yes, that's the important thing, what else was I going to talk about?" He looked surprised. "It's not the first time you don't do what I tell you, and as a leader, I hope it doesn't happen again. I mean it, I can't keep making exceptions for you."

It had to be a joke. Zaziel had suddenly become a bad comedian.

"Didn't it occur to you that I didn't listen because your order was ridiculous?"

"Watch your mouth, pup." His tone of voice lowered as he leaned over the table. "You are crossing a line that you should not cross."

I huffed. "Can't you put aside your alpha role for a minute? What happened last night is something more personal."

"I don't do personal.”

“It didn't seem like that when you kissed me because you got jealous.”

Zaziel stretched out his hand towards me and the second our eyes met he withdrew it. Was he afraid to touch me? Or maybe he wasn't sure what my reaction would be.

The truth was that after our last meeting it seemed as if we were walking on eggshells. None of us dared to take the next step and all we did was go backwards.

"I don't know what happened at that moment. When I saw you flirting with that idiot I just wanted to tear him to pieces. I have no other explanations to give you."

The anger inside me built up into a pile, every time Zaziel spoke the height of the pile grew to the point where it was close to collapse.

"That's all?" I asked, raising my voice. "You make  a scene of jealousy, you kiss me, which by the way I understood was something you didn't do because you don't like sentimentality, and then it occurs to you that the best idea is to get angry with me for not paying attention to you. You know what? I'm tired."

He let his back fall against the back of his chair and crossed his arms. "You didn't complain last night either."

"This is the last straw," I shouted and stood up. "I'm leaving, this conversation is over."

My hands shook with fury as I approached the exit. I was already tired of his games, he wanted everything to be done his way but I wasn’t going to allow him to control me that way.

"Give me a week," Zaziel said when I opened the door. "I'll give you an answer in a week.”