Coming back from the office, Alaric headed straight to his bedroom, where he expected to find his little prey still sleeping.
Today was the first time in his life that he didn't wish to leave the bed, but there was an urgent matter at the office that needed his urgent care, and there was no way he could dodge it.
Opening the bedroom door as gently as he could so that he wouldn't wake her up, a chuckle escaped his lips when he found the bed empty.
Not wanting to assume what first came to his head, Alaric walked to the bathroom, slid the glass door open, and found it empty.
Shaking his head, with a smirk playing on his face, he took his suit jacket off and threw it at the edge of the bed.
He flopped himself on the unmade bed and reached for the blue note stuck on a tray that held a plate of fried eggs and a glass of juice.
Before leaving, he went to the kitchen, cooked breakfast for the first time in his life, and took it to her upstairs.
He thought she would be too sour to walk when she finally woke up, but he was greatly mistaken.
"How did you manage to sneak out in a house full of guards, doll?" He asked, still chuckling. "If only you could know how ladies fight for my bed, you wouldn't have run away."
He crumpled the sticker note and threw it on the table. He had written to her, telling her that he would come soon to see her.
He had explained that he had an urgent matter to attend to, but who knew the woman would have left even without reading the note?
Heading to the bathroom for a quick shower, Alaric changed his suits and walked out of his room.
The only reason he had gone home early was because of Adolphine, but she wasn't there anymore.
When he took her to his villa the previous night, he thought things would end the same way they always did.
He thought that when taking her, alcohol would wash away from her head, and she would cry, asking him to let her go, but what happened was the complete opposite.
"Where the hell have you been all my life?" He asked inwardly, a smile curving up on his face.
His bodyguards, who had noticed that he had been smiling all by himself since morning, exchanged glances, asking each other through mind-link what had happened.
All of them had no idea what great thing had happened; thus, all they could do was stare at him as he smiled to himself as if he were possessed.
It was unusual of him to be at home at that time, and that increased their curiosity.
"All of you, gather here." Alaric motioned for them when he finally sat on the couch. "I would like to tell all of you that your salary has been increased by thirty percent."
"W-what?" The bodyguards asked in unison.
"When good things happen to our lives, we are supposed to celebrate, or don't you all want a pay raise? I can always..."
"Thank you, Alpha Alaric." The guards quickly bowed in gratitude when they realized what he was going to say next.
Who knows when they'll get a good opportunity again? It was better if they grabbed it as quick as it came.
"You can all leave now. Go and take a rest." He waved his hand in the air, asking them to leave.
Confused and with questions in their eyes, they left for their independent time.
Alpha Alaric was about to ask his chef to bring something sweet to him when the gateman rushed in.
In front of him, a beautiful lady wearing a maroon body hugging dress, black goggles, black heels, and a maroon designer purse clutched in her hands strode in.
She elegantly walked toward him, ignoring the gateman, who was asking her to leave.
Strutting like a model in a runaway, the lady stopped beside Alaric and complained, "Alaric, look at him. He's harassing me. Fire hm!" She demanded with a pout on her face, which turned into an evil grin when she faced the man.
"Alpha, I swear. I didn't harass her. I was just following your orders." The gateman defended himself.
"It's okay, Alvis. Go back to your job; I'll take care of her." Alaric responded.
"Thank you, Alpha." The guard bowed, flicked a mocking tongue at the lady, and then rushed out of the room.
"What do you want, Angelica?" Playing with his glass of water, Alaric asked, without raising his head to look at her.
"Is that a way of welcoming someone who likes you?" Angelica asked, wrapping her hands around his neck.
Slowly and seductively, she trailed her long, slender fingers on his neck area and unbuttoned his shirt.
She then reached for his bare skin underneath and drew circles on his chest down to his nipples.
"I asked, what do you want?" Alaric asked again, yanking her hands away from his chest.
A look of displeasure wore over his eyes, making the happy glint he had while thinking about his nightstand disapper.
Displeasured, Angelika rubbed her wrists where Alaric had put pressure while yanking her hands away and went to sit on the couch across him from the table..
"I just missed you. Or am I not allowed to visit you anymore?" She asked, her big eyes showing hints of sadness.
Alaric sighed and ignored her. Angelica was a family friend. She used to stay abroad but came back home the day he was sworn in as the successor to Wood Pack.
Ever since then, Angelica has refused to go back abroad. When asked, she would always say that she had some business that she needed to take care of in City Z before flying back, but Alaric knew that was a lie.
Angelica liked him, and that was why she stuck around, hoping that he would one day love her.
He had wanted to tell her that he would never love her because she was not his type, but he never did that.
He always let her do what and that made her grow bolder and bolder with each passing day.
"Didn't you miss me?" Her voice echoed, jarring him from his thoughts.
"I have better things to take care of than missing you." He rudely responded, sipping on his glass of water.
Pain flashed across Angelica's eyes, but she was quick to hide it with a smile. "I don't know if I should be mad or sad." She responded.
"Alaric, you know that I like you, right?" She rose from the couch and walked to his side again.
She lifted the hem on her dress, exposing her milky skin, before sitting on the couch's armrest.
