He Cares?
Heavy paws landed on the floor of the forest. Regal ran past trees in a blur, he was angry.
Alpha Lake let his wolf take control, they were getting irritated by the situation.
He was torn, he hated Audrey, yet, the moon goddess gave him a mate who looked just like her and even possessed most of her characteristics.
He ran faster as he let out the suppressed frustration he had been feeling from the moment he set his eyes on Catherine, he could not bring himself to believe that Catherine was not the same person as Audrey. He ran all through the forest, trying to outrun the thoughts in his head.
The way her hair looked this morning was sexy as fuck. She was acting all cute and innocent but he knew better.
He had been a little disappointed when he looked up and saw the midnight-dark hair, he was expecting to see the usual red color that he normally saw on Audrey.
'Fuck her!'
Alpha Lake entered the Packhouse and noticed the perplexed expression on everyone's faces, he had heard a few girls in the front garden talking about 'Catherine' in a hushed manner. And from what he heard, they feared her.
He ignored them and climbed the stairs to his apartment.
"And then, Sylvia went to drag her by the hair but she got pushed down the stairs." A girl whispered to another girl beside the stairs.
"Who does she think she is? Wait till Cara sees her, even though she's not Audrey, She must be treated worse than Audrey. Just wait and see, Cara will put her in her place soon. The Alpha belongs to our Cara and no one else." The two girls laughed and walked away, holding each other's hands.
Alpha Lake gritted his teeth in anger, but his anger, surprisingly, was not directed at Catherine.
He wasn't even angry at what they said about him. He was angry at those two jobless bitches who thought they had the right to trash-talk his secretary. His.
"Catherine!" He slammed the door as he entered his living room.
"Catherine!" He called again but all he got was radio silence.
He was angry, and he needed to confirm the incident with her so he would know the gravity of punishment to assert.
He suddenly paused in the middle of the living room, a familiar savory smell poured into his nostrils, and he followed the smell which led him to his dining where he saw a covered dish, he already knew what was in there before he opened it.
She made spaghetti and meatballs; it was one of his favorites.
He ate the food like it was his first time experiencing such a savory sweet food.
It had been one year, one year since he tasted something that was exactly like Audrey's recipe.
Even though he would never admit it, he was addicted to her cooking which was why it had been hard for him to eat with the general pack.
This made him wonder about the rate of probability where Catherine does almost everything like Audrey.
He needed to see her.
He was an Alpha, the strongest and most respected Alpha, he could never be tricked. He would make sure to get to the bottom of this strange situation today.
As he went up to his room, he marveled at how clean and orderly his house looked, even his room was in perfect condition, just like it used to be when Audrey was around, and then, he smelt it and instantly relaxed; there in his window was a fresh vase of beautiful lavender flowers.
He froze in place, this was the most coincidence he'd ever seen in his life.
How did she place the flowers exactly at the same spot as Audrey, where did she pluck them from? He dismissed some unbearable thoughts that raced through his mind.
It wasn't possible.He wondered how Catherine was able to do everything so fast, it was just 6: a.m. and everything was perfectly done.
This got him more worked up because Audrey was not that fast, he purposely used to take longer in his runs so she would be gone before he returned, and in this aspect, Catherine was Catherine, not Audrey's clone.
Audrey had just finished arranging the very untidy office, and she wondered if the previous secretary did not know how a typical Alpha's office should be.
The whole place was a mess, books were scattered all over the place, and the ones on the shelf were placed wrongly with files scattered all over the surface of the table.
But all these were nothing to her, she already knew where each one went, she expertly placed them in their rightful places, and with a snap of her fingers(literally); the dust particles that had been collected by the furniture disappeared.
She was just about to sit on the black sofa when she heard a knock on the door.
She knew who it was before she opened the door, but for the sake of her mission, she could not blow her cover out of sentiment.
"Hello, Good morning Ma'am." Audrey greeted as she opened the door.
