A strange sense of shame flowed through me, after spending so many years as this woman’s “substitute”. Tara walked up and smiled gently. “You’re an assistant in the CEO’s office, right? Was it Taya?” I tried to calm my pounding heart, lowered my head, and nodded. “Yes, that’s right, Ms. Thorin. Nice to meet you, Taya.” Tara looked at the time on her watch. “ I’m going to hold a board meeting in half an hour.
Can you make me a coffee and bring it to my office? I need a little pick-me-up.” I was a little hesitant. Griffon was still there, after all. But I hadn’t resigned yet, so I had to do whatever Tara asked. I had no choice but to nod, thinking I would ask Brielle to bring the coffee to my place. “Thank you. Tara walked out with her head held high, the textbook image of a confident, powerful she-wolf. Her self-assurance and brilliance were a stark contrast to me. I was a counterfeit Tara. Useless, something to be discarded once the real thing was attainable. I stood there motionless for a while before I collected myself, exited the bathroom, and went straight to the break room. I made a coffee and went to ask one of the others to take it to Tara’s office. However, they had already been called upon to perform other tasks, so I had to deliver them myself. Timidly, I knocked on the office door. “Come in, please.” Tara’s gentle voice came from inside.
After taking a deep breath, I summoned the courage to enter. When I opened the door, I saw Tara sitting on Griffon’s lap. Although I was mentally prepared to see Griffon, I hadn’t expected this sight. My hands trembled, and I struggled not to spill the coffee all over the floor. Afraid that the two of them would notice my discomfort, I quickly lowered my eyes and pretended nothing was wrong. Ms. Thorin, here is your coffee.” “Just leave it here, thank you.” Nodding, I put the coffee on Tara’s desk, then turned to walk out. I managed not to look at Griffon once the whole time. After leaving the office, my legs buckled. I leaned against the wall to regain my balance. The way Tara sat so comfortably in his lap… It reminded me of how Griffon would pull me into his lap the same way, how he would position me like that when we had sex. Although Griffon and Tara weren’t doing anything explicit, my mind was flooded with images of them together before, moaning and grinding and making love to each other. I imagined Griffon’s hands touching Tara’s body while she sat in his lap, the same way Griffon had touched me first. No… that wasn’t correct. It wasn’t me that Griffon touched first.
He had definitely made love to Tara in that position, and so many more, long before I ever came along. Because I was just his replacement lover. I pressed a fist against my chest, trying to force my heartbeat to slow, fearful that my weak, human heart would stop. I struggled to return to my desk, wanting to quit as soon as possible. There was no way I could bear to see the two of them so happily in love in front of me every day. My few remaining days on Earth would not be spent watching that. I was afraid I might even lose it and walk right up to Griffon in front of everyone in the office, weeping and asking him why he couldn’t love me like I loved him. After I finished writing my resignation letter, I went to ask Lila to approve it. Lila had never really liked me. She didn’t try that challenging to convince me to stay, and only said a few words before agreeing to approve my resignation.
The whole process would take a month, and I couldn’t leave immediately, so I had to take two weeks of annual leave first. I worked at the Midwest Packs Association for five years, and the annual leave I had was fifteen days. It would make sense for me to take a break before resigning. Seeing that I was rushing, Lila couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “I can approve your leave, but as soon as it’s over you’d better come back and finish your work before your last day.” “Okay,” I replied. Then, I picked up my bag and left. As I hurried out of the company, I saw Roman Starke, Beta of the Starke Pack. He was a well-known creep in Arcadia, and he loved to play with women-regardless of whether they wanted to play, too. I was scared when I saw him walking toward me, a wolfish smile on his face, so I quickly turned around. But Roman was quicker. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms. “Where are you going in such a rush, baby?” He lowered his head, leaned close to my ear, and gently blew against me. His warm breath in my ear made goosebumps rise, and I shivered in disgust. I pushed Roman away desperately before I could think about any possible repercussions of resisting a Beta in public, but he held my waist tight. “You smell so good…” He pushed his nose into my hair and inhaled deeply, his hands moving upward to my breasts .While Griffon had always wanted me to smell nothing like myself, Roman’s wolf was the opposite.
