She tensed, but eventually sighed and let him lead her out of the security area. Once they were in the elevators heading to her floor, she shot him a quick look.
He caught those dark eyes and held her stare, unable to look away. Without trying, the woman captivated him. It was subtle, but her eyes dilated and the scent of her hunger twined around him, telling him all he needed to know. “I saw you last night,” he murmured, curious what her reaction would be.
“Oh…you looked…” She cleared her throat and he watched in fascination as her cheeks turned pink. “I’m glad you got that challenging stuff out of the way,” she said as the elevator doors whooshed open.
They stepped out to find Grant waiting. He smiled at both of them. “Hey, you guys coming to see me?”
Ella shook her head at the same time Asher said, “No.”
“All right. I’m headed back to the compound.” Meaning the beachfront condominium complex the pack owned. “Call me if you need anything.” The elevator doors closed behind him.
“I like that he doesn’t micromanage,” Ella said as they headed down the hall.
“Yeah.” Asher wouldn’t be able to handle a boss who did that. Good alphas kept a solid pulse on their pack, but gave their people enough trust to do their jobs. “Did your pride leader?”
Unlocking her office door, she shook her head. She tried to enter first, but Asher gently pulled her back. Her head whipped up in surprise, but he stepped in front of her and went in first. He hadn’t scented anything unusual, but he wasn’t taking chances. Not with Ella’s safety.
He stepped inside to find it empty of any potential threats. Shutting the door behind Ella, he scanned the place. The gold floor to ceiling length curtains were pulled back to reveal the wall of windows. Ella’s delicate antique-looking desk sat on a big Persian rug and was positioned close to the window, giving her a lot of natural light. There was a chaise lounge with a throw blanket and a laptop next to another window. Next to it were stacks of boxes and folders piled up. The room was pretty posh for an office, but she’d requested it when Grant hired her.
“Everything looks fine,” he murmured, inhaling deeply as he strode around the entire space. “But…” He trailed off as he caught that elusive scent again.
“Do you smell it too? It’s faded now, but…”
“Yeah.” It wasn’t human, it wasn’t shifter, it was…what was it? He frowned as he scented a distinctive cool eucalyptus scent. “I don’t know what it is though.”
“Not human or shifter, right?”
He shook his head. Just because shifters had heightened senses didn’t mean they could pick out every single scent. But they could often distinguish what species a scent was. It bothered him that he couldn’t right now. His frown deepened as he noticed the long latch on the middle section of the window next to the chaise lounge. It was flipped up. The top half could open a few feet, but the bottom half was sealed shut. “Do you ever open this?” It was January, but with their shifter blood they weren’t as affected by the cold like humans.
She nodded and crossed over to the chaise. “Yeah, some of these files are so musty so I opened it to air out that scent a couple days ago.”
He pushed the window open. A blast of wind rolled over him and he scented the eucalyptus smell even stronger. Interesting. Shutting it, he turned back to Ella who looked good enough to eat in that damn dress.
Her hands were on her hips. “Well?”
“What?”
“You’ve got a certain look on your face.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Look?”
She smiled, the action softening all her gorgeous features as she swatted at his upper arm. “Come on. What are you thinking? Tell me I’m not crazy.”
“You’re definitely not crazy. I think someone was in your office and I think they used this window to get in.” It would explain why they hadn’t seen anything on the video feeds. But at least now he could start looking at the exterior feeds to see if he caught anything unusual.
Her expression turned thoughtful. “That’s a lot of trouble for someone to go to just to get into my office.” She motioned toward two oversized canvases on the opposite wall. “Those paintings are done by local artists and other than my desk—which is very expensive—there’s not much of extraordinary value in here. I don’t think anyone would break in to steal my desk, especially when there’s no easy way to transport it. And the records, terrible that they are, haven’t been touched. I’m almost sure of it. Neither was my laptop, which is password protected and most of my files are encrypted anyway. Maybe they wanted to use my office as a way to reach another room. Like Grant’s office?”