Ms. Bridget stood there, thunderstruck. She had been hearing rumors since last night about a new girl who looked exactly like Audrey.
The rumors had gotten louder this morning and she decided to come to see for herself, she used the excuse of delivering the Alpha's morning coffee as an opportunity to see the girl in his office too; but, she never expected the rumored Audrey look-alike to be...Audrey.
Audrey looked everywhere but at her, she could not bring herself to look the sweet woman in the face and lie to her.
She had missed her so damn much, and seeing her standing in front of her like that, with that pained look of an abandoned mother broke her, she felt conflicted.
She knew too well the pain of being abandoned, and she did not know the crude lies Alpha Lake must have told the poor woman to make her believe that She must have run away on her own without saying goodbye.
But she must try. She had to try.
"Audrey?" Ms. Bridget called in a wavering tone. She would recognize Audrey even with her closed eyes, she had taken care of her from little and she was like the child she never had.
The little camouflage she did to herself could not hide her identity from her.
"I'm sorry Ma'am, you must have mistaken me for someone, but it's okay, I get that a lot. Is this for Mr. Aloha? I'll take it. Thank you." Audrey managed to say in a breath, she took the tray from Ms. Bridget's hands and went to close the door but the door was held back.
"You can fool the members of the strongest Pack ever known, but not me, dear child. I know you too well, Audrey." She spoke quietly while looking Audrey directly in the eyes, silently challenging her to deny what she just said.
Audrey gently ushered Ms. Bridget into the office, not wanting anyone to hear what the woman had just said or what she was about to tell her.
She made sure to lock the door, and then she went to place the coffee on top of the Alpha's table.
"Ooff!" Ms. Bridget was surprised by the sudden hug from Audrey.
Audrey wrapped her arms tightly around Ms. Bridget, placing her head on her neck, she sniffed the familiar scent into her nose.
She had missed her so much, she had always wondered how the old woman was doing all this while, she was happy she recognized her, she would have been pained to lie to her too.
"Oh, poor child. Whatever happened to you?" Ms. Bridget hugged Audrey to her bosom, rubbing her hair and back.
"I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry for lying to you. I've missed you." Audrey sobbed quietly, tears running down her red cheeks.
This was the person who gave her the feeling of having a mother, leaving her that way had pained her heart.
"Come now child, it's okay, everything's going to be alright," Ms. Bridget held Audrey's shoulder and gently pushed her up, she looked at her face and smiled.
"Whatever changed you, did well. You look different, you feel different. I think he'll be here anytime now, tell me everything tonight, okay?" Ms. Bridget wiped away Audrey's tears and cupped her cheeks in her hands.
"Okay." Audrey sniffed, nodding at Ms. Bridget.
Audrey was busy on her phone texting her cousins and updating them about her, so far. She heard footsteps approaching outside the door, and again, she knew who it was before he pushed open the door without knocking...as always.
"Good morning, Catherine. How are you enjoying your new job?" Alpha Sebastian went over to sit beside her on the sofa.
He was happy Alpha Lake wasn't in yet, he wanted to chat with her a little and find out if his assumptions were real, he decided not to waste any more time like he did the last time, just in case what he suspected was right, he would not miss his Audrey again.
He was glad another full moon was coming soon, he would not fail to claim her as his, if, she was who he wished she was.
"Good morning Mr. Sebastian. I love my new job. it's the best." Audrey lied smoothly, she even put in a sweet smile to make it more believable.
"You must be unique then, No one has ever said that while working with Mr. Aloha." They both chuckled at that, each with their thought dwelling in their heads.
"Maybe they just need to understand him better. He's not bad at all, he just needs patience." She strangely did not feel like she was lying as she said those words, even though she knew they were a big fat lie.
Alpha Lake paused at the door as he heard Audrey's reply, he felt weird hearing someone say something nice about him, especially from someone who looked like Audrey.
Audrey would never say such nice things about him. Even if she never said it to his face, he knew she hated him just the way he hated her, if not worse.