Had Roman not been such a creep, I might have actually appreciated that Roman wasn’t trying to make me something else to be attracted to me. I pressed down on his hand and hissed out, “beta Starke, please behave yourself.” “Behave? Why should I? That defeats the purpose of being an Alpha,” Roman said mischievously, nibbling on my earlobe. Roman may have looked unassuming, nothing like most of the other gruff Alphas and Betas in the Midwest region, but he was far worse. I turned my head, disgust shining in my eyes as I looked at him. But Roman didn’t care. In fact, it excited him even more. The more a woman resisted, the more his wolf wanted to conquer her. And the fact that I was so resistant to him turned him on even more.
Everyone knew this about Beta Starke. Though, the fact that I had no wolf to bow down to the dominance of an Beta was probably why it was easier for me to tell him no, although he could kill me with one slash of his paw. Roman lifted my chin with one hand and caressed my cheek with his fingers, letting his claws come out just slightly. “Beta Starke, please. We hardly know each other.” I dipped my head, shying away from his touch. Roman had first targeted me when I went to deliver documents to the Starke Pack a month ago. Since then, he has often come to the Midwest Packs Association offices to harass me under the guise of business. Whenever he met me, he touched me inappropriately or harassment set me with rude words. I needed this job, needed to keep the Alphas and Betas as happy as possible due to my lack of wolf. I couldn’t afford to offend Roman, and so I’d always endured his harassment. But now that I had nothing left to lose, I was no longer afraid of him. Unexpectedly, although I treated him coldly, Roman was not fazed. He gripped my face. Maybe we aren’t close,” he growled, “but if you accepted my Offer to spend the night with me. We could get to know each other much better.” He was persistent, I had to give him that. I pushed him away. The more I resisted, the tighter his grip became. I was sure that the points of his claws would be indents in my skin; hard enough to leave a mark, but not hard enough to bleed. He kissed my cheek, forcefully. The feel of his ice-cold lips on my skin almost made me puke. Just as I was about to punch Roman in the face, I heard a voice behind me. “Griffon?”
When I heard that name, my body stiffened. I slowly turned from Roman’s unwanted embrace and looked toward Griffon, who was standing in the elevator. I couldn’t see his expression clearly because I was too far away, but I felt his eyes staring at me without blinking, could see the glow of his wolf in them. The coldness emanating from his gaze seemed like it could devour me instantly. As soon as Brooks Thorin, an elder and the chairperson of Midwest Packs Corporation, walked in, he saw Griffon.He quickly walked over. “Griffon, why are you here today?” Only then did Griffon look away and reply to Elder Thorin. “I brought Tara here.” Gone was the cold wolf, and instead I watched as his “mask” came on and his demeanor changed. Elder Thorin nodded satisfactorily and said, “Thank you for your time. Tara hasn’t even been back twenty-four hours, and you have already run her around.” “It’s my pleasure to escort your daughter, Elder Thorin.” Griffon nodded his head politely. Go on ahead. Don’t
Roman wasn't concerned about my feelings and tore off my pajamas. When his calloused hand touched my lower back, I screamed in fear. “Roman!” The deafening scream stopped Roman’s wandering hand. But he only paused for a moment before pulling at my clothes again. I could sense that his wolf was taking over, and if that happened even more, I wouldn’t be able to get through to him. I’d experienced it when Griffon’s wolf took over, and no words could get through to the animal. Likewise, I regretted not bringing a baseball bat to the door to beat him to death.“Roman, if you dare to rape me tonight, I promise you’ll see me back in court tomorrow!” Roman’s hand paused again, but then he sneered, as if he had heard a great joke. “You think I’d be afraid of seeing you in court? A Beta against a Little girl with no wolf?” he scoffed.I clenched my fists. “I know your pack is powerful, but I swear I’ll make your scandal public!!” “Sure, go ahead. It’s been awhile since I made headlines anyway.”
