3. Driving Away

Alpha Fiama

“What are you up to now?”, Zendaya charged me as I entered my room after spending the entire day in university and the new office area.

“What?”, I huffed, releasing my hairs from the rubber band and removing my coat aside.

“What? Why were you ignoring Jay all the time today? Dumbo Alpha. He is our mate. Can’t you realize?”, she blurted out.

I paused for a while, looking at myself in the mirror, then I steadily slid up my top and removed it. “I think I had given him enough attention he deserved. And stop ranting about mate all the time. He can’t be our mate”

“And why do you think so?”, she argued back.

“Because I don’t think so”

“What about those instincts? Did you forget about the heat, the spark, the reactions that happened inside you?”

I halted when the thoughts of this morning appeared before my eyes. The way I felt those things and the way my body reacted with his sight was still fresh in my memories. I closed my eyes tightly to erase them from my sanity. After that incident inside the Dean’s room, I didn’t bother to look at him though my subconscious was asking me to look at him once again.

I guessed he tried to speak to me again in the classroom, but I pretended not to hear him.

“It can be something else. But he can’t be my mate”, I firmly said.

“And why do you think so?”, she asked.

“Didn’t you see anything?”, I shrugged, pulling out my clothes from the closet. I entered the washroom and undressed myself, turning the shower on. “Did he feel anything? If he was my mate, he would also feel something, no? But he was so normal. If he is my mate and he can’t feel me yet, that means he is a human”

“So?”, Zendaya went clueless.

“So?”, I blurted out, caressing my body under the cold water. “So, he is a human. How can he become my mate? He can’t run a pack. How will I allow a human to be the king of my pack? Will that ever make sense?”

“That means you’re going to reject him too?”, she said, disappointed.

I didn’t react. Glueing my eyes to the white wall, I stood like a statue under the shower.

“Say something. Are you going to reject him too? No! Not again”, she scoffed. “If you do something like this again, you’ll offend moon goddess to the greatest extend. You’re one of the rare wolves who got this opportunity to get a second chance mate. And here you’re giving useless excuses”

“Can’t I be alone?”, I mumbled after letting her speak.

“You’re crazy”

“No! I’m not. I can be alone, no? I don’t need a mate. I can run my pack alone. I can live alone. There’s no harm in it”, I said.

“This is not how our world, our law work. You love to break the laws, right? But you can’t deny the fact that we are incomplete. Even an Alpha King is incomplete without a Luna. You’re no different”, she completed.

I didn’t answer back; she kept quiet. However, over the years, I had learnt to live alone. Loneliness seems to be the best option than getting hurt. I didn’t think I could fall in love again. It was next to impossible. Alpha Aren was the only man I had admired in my early life, but he turned out to be a jerk.

I can’t forget the day of coronation when he tried to raise his hand on me. I was done right then. I couldn’t fight with his nature all my life. For me, it was always respect that mattered the most. How could I trust again on another man? What if he turned out to another jerk? What if he was also faking to be good, just like Alpha Aren? I could compromise with anything but myself.

“May I come in, Alpha?”, William knocked at the door as I immediately put on my tuxedo, jerking out all the thoughts.

“Yes. Come in”, I said.

William got inside with a blue file in his hand and handed it to me. “The meeting with the board of directors is fixed for tomorrow evening”

“That’s good”, I said, going through the papers. “What about the client? Is he coming?”

“Yes, Alpha, he is coming all the way from Wales”, he stated. I froze there. Wales! My region.

“Great”, I managed to say, closing the file. “I still don’t know who he is. Did the president say something about it?”

“No, Alpha. He just said the client is the most influential entrepreneur of Wales”

“Hmmm... It’s good that we are getting a kick start for our company. Dad would be so happy today”, I remembered Alpha Peterson. Though he was not my biological father, he was the reason for my rebirth. I had always tried to make both of my fathers proud. I believed I wouldn’t need anyone in myself to weaken me again.

To other wolves, their mates completed them, but in my case, it was completely different.

“Go through the presentation once again and don’t forget to give me the pen drive in the morning. I’ll go through the presentation again after classes”, I said.

He bowed and turned to leave the room.

I lied on the bed and looked at the ceiling. My eyes were tired after a big hectic day on campus and office. The next day was a big day for me since I was going to get my first project before the inauguration. It was a colossal achievement for me. Beta Dylan was a good friend of Alpha Peterson and he was the president of one of the biggest companies in London. He helped me to build this empire again. And he was my only support system in the world of business. I got my first client through him and couldn’t thank him enough.

Darkness embraced me as I closed my eyes to doze off.

“See you again..... Fiama....”, the voice echoed inside my head with the flash of his face before my eyes. I dived into the moment again, surrounded by darkness and the essence of his memories. Restlessness filled inside me as I sweated in that air-conditioned room.

