Alpha Kai

Claimed by the Arrogant Alpha

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Chapter 10: Alpha Kai

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Kai is not sure he had ever felt this hopeless.

He wasn’t used to not having control, and maybe that was why Alphas craved it so much. Kai can’t deny, he too needed it in his life.

But when it came to Jessica Hart, he was at a loss.

He couldn’t control him, and it seemed Kai couldn’t even control himself.

It was terrifying.

“She hates me. I screwed up,” Kai said to Yves, lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

Yesterday’s scene was on repeat in his mind, his idiotic words echoing. Shame overwhelmed him. “How do you stay so collected in front of Saint?”

“I don’t, but he gets me,” Yves chuckled as he typed on his laptop, sending a new musical arrangement he had created that day to his colleagues to continue touching up and editing. “From like the first second we met, we kind of clicked.”

“Jessica doesn’t…” Kai trailed off because the words, the mere thought, made his wolf growl angrily at him. Such thoughts didn’t belong. “Maybe I read into it all wrong. Maybe she’s not meant to be my mate. Maybe it’s just lust.”

Yves frowned, though at his laptop or Kai, he wasn’t sure because Yves’s eyes stayed glued to the screen. “You seemed pretty certain before.”

“I thought I was,” Kai grabbed a pillow and placed it over his face. “But… we’re not… it’s so… difficult.”

It’s probably my fault, though.

Yves frowned deeper (it was definitely directed towards Kai). “Well, you’re hard to read, you know.”

“What? So?” Kai knocked the pillow off of his face, turning his neck and pressing his cheek into the mattress to get a better look at the older.

“You’ve got this – this neutral, unreadable face,” Yves sighed and half closed his laptop screen. He tugged on his jumper sleeves as he thought. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way – it’s not a bad trait necessarily. It’s just, you’re cold to other people. I don’t know if you intend to, or you just do it unconsciously, but your voice is all flat and you literally have no expression.”

When Kai opened his mouth to protest, Yves hastily continued. “I know you’re shy and awkward, and I know you hate showing your emotions, but maybe the reason Jessica doesn’t quite understand you is because you’re not willing to let her.”

Kai stared back at him, sometime during Yves’s small speech he had sat up. Kai already knew most of that, when he got nervous he feigned indifference, but the last part threw him.

Was he really that guarded? Did he hide his feelings that much?

But, Jessica wouldn’t want to see an Alpha that could be all shy and bashful, would she?

Kai gazed at the floor, feeling even more helpless than before.

He was saved from answering, however, because their room door opened and Amir came in. The remainder of a grin lingered on his lips, and his eyes were shining.

“Hey,” Yves greeted him, as Amir put away his coat. “How was Natasha?”

Natasha, the Beta Jessica was friends with. Amir had taken to her very quickly, but Kai was too stressed about himself to even find it in him to tease the Beta.

“Fine,” Amir smiled fondly, and then gave Kai a suspicious look. “What’s wrong with your face?”

Kai glared.

“He’s struggling with Jessica,” Yves replied, leaning back on the wall.

“Still?”

“Mm.”

Amir exhaled loudly. “I’ve never seen you be so bad at something.”

Kai let out a frustrated noise, throwing the pillow at the Beta who ducked just in time. He pointed at him exasperatedly. “Amir is cold and mean – how did he and Natasha match so easily?” Amir walked away to the bathroom, whilst Yves pondered. “I mean, he’s way worse than me!”

“Natasha is bold and loud and it probably takes a lot to intimidate her. Jessica is probably bold too, but reserved when it comes to strangers, like you,” Yves said, running a hand through his blonde hair. “Also, there’s no status difference between Amir and Natasha. You, on the other hand, are an Alpha, and she’s an Omega. And regardless of that, you’re a successful CEO’s son, and she probably think she’s just anyone from a country town.”

“She doesn’t care about that,” Kai whispered.

Jessica had briefly brought it up, asking if he was looking forward to having his father’s company in the future, but Kai detected no selfish intentions in her voice (and he was most certainly an expert in picking up on those).

When Kai responded with ‘yes, but not anytime soon’ Jessica had just smiled, all sweet and beautiful – no comment about money, luxury, family status.

Any worries Kai had about Jessica liking him for his riches (though she probably doesn’t like him anymore) were eased.

“And she’s not just anyone.”

“Then tell her that,” Yves said. He raised a hand, as if to calm himself down. “Look, what I’m saying is, you have to step up a bit. Alphas are meant to lead and, I know you hate all this stereotyping – I do too, but you can’t deny the natural instincts we have from our ancestors. It’s biological, Kai, you have it in you.”

The two Alphas stared at each other as if in some form of silent encouragement.

Did Kai have it in him? His wolf rolled his eyes, offended for questioning himself.