Just as I was done with my preparations, Roman sent his assistant, Mason, to pick me up. Sitting in that Maybach, I thought Mason would drive me to Roman’s place, but I was taken to a mall. Stylists and makeup artists surrounded me, curling up my waist-length hair and applying exquisite makeup to my face. I was dressed in an expensive evening gown, tailored to fit me perfectly. A diamond necklace that was worth millions was placed on my neck. I looked at myself in the mirror. Noble, elegant, and refined. But I didn’t feel like myself. I looked more like Tara.If Griffon had seen me like this, he might have thought I was trying to mimic her. I smiled bitterly. Finally, I was all dressed up, and Mason took me to Nightshade. It was the largest nightclub in Arcadia. The people who came Here, they were either rich or powerful, both human and shifters alike. Species didn’t matter…only money and power. The place could guarantee these people their privacy. There were virtually no security cam
It seemed that Griffon was not interested in Roman's comparisons. Roman said nothing more and led me to sit opposite him. As soon as we sat down, a man in an expensive suit opened a bottle of wine and handed it to me “Taya Palmer, right? Can you drink? I didn’t know who this man was, and the suddenness of his offer made me feel uneasy. I hesitated, unsure of what to do. I wasn’t sure if he was a wolf or not, so I didn’t know if he was offering me regular wine, or wine laced with wolfsbane. Wolfsbane would kill me. Seeing me hesitate, the man suddenly smiled. “Don’t worry. There isn’t any wolfsbane in this.” The man’s gentle demeanor put me at ease. I accepted the wine and took a small sip, but I still felt unsure about drinking it.The woman sitting next to the man noticed my hesitation and began to sneer. “Beta Starke, the girlfriend you found is awful. Preston kindly poured her a drink, but she was too scared to drink it. How rude.” Preston… This must be Griffon’s cousin, Preston Kn
Let’s draw lots now. Each pair that draws the same number has. To switch seals. And no sitting next to each other! Khloe put the paper balls on the table and paired up those who drew the same number automatically. There were four players in the first round, and the others would line up. Those who got the numbers 1 or 2 played first. Unfortunately, I got number 2. I raised my eyes to look at the other side. It turned out that Griffon had gotten the number 1, which meant we were in a hostile situation. Khloe, who had also gotten the number 1, raised her eyebrows at me as if to say, “Wait and see.” “What about the other 2? Who got it? After hesitating momentarily, Preston opened the paper ball in his hand. He smiled at me and said, “I’m not good at playing cards.I have to count on you.” I responded with a smile that was uglier than crying. I was a well-behaved girl who always listened to the orphanage director when I was young, listened to my teachers in school, listened to my boss, and
Roman took the opportunity to hand over a bottle of wine. “Alpha Knight, why don’t you let Taya pour a glass of wine for you?” Roman had wanted to see me undress in front of everyone, but he quickly realized that I was his date and that he had publicly referred to me as his girlfriend. He would look like a fool if I took my clothes off in front of everyone-especially an Alpha. And that was the only thing that saved me. Preston reacted quickly and agreed with Roman. “Let her buy a glass of wine as punishment. Pour After that, he signaled me to pour wine for Griffon. How…how was pouring him wine a punishment? I looked up at Griffon.His face was blank, and I couldn’t figure out what he was thinking…if he was thinking anything at all. He’d been holding a glass of wine all evening, but I’d yet to see him take a sip of it. I didn’t know what kind of wine was in his glass, if it was laced with wolves bane or not. I mustered the courage to pick up the expensive red wine on the table, walked
As I kneeled, Khloe laughed with delight, while Preston frowned and the others looked on as if they were watching a show. Roman showed no emotion, only ambivalence. Only Griffon, leaning back against the sofa with one arm stretched across it and his legs spread wide, looked down at me with a smug look across his face. There was no mistaking who the Alpha in the room was, and Griffon clearly knew it. I couldn’t help but think of the hundreds of days and nights we had spent together, but suddenly, it all felt like it wasn’t worth it. I’d thought I could leave with dignity, to escape this place and these people, but I should have known better. This was the cruel reality of our different social statuses. I had slept with him for five years, destined to be trampled under his feet. Stomped down by his status as an Alpha, wolf, and billionaire. However, I had only a few months left to endure. With this thought, I found a sense of calm. I kneeled, poured the wine, and handed the glass to Grif
Taya My whole body stiffened. I didn’t dare to move, afraid of getting Roman even more aroused. I fought to suppress my disgust and keep calm. “Bela Starke, when I fall in love with you one day, I’ll be bold enough for you, too.” Roman pulled me against him, my dress still soaked in red wine, pressed against his chest. He lowered his head to kiss my neck. “I can’t wait that long.” After saying that, he lifted my dress until it was bunched around my waist and started to unzip his pants. All the color drained from my face, and I struggled with all my might.But all that did was turn Roman on even more. He held me even more tightly in his arms and clamped his teeth down on my neck harder. “Beta Starke!” Trapped, I could do nothing but hopelessly try to press my hands against his chest. I frantically looked around for my bag. Sh it. It was on the opposite sofa, too far unreachable. My palms were covered in a cold sweat, anxiety spreading through my body, but I had to force myself to calm