Bruce paced up and down in his study which was adjacent to his office. He ruffled his hair excitedly.
Lyle had arranged for Mishka to come and sing at his house on the following Saturday.
"I hope she doesn't think that I'm too wimpy or too arrogant to make my own appointment?" he questioned himself.
He looked into the gold-rimmed mirror hanging amongst the paintings and checked out his image.
"I don't have anything to worry about, though. I know how she looked at me in the forest. She was just as impresses with me as I was with her," he murmured at his image.
"But, I shouldn't get ahead of myself. Remember what Lyle says. Date some models and so on and don't become obsessed.
So, now I didn't get to hear her voice properly this time. Will it sound the same indoors?" he asked himself with a deep frown.
"Anyway, she promised to prepare something short to sing when she comes. A pity that Lyle would already be home by then, but we can put him onto a video call, so he can still attend the session," Bruce concluded with a happy grin on his face.
"Now, what on earth was Jean thinking about herself, sending her irritating friend after me? Let me call her and give her a piece of my mind, even if Lyle advised me against it," he muttered from between jaws now tightly clenched from anger.
He walked over to his desk and picked up his cell phone.
The phone just rang on Jean's end of the line. He tried calling again. There was still no response.
"So, she's not gonna answer! Well, I can call her assistant, since they're helping each other, let her give her friend a message," he decided with his jaw set firmly.
He immediately dialled Theresa's number.
He had last seen her after he had followed Mishka to make sure that she got onto her boat safely. Theresa had then howled at him before disappearing through the woods. She had clearly not been impressed with his concern over Mishka. It had also been easy for her to realize that Mishka was only a human.
"Hello, so have you been to visit that blonde at her home? She didn't want you to escort her though, what a pity.
So, I guess you didn't go to her home," Theresa commented sarcastically as soon as she answered her phone.
"Tell me, did Jean send you to spy on me or was it your plan to just show up in the woods today?" Bruce asked, ignoring her comment.
"I heard about a picnic to which I wasn't invited, so I had to go and see what was so secret about it," Theresa responded.
"Oh, is that so? You don't live in this area, so why would you be invited to a local picnic?" Bruce asked.
"Well, I found out about it and since it was for the wolf community only, I thought that I should have been invited," Theresa responded. Bruce could clearly hear that she was lying.
"You mean you and your friend, Jean?" he asked. "Well, the two of you don't live in this area, so, why would you want to go on a picnic here? You do have parks near your homes, don't you?" Bruce asked.
"It's fun to travel to another place. Why not?" Theresa responded.
"You're trying to avoid my question, that's all. Jean did send you to spy on me. I think that's very pathetic, so the two of you should find better things to do with your time," Bruce remarked bitterly.
"You seem to have found someone very interesting in that blonde. Is she a wolf?" Theresa asked in a falsely sweet tone.
"She's a friend and my friends are none of your business," Bruce responded curtly.
"Oh, so you're going to play it out like that? Being arrogant to your clan members is not the way to act. You won't be feeling very happy in your new neighbourhood if I spread some rumours about you to the non-wolf community there," Theresa commented in a dry tone of voice.
"If you want to sabotage me here, I can do the same to you, wherever you are. Why don't you and Jean find yourselves real careers, then you won't be so interested in other people's business," Bruce asked in an irritated tone of voice.
"We don't need to prove ourselves to anyone and we have all the money that we need," Theresa responded in an arrogant tone.
"Then get yourselves some dignity and move on with your lives elsewhere. There's an entire world to explore out there," Bruce responded coldly.
"Oh, it seems like you forgot my warning? If you try to humiliate me or Jean, I will make your neighbourhood extremely uncomfortable for you," Theresa remarked in a slow, menacing tone.
"Is that a threat?" Bruce asked.
"I said that it was a warning. So, you can choose to live peacefully or you can choose to have all kinds of unwelcome situations coming at you," Theresa responded hotly.
"Okay, continue with your threats and I will report you to the head of the clan here and they can make your future very uncomfortable," Bruce responded angrily.
Lyle popped his head in at the door and then walked in at that moment.
"We will see who will win of you want a war then," Theresa responded in an angry tone of voice.
"I don't consider you or Jean as being worthy of any so-called war," Bruce responded.
"I've really upset her now. Good for her for trying to taunt and threaten me," Bruce told himself as he tried to avoid looking at Lyle, who always warned him against losing his temper with regards to Jean.
Bruce ended the call before Theresa could respond.
"Who's that?" Lyle asked with a raised brow.
"Oh, I just warned Theresa to stop trying to spy on me," Bruce responded.
"And then? I don't think that she responded well to that," Lyle remarked with a concerned look in his eyes.
"She threatened to cause trouble for me with the humans here," Bruce responded with a sneer around his mouth.
"Oh, you should try hard to ignore her and Jean. They're not worth the trouble. They will find something else to keep themselves busy with if you ignore them," Lyle responded in a level tone of voice.
"He's only trying to calm me down," Bruce told himself silently.
"I try my best to keep away from them, but they don't get the message. How can Jean have such a low opinion of herself? She's now spying on me, just to find out if I lied to her about not being here last night," Bruce commented with a frustrated sigh.
"It's hard to convince someone that you're not their mate when they're misled. We should find someone who will distract her. One of the male models, I think," Lyle commented with a serious frown on his brow as he tried to think.
"Oh? That sounds like an interesting idea there alright. Please continue?" Bruce responded with an amused look in his eyes.