what Samuel had told him and why. Any way he looked at it, it didn’t make sense. Unless William was a world-class actor and an excellent liar, there was far more to this story than met the eye. So why was William’s father going to crazy lengths to interfere with his life?
Chapter Twenty-Two
William knew he’d messed up once more, and with Harper dodging his calls again, he couldn’t do much to make up for it. He hoped that giving the omega some space was the right thing to do. It was hard to know where he stood where Harper was concerned. His feelings were complicated, their situation was growing more convoluted by the day, and William hated feeling like all of it was out of his control. In an effort to claw back some of that control and take the pressure off Harper, he made contact with Micah at the muse agency. Or tried to, at least. An unfamiliar voice answered the phone.
“Inspire Inc., Laine speaking. How can I help you today?”
“Uh… I was hoping to speak to Micah. This is William Riley.”
“Are you a current or prospective client?”
“Current.”
There was a brief pause followed by a soft tapping sound.
“Riley with an I?”
There was another way to spell it?
“That’s right.”
“Ah, here we are. Yes, I see. What can I assist you with, Mr. Riley?”
“As I said, I was hoping to speak with Micah. Is he working today?”
Laine hesitated. “He’s unavailable. I’m his manager. Is there something I can help you with?”
William didn’t like the idea of talking to a stranger, but he liked even less the thought of Harper being hassled by the agency during such a trying time.
“Yes, I need to pause my muse schedule for the next few weeks.”
More tapping. “I see. You understand that pausing your schedule doesn’t negate the contract itself? Your muse is still contracted with you, and payment will still be required.”
“I understand. That’s no problem.”
“And the reason for this pause?”
“There’s just a lot going on.”
“Mr. Riley, you do realize that utilizing a muse requires consistency to get the best results? Stopping and starting, taking breaks… it can hurt your chances of a successful Alpha-Muse relationship.”
There were so many more things hurting his and Harper’s relationship right then.
“I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.”
“Well, let me just review your compatibility matrix. I’ll be able to give you a more accurate assessment of how time apart will affect your progress.”
William was more interested in ending the call, afraid he’d say something that got him and Harper into trouble with the agency.
After a moment, he heard a sharp intake of breath. “Uh, Mr. Riley, I’m afraid I’m going to have to call you back.”
“Can we just finalize the—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the call cut off. Huh, that was weird. He was about to call back when his phone rang, a client’s name appearing on the screen. Back to work it was.
It was almost six that evening when his phone rang again. It was a little late for a client to call, but they had some demanding customers on the books these days.
“Hello?”
“Is this William Riley?”
“Speaking.”
“Mr. Riley, this is Francis Drake. I’m one of the senior executives at Inspire Inc.”
William had the sudden, horrible thought that his and Harper’s unorthodox muse relationship had been uncovered.
“Uh, hello.”
“I’m sorry to call out of the blue like this, but when Laine alerted me to your situation this afternoon, I realized this required careful handling.”
William frowned in consternation. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding. All I wanted was to pause our muse activities for a few weeks. I’m not looking to alter the contract at all.”
“It’s not about that,” Francis Drake assured him. “It’s an internal issue. When Laine reviewed your compatibility matrix, he noticed something that had been overlooked.”
“What’s that?”
William couldn’t imagine what they were going to tell him. If it was that he and Harper weren’t compatible after all, well, he knew that wasn’t the case.
“We screen so carefully and match so stringently for two reasons. The first is to ensure that the compatibility of our matches is sufficiently high, so that our alpha clients get all the benefits a muse can provide. The second is to make certain that compatibility doesn’t exceed safe levels.”
He understood all the words, but not the meaning behind them.
“I’m not sure I follow. What’s a ‘safe level’ of compatibility?”
Francis sighed softly. “We made a lot of mistakes during the early years of our business. It took time to accumulate enough