Page 32 of The Alpha's Broken Oath

Once everyone leaves, and I fall under the assumption that I’m the only one left in the room, I’m barely off my seat when the musky cologne of sandalwood and patchouli hogs my nostrils.

It doesn’t take me turning around to know the man standing behind me is Alpha Kieran Vega. I mean, he’s the only man who smells like he bathes in luxury colognes in his free time.

Caging me with his hand and standing behind my chair in a way I can’t move unless I shove him or request him to move, the man with the golden eyes I’ve gotten used to whispers in my ear.

“Don’t tell me you are leaving so soon, sweetheart. We barely had time to catch up since the last time we saw each other,” Alpha Kieran’s velvety voice streams into my ears, and given the time and my mood, it sounds more annoying than usual.

“I believe the last time we saw each other, you were threatening Mr. Wilfred of how you would bring this company down,” cocking my head to give him my answer turns out to be a big mistake because that only leaves my face mere inches from his.

From the eyes of another woman, Alpha Kieran Vega was everything one would want in a mate. He was rich enough to buy Bracken City, he was a ruthless businessman who never gave up on what he wanted, and as for his looks, he wasn’t too lacking in that department either.

With a six-foot-two height, a charismatic attitude that all Alphas carried, and eyes that could lull even the most loyal Lunas, Alpha Kieran was temptation wrapped in a nice red bow. Too bad the effect he had on other women never rubbed off on me.

“You are still sour about that?” Kieran asks.

“You were going to bring the company down and everyone who worked here down with it. But it doesn’t matter now. I’ve got somewhere to be, so if you could please step aside and give me room, I’d appreciate that.”

I expect Kieran to be as stubborn as always, but it’s a surprise when his scent fades from my nostrils, and he steps back, giving me room to push my chair back and stand up.

“Whatever this new guy is offering you, I could pay you double the amount, Winter. You know I’d do anything for you,” Kieran delivers the line with a smile. Almost as if he’s being sarcastic and serious at the same time.

“Are you offering to buy me as your assistant, Alpha Kieran? Because that actually makes me feel cheap.”

With that lazy smile plastered on his face, Kieran steps forward. Enough to be in my breathing space but not enough to cross any boundaries.

“Having you as my assistant is the last thing on my mind, Winter. I’d pay to see you in my kitchen cooking for me, in my room, on my bed, hell doing anything you want in my house. You’d never have to work a single day in your life.”

Laughter snorts from my throat as I reply back with, “Goodbye, Alpha Kieran. Some of us have actual work to be done.”

Holding the blue files against my chest tighter, I’m almost to the door when Kieran’s words hit me from behind.

“I’m still waiting for the day you actually say yes to my dinner proposal, sweetheart. You have my number in case you ever change your mind.”

“I’ll never change my mind” is what I want to say, but instead, I step out of the boardroom, closing the door on Kieran’s smirking face.

Getting to Deacon’s office takes a lot of pep-talking and trying to push away my wolf, who buzzes with excitement at the prospect of seeing Deacon again. Ever since I slept with Deacon, somehow, my wolf has started to get attached, and I fear for both of us because getting too attached will lead to the same heartbreak we tried to cure for years.

“We can tell Deacon we don’t regret a second of what happened last night,” my wolf reminds me.

Pushing the double-edged doors to Deacon’s office ends up as a relief, and somehow as a crushing disappointment when Simon tells me the boss left and he actually said I could leave work early today.

I guess I never stopped to think that Deacon has a life outside work just like I do, and seeing as how it’s already Friday, that means I will not see Deacon till Monday.

***

“Uncle Luka! Uncle Luka! Look at me. I can fly,” Adrian squeals from the swings. I’d be worried about those swings if it weren’t for the fact that my baby is barely two feet off the ground.

“I see you, Addie. Wow. Are you planning on being a superhero?” Luka shouts back.

Ash, who is scooping sand near the sand pit, stands with a plastic shovel, staring at Luka a tad bit too aggressively.

“I want to be a superhero too, Uncle Luka!” Asher whines.

“Babies, you can all be superheroes with those faces,” Julie chimes in, and that seems to calm the boys, who are doing two different things on opposite sides of the park.

Biting a chunk of my pretzel, the warmth of the sun on my skin reminds me why I love the park. I break the monotonous silence between me and my friends.

“Any reason why both of you decided to ambush me in the park?” I ask.

---