2.6: We Meet Again

She was seated at a desk in a dark room, and told to wait. The soldier guiding her left, and she was alone in the room. Time ticked slowly by. Finally, the door on the other end of the room opened. And a man stepped through. Her jaw dropped. The Alpha marched across the room, a menacing look on his face, before he pulled out the chair opposite her and straddled across it.

"Setia Evans." He said, not a question. Setia nodded.

"Yes, sir." His voice was deep and gruff. It felt raw, like pure sex. She sniffed the air and was overwhelmed by a deliciously spicy aroma. Oh no, his Alpha pheromones! She tried to take shallow breaths and keep her body's physical reactions under control. She could feel her heart rate speeding up, fight-or-flight kicking in. Deep breaths Setia, You are a beta here. You are a Beta.

'This is the male lead of this world.' Eli whispered in her head. She bit her lower lip.

He started flipping through some papers that she assumed were her file on the table. "You have low-level clearance and only have access to certain wings of the building. I will give you an access card. Any door that does not open for you is not meant for you to see." He growled. Setia nodded.

The man slammed the file shut and leaned back in his chair, examining her features. His gaze gave nothing away, except for a small twitch in the corner of his mouth. He looked angry, stern. He sighed and gazed into her eyes.

"I'll level with you here, Evans. Some of them don't want you here. We don't need a civilian telling us how to run things." He said venomously. "Here is your access card." He slid a shiny plastic card across the table.

"If you didn't need me, I wouldn't be here." Setia said firmly, keeping her gaze level with the alpha's. She reached and took the card. He narrowed his gaze, not liking the show of disobedience.

"You will do as you are instructed." He said icily. Setia shrugged her shoulders.

"I will do as my job sees fit." She corrected. He clenched the edge of the table in a firm grip.

"Listen here, I am in charge of this council." He said firmly. She stood from the side of the desk she was on and walked around to him. She stood before him with her hands on her hips.

"You may be in charge here, but you requested my help. I am going to do my job, and I will do it well. You would do best to stay out of my way." She warned him, raising a brow. He snorted, but she thought she could see the curl of a smile on his lips.

"We're done here. Look around and then head home for the day." He announced, rising from his seat. He grabbed the file off of the desk and turned toward the doors that exited the interrogation room they had brought her to. "Try not to get into any trouble." He sighed. The doors slammed shut behind him.

(Ding! Love meter has increased to 10%)

Setia took a few moments to absorb her surroundings. She stared at the rickety table they had sat her at, the cold, metal walls. The overhead lighting that blared in your face. She looked around and decided she'd better find her way to block A. Would have been nice if someone would show her around, but it didn't seem like she was going to get that kind of treatment here. She may be shy, but she was not one to let herself get bullied.

She turned toward the large metal doors the alpha had gone through, and she made her way toward them. Placing her card at the glowing green light pad next to the door, it beeped and glowed green, before opening for her. Time to explore.

As she stepped into the hallway of the underground of the manor, it was as if mice were scurrying away from her in every direction. She'd see the outline of people walking away in the distance, but no one stopped for her, or helped her with any directions. Cleaning staff wandered the hallways and stared at her blankly when she tried to ask them how to get to block A.

Finally, after what felt like ages of wandering around, she noticed letter blocks on the sides of the corridors, showing what building they were in. The sign on the wall closest to her read B. So she must be close. She wandered around corner after corner, trying not to think about the next time she'd have to find her way, and she finally found buildings marked A.

She was in a long corridor of doorways, all shut and latched, with glowing keypads outside of them. Suspecting this entire wing was a residence wing, she stared down at the card in her hand. How to figure out which rooms she could enter?

She began wandering down the hallway, trying her card on all the doors. Most of the doors flashed green, and she opened were empty meeting rooms, janitorial closets, what looked like classrooms. There were a few doors that glowed red when she tried, and she could not open. She knew she had the lowest possible clearance. She would hopefully change that.

Eventually, she found herself near an exit. Sighing, she found the car that had brought her here. There were no meetings she would have access to today, and it looked like her clearance only gave her access to janitorial closets. She would have to wait for future meetings and try to earn her way to higher clearance. She just had to prove herself to this boys' club.

As she walked toward the gates, she spared a glance back at the monumental manor building. It housed an entire city's secrets. She just had to find them out. Walking through the gates at the front of the property, she got into her waiting car. She sighed and leaned her head back against the rest as the driver went. She was ready to get home and have some rest.