022 Alpha's Temper

The Alpha was NOT in a good mood.

 

Ever since Raymond came back from his dinner plan with the Whites, Theo had yet to see a single smile from him, not even when he was with Mathilda. He basically escaped from home and hid hide at his work all day.

 

No one knew what went wrong. All they knew was -- they got more workload and it got harder to please the already hard-to-please boss.

 

"Alpha?"

 

Raymond's eyes shivered when Theo's voice snapped him out of his deep thought, but he didn't want to admit that his mind had been wandering for he didn't even know how long.

He found it quite hard to concentrate these days. The serenity of his quiet life was gone and he couldn't restore it when he was doing the exact same things he had been doing before -- before Evelyn showed up.

The thought of her frustrated him.

"Continue," With a frown, Raymond waved his hand at Theo.

 

Theo: "..."

 

Should he remind his Alpha that he just asked a question?

 

"So..." Theo's brain turned at full speed to avoid the potential chaos of Raymond realizing his own mistake and then yell him for it, "we will continue the monitor over the Whites and--"

 

"No need to," Raymond rubbed his nose bridge before digging into the file in front of him again, "...speaking of, I need you to--"

"Mr. Reid," The landline on Raymond's desk rang, and the receptionist's clear, flat voice rose, "Miss Ava White is here to see you."

"Send her up," Raymond answered before he hung up the phone, and Theo smirked, taking his hint instantly--

"I'll leave you to it, Alpha. Maybe your next conversation won't bore you as much!"

"Wait, I still--" Raymond frowned, but Theo was already out of the door.

Raymond: "..."

He knew Theo could feel he was off recently, and it seemed that Theo assumed Ava was the cure.

But he knew she wasn't. How he wished she was--

At least Sisyphus allowed a night with her which he also enjoyed; at least she was eager to do it again if he wanted. But he didn't want it. He was so enticed by that magical night before he met Ava, but like all magic, his midnight talk with Ava also lifted the magic, leaving him with no desire to do it again. His desire lay somewhere else.

The past week was like a tooth-aching sweet dream -- he had the most wonderful night with a mysterious girl that lured Sisyphus enough to want to mark her, and he met a fun opponent that was a daredevil but also cute and fierce. Though she drugged him, yet instead of revenge, he only lust for another dangerous yet fun fight against her.

But he no longer had a reason to--

He asked Theo to go to the Whites for the pen, and did all the analysis he wanted just to confirm his deduction. It WAS his inky fingerprints, and there was no trace of the black tulip in there. It couldn't have been Evelyn who drugged him, unless she had some magic that could extinguish the drug from the ink and yet reserved his own fingerprints!

 

His battle with her was only a fun dream. And like all dreams, he woke up with nothing left.

 

And now with no evidence that Evelyn drugged him, his desire to talk to her was even more of a dreadful realization because he no longer has any excuse to cover it up.

Ava's knock on the half-closed door Theo left for her snapped Raymond out of his thoughts.

"Miss White," Raymond snapped out of his torturing train of thoughts, and sat up straight to show respect, "please do sit."

Ava sat across him in a graceful move, smiling at him with sparkles in her eyes. She wore a low collar today with a short skirt, and she leaned in with her elbows landing on Raymond's desk, her breasts almost touching the table's edge.

If Raymond had a faint smile when Ava walked in, it was now gone.

Ava's attempt at seducing was too obvious and awkward to raise any interest in him, but that wasn't even the problem.

Her wolf did not claim him, making her seducing move a total abandonment of that mate, and Raymond felt it was worse if she actually WAS his real mate but just couldn't recognize him because of his wolf's special situation, because that would make HIM the one who's abandoned without even meeting his mate, which was his worst nightmare every day he went to sleep knowing he might have already met his mate but just couldn't recognize her.

"I assume that you have made up your mind?" With a business tone, Raymond grabbed his pen and turned his notepad into a new, blank page -- he has a habit of starting a new page for each guest to avoid mixup.

"I thought you said I can come to see you," With a jokeful tone, Ava pouted her red burnished lips, knowing they were glittering an expensive lipstick.

"...about the wish that I promised you," Raymond corrected Ava with an indifferent tone, tapping his blank notepad with his pen.

"Why are you pushing me away?" Ava furrowed her eyebrows, her eyes turned watery with a wronged face, "You enjoyed that night, didn't you?"

Raymond pursed his lips. He did. That night was amazing, and it had such a strong taste lingering in him that he could barely get it out of his head.