He did not understand why the thought of her hating him made him feel uneasy, he gritted his teeth and pushed open his office door.
He wanted to put an end to their little chit-chat.
"Here he comes," Alpha Sebastian said and relaxed on the sofa, resting his hands on top of it.
"Good morning, Mr. Aloha. What would you like me to do this morning?" Audrey stood to welcome him, meeting him halfway through the room.
They stood in front of each other, not knowing what to say. Alpha Lake just nodded and moved past her, he took two steps and suddenly turned back, grabbed her arm and turned her to him, holding up her chin up to his face.
Audrey was not prepared for the sudden skinship, it left her feeling those warm electrifying tingles all over her body, she wondered what he was on about this morning, How could he just touch her without warning,? Did he not know the trouble he caused by that single act?
Alpha Lake knew he would feel them again, but he did not expect them to be more intensified than the last time.
He had wanted to wait until Alpha Sebastian left to ask her about what had happened earlier, but as he walked past her, the smell of fresh tears drifted to his nose and he instinctively turned back to her, needing to assuage the anger that was threatening to let loose within him, he thought her tears were from earlier that morning, from the incidents with those stupid girls.
He searched Audrey's face ignoring the voice that was telling him to cover her luscious lips with his, he was glad to be the only one who felt the mate bond, and he liked it that way, he would easily pretend that he felt nothing.
He felt Alpha Sebastian's questioning eyes on him and ignored it.
"What happened?" He asked sternly. He saw the confused look on Audrey's face and knew she did not understand what he asked.
"What are you talking about?" Audrey asked, she made to remove her face from his hold but he held on tighter, holding her shoulders to keep her in place.
"What happened earlier this morning..." He paused, making Audrey's heart skip a beat. She thought he had found out about her little confession with Ms.Bridget, how did she blow this up so fast?
"Umm, i-i-i..."
"Stay away from my people and don't make trouble with them. Understand?" He cut her off with a steel warning.
"Yes, sir. Understood." She finally understood what he was talking about.
The Sylvia bitch and her friend, Angela must have run to their Alpha and reported her to him.
He did not need to worry, she did not come here to chitchat with his bitches, she had better things to do.
"Good."
He whispered as he used his thumb to wipe away a teardrop from the corner of her eye then walked past her like that did not just happen.
Audrey froze, why would Alpha Lake wipe her tears away? She disgusted him, or, did she not? She stood there lost in thoughts until she heard Alpha Sebastian's voice.
"Hey, Go easy on her will you? She has done nothing wrong...yet." Alpha Sebastian whispered to Alpha Lake.
Alpha Sebastian had not seen Alpha Lake wipe the tears from Audrey's eyes because she stood with her back to him.
He must have thought Alpha Lake wanted to find faults with her like she initially thought too, but that was not the case.
Did he just care about her? She furrowed her brows, trying to make sense of what had just happened.
"Sit."
Alpha Lake's voice drew her back to reality, She looked back and saw him pointing at a chair by the edge of the table, with an Apple laptop sitting on top of the table. Guess the real work starts now.
"Hey, Cathy. I'll be back later, okay? Let me run some errands." Alpha Sebastian told Audrey who modded in response.
Audrey had listened carefully to the Alpha's instructions and now, she was confidently attending to calls and emails concerning the Alpha's business.
She had not seen anything concerning the Pack's business, he was doing his best to pretend to be a normal human.
She would play along, as long as she got what she came back for.Alpha Lake watched Audrey as she focused on work.
He kept asking himself why he got so worked up when he saw her tears, he knew this was out of his control, even if she was not Audrey, she was still human and looked like Audrey.
He can never settle for a human and not one that looks like her. He had to put an end to this.
He would find a way to limit touching her, that way, his wolf would forget about her and her strange flowery scent that always felt like there was something more to it.
He just had an inkling that something did not feel right about his new secretary, but he would find out what she was up to, soon.