She snaked her hands around Alaric's neck again and leaned in to kiss his cheek, but she was again pushed away.
"I've always let you do what you want, Angelika, but you are now crossing the line." He warned in displeasure, his lips pressing into a thin line.
He rose from his chair, smoothed his suit, and then called for the guard, who often acted as his driver. "Show our guest the way out." He ordered him then turned to walk upstairs.
Angelica hissed at the guard, picked her purse from the table, and stormed out of the living room in anger.
"Continue treating me like an outcast, but I swear, I'll make you fall in love with me." She swore before entering her car.
Upstair's Alpha Alaric picked up some documents he had earlier left in his room and headed downstairs.
There was a meeting he was supposed to handle in an hour, so he decided to go back to the office and prepare for it.
At the office, he found something else going on. The moment he arrived, his secretary followed him behind, telling him that there was a man in the meeting room waiting for him.
According to the secretary, the man had arrived at the office right after he left, demanding to see him.
"What does he want?" He asked, sitting on his chair and swivelled on it to face the secretary.
"He said the receptionist treated him unfairly. Of course I told him that we could take care of that, but he wanted to tell you that in person." The secretary explained.
"For how long has it been waiting?" He asked, hanging his suit jacket on the closet hanger just beside his desk.
"Four hours." The secretary responded, and then ran over to the other side of the room to pick up the files that Alpha Alaric had accidentally pushed over the table.
"Let him wait much longer. And yes, tell the interior designers that I need this desk changed. I need a bigger one." Upon saying that, he dismissed the secretary.
Alpha Alaric swiveled on his chair to stare outside through the ceiling to the floor window. A minute later, a knock echoed at the door as his head bodyguard walked in.
"Alpha, our warehouse in city C has been set on fire." He reported it with a tablet in his hand.
The head bodyguard handed it over to him so that he could see the damage done.
The other subordinates from that place were the ones who had sent the pictures to him.
"Whose son of a bitch did that?" He asked, clenching his jaws. "How much of our goods are damaged, and is there anyone who is affected by the fire?"
"None of our subordinates were hurt during the fire, but unfortunately, eighty percent of the goods were damaged. They were preparing to fly them over to our clients before the fire broke out." He responded.
Smacking his fist on the table, he asked, "Have you found whose son of a bitch did that?"
"Not yet, Alpha Alaric, but we have caught two of the men among the culprits." He explained.
"Good. Force the one who sent them out of their mouths, and if they don't confess, you know what to do." he said and then waving his hand he demanded, "you may go."
"Ah, Alpha," the head guard called.
Raising his head to look at him, he asked with a cold glare, "What again?"
"Here is the information you wanted." He said this while handing over another tablet to him.
"Mmmmh," he hummed when the background picture on the tablet's screen flashed in his eyes. "You got the information?" he asked, taking the tablet away from him.
Leaning on his chair, he raised his left brow, asking him to say what he had found about that person.
"She is Adolphine Blazeheart. The only daughter of retired beta Arnos and retired huntress Amanda. She is currently the top model and actress in City X. She lives in a condo in the north-east."
"Amazing." Alpha Alaric nodded with a smirk on his face.
"One more thing, Alpha," the guard said, cutting away the smile on his face.
"What?"
"She's Adolph's ex. According to the information I managed to gather, Adolph cheated on her with her best friend, Anya. She was the first one to end their relationship, though."
"Adolph, my niece?" He asked with knitted brows, staring at the picture of the so-called Adolph that his head guard was showing him.
"Yes, Alpha."
"MMh." He nodded, drumming his long, lean, fingers on the table. "I am not surprised, knowing how Adolph is. Although I don't like the fact that he is the reason behind her sadness.
The head guard, Aeiid, stared at Alaric with his mouth agape. That must have been the first time in his entire life that he had seen Alpha Alaric care for someone like that.
"About this one, are you serious, Alpha?" Aeiid had no choice but to ask.
"You sure know me well, Aeiid, don't you?" Alpha Alaric asked sarcastically. "I asked you to run a background check on her, I woke up early to make breakfast for her, and even called the interior decorators to prepare a room for us, and you are asking if I'm serious about her?"
"Well, I..." Aeiid stammered, avoiding eye contact. When Alpha Alaric's gaze remained on him, he cleared his throat and reached to scratch the back of his head, a place that never itched at all.
When that still didn't work, he said, "There is one more thing you need to know, Apha."
"What?" he asked.
"She is Adoph's fated mate."
"I see." Alaric smacked his lips together, then rose from his chair. "She was betrayed by her fated mate just like I was. I didn't know we had the same sad history.
Aeiid bowed his head, cursing himself inwardly for bringing that up. It was an abomination to remind their alpha about his sad past, but his running lips couldn't contain him.
He opened his mouth, wanting to explain to Alaric that he didn't mean to remind him of his past, but he beat him into doing that.
"It's time we pay a visit, Aeid." He said this while putting on his suit jacket.
"To who? You have a meeting in the next ten minutes." He reminded him.
"To Adophine, who else? You have her address, right? And about the meeting, cancel it. I have better things to think about and attend to." Upon saying that, he walked out of his office to the garage.