Page 18 of Primal Bonds 1

Chuckling, he ruffled the boy’s hair and said, “Clean up for me, won’t you? There’s the TV.” He pointed to the large screen attached to the wall on the other side of the room. “My study room has a few fiction books if you’re interested in reading. Food in the fridge. Eat whatever you want.”

Shiro nodded. “Thanks, Adam.”

With another ruffle of the boy’s hair, he headed out the door.

Outside the luxurious apartment building, Adam noticed men in black suits hanging around the area. Of course, they were never going to leave him in peace, ever since the day he had walked out.

He headed over to one of them, and the moment he was close, the man bowed his head. “Boss.”

Fuck! Still boss, eh? He knew it was Nolan’s doing, and Adam reminded himself to give that bastard an earful when they next saw each other. Of course, it was only natural for the big boss of any mafia clan to have bodyguards around him, but that didn’t apply to Adam. He was a monster when it came to fights. Although getting hit by silver bullets seemed to be a different story, but there was always Chase, the miracle doctor.

Adam knew that the clan knew he had taken Shiro in, which meant the boy would be protected even if he wasn’t around, which ironically enough was a plus.

Despite disliking his every move being monitored with a passion, he took full advantage of the situation presented to him. He didn’t beat about the bush and instructed, “Keep the boy safe. If I find even a scratch on him, I’ll fucking kill the lot of you.”

Without even a flinch, the guy said, “Yes, sir.”

Adam turned on his heel as the man proceeded to relay the instructions to the others.

You can’t just walk away from that life, eh?He supposed Chase was right. Fuck, he had thought he had done such a fine job at that, too, living what seemed like a normal life. Now what? The moment a beautiful foxkin boy was in his care, he just nonchalantly reverted to acting the high and mighty mafia boss he used to be, just as he hadnonchalantly walked out on the job six months ago without as much as a by-your-leave. Not that he had truly done that though—nonchalantly walking out on the job. For Adam, his every action had a purpose and meaning.

It was half an hour later when he walked into his very normal-looking office, which wasn’t an office, according to him. It was just one of the many small cubicles among others in a large, open space of a floor in a fifty-story building in the heart of New York City.

He took off his scarf, sat down on the chair, and powered up his laptop. Hence,workcommenced as per usual. It was just about lunch break when a colleague in the next cubicle rolled his chair over and said, “That was fun yesterday, right?”

Adam didn’t respond.

“We should do it again,” he said. “The girls said they had fun.” He looked to the other side of the office space.

Adam flicked his gaze in that direction, too, and noticed a woman smiling at them. Debra was her name, and she had been clinging on to him yesterday evening during the after-work drinking get-together.

Blond hair, not white, and green eyes, not azure-blue. Nope. Not interested. Not one bit.

“I’ll be honest with you, Dave,” Adam said. “After-work drinking is now off-limits. Fair to say I didn’t particularly enjoy last night, although I’m glad I went and I appreciate your invitation.”

Because really, it was thanks tothatthat Adam had happened to walk past that shitty alley at that time of the night and chanced upon Shiro.

“I have a little fox back at home to take care of,” he said.

“A fox?” Debra’s voice came his way, and Adam turned to see the woman now standing on the other side of his cubicle. She looked both intrigued and concerned. “You have a fox as a pet?”

“No,” Adam said. “I found him beaten up on the street so I took him home.”

“Oh, you adopted it,” Dave said. “You’re a kind man, Adam.”

“Maybe you should take it to the vet or a zoo?” Debra suggested. “They’ll know what to do with it and maybe even return it to the wild.”

How fucking clueless were these two? No wild fox had ever been able to enter New York City or even escaped from a zoo without getting caught. Besides the fact that they should have understood he was referring to a foxkin. But of course, to these normal people, beastkin were like cockroaches; when seen they felt the need to eradicate but once out of sight, it was out of their minds.

Adam said, “He’ll get checked tonight.” He looked at his wristwatch. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a few things to do.”

“You got stuff to do at lunchtime?” Dave asked.

“A few minor things,” Adam said as he got up from his seat. After putting on his scarf, he headed out the door.

7

Shiro