CHAPTER TWO

Before I opened that door, if someone had told me that the sight behind it would change my life forever, I would have doubted it with everything in me.

A human being is supposed to be made of just flesh, soul and spirit, right? I mean, as I stood there, mouth agape at the scene unfolding before me, all i could think about was that the movies never got their predictions accurately. The didn't capture the guttural sounds and how horrific it was, the flesh splitting without any drop of blood coming out and the speed at which this process happened.

A man I had known for the past two years since I graduated from the university after accruing a load of student loans had a wolf clawing out of him or was it the other way around? I was too dumbfounded to tell. But my boss was shifting from human to a brown fur wolf and I couldn't help the scream that poured from my throat.

My arms had involuntarily began to shake, and my mind couldn't focus on anything for a few seconds. A white noise had started from my right ear and it was so debilitating that I'd stamped my feet on the ground for it to stop. It didn't until I realized it was actually the sound of my own screaming as I watched the scene before me.

When I got my throat under control, trying to breathe instead, I realized something was wrong.

"M..Mr Jayden?" I whispered in disbelief and hearing my own voice without the screaming seemed to snap me out of my reverie and I took in the situation I was in.

There were five people in the very tense atmosphere and they were all staring at me, a hostile expression on their faces.

My boss who had been growling at the visitor turned to me, his eyes blood shot and very angry. He growled at me and I jammed the door and took to my heels, terrified and scared to my bones. I knew I needed to run, I just walked in on something very weird and I didn't want to die for that. They looked like they could kill me with just a snap of their fingers or worse, those claws that looked sharper than a blade.

Luckily the elevator had just gotten to the fifth floor and as the occupant exited, I ran into it, continuously pressing for the ground floor and hoping it closes before they come after me.

Right as the elevator began closing, my boss's driver who was in there with them ran out first, followed by my very naked boss and his visitor. The driver, Tuscan ran at the door with obvious inhumane speed but thank goodness for technology, the door closed right before he could touch me.

I was in the elevator, shocked and panicking at what I had just witnessed. He had changed so fast that if I wasn't running for my life, I would have been intrigued.

I couldn't stop my hands from shaking and I was struggling to stand up straight; I struggled to comprehend what I had just witnessed.

As I slowly crumbled on the floor in that elevator, my mind began to finally make sense of the oddities of my work environment. It made sense that my coworkers looked just the way they did. I may not know much about supernaturals but the movies and novels I read during my break periods showed them as super strong and physically perfect.

The women here looked like models.

I mean, they could have been walking on runways and some could pass off as celebrities but they were here making a decent amount of money. I even joked with Tara last week about her wasting her talent in the marketing department. She could have been working for Versace, with her long legs and beautiful facial features. She laughed it off, telling me she was happy with her job.

At my office, strange things were always happening but I could never have guessed it was because the owners and their staff were supernatural. Why on earth they employed a plain Jane like me, I'll never understand it.

The elevator hit the ground floor and I began panicking. I obviously didn't plan this properly, what if they had taken the stairs? My Boss rarely used the elevator and I always wondered why.

The elevator doors opened and I prepared to make a run for it. But there was no one there. It was business as usual with everyone running around the lobby, attending to some high end client or other.

I nearly ran into someone as I was looking around in panic, searching for my assailants.

“Aurora, why do you look like you've seen a ghost?” Cherie asked me.

I eyed her with suspicion. She was definitely one of them. They probably sent her to capture me back upstairs, I thought, eyeing her with suspicion

So I decided to act normal to avoid her getting me. This place was too open so that ruled out any direct attack from them.

“It's nothing, I needed to get that file to Mr. Ken before the regional manager got to his office and I missed them by a hair's breadth so I'm going to get ice cream. I need to be prepared for the hell he'll rain on me later on” I explained, winking at her as I walked past her through the automatic glass doors of our office complex.

I quickly hailed down a taxi and ran into it without looking at the driver.

“631 County, please be fast” I told the driver.

“Yes Ma'am.”

I looked up in shock. I had just walked into the cab driven by Tuscan, my boss's driver.

“Please, I beg you, let me go. I don't want to die so early, I will take this secret to my grave I promise” I begged, tears pouring out of my eyes uncontrollably.

The thoughts that poured through my mind made my fear heighten.

What if this was like the Mafia movies where they shot anyone who knew too much. I obviously knew too much and now they had sent this man to kidnap me.

While I begged and pleaded for my life, he put the car on child lock and rolled the windows up.

I cried like a baby, hitting the windows and hoping for someone to notice me and rescue me.

No one did.

