Chapter 5

Nichole's hand gripped tightly onto an XXL men's black t-shirt while her mouth muttered incessantly.

​Recalling the incident half an hour ago successfully made her blood boil for the umpteenth time this morning.

​Samuel King, her arrogant boss, had kicked Nichole out of her own apartment.

​"Go buy me some clothes. And don't you dare come back until you've gotten a decent suit!" he ordered in a cold and authoritative tone, as if he were the rightful owner of Nichole's cramped apartment, while Nichole was merely a lowly servant.

​Nichole sneered inwardly as she tossed a pair of pants into her shopping basket. What a power-tripping man, Nichole thought.

​She was sure the man must have told her to leave so he could cry over his madness this morning alone.

​Unfortunately, due to the incident of being forcefully dragged from the building's roof last night, Samuel had left his phone and wallet at the office.

​Consequently, Nichole had to sacrifice her thin bank account balance. Frowning, she grabbed one last, most important item: men's underwear.

​She weighed the sizes for a moment, her face reddening slightly as she recalled her boss's bodily proportions, then chose the largest box.

​Just as she turned toward the cashier, her steps halted. Her blood ran cold.

​Standing only a few meters away from her, in the exact same men's clothing aisle, was Michael, her boyfriend, or more accurately, the bastard she had caught wrestling on the bed with another woman yesterday afternoon.

​The man was not alone. His left arm was affectionately wrapped around the waist of his female coworker, Jessica, the blonde who always acted sweet.

​They seemed to be laughing while holding cups of coffee, until the man's eyes accidentally met Nichole's sharp glare.

​Instantly, panic washed over Michael's face. Because he had absolutely no idea that Nichole had caught his infidelity yesterday, he immediately dropped his arm from Jessica as if electrocuted.

​Michael cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to put on an innocent face at lightning speed, while Jessica looked at him with an annoyed expression for suddenly being pushed away.

​"N-Nichole?" the man greeted, forcing a stiff smile as he stepped forward. "Honey? What are you doing here this early in the morning?"

​Nichole stared at him in disbelief. The level of helplessness and cheap acting from this man truly made her stomach churn.

​Nichole had just opened her mouth to hurl insults when the man's gaze dropped to the items in Nichole's arms.

​His eyes fixated on the giant t-shirt, a pair of pants, and stopped right on the box of men's underwear gripped tightly in Nichole's hand.

​A deadly silence fell between them for a few seconds.

​Then, the man's facial expression changed drastically. His panic vanished, replaced by a face flushed red with anger until the veins in his neck bulged.

​"What the hell is this?!" Michael exclaimed, his voice echoing and breaking the silence of the store in the morning. He pointed roughly at the pile of clothes in Nichole's hands.

​"Whose clothes are you holding? Men's underwear that's clearly not my size?! Who are you buying all this for, huh?!"

​Nichole's jaw dropped, truly amazed at the behavior of the man in front of her.

​"Oh, no wonder you used overtime at the office as an excuse last night!" Michael stepped forward, pointing his index finger right in Nichole's face, acting as if he were the most persecuted victim in the world.

​"You're cheating behind my back, Nichole?! How dare you mess around with another man?!"

​Jessica behind him now covered her mouth dramatically, looking at Nichole with a judgmental gaze as if Nichole were the biggest sinner of the century.

​Nichole stood frozen. The man who had been making out yesterday with the woman he called a friend was now standing before her eyes, yelling at her, and accusing her of cheating.

​All because of extra-large underwear belonging to a man claiming to be an Alpha Werewolf who was currently sulking in her apartment.

​A cynical, cold laugh slipped past Nichole's lips, halting Michael's fiery accusations.

​"Me? Cheating?" Nichole roughly swatted away Michael's hand pointing at her face.

​"You really don't have a mirror at home, do you, Michael? Or have you gone blind from being too busy staring at Jessica's cleavage?!"

​Nichole raised her hand, pointing right at Jessica's face, which instantly turned deathly pale.

​"Don't act like a persecuted victim!" Nichole exclaimed, her voice echoing sharply in the store aisle.

​"Yesterday afternoon, in your apartment, on the bed with the sheets I picked out myself, I saw with my own two eyes that you were wrestling naked with this coworker of yours!"

​Michael's eyes widened. His face, which had been red with anger, now paled, the blood seemingly drained completely. Behind him, Jessica looked down in a panic, trying to hide her face behind Michael's shoulder.

​However, instead of being overwhelmed by guilt, the man's ego was too fragile to accept absolute defeat in public.

​His peaking embarrassment instead turned into explosive anger. His eyes glared wildly at the underwear in Nichole's hands.

​"Don't change the subject!" Michael snapped, trying to cover up his panic. "You're deliberately making up stories because you got caught, aren't you?! You must be hiding a sugar daddy in your apartment!"

​Without warning, Michael lunged forward and grabbed Nichole's wrist very roughly. Out of shock, the shopping basket and the box of underwear in Nichole's hands slipped, falling messily to the floor.

​"Let go of me, asshole!" Nichole screamed, struggling hard.

​"Let's prove it right now!" Michael growled. He forcefully dragged Nichole out of the store, completely ignoring Jessica, who was frantically calling his name from behind.

​Michael dragged Nichole across the parking lot, shoved her roughly into his car, and immediately locked the door from the inside.

​Throughout the crazy and tense drive to Nichole's apartment building, the woman incessantly cursed and hit the dashboard, telling Michael to stop.

​But the man seemed possessed, stepping hard on the gas pedal, determined to prove that he wasn't the only guilty party here.

​As soon as the car stopped roughly in the apartment basement, Michael once again dragged Nichole's arm toward the elevator. He pushed her all the way to the front door of her unit.

​"Open the door!" Michael hissed, his breathing heavy. "Open it, or I'll kick it down until it breaks!"

​"You're truly psychotic!" Nichole cursed. Her heart was beating wildly. Her hands trembled with anger mixed with panic, remembering who was currently inside. Reluctantly, she tapped her access card on the scanner.

​Before Nichole could even push it slowly, Michael had already kicked the door wide open. He barged in, puffing out his chest, ready to beat up whichever loser man Nichole was hiding.

​"Come out, you bastard!"

​In the middle of the cramped living room stood a large man whose presence seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the room.

​Samuel King had just finished showering. His wet black hair dripped water onto his hard, muscular chest, emphasizing the faint scars that decorated his tanned skin.

​However, the sight that commanded the most attention and threatened what was left of Nichole's sanity right now was what covered the man's lower half.

​Somehow, the man had found Nichole's favorite peach-colored bath towel.

​The towel was designed for Nichole's petite frame, so right now, that poor piece of fabric had to struggle extra hard to wrap around Samuel's very wide waist and hips.

​The towel barely covered half of his thick, muscular upper thighs, looking like a tight miniskirt that threatened to slip off if the man breathed too hard.

​Despite his ridiculous appearance, Samuel stared straight at Michael with his cold, dark wolf eyes.

​The aura of intimidation and dominance of an Alpha radiated so thickly from his giant body, making the temperature in the room feel so cold.

​Michael, whose posture only reached Samuel's chest, automatically took a step back, his legs suddenly trembling like jelly.

​"Who are you calling a bastard?”