Page 61 of A Wolfe in the Woods

He didn’t look at me. Not right away.

When his eyes finally slid to mine, they pinned me.

Predatory. Calculating.

Lycan eyes.

Jonathan had that look too…but his gaze had made me feel a different kind of shiver than I did with Erik.

“I, um…I was hoping to talk,” I said. “About this weekend. It’s…Thursday.” I tried not to wince at the obviousness. “Something’s come up, and I was hoping to take tomorrow and Monday off. A long weekend.”

No response, only silence, as Erik’s fingers flicked something closed on his screen. A tab. Then another.

I glanced down at his desk. There was a folder near the edge. The label read:

HIGHWATER INITIATIVE: Proposed Phase II Site Acquisition.

Below it was a logo I didn’t recognize. Not Skoll Corp. Something else. I might’ve studied it longer, but Erik shifted, his hand sliding casually over the folder, obscuring it.

“You were just on leave, Blanchette,” he said, voice low, leaning back. “And now you want more time?”

“I have the PTO,” I said, lifting my chin. “Adalade even mentioned last week that?—”

“And is this urgent?” he asked, steepling his fingers. “Personal? Or professional?”

“I just…I need the time. That’s all.”

His gaze narrowed on me, watching as I tucked a strand of hair nervously back.

A pause. I swallowed, but it felt more like a gulp. I hated that I fidgeted under his stare.

Then he smiled. Thin. Crooked. Like a blade turned on its side, threatening. “I see,” he said softly. “Something in the air lately, isn’t there? All this talk of escaping.”

I hesitated. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“You seem restless,” Erik said, rising now, adjust his cuffs. He circled his desk. “And I’d hate to stand in the way of someone chasing what they think they need.”

I frowned. “It’s just a few days, Mr. Skoll. I have the time.”

He nodded, but it was slow. Almost patronizing. “And you’ll be spending them where exactly?”

My voice caught as I lifted my chin. “Home.”

His brow ticked. “Everwick, then.”

I stilled, my brow furrowing. “How did you…?”

The smirk he gave me didn’t reach his eyes. “You said you needed the time,” Erik said, brushing a speck of dust from his blazer. “Then take it.”

Just like that? I bit my lip. This went suspiciously smoothly, and I was waiting for the catch.

“So…you’re okay with it?” I asked carefully.

He stepped back to his desk, rested a hand near the folder I’d glimpsed earlier. “I don’t care what you do, Miss Redfield. So long as your work gets done.”

This felt wrong. Too easy. Too unlike him.

My gaze flicked to the desk again. The folder was gone now, vanished beneath a few clipped stacks of paperwork.