Contract

Audrey was walking behind Andrew as he led her to the place where she would be staying for the period of her one-year contract as Alpha Lake's secretary.

She had just parted with her boss after the party was over, and he had refused to let her leave with him, so she made him promise to fetch her packed bag from her apartment tomorrow.

"Umm, this is more like a family house, but don't worry, you'll be staying with Alp-Mr. Aloha. Trust me, his place is almost abandoned, but in a good way." Andrew told her as they reached the Packhouse.

All the memories of the past came rushing through her mind as she walked into the Packhouse.

She remembered how she had slaved her days away and how she had brutally been dragged to the dungeon; once again, she was reminded of the reason why she hated him.

She could easily kill him with the snap of her finger, but she'd rather not waste her energy on something irrelevant, she had something more serious ahead of her and that was the reason she was here. She would focus on finding her amulet and leaving this horrible place the moment she found it.

She hadn't seen the Alpha since after the party and after sitting in the room for ten minutes and listening for a movement, she concluded that he was not home yet. she sighed, delighted.

She was not ready to face him again after the incident that took place in the restroom, thinking back to it made her heart start beating out of control again.

'He's ours.' Avery whispered.

"Yes, he is...wait, what?"

She sprang up from the queen-sized bed, frowning to herself.

She also saw and felt the signs like Avery and she knew the indication of what they meant, but she'd rather scrape her tongue with a sharp fork than admit to being his...she could not even bring herself to think about such a disastrous situation. She still remembered the last message Bill gave her before she lost consciousness.

Alpha Lake had sent him to kill her, and now, the moon goddess did her dirty by making that beast of an Alpha her mate.

Two enemies can't be together, It won't work between them, she won't allow it.

She would find a way to keep away from him, that way, Avery would forget what she felt today in the restroom; out of sight is out of mind.

Audrey looked around the room, it was beautiful and...directly opposite Alpha Lake's room. She was never allowed into this room, no one was allowed in here, it made her wonder why he chose to keep her here, in his secret room. what was he playing at now?

'Was this where he killed his victims?' Audrey thought in her head.

She would apply caution while dealing with him, the last thing she wanted would be to expose herself to him, it would make everything super difficult and almost impossible...almost.

Audrey found herself in the kitchen making dinner, guess old habits die hard indeed. She had been waiting patiently for an hour, but no one came to call her for dinner or brought her food.

They might have forgotten about her, so she decided to make herself some food since she was already familiar with the place, but she was surprised to find that instant noodles were much larger in quantity than other foods in the kitchen.

As she fried some eggs, she wondered when and why the Alpha started to eat instant noodles, he never liked those. Whatever, she did not care one bit.

She relaxed comfortably in the dining and ate her food since the big bad wolf was not around, she was free to do whatever she wanted.

Alpha Lake paused when he reached his door. His stomach growled instantly at the familiar omelet smell, and his mind thought of all possibilities of how Audrey's signature omelet smell was wafting through his door, how many coincidences could it be in a night? He wasn't an Alpha for nothing, his instincts were never wrong.

He had a plan, he would test her, and he was sure he would know the truth at the end of the test.

Alpha Lake walked in and saw a slouched back facing him, hunched over the dining and munching food like a little rabbit. He was surprised to find his new secretary sitting and eating comfortably in his dining, it even seemed like she made the food herself from his kitchen...with his stuff.

"I see you're feeling at home." He said behind her.

The hand that was taking food to Audrey's mouth froze midair as she heard the Alpha's voice behind her. She was too busy gobbling down her omelet and did not pay attention to when he arrived.

Normal Audrey would have been scared out of her skin by now, but this was no push-about Audrey, this was a powerful Audrey, an Alpha, and the most powerful witch alive.

She was not going to be intimidated by a wannabe bad wolf.

She slowly stood up, her plate in hand. 'food 'first.

"Good evening, Mr. Aloha. I thought I'd make something to eat since I almost starved to death." She smiled innocently, blinking her eyes cutely at him.

For the period she was here, she had decided to irritate him to his wit's end, she would use being human as her leverage by acting just like any normal human would do around her boss, not giving him the respect a wolf would give an Alpha...he wasn't her Alpha after all; he never failed to remind her about that.

She made up her mind not to run from him, if she did, he would be more suspicious of her, and, just for her satisfaction, she would use the mate bond to torment him; she knew him, and he would never acknowledge what he felt for her, she was in his eyes a human and a replica of someone he loathes.

She saw how he was staring at her food like he was ready to eat it off her hands. He was hungry.

"I'm sorry if I crossed the line, but I made you some too." She pointed to the covered dish on the dining table.

