Chapter 39: The Hunt and the Horror-4

He gazed at me for a few more minutes before a small smile graced his lips, 'Very well, let's go then" he said and both I and Mr. Talon nodded before following him inside. *** I was so dazed and confused that thankfully I didn't notice the elevator ride this time. When we reached the 18th floor, we each went to our individual rooms. The office was empty as everyone had left for lunch and I wondered whether I could go too, or not. After drinking some water I walked to Mr. Penson's room to ask him if I could go for lunch but his door was ajar and I heard him talking to Master Cole. "I don't know how this is going to work if they can't even stay within ten meters of each other without wanting to claw each other's eyes out", Master Cole said. "Relax Cole, it'll be over soon. Once Alpha Marco has had a look at the woods, he will leave and hopefully Alpha Royale's mood will return to normal after that" Alpha Marco, was that the blond man's name? What was this Alpha title they had allotted to certain people anyway? And had this Marco guy really come all this way just to stroll the woods?...Wait....the woods?...the WOODS! THE CEO'S JACKET! In my panicked trail of thought I had missed some of their conversation. I felt bad about eavesdropping but the next line caught my attention. "He owes Alpha Royale, there is no way he can refuse to do this for us" He owes him?! So he can't refuse him? Oh God! If I lose that I'll owe the CEO too! I silently screamed and immediately ran to Mr. Talon's room. I threw the door open making Mr. Talon shriek out loud and spill the water he was drinking onto his shirt. "I'm going to the forest right now!" I yelled making him shriek again. "No Suzzanah! This is not a good idea!" "I don't have a choice, I don't want to owe the CEO!" I told him and ran out of his room towards the elevator and I heard him run after me calling my name. I was so preoccupied with my troubling thoughts that I didn't notice Master Cole coming out of Mr. Penson's room and I nearly crashed into him. He caught me in time and steadied me making me blush and apologize profusely. When I looked up at him, he surprised me yet again by smiling at me, "You should be more careful Lu- I mean Ms. Winters" he said. I smiled nervously at him and nodded while glancing at the elevator. "Are you alright?" he asked out of the blue making me stare at him wide eyed. "I heard about your accident in the woods", I blushed, "And you seemed a bit off outside just now", he said inquisitively. I shook my head and smiled, "Thank you. I'm quite alright" I assured him. Mr. Penson emerged from his office at that instance and I took the opportunity to ask him hurriedly, "Sir, may I go for lunch now?" He looked amused at my eagerness, "Oh yes, you may go-" "No sire! Please don't let this child go!" Mr. Talon screeched running up to us making me gawk at him while my superiors stared at him puzzled. He blushed, "I beg your pardon Sirs", he said bowing quickly, "But you mustn't let her go for lunch. She intends on going into the woods!" Both my superiors stared at me wide eyed while I did the same at Mr. Talon as he proceeded to tell them about my dire situation with the CEO's jacket. When he was done, I was as red as a tomato, Master Cole looked highly amused while Mr. Penson looked thoughtful as always. "It's just a jacket Ms. Winters, not some valuable treasure", Master Cole said smiling, "You shouldn't worry about-" "You should go" All of us turned our surprised gazes at Mr. Penson as he continued, "It is lunch time now. You should go and look for it" "Alp-" "Hurry now, lunch hour ends in thirty five minutes", Mr. Penson cut off a puzzled looking Master Cole, "you need to be back by then" "Bu-bu-but sir! Letting her go into the woods all alone again would be-" "But she isn't going alone", Mr. Penson said matter-of-factly, "You're going with her" Mr. Talon's jaw hit the floor and my eyes went wide, but Mr. Penson just smiled at us coolly. "Go on", he said and I nodded quickly before bowing to both of them and dragging a shocked Mr. Talon towards the dreadful elevator. "Oh! And Ms. Winters!" I turned to face Mr. Penson again. "Be careful now", he said with a strange glint in his eyes, "Don't forget. Jungles, forests and woods are called "the Wild' for a reason." *** "Aaaah! Watch out!" Mr. Talon cried out for the billionth time in the past 5 minutes. Every few seconds he would tell me to watch out, but for what? I doubt he even knew himself. "Oh for crying out loud, there's nothing there Mr. Talon. Stop worrying so much. You're being paranoid", I said as I looked around for the CEO's jacket.