Chapter 3 | The Alpha

~Kiki~

I froze at the look of his fuming face and shut the engine off. Pushing the door open, I was about to step out when I saw that I had knocked off one of the bike mirrors when swinging the door open.

Why doesn't the ground next to the curb just open up and suck me in? He looked like he was going to swallow me whole when the earth refused to help me escape.

"What the fuck, Kiki? Are you drunk driving or what?" His usually deep and calm voice was seething with anger and agitation, and so was his face, which was typically void of any expression when he saw me. 

I bit hard on my lower lip to stop my chin from trembling and shifted on my feet anxiously. He moved his hands off his hips and yanked his damaged bike from under the car.

To be honest, it didn't really look that damaged except for the missing mirror. And perhaps a few scrapes here and there. Oh well, everywhere. Damn!

After several beats of silence as he inspected the damage, his eyebrows scrunched up in a frown, making my blood run cold. What if he wanted me to pay a hefty sum of money to compensate? His bike was a limited edition Ducati, so it would be easily over two hundred thousand dollars.

With the eighteen dollars an hour I made times twenty hours a day—well, I needed at least four hours of sleep—that's three sixty dollars a day and close to ten thousand dollars a month before taxes. About two years to pay off? That's not bad at all if he was willing to wait, but I could work only three hours a day transporting stuff and not twenty hours.

All the other work I did at home and at the packhouse was supposed to be done for free, as I was branded the omega. At this rate, I would owe him money even after ten years and---

His fingers snapped in front of my face, rasping out my name.

"A-alpha... it was, I mean I was... I-I."

Pathetic!

That heavenly scent of bergamot and sensual white musk made my nonexistent wolf come to the surface every single time he appeared so close to me. Everything else faded into the background.

"Stay out of my way!" I flinched at the utterly terrifying coldness in his voice and stepped back.

"You got that?"

I nodded quietly, unable to meet his narrowed eyes... Those eyes with the most beautiful shade of blue and gray. They were more gray than blue today.

With knots in my stomach and a pounding heart, I gave him another curt headshake when he did not move. What was he looking at? I lifted my gaze to meet his eyes and felt naked to the bone when I realized he was just staring at me. The strange expression on his face caused sharp little goosebumps to race down my back. What was he thinking?

"Alpha?"

"Mm..." 

He seemed to be lost, and I used this opportunity to take in as much of his sexy face; thick arching eyebrows, a classic Greek nose, and a strong square chin. His sleek bronze locks were tousled from the motorcycle ride, making him look a lot more rugged than he already was.

"Close your mouth, Kiki." 

What? And he was gone.

What the hell just happened? There was some kind of strong invisible magnet pulling us towards each other.

Alpha Kayden was old enough to know if I was his mate even though I needed to wait for another month, that is, if I had a wolf inside me somewhere in there. He would have known I was his mate three years back when he had turned eighteen. I definitely wasn't. It was impossible for werewolves to restrain themselves for even a couple of weeks without claiming and marking their mates.

Then what was that look in his eyes? He was certainly drawn to something about me. It was like one of those strange dreams that I got sometimes where I had seen a beautiful woman, with glowing golden eyes and hair, singing the sweetest melody I ever heard. Men, women, and children were mesmerized alike by that sweet song and were walking towards her in a trance.

I looked nothing like her. I had cinnamon brown curls and an equally brown shade of eyes. There was nothing golden about me, except maybe my skin, which had a golden undertone.

Dang it! I forgot what time it was. My boss was definitely going to fire me. I can't even blame my dad for this anymore.

Jumping into the car, I rushed to my multiple destinations on the mainland; fresh meat from one place and a lot of produce from another warehouse. I was supposed to pick turkey and venison from a different place, but there was no time for that. I will have to tell my boss they were out of fresh stock.

Lies came to me pretty easily, and people bought them as readily. Sometimes I wondered if I had some manipulative creature dwelling within me instead of a wolf. My charms didn't work on my adoptive parents for some reason, but everyone else seemed to buy my stories quite effortlessly.

I skipped the sunflower farm as well as there was no time to pick flowers. Filling up about two thirds of the truck, I sped back to Two Harbors and got them unloaded at the dock. The truck was empty by the time I went to five different loading docks in various corners of the peninsula.

The coconut vendor located near Palm Beach was ready with his stuff by then. I was supposed to deliver a truckload of coconuts, palm fruit, and various products like coconut milk, oil, and scented bath products his company made. It all went to the mainland from the peninsula, and I loaded up on more goods over there before making my return trip to Twin Harbors.

After three hours of driving and loading and unloading stuff, I was home to get ready for school. I was supposed to make lunch before that. Mom had asked me to make some garden salad and crispy smashed potatoes along with meatloaf. After quickly putting everything together and cleaning up the mess, I packed my lunch and went out to see if Benji was ready.

"Alpha Dimitri was looking for you in the packhouse," Megan told me as she returned from somewhere. 

"Gosh, why, do you know?" 

She shrugged. "No idea, but he's waiting."

The cons of not having a wolf... I had no mindlink and was always relying on someone else to convey such messages. None of the pack members believed in using cellphones to text such things. Can't blame them. I am the only human in this pack.

I found Alpha Dimitri in his study, drumming his fingers against the desk, which was filled with papers and files. He was scrolling through some information on the computer. I took a seat at his command and waited for him to finish whatever he was doing.

Being summoned to the former alpha's office wasn't a good sign. Unlike the cool and collected Alpha Kayden, his dad was hot tempered and tended to snap at me ever since I failed to shift the first time.

He threw a bulky binder file aside and looked me over with his slate gray eyes. How warmly those eyes used to crinkle around the corners every time he saw me until I turned thirteen. He definitely had something bad to share with me today.

"So, Kiki, your dad tells me you are going to be eighteen next month."

"Um, yes, Alpha."

My parents didn't care to remember my last four birthdays. Alpha Dimitri looked at me with some deep disappointment before getting up from his seat and walking over to a photo frame on the mantlepiece.

"Do you know who this person is?"

He showed me a picture of two young, handsome men. The one with ash blond hair and pale blue eyes looked especially dashing. The other man was Alpha Dimitri, probably when he was in his mid-twenties.

I shook my head in a no.

"I never saw him before."

"Of course, you didn't. He was killed before you were born. He is your dad. Alpha Wyatt of the Red Crescent Pack. "

My eyes flittered between the two men in the picture before looking up at Alpha Dimitri in shock. This couldn't be my dad. The man I saw in my dreams had green eyes and inky black hair. I vividly remember his warm voice and affectionate smiles as he threw me up in the air and caught me with those brawny arms.

"With your mom's seductive looks and your dad's combat skills, I expected you to be unstoppable. You do look like that cunning witch, but you got nothing on Wyatt. It's such a shame."

Witch? Who was he calling a witch? My mom was so pure and beautiful, and I loved that I got her looks. I didn't have the guts to contradict the former alpha.

"I'm sorry, but I have to let you go, Kiki. This pack has no place for humans."