“Miss, I'm not the one you should be begging, even though I don't see the point of it. But you are being taken to our Alpha and he will decide your fate. For now, it's best to comport yourself as it's going to be a difficult few days ahead” he finally deemed her worthy of a response and after which he focused on driving her to wherever it was they were headed to.

I took out my phone and tried dialing 911. The moment it rang, he quickly reached out and grabbed the phone out of my hand, making me scream.

He cut the call and pressed a button that turned the windows a shade darker.

No one would see me or try to help out. It finally dawned on me that I've been kidnapped by the very people I'd worked for the past two years.

It was an over four hours journey and when they got to the place, I had to pick my jaw off the floor. There was an iron gate that led to this beautiful little village, or at least, that's what they tried to create.

There were cute little cottages all over the place with a fountain right in the middle of the place. The street lights were obviously for decorative purposes as I assumed they wouldn't be very bright at night and when we went a little further down the road, we came to a huge mansion.

It looked like a giant apartment building but with sophistication. People were milling about, involved in one activity or the other. I was staring abashedly at everyone and everything, surprised at the beauty before me. Although it was humongous, it had a nice aesthetic to it.

The driver parked the car and came to my side and opened the door. I was about to make a run for it when he grabbed my arm.

“Don't even think about it. You wouldn't last two minutes out there and there's nobody coming to rescue you so you have to follow me. It's your only safe option” Tuscan said, closing the car door behind me.

I grumbled in irritation but followed him regardless. I didn't have much of a choice but I knew that if they tried anything, I wouldn't go down without a fight.

On the drive here, I had managed to create a plan in my head. The moment I had the slightest opportunity, I'd make a run for it. Quite basic but I had a good stamina and could run for a long distance without getting tired so I had high hopes of escaping before they discovered I was gone. Hopefully, they just wanted to warn me about keeping their secret, which was wishful thinking but I held onto that.

Tuscan led me from the car pack all the way to the entrance of the huge building and we walked in. People were milling about and at the sight of us, they paused and stared, increasing the panic I was already feeling. With every passing second, my plan of escape seemed dumber than I thought. This was a group of people and inside of them were ferocious beasts, how can I run?

"Tuscany!!" a man came out from what seemed to be a huge dining room and greeted my captor. "Who's the pretty girl? I thought your big bad Alpha banned y'all from human meat?" He asked and my blood pressure spiked.

Why didn't I think about that? What if they were cannibals?

"Geez Dante, don't scare the girl more than she is already. She just needs her mind cleaned," Tuscan responded, walking past him to an elevator. The brute whistled at the sight of my back and I rolled my eyes in irritation.

We stepped out of the elevator and walked down a few doors before getting to one that had the "Alpha's office" inscription on it. Right before opening the door, the driver paused and looked at me.

“Look, when we get in there, avoid anything that might suggest disrespect. And don't look the Alpha in the eye except he asks you to which I'm sure he won't. If you want to leave here unscathed, you must do as I have said, understand me?” He said in a whisper, which I considered weird. Nobody could hear us all the way here.

I nodded to him regardless and he proceeded to open the door.

At first, it felt as though I'd switched on a light bulb after being in darkness for far too long, my body charged and filled with anticipation. I was still terrified, knowing fully well that there were no blue linings across the dark clouds for me. Father would probably be happy to have me out of his hair now, and I won't have my death on his hands.

I looked around the huge office, the floor length glass window overlooking the rest of the pack. Before I could survey it further, a hand tugged at mine and I remembered i was supposed to have already been on my knees by now.

Great, I was going to be killed way quicker, I'd thought.

Quickly, I went down on my knees, praying they didn't consider the delay an insolence of some sorts; their rules were just weird.

"Alpha, Beta Jayden asked me to bring her to you. He didn't want to deal with her himself, she's been working for him for a while,"

"Hmm. So they have a bond of sorts," I heard the man's voice and despite my situation, I realized it was the best thing I've heard. Masculine, sexy and for some crazy reason, I imagined him saying it to me while driving himself into me across that wide table.

His approaching figure wiped the stupid imagination away from my mind immediately.

The Alpha who upon closer inspection, had perfectly polished Italian shoes got up from his throne and walked down to where we knelt.

"Yes Alpha," Tuscan responded, his voice meeker than I'd ever heard it. Whatever this cult was, they really kept their members under control.

“Human? Look at me” he commanded, his voice sending strange signals down my entire nervous system.

I obeyed without protest, not daring to disobey him. He had an aura that suggested he could kill me without even straining himself.

Our eyes connected and a strange look crossed his brown eyes before he smiled, and then he uttered the word that af time, I didn't know was going to utter the course of my entire life.

“Mate"