Most of the specialty areas of these smaller companies were deeply grounded in medical, scientific and pharmaceutical research. That was where Gina’s background really came into play. She helped by going over the scientific reports of the company’s divisions while Mitch sorted out the financial statements. Between the two of them, they were able to discover some serious mismanagement and possible embezzlement of huge amounts of the Clan’s money.
The problem was so bad and the executives so unresponsive via phone and videoconference that they decided to visit the corporate offices in person. A surprise inspection from the main shareholder ought to shake them up a bit.
So only a week after arriving in Iceland, Mitch and Gina were on their way back to the States—to the very city Gina had lived in and Mitch had been poisoned in—to corner a few very skittish executives in their high-rise ivory towers. They brought along a contingent of Royal Guard with them. Gina supposed her days of traveling alone and incognito were at an end.
But having Mitch in her life was a more than fair trade-off. She didn’t really care about being queen. The only thing that was truly important to her was Mitch. It hadn’t really hit her that she was the Tig’Ren yet. Her mother had tried to tell her a few things about the position, but Gina didn’t really feel it. Not yet. Maybe not ever.#p#分页标题#e#
She’d just have to adjust as she went along. She’d do her best to make the position into something she could live with—a compromise between the formality of the past and the more or less regular life she’d tried to make for herself before meeting Mitch.
Gina had used up all her leave from the hospital and now that she was back in the city, she’d set aside some time to go down there and end her employment for good. It was a big step but one that she felt okay about taking. She’d enjoyed her job and her freedom to live and work in the human world, but she loved Mitch. He’d given up his relative anonymity and his job as Royal Guard to be with her. She had to show the same willingness to bend.
They’d discussed it at length and had come to the conclusion that they were both starting fresh. Neither of them really knew what to expect, but they would face whatever came together.
She went to the hospital without Mitch. He’d wanted to come with her, but having him in tow would’ve made the trip a lot longer. She would have had to introduce him to nosy coworkers at every turn. Better she make her exit as quietly as possible. Paul Miller went with her. The hospital staff was used to seeing him—another doctor—from time to time. His brother Tad and his mate, Mandy, were pre-arranged to meet them there. They would all help to keep Gina safe for the hour or so it took to clear out her things and tender her formal resignation.
Everything went off without a hitch, and while Gina was sorry to see that part of her life end, she was looking forward to the next step. Mitch had arranged an emergency board meeting at the Phelix headquarters building downtown. Paul stayed by her side and Mandy and Tad came along with them. The more doctors she had to consult with on some of the more questionable of the experiments she’d uncovered, the better. And she wanted to get to the bottom of the nectar’s reaction with the poison Mitch had been given, if she possibly could.
Mitch met her in the lobby of the office building Phelix Corporation owned. It was a marble and glass monstrosity that dominated the downtown skyline and Gina had to shake her head at the enormous expense of both the design and the décor. It had been built in the last decade and the Clan had paid for all of it. She was disgusted. The gaudy building looked more like a monument to somebody’s overblown ego than a serious place of business.
Their little entourage took an express elevator to the penthouse where the board was scheduled to meet. Security couldn’t stop them, but she knew there were some fast and furious phone calls being made the moment they stated who they were and where they were going.
When the elevator door opened at the top level of the building, the first thing she smelled were shifters. Lots of them. Not just tigers, though there were a few distinct tiger scents. She also smelled the wet-dog scent she associated with werewolves, the subtle differences of other big cats and one or two that she couldn’t quite place.
“Magic,” Gunnar hissed, moving to take point. “There’s at least one mage here. Possibly more.” Mitch had decided to bring Gunnar. He’d proven himself to be both loyal and brave.
Mitch growled and the rest of their group bristled. In addition to Gunnar and two more of their new friends from Iceland, Paul, Tad and Mandy were still with them.