142 Potatoes

It took Ryan about three seconds to finally digest what Maddy said.

" Are you serious now?" - He finally squeezed out. His eyebrows jumped in the middle of his forehead, and in the eyes, it was clear that Ryan was trying very hard to understand whether he was delirious at the moment. The girl did not say anything and just nodded, expecting that the guy would explode at any moment. Right about now ...

But to her surprise, Ryan stared at her face for a second and then frowned.

"Well, of course, it is possible to get to Brian's office. Although the door is locked. I can ask the secretary under some pretext to lend me a key. However, the office of the CEO is kind of ..."

Now it was time for Maddy to raise eyebrows in surprise.

"Are you seriously going to help me?" - She asked uncertainly, mistrustfully looking at the guy. Something was wrong here. Although Greg said that Ryan would undoubtedly help if she asked. Maddy was sure that it was because of his relationship with Brian or for some other reason. But just like that ... Satisfied with just a story about raccoons ...

Meanwhile, the man folded his arms and angled his head to the side, never ceasing to study the girl, as if searching for the answer o this question in her.

"Yes." -He finally answered shortly. Maddy expected him to continue, somehow explain his position. But Ryan fell silent as if it never occurred to him that something else needed to be clarified.

"Why?" - She prompted with irritation, unable to stand that halfassed respond. Well, it couldn't be so simple, right?

Ryan shrugged, then put both palms forward as if showing how he was weighing the information.

"On the one hand," - he said, slightly raising his left palm. - "I entirely don't give a single f*** about all these squabbles inside the pack. I can hardly be called a team player, and if they tear at each other's throats in one day, I will hardly mourn them. More like get some popcorn and watch the show on security footages."

"Aren't you one of them?" - Maddy questioned in surprise. For the last days, there was too much information, which suddenly fell on her and destroyed a lot of neatly sorted believes in her head. And now each new piece made her even more confused. Ryan, seeing the girl's puzzled look relaxed a little.

"Brian didn't tell you?" - He asked, slightly surprised.

"No," - Maddy honestly admitted. - "Lana just said that if I want to find out about you, I have to ask you about it personally."

" And I'm not all that interested!" -She added quickly, feeling her cheeks begin to burn. A strange smile immediately appeared on the guy's face. It's looked more like a smirk, but for some reason, to Maddy, it appeared warm.

" On the other hand." - He continued as if the last exchange didn't happen at all. - "If I don't help you now, you'll probably get into trouble. And I'm a good boss who doesn't like it when my employees get attacked by hordes of angry shifters. Your hair is already a hot mess, you would look even less presentable without skin on your face."

Maddy looked at the guy incredulously, trying to catch the implication in his words. However, every time her thoughts were stuck on his words about her hair.And her boss apparently decided not to give her a chance to boil it inside.

"Okay, since we all decided. Wait here. I'll get the key to Brian's office. The rest will be discussed along the way." - He threw, turning an exiting the office so quickly that Maddy did not even have time to open her mouth. In fact, she did not even have time to think of what she wanted to say. It just seemed so strange. Why did he decide to help her, given that he did not care about the fights of his pack? Maybe this is some kind of deception, and shouldn't be trusted?

Maddy rose from her chair hurriedly and hobbled to the door, wanting to peek at what Ryan was going to do. But as soon as she approached, the door suddenly opened again. The girl instinctively recoiled and felt herself falling.

"Damn." - She blurred. In the next second strong hands wrapped around her waist, stopping her fall and the next thing she knew she was already in the arms of Ryan. His smell surrounded making her head spin, or maybe it was a sudden fall ...

"Are you alright?" - Maddy heard his rough voice from above, which for some reason made her shiver.

"Yes," -she could only squeeze out, afraid to even think about looking at his face. Her cheeks, evidently flushed like two tomatoes already. But when she heard his quiet laugh, the girl jerked and looked up, instantly feeling irritated. She was ready to throw some taunts as her gaze met with his green eyes, which were now a little darker, and as deep as a pond covered with duckweed. The words stuck in her throat, and a wave of guess bumps passed throughout the body. Ryan's laughter also broke off, and his eyes darkened even more. They were hypnotized.

"Let me go!" - Maddy demanded, pulling herself out of this strange stupor. Although her voice sounded somewhat weak. She was ready to try to wriggle out of his hands herself but noticing how Ryan's eyes flashed with the warning paused.

"You wanted to get into Brian's office, right?" -He grunted, bringing his face closer to her. Maddy again felt his oppressive aura thickening around, and of course, it made her even more annoyed.

"Yes! But I can..." - She spat out, showing with all of her that she could handle it. But Ryan squeezed her cutting the rest of the sentence, and turning abruptly, opened the door.

"Then be quiet! Try not to draw attention to us." - He ordered, leaving the office. Forcing Maddie to choke on her own angry words.

