The Silver Crescent Prince

As soon as the seventh floor came, Dawn barged out of the elevator. She couldn't stand in that stifling place, even for a second more. 

Daryn walked right after her. 

Neal stood there with his eyes wide with surprise. It was so unnatural for Daryn to run after a girl. This was so complicated. He had to talk to his cousin and drill sense. What about Maya? The elevator's door closed and he went up. 

Dawn hurried inside her office. She slid the glass door open and closed it behind her. She needed air. She needed space and most of all she needed to stay away from him. Her heart rampaged as she contemplated treachery. As soon as she slid the door close, she heard it opening again. Each and every person in the room looked in her direction. She realized that they weren't seeing her, they were seeing something else behind her. She turned sharply only to find Daryn standing there, almost five feet behind. There was a pin drop silence in the office. The front desk manager came running to him. "Good morning Sir!" she said with enthusiasm. The CEO himself was there in this office. She couldn't believe that he was there for real. 

"Morning," Daryn snapped. He clenched his jaws and ignored the way all the employees looked at him. He could sense their nervousness and it somehow satisfied him. They should be nervous, wary of him and stay away from him. He looked at Dawn who looked hassled. 

"What can I do for you Sir?" The Manager broke his reverie. She looked at him unblinkingly. 

He noticed that Dawn was slowly making her way to her cubicle. Hide baby hide. "Where is the Head?" he asked in a strict tone. 

The Manager almost pissed in her pants. She didn't know where he was. "I will call him. Please give me a minute." She trotted in her heels to her desk. At the same time some of the employees got up to greet him personally. It was a rare occasion that anyone ever met him, so they had to make the most of it. Soon he was surrounded by a dozen of the enthusiastic ones. Daryn kept his replies clipped and the same time glanced in her direction. So she was in cube 51? A smile appeared on his face. 

When Rick heard that the CEO was there, he jogged to the seventh floor. He was panting when he reached there. "Sir!" he said, breathlessly. "What can I do?" he was so scared that the CEO had come to the seventh floor from the thirtieth that he thought he had done something very wrong. "Is there a problem with any of the reports?" 

Daryn measured the employee in front of him. He had seen him for the first time. His little neotide had settled in her cubicle. And he found it difficult to stay away from her. He started to walk towards her without speaking a word. 

The employees dispersed while Rick walked with him, no, trotted with him. It was either the best or the worst day of his life. He couldn't comprehend as to why the CEO of the Silver Conglomerate came to this floor. 

"We recruited six, but one of them declined as he got a job offer overseas, so we are left with five new entrants," he replied immediately.

Daryn was now near cube 40. "I have a project in which I need ten new recruits from Finance and HR departments to work upon."

"But why new ones Sir? They don't have any experience. They will commit mistakes. I will appoint the most experienced ones for you." Rick argued. The latest one, Dawn was only twenty-three and she was likely to make most mistakes. It had not even been a day of her joining the office. 

Daryn stopped. His expressions darkened. "Do you know anything about the project that you are giving your expert comments?" 

Rick gulped. "No Sir," he had a line of sweat on his forehead. How could he advise the person in front of him? "Please let me know about the project and I will send you the people required." 

Daryn had now walked up to the cubicle 48, which was very near to hers. 

Meanwhile Dawn had picked each and every piece of conversation. This was getting worse by the minute. Perhaps he didn't trust her and so he was trying his best to keep her under his watch. This way she would never be able to find out about the gaming company. This way, his smell would keep affecting her in the ways she hadn't known before. She would talk to Azura and get the hell out of here. Suddenly she felt that he had stopped walking. She was hiding her face below the cube's wall but when she didn't hear anything, she raised her head curiously and peeked. And he was right there, sitting on the desk of cube 50 looking in her direction, with a raised eyebrow. 

"Shit!" she muttered and hid back like a schoolgirl, hitting her head with a small piece of wood jutting out. "Ouch!" she said in a subdued voice. She tried to take her chair back in front of the computer. The flimsy thing moved with difficulty. 

The boy in cube 50 was utterly flustered. For the love of God, the CEO himself was there. He became so excited that he stood from his place and offered him his chair but Daryn opted to sit on his desk to get a clear view of Dawn's cubicle. He picked a document from the desk and looked at the boy. The boy became clammy under his gaze. "Are you new?" 

"Fairly," he said. "I joined two weeks back." 

Daryn turned his gaze to Rick and said, "Send me the list of those five new employees as soon as possible. Make sure that all of them meet me in my office in an hour." 

"Yes Sir," Rick replied with all seriousness. 

It was time to run right now. She didn't have any inclination to get involved in it any deeper. 

Daryn stood up and walked to his target of interest. He leaned against her wall, crossing his arms over his chest. Her scent made his skin tickle. His wolf wanted to flaunt his muscles. "I think you are new, Ms. Dawn Wyatt." 

"Yes," she replied. "But this job doesn't suit me," she said, collecting her purse. "I am leaving." 

Rick and the boy jerked their heads. This was a shocker. They hoped that the CEO didn't blast. Rick couldn't believe that he recruited a girl like her. Was she mad? 

"Really?" Daryn replied in a cold voice. "Have you read the contract before joining the job?" He waited for her answer. 

She hadn't read any contract. She was just asked to join by Azura. It was supposed to be a discreet operation.

"You cannot leave the job for three months after joining it. You must have signed a bond." 

What? A bond?

Daryn smiled. He had trapped his prey. Time to close on her. "The new project is about increasing my popularity in the media, and you, Ms. Dawn will be heading the project. You will have to find out every appealing aspect about me and help the HR people to publicize that." He paused hoping to see a reaction and then added, "Come to my office in half an hour to discuss details." 

Rick's jaw dropped. Did the CEO of The Silver Conglomerate need publicity?