“Wow, Yves, that was inspiring,” Amir deadpanned, stepping out of the bathroom.

Kai groaned, rolling onto his stomach and burying his face in the duvet.

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He had waited in the forest, heart beating fast, pressing his lips into a thin line.

He had hoped that Jessica would come again and Kai could drop all this nonchalant pretence and just explain himself, even if he turned into a rambling, awkward mess.

If Jessica was meant to be his mate, she wouldn’t mind. Maybe she’d find it cute, even. Kai’s chest flushed warm when he thought of that.

Hours and hours and hours crept by.

She didn’t come.

Kai lowered the beanie on his head and his hair fell into his eyes. He gave a dejected sigh.

Jessica probably didn’t want to come back here, not after what happened. Not after what he said.

Yves and Saint had mated earlier that day, and Kai had given his congratulations and felt very happy for them, and it gave him courage to want to do it himself.

That courage was slowly ebbing away.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and decided to head back to the hotel.

‘I’ll find Jessica tomorrow, for sure. I’ll ask Tasha or Saint or someone. I’ll ask her tomorrow.’

Kai watched a streetlight flickering on, illuminating a small area in light. He hadn’t realised it had gotten so dark.

He heard the sound of muffled music and bright lights shining a street or so ahead. Nightclub.

He didn’t need to pass it to get to his hotel, but he picked up on familiar scents and it made him stop in his tracks: Tasha, Amir and Jessica.

He took a deep breath before walking in their direction, eyes filling with concern when he saw Jessica leaning onto her best friend. Was she drunk?

Kai hoped it wasn’t because of him.

Natasha glanced up and saw him, and then scowled darkly. The hostility that came over the Beta was actually terrifying. It rivalled Amir’s, to be honest.

Tasha pushed Jessica into Amir’s unsuspecting arms and then squared her shoulders, jaw clenched. She walked angrily to Kai and a fist came flying before any words did.

Kai dodged out of the way, thank God for his reflexes.

Tasha didn’t seem to care that she missed, because a second after she was yelling, voice low and deadly. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Kai kept his voice steady and even. “Tasha, I –”

“You arrogant asshole! How dare you think you can fuck around with Jessica! Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“I’m not –”

“She is so upset because of you!”

Kai briefly wondered why Tasha was asking him all these questions if she wasn’t even going to let him answer. He heard Jessica make a sound of distress, and his wolf ached to comfort him. “I know, I want to –”

“You know? Then why aren’t you doing something about it?”

“Well, I’m trying –”

“Now you listen here brat,” Tasha began and Kai willed himself to keep his temper.

He was occasionally impetuous, but now was not the time to show it. Besides, he deserved it.

“You stay away from Jessi or I’ll make your life hell when I come to the city. She doesn’t need this from you!”

Now was also not the time to be feeling all mushy because Tasha said ‘Jessi’ and he thought that sounded adorable – the fact that it came from the Beta and not Kai was enough to keep his mind in check.

He let his Alpha side come out, just a fraction, before he spoke. “Please, I really need to talk to him.”

Tasha paused, a bit thrown by his change in demeanour. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jessica turn and look at him, and Kai matched her gaze.

He couldn’t help the way his possessive side flared at the sight of Jessica in Amir’s arms, when Kai so desperately wanted to be the one to hold her instead.

He hadn’t even gotten to yet, and the fact that Amir had got to hold her first made him green with envy. He knew Amir didn’t feel that way towards Jessica, and Tasha didn’t care so really Kai shouldn’t care either, but he did.

He cared a lot.

Jessica slowly pulled away from Amir and took a few small steps towards him, body shivering slightly.

“Jessica,” Tasha sighed but Kai gave her a pleading look, feeling very thankful for his doe eyes.

The Beta made a sound of dislike but gave in grudgingly, “Fine. Fine! But, I swear, if she comes back upset again I will –”

Amir had decided he saw enough, and maybe to cut Kai some slack.

He took Tasha’s hand and gave a light tug. “Alright, that’s enough you two. I think he got the message. Yes, I know, he’s a brat. Let’s go, Jessica will be fine. Right, Kai?” He cocked an eyebrow, waiting.

Amir was stern when he wanted to be, and this was one of those times. He had been mistaken many times for an Alpha himself.

Amir wasn’t glaring, but his eyes were brutal enough – Kai bit the inside of his cheek. “Yes, i promise.”

The two Betas left, bickering, but holding hands nonetheless.

Kai turned his gaze onto Jessica who was staring at the ground, arms wrapped around herself, hair falling into her eyes.

Kai wanted to gather Jessica up in his arms. “Hey,” He said lamely, but his voice was all round edges, a contrast to its usual sharpness. “I’m sorry.”

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TBC