Fortunately, in the corridor, they met no one. Ryan sauntered with an absolutely calm face, as if instead of a girl he had a pack of paper in his hands or some other utterly ordinary object. For some reason, that made Maddy feel a bit disturbed. She was no potato sack for him...

"Come on, Maddy, pull yourself together!" - She cut herself off, feeling that her thoughts were going to some completely irrational side. - "Just let him think of you as potatoes or a stack of papers. Lana is right, you can't mess with him! Only today and that's it! Then we will separate and go our own ways!"

But something inside suggested that everything would not be so simple.

While the girl was immersed in her own thoughts and tried in every way to isolate herself from the realization that she was being carried to the place of a future crime like a princess, which in itself was somehow strange. They have already managed to reach Brian's office. Ryan did not even say anything, just grabbed the girl more comfortable with one hand as if a big box and took the keys out of his pocket, unlocked the door.

When the door slammed shut behind them, Maddy began to squirm, really trying to do it quietly.

"Let me go now." - She hissed ominously. Ryan stopped and raised one eyebrow with a grin and looked at her with a challenge.

"Or what? You'd scream? - He said mockingly and without waiting for an answer, took two steps towards the table and threw the girl right on the chair. Maddy barely had time to grab onto the armrest so she wouldn't fall to the floor. That made him chuckle.

"Whoever thought of sending you to this case? You are the most ridiculous person for the role of a spy! And with this leg. Jesus! My cousin must have been crazy!" - He snorted, moving to the wall.

"Your cousin has long gone wrong in his head. But the idea belongs to my brother. Who also could have a few loose screws." - retorted Maddy, turning to the computer and switching it on.

"What does he have to do with this anyway?" - Asked Ryan in a relaxed voice as if just trying to fill the silence with small talks.

"They called it Mates or something. In short, he is a boyfriend or a betrothed of this Ruslana girl. I still don't fully understand all that fairy tail like thing." - the girl responded, diligently focusing on the computer screen and trying not to pay attention to the imposing figure against the background of the bluish wall, although her eyes bagged to turn in that direction.

"So you already know everything about Mates ..." - Ryan drawled with a sigh as if addressing no one. Maddy frowned for a second, looking away from the screen.

" So what?" - She asked, glancing at his indifferent face. Why did she suddenly feel that he was upset about this insignificant information?

"You'd better hurry." - Ryan prompted with irritation, making it clear that he does not want to continue this topic. But Maddy wasn't going to give up so easily. Moreover, the process on the computer was launched, and the program itself would be able to find the necessary file, and there was no way she'd miss the chance to poke at him if it seemed such a sensitive topic.

" I can do several things at once, you know? So you can not worry and tell me why you were upset by the fact that I know about Mates. You didn't look particularly upset about the fact that I learned of shifters existence before." - Maddie pointed, trying to catch at least a hint of what this man was thinking in the expressions of his face.

Hearing her question, the guy at first scowled slightly, regretting that he had said too much, and then abruptly turned around and looked her straight in the eye.

"I'll tell you as soon as we finish, so hurry up!" - He said, and cunning sparkles appeared in his eyes.

" You bet I will!" - Maddy answered with a challenge, not wanting to give up, and turned back to the screen, deciding to ignore the impudent guy for now.

The desired file was found quickly enough. Brian explained to her in detail where to look first. But just to make sure, the girl decided to turn on the recording to check if this is precisely what they were looking for.

Greg managed to tell her only in general terms about what was happening. Therefore, at first, Maddy did not understand the essence of the conversation at all, but Ryan, judging by how his fists clenched, and the face turned almost in tone with the bluish wall behind him, apparently grasped on what was happening quickly.

" This crazy b*tch!"He growled through his teeth. - "She actually did it!"

Maddy looked at the furious guy uncomprehendingly.

"I remember you were saying that you didn't give a damn about the pack's affairs," - she decided to clarify, not understanding what could have caused such a reaction from this conversation. Ryan flinched at her words as if he had completely forgotten that the girl was still in the room. He exhaled slowly and ran his hand over his face.

"This is not just about the pack anymore, Maddelin. It seems your brother, and Brian himself does not understand at all in what dirty mess they meddled." - His quiet voice with a strange hiss made a chill run over the girl's back. Only after a couple of moments, she finally realized that it was not only because of what he said. His eyes actually transformed again, but now she was able to see that moment as a translucent eyelid appeared on both sides of the eye. He blinked, but vertically and his eyes instantly changed.

"I can't tell you everything yet." - Ryan began, thinking that the horror that hit the girl's face was due to what he said.

"What the hell!?" - Suddenly blurted Maddy jumping from the chair, noticing another feature of the guy. - " Who cares about that right now!? Maybe you'd better explain to me what the hell wrong with your tongue? Or is it two tongues? Jesus Christ!"