Chapter 1 | Alpha's Secret

Rhea’s POV

Holding a report folder, I stepped in front of Leon's desk.

I tried to keep calm even the moonlink within me had been shaking since sunrise. This is because my pack is currently dying. One by one, Valerian Pack have fallen, and today I feel like there's not much left.

Despite this misfortune, I have to keep coming to work at this company where it's incredibly difficult to ask for leave. And once again, I have to deal with this incredibly annoying and cruel CEO.

I tensed up as Leon slammed the file he was reading shut. The man looked around the room as he gently raised his face.

“So this is your work?” His voice was cold.

I just nodded. I don't know what other bad comments I'll receive from this guy. He always judges my work while his own mood is bad.

Leon pushed the file back toward me, quickly, almost hitting my wrist. "Terrible. I'm not sure if this is the best you can achieve or if you intend to quit."

Leon got up from his seat. He had wide shoulders and was tall. He oversaw a vast business network as the Alpha of the Targarion Pack, one of the strongest packs. His company, Vareth Corporation, was connected to other companies that were also led by Alphas from various packs. Leon led all of these business coalitions with an iron fist. And his reputation wasn't joke.

At 27, he was one of the youngest Alphas to wield such great power. But everyone knew the reason he was still single. He had once found his one and only mate, and she had betrayed him by cheating on him and leaking the pack's secrets to the public. Leon executed the woman himself, and since then, he had never opened his heart again.

Leon now stood directly in front of me. "I don't like fragility," he remarked, surveying me. "When one of my employees is negligent during working hours, it can't be tolerate. I have no time for sucks people."

His hand lifted bit by bit, yet clamped onto my face tightly. Fingers pinned my jaw, making me stare straight into his silver eyes.

"Your pack is dying," Leon blurted, like he knew what I was thinking.

I shut my eyes briefly, pushing down the ache for my group. Moon Rot, that sickness hitting the Valerian Pack over recent months. Not physical, but something deeper, fraying the tie between wolf and human inside each person. It crept through their lunar connection, feeding on it bit by bit. Other packs didn’t catch it, yet for those stuck with it, survival felt more like luck than strength.

“I can smell it on your body. The Valerian Pack is getting weak. Is that right?” Leon leaned in slightly.

I blinked awake. Though I fought hard, tension still edged into my gaze.

The CEO’s office door open. Edwin, his omega and his secretary as well, standing in the doorway holding paperworks with a serious look. “Leon, about the meetings on Friday—”

A quick stare from Leon shut Edwin up and just dropped files on the table. He shot me a short glance, kinda soft, and then just walked out with zero noise.

Leon refocused on me. "Fix that report until it's perfect! Then bring it here. I don't want any excuses."

I stopped myself from crying, not for Leon, yet due to my broken moonlink once more. Someone else from the Valerian Pack had passed away. Still, my dad remained alive, while my mom kept fading slowly. Each feeling hit me like a tiny thread inside, snapping apart gradually.

I dipped my head a little. “Okay, Mr. Vareth.”

“Don’t make me regret keeping you in this company,” Leon said softly before I left.

~o0O0o~

Staring at mountains of incomplete paperwork, I remained in this office till late, pinching the space between my brows. Beyond the glass, the sky was dark. So I figured everyone had already gone home, all employees already left except me, whom Leon often forced to work overtime without he realizing it.

It’s 10 p.m. I sipped coffee in the pantry while gazing out at the nighttime cityscape. From the pantry balcony, I could see into Leon's room. Edwin was also there. Although only faintly, I could hear what they were saying.

Although it is not very clear, but he muttered something like, “Now’s the moment.”

Edwin hovered by the entrance, stiff, keeping watch. "Time to head down?"

Leon just gave a nod and then hurried ahead, loosening his tie.

I had a bad feeling when I saw them leave the room and lock it. Were they going home now? I quickly ran to my desk and grabbed the report he'd told me to revise. I was about to hand it back this night if I didn't want to be dragged into his anger again tomorrow.

"Mr. Vareth! Edwin! Wait," I called out when spotting their silhouettes step into the lift. "I finish with the write-up!"

They didn't hear me. They entered the elevator and I knew they were headed to the basement where the cars were parked. I followed them in another elevator. Once I reached the basement, I was relieved to see Leon's car still parked there, but strangely, there was no Leon or anyone else there. Where did they go?

Faintly, I heard the sound of a door behind the basement, which was located in a corner and dark, behind an old truck that had never been moved. I had seen the truck standing there for a long time, disguised the door that was almost never opened, some people said it was a warehouse. I wondered what Leon and Edwin were doing there?

Something inside me said to track Leon and Edwin’s shapes. So instead of backing out, I chewed my lip, push the door and moved the same way they did.

The scent of my own pack got stronger whenever I felt anxious, yet my heartbeat felt strange, pushed by stress, mixed with wonder, and along with fear.

I didn't expect that what was behind the door was a winding staircase to the underground. I stepped into a cold passage, damp soil smell in the air.

I held the file tight, staring around. "How place like this exist beyond the office?" I murmured.

I heard soft steps, Leon’s and Edwin’s, from far off. Down the hall, there is an iron door and it is slightly open.

My breath caught when I looked through the crack. The basement space stretched out wide, packed with odd old things I didn’t recognize. In the center sat a huge glass-ceramic, while small lamps hung on the walls, giving off just enough glow to make things visible.

Leon stood in the center of a strange ring. His left hand had been cut by a blade. Blood dripped from it, landing in a wide ceramic urn filled with fluid.

"This is the seventh month." Leon said in a quiet. "The final full moon," he added and almost whispering.

Edwin stood a meter behind him, head bowed. “May this ritual work, Leon. And may your power and strength surpass anything after this.”

I slapped a hand over my mouth. Was this some kind of ritual? Blood on the hand? Seventh month? None of it made sense to me. Leon wasn’t only a harsh alpha, he had deeper secrets, too. One thing felt certain, this was hidden for a reason, especially since my boss chose a spot nobody else could find.

I edged backward, hoping to sneak off unseen. Unfortunately, my shoulder bumped an oil lantern on the wall. As it wobbled loose, the lantern clattered against rough rock.

The tiny sound echoed through the still area, almost like it didn't belong.

Leon quit the activity once he noticed it. Yet his injured hand clenched tight. Though the fiery shine in his gaze dulled, it turned pale again. Edwin stood up straight, and the man was aware too.

My body froze for a few seconds. My fear clearly sent off a faint scent from the Valerian pack, a scent that an alpha could definitely smell.

Leon turned quickly. His gaze swept the room, then stopped at the large glass cabinet behind him. The glass surface reflected my shadow hiding behind the hallway door.

And what I feared happened. Leon saw me, and he growled. “R-Rhea!”