She knew omelet was his favorite and he wouldn't refuse it. Not like she paid utmost attention to his likes and dislikes but being a slave to someone for almost all your life would force you to learn everything about them.

She was smiling at him, expecting a 'thank you' from him for going out of her way to make him dinner which was not in her job description as a secretary.

"Good, now sign this." He threw a file on top of the dining table as he went over to sit down.

He ate the food like he was expecting her to make it for him; as if she was still his maid.

Audrey was baffled at his egoistic behavior, she had thought he was only that way toward Audrey but it seemed like he just hated anyone that looked like her, for example...her.

She skeptically took the file from the table and opened it.

Her brows scrunched up as she saw the boldly written heading that read 'CONTRACT.'

It was a full page written with what she would term 'stupid rules.'

But she had to sign it, she was here for a reason and would not back away just because of some stupid rules from a narcissistic Alpha.

She took the pen from the table and signed it. She did not have the time to start asking him why he made those rules, all she wanted was for tomorrow to come faster so she would start her search.

"Here, Sir." She placed the signed contract beside his dish.

She so badly wanted to push his beautiful face into the food he was eating, but that would not be helpful to her at all, so she just stood there, doing it over and over again in her head.

"Good, clean this up." He stood, took the file, and went up to his room.

CONTRACT.

• Address me officially. We're not friends.

• Cook and do dishes.

• Clean the house.

• Work starts at 8: a.m. Be at the office an hour before me.

• Never try to seduce me, you will lose your job automatically.

• Never pry into my personal affairs.

• Do not go anywhere without proper permission.

• Do not bring any of your friends here.

• Never disclose any information from here to anyone.

• Always keep in mind you're being watched.

Audrey controlled her anger as she sat on the bed; thinking about those stupid contract rules left her fuming.

She clenched her fist tightly, knowing she might burn the place in flames if she released them.

"Fucking asshole." She whispered angrily.

She would call her boss tomorrow morning and he would explain why he never told her she was coming to be a housemaid and not a secretary. She was infuriated.

Inside his room, Alpha Lake paced back and forth. He thought he was free from this, free from Audrey.

He thought he would forget her and the pain he felt each time he saw her, and he almost did, it's been a year, and, now, opposite his room, was someone who was almost Audrey, except for the hair, everything else was the same, even their food tastes the same.

Was someone trying to play with his mind? Maybe an enemy wants to distract him with her? He was an Alpha and he could never be played.

He would get to the root of this as soon as possible and send Catherine away, he wanted nothing with her.

'I do.' His wolf grumbled in his head.

That...is another thing he would find a way to deal with. Those undeniable sparks he felt the moment their skin touched.

He knew what it meant, but he also knew she did not have the scent he had been searching for since last year's full moon.

The moon goddess must have favored him with two mates but he would have to ignore one, which was the human replica of Audrey, after all, she was human and would not be able to feel those tingling sparks unless he marked her, which he would never do.

He would just ignore her and keep searching for his true wolf mate, the one with the sweet lavender and honey scent.

He would look into Mr. Russell and find out what he had planned this time; sending such a woman to him, he must have something planned.

Now might be the best time to commence his one-year-old plan for Mr. Russell. He would not hold back.

4:a.m, she needed to run, she needed to run!

Damn it!

Seems like she did not think her plan through.

"Fuck!"

She kicked the foot of the bed to assuage her anger. She knew him too well to know that this was exactly the time he went out for a morning run. But she hoped his schedule might have been adjusted on that aspect after a long time.

She decided to open her door and listen in if she would hear any movement from him but the moment she opened the door, the door opposite hers was dragged open as well.

Both of them stood there for a few seconds, unconsciously taking each other in, they were wolves and wolves are highly sexually active in the morning.

The tension between them was palpable, Audrey was the first to break eye contact.

"Good morning, Mr. Aloha. Why are you up so early?" She faked a huge yawn, using the back of her hand to cover her mouth. She did not know what else to do so she decided to ask the first question and remove his attention from her and why she was up by that time too.

"Mind your business. Work starts at 7 O'clock." He breezed past her and went down the stairs.

"My night was fine, thank you." She murmured to herself.

Audrey channeled her anger and frustration into doing the house chores, and yet, she felt like she did nothing.

She needed something exhausting and this was not even worthy to be called a warm-up for her.

Avery was restless and would be for the rest of the day if she did not do something fun.

Thinking back, she wondered if these were just the things she did that seemed to her like her back was breaking in half by the time she was done. She scoffed at her old self.

"You were really a lazy thing." She smiled.

"But I love you, anyway." She kept smiling as she put down the Alpha's breakfast on the dining table.