~Alpha Kilhan~
After we finished drying our hair, Celine fell asleep shortly. She complained that she was tired and needed to take a nap.
She also mentioned that once she woke up and the rain stopped, she’d head to Xavier’s.
‘Why does he want to see her? Didn’t I teach him enough lessons that night? Does he want more of me?’ I wondered in bottled-up rage.
I hated the idea of her going to Xavier, but I said nothing about it. I don’t know why but I just didn’t want him anywhere close to Jessica and Khan was on this with me. He seemed like someone I wouldn’t trust Jessica’s safety with.
If she insists on going, then I’ll have to go with her.
I picked up her phone and headed back to my office, I put a call across to the number that had sent her an address over the phone. I walked up to my large window, one of my hands tucked in my pocket, and the other was holding the phone.
It began to ring and I waited patiently for him to answer the phone. And just as I expected, he did answer the phone.
“Hello, Jessica. Where are you? I’ve been waiting here for over two hours! Why didn’t you at least leave a text?!” Xavier ranted in a loud voice, leaving me flummoxed.
“Is this how you talk to her? How dare you?!” I roared, commanding silence to the other end of the phone.
He went so dumbstruck that I thought he had hung up. I looked at the screen and saw it was still connected. He was probably in shock.
“Now, don’t you dare hang up? Listen to me carefully, you bastard. The next time you try reaching out to my woman, I swear on my late father’s grave, I’ll come for you. And this time, not even her pleas will save you.
“I’ll pull your heart out of your chest as if I’m plucking a fruit from its tree, and I’ll feast on it. I’ll kill you slowly so you feel every bit of the excruciating pain, and your carcass will regret ever knowing me or Jessica.” I spoke each word with intentionality, picturing and meaning everything I said to him.
Just like I expected, he remained silent. I could hear his breathing grow deeper and louder as I spoke. That was exactly how he was supposed to react.
“Now, before I hang up, you’ll text her and tell her something came up and you won’t meet her again. Dare me and don’t do this.” I added as I pressed the red button.
I stared at the screen for minutes, expectant of his text. After a few minutes, a message popped into her phone. I clicked on it and read.
“Hey, Celine…”
“Who the hell is Celine? Is he so tense that he forgot her name? What a fool” I muttered as I continued reading.
“…I’m sorry but we can’t meet today anymore. Something came up. I’ll let you know when next we’ll meet.”
I smiled satisfactorily after reading his text. Of course, he wouldn’t dare me. I marked the message unread and returned her phone to where I had picked it up.
Feeling accomplished, I stepped out of her room again and saw Betty walking down the hallway. As soon as she saw me, she waved at me and hurried to where I was.
“Kilhan!” She called in a loud tone. My eyes widened and I hastily eschewed her.
“Hey… keep it down! Jessica is asleep.” I whispered, grabbing her hand and pulling her away.
“What? Now we can’t talk because she’s asleep?” She responded and rolled her eyes.
“That wasn’t talking. You literally screamed. She’s tired and needs to rest.”
After we were far away from her room, I let go of Betty. “Now, you can yell and talk all you want,” I answered with a grin, burying my hands in my pocket.
Betty heaved a sigh and shook her head. “You’ve changed, Kilhan. You have grown soft.”
“What? I don’t think so.” I answered, walking into my office and leaving the door open so she could come in too.
“Oh please, you wouldn’t know. I am the only one who can tell you the truth. There is gossip around the palace about you ignoring the important things and playing with Jessica like you two are babies.” She added.
I shook my head and scoffed, settling down behind my desk. “Jessica is my lover, Betty. You don’t expect me to act like a leader or an alpha when I’m with her. I better not hear that gossip from anyone, or that person will have a taste of me.”
The smile on my face disappeared all of a sudden as I stared at her, creating chills all over her body.
“Well, it’s not that bad.” She let out a smile and moved closer to the desk. “I’m just worried, okay? We haven’t had a pack meeting in a while, and we are not talking about expanding the K-business anymore.” She further explained as she sat on the desk, close to me.
“So there is no gossip? You're the one worried?” I asked, and she sighed.
“Fine! You got me. I didn’t know how I was going to put it out to you. I just feel she’s taking your time and attention. The pack also needs you.” She placed her hand on her shoulder.
“I know. And for the K-business. I just finished signing some paperwork on it yesterday. Constructions have started in all states in New York. What else is there to discuss? Drex and I are very much working on it.”
“Fine. But don’t the others deserve to know the progress?”
“They know, Betty. Drex updates them all the time.”
“What?? How am I the only one left out?” She asked with a frown.
“I have no idea. Maybe because you’re always busy in the kitchen. Also, I bet he wouldn’t want to bother you about it since you have so much going on in the home already. Let the men handle this, okay? Just keep doing your thing.” I responded, slowly moving her hand from my shoulder so I could continue working.
As she let go of me, I could feel her eyes on my desk as I tried to clear the excess papers and envelopes on it.
“Oh my goddess!” She exclaimed, and I raised my head to look at her.
“What?” I asked in confusion, looking at the table to see what seemed to amuse her so much.
“You still have this picture!” She exclaimed with excitement evident in her voice. She picked up the paper photo frame of both of us when we were teenagers.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?” I answered a wide smile curved the corner of my lips as memories rushed through my head again.
No doubt, we were best of friends.
“Good old times,” I answered, chuckling softly.
“Do you still remember our first kiss?” She asked and I raised my head to look at her face.
“Yes. It was under the sycamore tree in my late father’s garden. We had to hide or my father would kill us if we were caught. How old were we?”
“Fourteen?”
“And you were twelve,” I answered, shaking my head. The memories of how mysterious I used to be wouldn’t stop to amuse me.
“I fell in love with you that day.” She answered, her hand cupping my face.
“Betty,” I called softly, trying to move her face from my hand, but she didn’t budge.
“I just want to feel that way again, Kilhan. Please, just one kiss.” She whispered, moving her face close to mine.
“Betty…”
Her lips got very close to mine, but then I pushed her off, causing her to stagger backward. Her eyes widened in shock at my reaction.
“You need to stop this, okay? You know we can’t be more than friends. I respect you, but we can’t do this. I have a lover...”
“I know! You don’t have to remind me! What did I ever do wrong to you? Even before her, I’ve always told you how I feel about you, but you have never reciprocated! Why? Why do you hate me so much!”
“Betty, I don’t hate you. I just don’t…” Before I could finish, she broke into tears and ran towards the door.
“Betty!” I called, but she refused to answer. She got out of the office and slammed the door loud, causing me to squint my eyes.
‘She’ll get used to it.’