Ava curved her lips -- she made a bold gamble, and she won. Raymond knew Evelyn poisoned him, and he should be dumping his wrath on at least Evelyn, and from his reputation, her whole family. But he didn't. He was very nice to Ava throughout the night!

Ava didn't know whether it was because Raymond enjoyed the night with Evelyn so much, or he just took an interest in her, but either way, she bet there was room for her to maneuver him, and she was right.

Raymond tolerated her very much.

Ava stood up slowly, walking around the table in a luring catwalk, and watching Raymond's eyes followed her body with only a light frown and no other objection. Though she was jealous that Evelyn had such an influence on Raymond, she was filled with rejoyce that the influence belonged to her now.

All she needed was to lure Raymond into bed again before he realized that he got the wrong girl. And if she could get him to mark her, even better.

Remembering how Raymond's wolf growled at her, Ava didn't push Raymond too far, but just stopped right by his side and leaned on the edge of the table with her thigh barely touching his.

Raymond didn't dodge.

[I'm warning you...] Sisyphus got riled up at Raymond's indulgence fast, his eyes furious as Ava got closer.

[You wanted to mark her, remember? Don't you want another taste?] Raymond's body was tense because he was prepared to fight over control with Sisyphus this time. He didn't want to scare Ava like last time.

"I gave up my mate the moment I gave myself to you, Alpha," Ava murmured, finger walking on Raymond's arm but nothing more, "I wouldn't dare to dream about the Luan's title, but I just want what we had the other night. It was special to me...wasn't it to you?"

Raymond gulped at the vague memory of that luring night.

With caution, Raymond took Ava's fingers under Sisyphus's tacit permission. He bent his head and pressed his lips on the back of her hand, feeling her texture, and Ava followed his lead and sat on his lap, an arm thrown around his neck.

Raymond's body froze stiff, and feeling that, Ava giggled.

"You weren't this shy that night..." Ava whispered by Raymond's ear, letting her lips brush against his skin, getting a tremble out of Raymond.

[Get her off me!] Sisyphus growled when Ava's lips touched their ear, goose bumps covered Raymond's arm.

[Give her time, Sisyphus,] Raymond closed his eyes, trying to match the mysterious girl from that night with Ava as he trailed his hand down Ava's back to her waist, [You remember her fine lines, don't you?]

[...her curve was more muscled that night...] Sisyphus finally grunted reluctantly, like a kid throwing a tantrum.

Raymond let out a low chuckle at his childish wolf's lousy denying, and Ava took that as a good sign before she suddenly bent her head and took Raymond's lips, and instead of a gentle kiss, Raymond bit her lips, and before she could realize what happened, Raymond burst out in a roar and threw her to the ground with a sudden push, and her head hit the table hard with a loud bang.

"Ouch!" Ava cried with tears of humiliation, sitting under Raymond's table, but he was already out of his chair, meters away from her.

[Her taste is off!] Sisyphus growled, so furious that his eyes turned red as he went berserk in Raymond's mind, successfully knocking Raymond to the side before he took control and growled at Ava: "Bold of you to lie to me, woman!"

"What...?!" Ava blurted, her eyes opened wide in fear that she forgot how to speak.

[We were under drugs!] Raymond fought Sisyphus for control, [I don't even remember her smell! Can you fucking calm down first?!]

"I don't like her!" Sisyphus growled at Raymond, too out of control to realize he shouted out loud, "I told you she's NOT our mate! We had a mate! We have met her!"

[Fine! I won't touch her again! Just give me control and we can talk about it!] Raymond gasped in shock, but he knew getting back control was more important. He couldn't afford to have Sisyphus loose in a building full of people.

Ava curled up in the little space under Raymond's desk with utter fear gripping her tight. She had never seen a wolf go berserk, let alone a powerful Alpha. The spouting Alpha Aura pressed her down like a nail, and she could barely breathe, let alone move.

"Boss! Are you alright?!" Theo dashed into the room in haste. He heard Raymond's loud shout from rooms away, and instantly he realized it wasn't Raymond, but the wild beast inside him.

"I'm fine..." Raymond rubbed his temples with a hand, gasping for air after his fight with Sisyphus, "check on Miss White."

Only now did Theo realize that there was another person in the room. He quickly got Ava out of the desk, trying his best to hold back the million questions in his head when he saw Ava's messy clothes.

Office play went wrong?

"Get her whatever price she asks for" Raymond rubbed his head in frustration, "and get her out of here."