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We drive into the city. Whatever their argument was about makes the entire car drive tense. You can feel the tension sizzling in the air, their anger radiating out of them like a dark cloud. It is suffocating. After driving for ten minutes, the atmosphere becomes too much.

“What’s going on? You two have been glaring out the windshield the entire way.”

“Nothing you need to worry about, Addie. Everything is fine,” Eli says, and I hear Cyrus curse under his breath before glaring at Eli through the rearview mirror.

“Obviously, something is going on. I would have stayed home if you two were just going to glare and grumble at each other.”

“Where we go, you go,” Eli says, and I roll my eyes.

“Whatever,” I tell him, looking out the window.

Eli growls at me.

“Don’t take out your grievances on her, Eli, or you and I will have problems,” Cyrus tells him, pulling over to a parking spot in the underground car park.

“We already have problems, Cyrus. Until you do as I ask, that won’t change,” Eli snaps back.

“Not happening, Eli, so deal with it.”

“Deal with what?” I ask, confused over their lovers’ quarrel.

Cyrus goes to speak when Eli grips his shoulder. Cyrus ignores him, instead turning in his seat to look back at us.

“Eli wants to complete the bond. He wants me to mark you with or without your permission because he is paranoid about you running off with your ex,” Cyrus says.

“I gave you the phone, didn’t I?” I ask, looking at Eli.

He shrugs, not caring.

“Doesn’t change the fact that you need to be marked, and the sooner, the better. I am sick of waiting,” Eli snaps at me before opening his door and getting out. He slams the door, stomping off.

“I won’t do it, Addie. You don’t have to worry,” Cyrus tells me.

“What if he forces you?”

“He can’t. I wouldn’t, even if he tried. I want you to want me to mark you. Until then, I will wait.”

“But it’s causing problems with you and Eli,” I tell him, and he looks at Eli’s retreating figure out the window.

“We have been together for a long time. Addie, you don’t have to worry about Eli and me. We aren’t going anywhere even if we do disagree,” he says before opening his door.

We walk through the parking lot before walking through some sliding doors that lead to a small foyer. This building is only three levels, a lot smaller than the building back home.

“This is the head office. Mainly we work from here, but we don’t need to be here daily. The manager is doing just fine, so we probably won’t stay long. We just wanted to show you around. We mainly only come in for big meetings,” Cyrus tells me.

One thing I do find weird, though, is that there are no females here. Even the secretary at the foyer counter is a man. Curiosity getting the better of me, I end up asking as we walk down the gray hall toward their office.

“Why are there no women?” I ask, noticing yet again that their personal secretary is also a man.

“We don’t like working with women. They become an unnecessary distraction.”

“A distraction?”

“Yes, all the ones we have hired tend to continuously throw themselves at Eli,” he answers with an annoyed expression.

“They don’t do that to you?”

“I tend to be less approachable,” he answers.