Chapter 2: Monster.

Katlyn 

I stepped into the elevator at exactly 8:00 PM. My heart was thundering harder than any pulse I’d ever written for a hero, and I was praying, pleading with the universe—that he either hadn't seen the drive or was too busy to open it.

Heaven knows I would not survive the look on his face after reading:

“His grey eyes darted towards me, his beauty caging me in as he pinned me to the wall, her black hair fanning beneath his head…”

Wait.

Grey eyes?

My stomach dropped.

 Did I describe Alpha Finn with grey eyes? 

“Oh my God…” I whispered, dragging a hand down my face. “I’m finished.”

 My boss will undoubtedly think I was having vivid erotic fantasies about him. I could already hear his scoff, his silent gloat about my "delusions" regarding werewolves. He’d call me a freak. Worse, obsessed.

Maybe I should just start drafting my resignation letter now and save us both the trouble. I’d rather disappear than face that level of humiliation.

  The elevator dinged as it hit the penthouse floor. As expected, the office was silent as a graveyard and draped in shadows. I knew the layout like the back of my hand, so I didn't turn on a flashlight; any light would just expose me. And damn these heels. Every click on the marble sounded like a gunshot.

I walked toward the office, my legs shaking. “I’m very sorry for interrupting, Sir, but I left you the wrong file,” I practiced in my head. 

He needed the presentation for tomorrow anyway.

He couldn’t possibly get that mad over that… right?

Who was I kidding? Lukas Varlor Hart wasn't "considerate" on his best days.

I reached the door, my frail, trembling finger hovering over the handle. My breathing was erratic. He clearly hadn't seen the file yet, or he would have dropped an email or called to fire me by now. He had to be home. He had to be gone.

I leaned closer, pressing my ear lightly against the door, straining to hear anything. For the first time since working here, I wished this office wasn’t so perfectly soundproof.

Someone could be getting murdered in there and no one would ever know.

After a second, hearing nothing but my own pulse, I straightened and took a breath.

Just go in.

I pushed the door open, my eyes squeezing shut as the words rushed out of me.

“I’m sorry, sir—”

The words died as a brutal, guttural groan filled the air. I jumped, my eyes snapping open, and my heart stopped.

I stumbled back as the groan echoed again—a sound of pure, unadulterated agony, deeper this time, more animal than human.

Holy Jesus.

I stared in disbelief as the man before me rose to his feet. His grey eyes were cycling through shades of amber and emerald with every passing second. 

I couldn’t breathe.

His hands clenched, veins straining beneath his skin as his body seemed to… expand. Stretch. His shoulders broadened further, muscles tightening unnaturally as the fabric of his shirt gave way with a sharp tear.

 I flinched.

It wasn’t normal.

Nothing about this was normal.

His body jerked violently, like something inside him was clawing its way out. His spine arched, a strained, guttural growl ripping from his throat as his form shifted—half man, half something else entirely.

Fur, light amber, almost like fire, spread across his skin in uneven patches. His limbs thickened, lengthened, his entire frame growing larger… bigger than the room should have allowed as he  dissolved, his beauty melting into whatever he's turning into.

Furniture splintered as he slammed into it, the desk cracking under the force of his movement.

I was rooted to the spot, unable to move as I watched as the man I had worked for three years slowly dissolved into something else entirely—something monstrous, something powerful, something that made every instinct in my body scream at me to run.

I scrambled backward, my knees turning to jelly as I tried to move, but it felt like my body had completely betrayed me. His glowing eyes locked onto mine.

“Why are you here?”

His voice was a husky, pained growl that made every cell in my body shudder. It sounded exactly like the ones in his office earlier.

“I—I…” I stammered, scrambling backward as sweat broke out across my skin, my entire body screaming at me to move, to run, to get out.

“What are you trying to do, Katlyn?” He watched me, his lips flickering into a smirk that made my blood run cold. “Run?”

Tears burned in my eyes as panic tightened its grip around my chest. Was he going to kill me? Was this why no one was allowed to stay past six? Had he always been like this?

He shoved his desk aside with one hand, the heavy wood splintering. “I asked a question, Katlyn! What are you doing here?!”

I screamed, the sound tearing out of me as my body finally obeyed the command my mind had been screaming all along. 

Run.

I turned and bolted, rushing down the hallway without thinking, barely registering my surroundings as I ran past my desk, my heels doing nothing to slow me down as adrenaline carried me forward, while heading for the exit.

God, please!

His pained voice followed me, sounding like it was right in my ear. “Just as I predicted, Katlyn. Running.”

It felt like he was right behind me, like I could feel him breathing down my neck, and when I dared to glance back, there was no one there—but that didn’t make it better.

I reached the elevator and pressed the button repeatedly, my hands shaking violently as panic set deeper into my bones.

“Come on… come on…”

The doors finally slid open, and I stumbled inside, immediately hitting the close button as my breathing turned uneven, my lips moving in frantic prayers as sweat gathered on my forehead.

 My bag was gone, forgotten in the office, but I didn't care.

The doors began to close, and I squeezed my eyes shut, silently begging for them to shut faster.

Just as they were about to meet, they stopped midway, forcing my eyes open in fear as my blood ran cold at the sight of him standing right there. 

He wasn’t struggling anymore.

I jumped as a scream of terror escaped my lips. 

His entire body was covered in thick amber fur that seemed to glow under the dim light, his massive frame towering in a way that made the elevator feel impossibly small. His face still carried traces of the man I knew, but it was sharper now, darker, something inhuman lurking beneath every feature.

I trembled violently, pressing myself back against the wall as a broken sound escaped my lips.

“Please… just go away,” I begged, shaking my head as tears blurred my vision. “I didn’t see anything. I swear, I’ll leave. I won’t say a word.”

He only watched me, that same unsettling smirk still present.

“Come outside, Katlyn,” he said, his voice low, calm, and impossibly commanding.

“Please…”

“Come!”

My feet moved before I could stop them, one step forward betraying me completely before I even understood what I was doing, but before I could take another, his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me toward him with ease.

I gasped at the contact, my entire body reacting instantly.

“Your fear…” he murmured, his voice dropping lower as his grip tightened slightly, while his nose traveled down to the crook of my neck. “it’s intoxicating.”

My breath hitched.

“But the scent of your arousal?” he added, his lips curling into something I couldn't decipher. “Fuck.”

Arousal? I blinked, stunned, confusion crashing into fear all at once as he leaned closer, his presence overwhelming in every possible way.

“Isn’t it perfect,” he continued, his voice softer now, almost amused, “that you came to me yourself?”

My heart pounded violently against my chest as his grip remained firm.

“Who would have thought…” he murmured, his gaze locking onto mine with something intense and dangerous, “that my little assistant is the mate I’ve been searching for all along?”