Alpha Kowen
Chaotic!
Disorganized!
Total topsy-turvy!
"How can you mess up such a simple task?" He couldn't help but slam the folder into the table after learning that his secretary had given him the wrong file. "Such incompetence." His temper blew, finding such a rookie mistake unacceptable.
He must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Since that morning, nothing seemed to go right. Blunder kept piling up, one after another.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Caldwell." Annie lowered her head, clearly apologetic and scared after she had screwed up the documents. "I know how important those papers are. I really didn't mean to switch the file. But you see..."
Hearing his secretary's trembling voice only made him more annoyed. For him, there was no room for mistakes, especially when he was dealing with a multimillion-dollar deal.
"I don't need your fucking excuses. Go fix this." He cut her off before she could say more, dismissing her from his sight.
The young woman scurried away, clearly afraid to get the brunt of his anger.
"You nearly bit her head off, Kowen." Kael chuckled, mocking him and sounding entertained.
Clearly, his wolf was unfazed by his foul mood.
"Shut up, Kael, unless you want to be next." He threatened him, closing his eyes before he completely lost it.
But before he could get some semblance of peace, another voice interrupted his thoughts.
"What's wrong with you? I can hear you shouting from the end of the hall." Nash barged into his office without waiting for an invitation, taking up the chair directly in front of him.
"And I found Annie in tears." His friend pointed at the woman outside his office. "What did you do? Don't you know that she just lost her grandfather?"
"I told her not to report to the office, but she insisted on coming because she had work to do. Can you at least give her some slack?" Nash continued, his eyes nagging at him more than his words.
Suddenly, he paused, surprised to hear that he wasn't aware of this. Usually, he was the first one to hear about these things.
"Why didn't she say something?" He asked, puzzled and a bit guilty.
Ashamed that he had taken out his anger and frustration on his work, especially on his secretary.
"Maybe you didn't give her a chance." Nash pointed out the obvious. "Anyway, what's wrong with you? You look like you're a ticking time bomb. What's got you all on edge?"
"It's this merger. Then, those damn missing rogues." He blurted, pushing the files before him and turning away from his desk. "What's taking Leo from finding who was responsible for all this?"
His eyes darted to the view outside his massive window, but he only saw one thing.
The image of her.
"Fuck!" He wanted to blame the problems in the company and the pack, but he could not deny the truth. He hated that he could not stop thinking about her.
That woman was messing with his mind. She was fucking up with his life. And what bothered him most was that he couldn't do anything about it.
"Damn, you need to get laid, Bro," Nash responded with a sly tone. "You look fucking tense. You need to loosen those nerves."
"Why don't we go out tonight? Grab a few drinks. Maybe we can get lucky..." His friend winked at him through his reflection on the glass window.
"Nash has a point." Kael seconded. "I think it's time that you go after our mate."
"Once again, Elyana is not our mate." He countered.
But why did his heart skip a beat every time he thought about her?
"If you're not thinking about her... then why were you shouting her name in your sleep?" Kael asked, niggling at him, like a bee that kept buzzing incessantly in his ears.
"Both of you." Referring to his wolf and friend. "Do you have a death wish?"
"First of all, I don't need to get laid." He turned to his friend with a sharp look. "Second, we have more important things to do than go out and get wasted."
Particularly, when he still had no idea who their enemy was. It was a risk that he was not willing to take, especially after what happened last time.
Their investigation might have identified a few suspects, but without concrete proof and sound evidence that pointed to the mastermind, he could not rest or lower his guard.
But Kael was right about one thing. He had to figure out his connection to her. There must be a reason why fate kept crossing their path.
"What's the update with Elyana?" Since she started a week ago, he had not seen her yet. He had avoided attending meetings at his Publishing business and had conducted them at the Storm Headquarters instead.
"Aside from what you already know, nothing." Nash shrugged his shoulder. "She went to work, did her task, and went straight home."
"Hmm!" That was not an indication of guilt for doing wrong. But it was still too early to tell.
Until she was proven innocent, he could not remove her name from the persons of interest.
"Anyway, speaking of an assistant, Mr. Maddox insisted that you take on Tyra under your wings and make her your apprentice. Your father has already approved and signed it." Nash announced unceremoniously, as if it had not been a big deal.
"What?" But it was. The last thing he wanted was to be blindsided by his father, especially about his personal life.
"I'm sorry, Kowen. There was nothing I could do." Nash looked apologetic, but he could bet his friend was having a field day with his situation. "By the way, she's starting on Monday."
"Damn! Kowen, Tyra's nothing but trouble." Kael just spoke his mind.
"You can't keep pissing off your father and Mr. Maddox, not when the entire Council is pressuring you to get married." Nash reminded him, probably sensing his terrible mood.
"Remember, you need all their support if you want to be Alpha King." Again, his friend told him, patting him on the back. "Anyway, are you sure you don't want to come with me tonight?"
He shook his head, dismissing his friend. Drinking would not solve anything.
After an hour of silence, working through several piles of documents on his table, he finally called it a day.
He grabbed his things and walked out of his office, stopping by Annie's table.
"I'm sorry about your grandfather." He said to his human employee, trying to sympathize with her loss. "I want you take next week off to deal with your family."
After all, even if they were beasts in human eyes, they still shared the same emotions. They still felt pain when they were hurt. They still bled when wounded. They had broken hearts when they lost their loved ones.
As he drove home, he realized too late that he had turned the wrong way. Instead of going to his left, he went the other way. Eventually, it led him to his other office— the one he had been avoiding this week.
"What are you doing?" He asked himself as he stared at the familiar tall structure before him.
"Admit it... You're staking her." Kael's voice echoed in his ears. "You want to see her."
Stalking?
"No!" He abruptly denied it. "I just want to confirm if she's not a spy brought to us by our competitors."
It was too much of a coincidence that she accidentally bumped into him twice. Then, slept with him. Now, she was working for him.
As far as logic was concerned, that was the most rational explanation for his action.
"Ok, Kowen. I'll play your game." Kael conceded, but his tone hinted that he didn't buy it. "If that's what will make you sleep at night."
"Just shut up, Kael." He truly disliked his wolf when he acted like a wise ass.
Nonetheless, Kael came from a long line of ancient werewolves. He was assigned to be his wolf because of his wisdom and strength.
He admitted that Kael had helped him to become the Alpha that he was today. He had relied on his wolf's guidance in handling many situations he had encountered in the past.
But in the case of their mate, Kael was just another dog in heat. He's blinded by their so-called attraction, unable to differentiate lust from a true mate bond.
"There she is." Kael notified him as soon as a woman exited the main door of the office building.
Under the darkness of the street, behind the wheel of his car, he watched her enter an expensive, heavily tinted vehicle.
From her profile, he understood that she came from a wealthy family. Therefore, it was odd that she chose his company as an intern.
With her family's influence and connections, she could easily get a better position in another publishing house.
"What are you doing at my company, Elyana Pryce?" His eyes watched the car as it drove out of the driveway and into the street.
With a swift movement, he also maneuvered his car out of its parking spot and back into the traffic.
"I'll eventually find out what your game is, Elyana. You can count on it."