The next moment, I opened my devastating eyes and jump up from the bed, panting. Rubbing my cheeks and throat, I strived to calm myself down but my heart was racing faster.

I couldn’t close my eyes again. Instead of darkness, it was only him I witnessed.

*

“What? He isn’t coming?”, I blurted out on the call.

“Don’t panic, Alpha. His flight got postponed suddenly, but he’ll be here in a couple of days. We have sent the presentation to them so that we can get our work done in time”, President Dylan said. “And we will do the inauguration in time”

“Thank you, President. You don’t know what you’re doing for me. I couldn’t even handle this alone”, I sighed.

“You should focus on your studies. Good luck”, he said.

“Thanks, President. I’ll be there by the evening”, I cut the call and put on my jacket to leave for college.

An unknown fear crammed inside me to face Jay again. He was in the same class and it would be tough for me to ignore him. Even if I did, my wolf would long for him. Tying my brown hairs up, I wore light makeup, grab my backpack and left the room to start for the campus.

“Will you visit the pack house today?”, David asked while opening the door of the car.

“If I could manage the time”, I said, getting inside. I rarely visited the pack house now, but I kept track of everything that happened in the pack.

*

“You didn’t sleep well last night?”, Vienna asked when we walked inside the campus. “Your eyes look swollen”

“You know the workload”, I lied. I couldn’t sleep the whole night because of the roaming thoughts of Jay in my mind.

“Hmm... So finally you’re going to launch your own company. I’m too excited. Aunty Diana would be so happy today”, she beamed.

“Yeah”, I sighed. I wish I could meet mom and told her what I was now. I was the Alpha Queen of my pack, somewhere making my father proud. He wanted his kids to rule, but unfortunately, my brothers couldn’t do that. I didn’t want to go on the same path.

“2 cents backpack”, a roll of laughter hit my ears as I looked away.

Lilian and her friends had surrounded Jay and mocking at his appearance. “You didn’t have a dollar to buy one for new university? So sad!”, one of her friends laughed. He had hung his head as his face turned red.

“Why so much attitude, man?”, Lilian pushed by his shoulder. “In this torn backpack and 2 cents clothes. It would be better to obey what we say because you’re not worth saying us NO”

My blood shimmered, delivering shivers down to my nerves. My wolf howled inside me, leaving my head completely blank. However, I was trained to control my inner wolf in every circumstance. Sucking my breath, I took out my cellphone.

“This Lilian!”, Vienna shrugged. “What are you doing?”

She rolled her eyes, finding me to film the whole thing. The group of Lilian continued to utter rubbish but this time he was silent since the Dean would not consider if Lilian complained against him again.

Turning off the camera, I walked towards them, Vienna following me. As soon as Lilian caught my sight, her reaction changed.

“Let’s go, guys. We have wasted enough time on this poor fellow”, she said, turning towards the classroom.

I didn’t stop her. “Stop her, dumbo Alpha. I wanna scratch her face”, Zendaya howled. “How dare she humiliate our mate? Stop that bitch”

“We are not in woods. I’ll see her later. Don’t create a scene on campus”, I shrugged.

I halted by him as he turned towards me to leave. Our eyes met. His red eyes flickered in the morning sun's rays. I could stare, diving into his eyes for hours if I had the chance.

“You.....”, he mumbled. I said nothing and handed him my phone.

“Show this video to the Dean”, I said in a rough tone, driving my eyes away. “It has the whole incident that happened right now with you. Give my phone back to Elson”

I completed like a robot and strived to go.

“Thank.......”, he couldn’t complete it before I started walking to the library.

“Fiama.....”, I heard his voice chasing me. Closing my eyes tight I walked faster.

“Fiama, listen for once, please”, he kept chasing me and I kept running away from him. I knew I couldn’t listen to him and look at him for long. It would lead me to fall for him the worst. I couldn’t do that.

“Fiama.....”, he shouted my name as my steps stopped right there. I didn’t turn to him.

“Why are you not talking to me? I hope I’m not annoying you. But you don’t seem to be casual, too. I just wanted to thank.......”, before he could complete I swivelled to him abruptly.

“What the hell do you want? What’s your problem”, I yelled at the peak of my voice, glaring at him. “You’re after me from yesterday. I helped you that doesn’t mean I wanna be friends with you or talk to you. Can’t you understand this simple thing? Stop chasing me and stop bothering me for no reason”

“I.......”, he might have wanted to say something, but my anger had possessed me terribly to hear him or to feel anything.

Even his innocent face couldn’t stop me from venting my frustration. An unknown frustration.

I shuffled away from him, without turning back, shutting the doors of my mind and soul. Falling in love was not for me anymore.