Page 3 of The Alpha's Reclaimed Mate

My sisters all leered at me. My father shoved his fork in his mouth while my mother breathed in like I was testing her patience. “No, what about them?” She smiled thinly.

“Oh, just… apparently, Oswald got a good deal.”

“Such as?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Emma and Cassie rolled their eyes, already bored with me since I didn’t have the details.

“Mm. How are the ceremony preparations going?” asked my mother.

Their judgment dragged my eyes back down to my plate. “They’re going. Oswald’s just been a little busy.”

“I see.”

“I don’t blame him,” Emma snickered to Cassie. “Business negotiations have to be way more exciting than planning a future with her.”

My mother tutted at the girls, but I saw the smirk in the corner of her mouth.

Being the Alpha’s fated mate was the only thing I had going for me. I wasn’t an athlete like Emma, a charismatic team leader like Cassie, or an artist like Lacey. I spent too much time in my studies to be anything impressive to them. As the conversation picked back up into deciding who to invite for Emma’s post-game party, I just smiled quietly and ate the rest of my meal.

For two hours after that, I worked on assignments from my classes, then finally, at 7:45, I brewed tea, prepared a tray with a thermos, mug, sugar, and cream, and brought it to the office building, rode the elevator to the fourth floor where Oswald’s office overlooked the atrium. His door was cracked open. I knocked and peeked inside.

Oswald’s face was illuminated by his computer screen, mindlessly scrolling through what I imagined to be some spreadsheet or contract. He didn’t even look up at me. “Come in, Aria.”

Was I not carrying the tray, there would have been a spring in my step. I set the tray on his desk and sat across from him, cracked open the thermos, and poured tea into the mug.

“What’s this?” He grimaced.

“It’s your tea!” I smiled.

“It doesn’t smell like the café’s vanilla chai tea.”

“I brewed it for you myself,” I told him. “It’s regular chai tea, but I added some sweetened condensed milk because I know you like it sweet. I thought you’d like the creaminess.”

He sipped it, then frowned and set the mug down a little further away than if he intended to sip it again any time soon. “Get me tea from the café next time.”

My heart stammered. “Okay.” No problem. He didn’t like sweetened condensed milk. Lesson learned. “So, the flowers?”

“I don’t care.” His eyes went back to the monitor. “Something that matches the colour scheme.”

“So… white and yellow,” I said. “Well, lilies will give off kind of a playful flair, while hydrangeas will have more of a classical look…”

“I said I don’t care. Pick something you like.”

I hesitated at his lack of investment. But I feared annoying him by pressing further, so I left it at that. For a few seconds, I watched him, then remembered the real reason I had come to talk to him. “The budget negotiations must have gone over well? Mrs. Foster said our computer systems would be receiving an upgrade.”

“Yes,” he replied immediately, tapping out words and clicking his mouse.

“What kind of budget increase are we expecting?”

Oswald clicked a few more times, then stood up, gathering a folder from the corner of his desk. “One million across the board.”

I stood up with him. “That’s amazing!”

“And if sales meet our projections by the end of the quarter, our division will receive another two hundred and fifty thousand for employee bonuses,” he said, facing me.

“Oh, Oswald! That’s wonderful!” Our packmates deserved the extra money! This was cause for celebration! I didn’t even think before leaning in to hug him, only for his hand on my shoulder to hold me at bay.

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