Chapter 15

Laurie's flat was a twenty minute walk away normally, but the two of them achieved it in less than ten.

Iris pressed the button on the intercom and waited sickly to see if her sister was even there.

The wait seemed to last forever, but just as she was about to give up and dig out her bundle of keys, there was a hollow sounding hum.

"Hello?" the echoey voice sounded wonderful to Iris as she leaned closer.

"Laurie it's me."

"Iris!" there was a pause, and then a buzz. "Come on up, Iris."

Although Iris now new that Laurie was safe, she knew that she would still not breathe easily until she saw her in the flesh – until she could look her sister in the eyes and know that she was okay.

She marched across to the central elevator and punched the button.

Laurie would have pressed another button on her intercom to allow the elevator to come up to the top floor, and sure enough as they stepped into the little box, the top floor light was lit up on the control panel.

Iris pressed the button next to it and the doors closed and then a second later, the box lurched into motion.

Laurie was waiting for her on the top floor, and the first thing that Iris thought was, 'she looks excited'.

"Iris!" she exclaimed again happily. "This is nice ... and James?" her eye brows went up in surprise.

She led them into her apartment, and once the door was closed, Iris explained.

"I missed your text earlier, and when I tried to call you – and you did not answer I got worried ... why didn't you answer?"

They sat down in Laurie's living room, and Laurie blushed guiltily. "I was in the shower; I didn't even hear my phone."

"Oh, well anyway James was with me – at the office, when you did not answer my call, and so he insisted on coming with me to make sure that you were okay."

Laurie looked puzzled. Iris had always been protective of her, but this seemed excessive even for her.

"I am sorry that I missed your call," she looked at James anxiously. "And I am really sorry that you were inconvenienced like this."

James smiled at her in reassurance. "Iris helped my younger sister and me earlier today when her little boy took sick with chicken pox, so the least I could do was walk around here with her – after all it was because she was helping me with my personal troubles that we were still at the office at this time in the evening."

"But any way..."

"It's nothing, Laurie, a cup of coffee perhaps will more than make up for it."

He was obviously teasing her, and Laurie smiled with relief.

"Of course." she sighed happily as she stood up and walked through to her kitchen.

Iris and James, sat in silence for a moment, but then Iris spoke quietly. "I'm sorry too, James, but after what had nearly happened, I guess I wasn't thinking straight, I was overwrought and I guess that I just panicked."

"And like I said to Laurie, I owed you one anyway, so don't you worry about it either ... and I do understand why you panicked as well."

He smiled at her, and as their eyes met and locked, the bond reasserted itself, and her green eyes glittered.

The gold flickered into James's brown eyes and he let out a low husky growl.

"Don't make any plans for this weekend," he ordered. "I think that I should take you back to my country place."

Iris nodded weakly as she once again surrendered to his authority.

"I guess I should go and give Laurie a hand?"

"Yes, do that."

As her boss, James would never speak to her like that, even though he was her boss and therefore in charge. But for the wolf in each of them there had to be an order of command. James was the one who was in command and Iris's wolf knew and respected that, just the same as she had always bowed down to her father's authority.

"Why did you want me to ring you?" she asked Laurie, as her younger sister placed cups on a tray.

"Oh it was nothing ... silly really."

"Oh?"

"I just fancied a chat..."

"Oh? About anything in particular?"

Even though she was standing with her back to her Iris sensed something in Laurie.

Suddenly she turned around to look her in the eye, and Laurie's blue eyes were lit up with excitement.

"It's just that I met my neighbour for the time today ... he rode the elevator up with me."

"Oh, did he seem nice ... what did he look like ... did he say anything?" Iris guessed that this was important to Laurie in some way.

"He was tall, I mean really tall – like James, he had dark hair and really dark eyes – almost black ... he only said good afternoon to me and that was it, I think after that I did not even exist to him..." Laurie looked peeved at that thought. "But for a moment our eyes met ... and well..."

"Did you bond with him?" Iris asked in shock.

Laurie shrugged her shoulders and her gaze fell away from her sister's awkwardly.

"He was just so strong ... I could not help myself ... I knew that he would always be able to protect me."

She shivered and her smile faded. "Of course he did not even realise, he will not understand what happened, so..."