Chapter 87 Enemy of convenience
Ronald sat down filling the forms placed on his table as quickly as possible. There were several batches of just piles upon piles of paperwork. There was no saying he'd be stuck here for hours. He scribbled hurriedly, his attention was too focused he didn't notice the door to the office creak open.
His face was a weird contortion of anger, hate and stress. He didn't believe he would be stuck behind a desk handling paperwork and taking orders from a mere council leader. His breaths were undulating as his annoyance grew with each form he filled. He was supposed to be up there directing the affairs of state in place of Melissa. He had the plan hatched out perfectly, he had the allies he needed working for him but somehow, he'd fail by sheer luck. Every single thing he'd directed at the girl had ended up in failure.
He hurriedly filled three more forms, his head heating up as his annoyance grew. He reached a point in the forms and discovered he'd made a mistake, he crumpled the paper and threw it away, oblivious that it had hit somebody standing before him. He slammed the table angrily and cleared the entire files off it. Papers floating across the room as he slammed his fist into the table, tearing a hole in it.
"I do hope you know, you'd have to pay to fix that?" Alina said, waltzing off in front of him majestically.
He looked up, a little startled but he didn't flinch. "Like I give a rat's ass what happened," he said in annoyance. "I am probably leaving in two days, your pack obviously cannot get me what I want," he told her, wiping out the dirt from his knuckles.
Alina broke out in laughter. "You think so highly of yourself," she said. "I am not surprised anyways, you have been running your entire life, why stop now? Keep on running, lone wolf," she said with a condescending look.
He moved briskly between spaces, closing the distance between him and her in seconds, his anger had reached an unbearable limit. Alina staggered backwards, her back against the wall as a half turned Ronald crashed the wall beside her. Her face was obviously riddled with fear.
It wasn't that she feared Ronald much, but the wolf was unpredictable and rabid. Alina had voiced against him the first time they met, he was too unstable, too psychotic. He had the face of a cornered dog about to rip itself from the faithfulness and loyalty it was brought up with and just go rabid. The same expression was fixated on his face now. So indeed, a spark of fear ran through her, maybe he'd finally lost it completely.
Alina hated rabid dogs, she hated anyone who had this fixation on their emotions and would easily be directed by them. It wasn't about how you feel for Alina or how others felt, it was about your goals, that was all that mattered. What you want, how you want it, when you want it and what you are willing to do get that goal done in the exact way you want it.
She'd never worried once about what people thought about her, what she wanted was power, beyond imagining, to stand atop everything and she didn't waver until she got that goal. She was the head of the Pack leader's council, she was literally the third most important person in the entire kingdom. She wanted more of course because there was no place like number one.
"Do not ever say that again," Ronald was in front of her face, revealing his unusual set of fangs. "Next time, I won't be able to stop myself from tearing your head from your shoulders," he roared in front of her face.
He turned back to human after the threat and Alina just ran her hand along his face. "You are but a cub, a little puppy stepping into the footprint of full grown dogs," she said. "Anger, hate are all unnecessary emotions for you to feel, especially when you are in front of me," she ran her hand along his skin, all of her words were said in a soft solemn voice. "I made you what you are here, I can as well unmake you," this time, her voice carried a primal assertiveness.
Ronald ignored the threats, she was indeed right but he wasn't interested in all that for now, all he wanted was to get back on the right path and move their plans forward. Their relationship was one that remained only because they still had a common enemy. He knew she and him could not run this kingdom together at the far end, there was only room for either of them. They were only using each other at the moment.
She leaned forward and kissed him, for a while Ronald kissed her back but he broke off. "Stop that," he said.
"What? It doesn't taste like Catherine's?" she asked.
"Catherine is not the problem here, Melissa and her merry band of companions are," he said.
Alina was licking her lips when he turned back to her. "You know," she said. "I think you are scared of her."
"I am scared, but not of Melissa but that our plans fail," he replied.
She smiled. "Melissa caught a bullet in mid air with her bare hand, what do you think about that?"
"That wasn't the Melissa I knew. She didn't have strength or will. The only thing she had was pride, this unnerving ego that she was better than everyone else," he said.
"Exactly. She is changed." Alina said, walking up to him again. "How did she change, why did she change, was it a misstep to not tame her before we ended her parents?" She asked.
"Maybe, then what do we do?" he asked.
"We wait," Alina said. "But first we change our plans and start treating her like an enemy we want to hunt." she said. "And how do wolves hunt?" She asked with a whisper.
"... in packs," Ronald said. "They hunt in packs."
"Get everyone, we have work to do," Alina said with a smile. "Melissa Dunham will now have our full attention on her."