Page 33 of The Alpha's Fake Mate
“I—I have to go,” I said. But my body would not move. Was I even breathing right now?
“Another message just popped in. Orion is meeting us here in one hour.”
I shut my eyes. Orion was coming here. Fan-fucking-tastic. Now I had two Alphas coming to Zilly’s because of me. For me.
Abruptly, I stood, opening my eyes.
“Where are you going?” Chirl asked.
Of course I didn’t know. I had to stand. To move. To walk away. The world was dissolving around me. The solid floor under my feet was an illusion.
I watched Chirl pick up a house phone. He gave some orders. He hung up.
“You’re staying here until this is resolved. With me. I have ordered lunch to be brought in.”
“I need to go,” I said.
“No.” His voice came soft, but firm. He picked up a remote from his desk and flicked on the wall TV screen beneath the big round clock. “Watch TV. Don’t think. Wait. You are not alone. We’ll handle this. One way or another, we’ll handle this.”
I sat down, straight-backed, my hands in my lap. Already, I could feel the shackles. I had no control over my life. None. Decisions would be made for me. My fate rested in the hands of only those with power.
It was infuriating.
The chatter of the TV meant nothing to me. It was as if every person were speaking a foreign language. I was lost. I did not recognize my own life.
I heard Chirl tapping away at his keyboard in rapid strokes. He made phone calls and his voice hissed. I wanted to listen, to know. But my brain would not function.
Everything was over for me. I had to accept it. All around me stretched a desert with no air. My future robbed. Although I’d not had much of a future to begin with.
Chirl sat in a chair beside me and doled out lunch. I took a plate but didn’t eat.
Sen came in and sat with us for a while. He spoke to me kindly but I don’t know what he said. I only nodded.
But I did hear him whisper to Chirl, “He is in no shape to be claimed.”
“I know,” Chirl whispered back.
Wonderful,I thought. I wasn’t in shape for social anything, but at least I had a job that kept me out of the way and gave me an office with a view of the pool. But not now.
I told myself I didn’t care.
A knock came on the office door. I jumped at the sound. Chirl rose and went to the door.
Orion came in, followed by the older Alpha I’d seen him with months ago on his tour of Zilly’s.
Orion.His presence exuded confidence and determination. He filled the room with his Alpha cologne, something expensive, no doubt, that millionaires wore.
I couldn’t help but look up at him and when I did the air cleared. My mind became sharp. Every line of his face and hair, his jacket and tie, came into focus with clean edges. He wore all black, including the shirt, with a brilliant blue tie, as blue as the swimming pool my office faced.
He turned to face me and nothing else existed in the world for me but him. If I stood up and walked straight into him it would be like entering that pool I loved, immersing myself, letting the water lap up and over me to encompass me and pull me down into peace and the strength of eternity.
I blinked hard a few times, thinking I was dizzy, I was still in shock, but no. Orion’s presence and his affect on me was real. It did not diminish. It grew stronger and tighter all around me.
How could I be so drawn to him in the midst of this horror show?
I hated it.
I stood and faced him. I had to look up. I was shorter but I felt all my power and rage and anger return. He grounded me enough so I had that to hold onto, as annoying as it was.
