Chapter 4

~Alistair~

Do you know the good thing about expectations? It can work in your own favour. A week ago, I had come in contact with Eliana Venator, and before we had parted ways, she had said she would be expecting my call.

Right there and then, the plan was to give her a call when I got home, and ask how her butt was faring, if that made sense. However, on second thoughts, how do you make someone grow fond of you? By not being close to them. Absence, they say, makes the heart grow fonder. In order to get a longing attraction from her, I needed to play my cards right, in order not to mess things up.

Rolling a die, I kept asking myself these questions: Should I call her? Should I not call her?

“Don’t call her,” Jenny's voice said aloud, as she stepped into my office, with her heels making a noisy sound I was irritated by.

“Sorry?”

She slammed some files on my desk, and holding the desk with both hands, she leaned closer to me, “Do not give her a call,” She answered, then wore a mischievous smirk.

“And if I do?” I asked.

“Why would you do something I clearly said you shouldn’t?” She retorted.

I scoffed. “It seems like your memory’s been a little dimmed since I’ve let you know me more than anyone else. I don’t take orders from you, do I?” I asked, shooting her an annoyed glance.

Wearing the same mischievous smirk, she replied, “You don’t do so directly, but you take every of my suggestion into consideration, or am I telling a lie?” She asked, then walked closer to me, placing her arms on my shoulders.

“What are you trying to imply?” I asked.

“That you won’t call her because I said you shouldn’t, because you treat my words with importance. You know I have a reason for everything, right?” Jenny asked.

“Probably. I’d like to know what your reason is this time,” I said.

“I’ve been watching you for a week now. Everyday, you ask yourself if you should call her. That simply means that you’ve been thinking about her every single day since you last saw her,” She said, massaging my shoulders.

“What’s your point?” I asked, insisting she hit the nail on the head, instead of beating pointlessly around the bush.

I heard her swallow hard. “If you’ve been thinking about her, you may end up becoming attached to her,” She said.

I shook my head in disapproval. “That’s ridiculous. I can’t be attached to anyone, and you know that.”

“I’m not so sure about that anymore,” Jenny said.

Without warning, I stood up, making her jerk backwards as a reflex action, and I clenched my fists, without bothering to turn around to look at her.

“This is about you, isn’t it?” I questioned.

“What...what do you mean?” She asked, with a stutter.

I turned around slowly, and looked her dead in the eyes, causing her to take a few steps backwards.

“You know you can’t lie to me, right?” I asked.

“Why would I even want to lie to you?” She asked, her heartbeat slightly rising up.

“There. Your heartbeat went up because you’re lying,” I pointed out.

She scoffed. “You’re scaring the shit out of me. That’s why,” She retorted.

“You’re jealous and scared that I may desert you because of a pretty girl who I’m likely to spend a lot of time with in the coming weeks, isn’t it?” I asked her, like I was a detective interrogating her.

She folded her arms, without responding, and just looking right past me, not daring to look at me.

“I can sense fear and jealousy coming from you, and I don’t get why you’re so afraid or jealous. Why? Are you seeing your period?” I asked her, knowing women became different creatures when they were menstruating.

“It’s just... Since that day you saw her, you haven’t even been kissing me back, and you’d just pull away with the excuse of not having time for all that right now,” She explained.

I scoffed. “And so?”

“Why must it be her? I mean, she’s not even in her family’s business, and everyone thinks she’s a psychopath. She has two elder sisters, why can’t you use any of them to play her part?” She asked.

“It has to be her, because she’s the only different person in her family. Even before the accident, she was different, spoiled and clueless. We’d get caught if we decide to make use of any of her other relatives,” I explained.

“I guess you’re right, but that doesn’t mean you should ghost me because of her, okay?” Jenny said, coming close to me, in a seductive manner.

“I don’t take orders from you, Jenny. I’m your boss, as well as the Alpha. Don’t ever forget that,” I said, with my eyes glowing in a fiery colour of red.

She bowed her head, looking embarrassed.

I could have walked out of the office immediately, and perhaps that would have been better for everyone, because she wouldn’t have needed to hear the truth.

“Jenny-"

Before I could say a word, she crushed her lips on mine, and started kissing me. In that split second, Eliana’s face came to my mind’s eye, and I saw her stand up from the bench at the cemetery, and smile with her beautiful set of white teeth, as the wind blew her long straight brown hair.

There and then, I knew that Jenny had had every reason to become jealous. I had thought I was ignoring her because I was busy, but I had truly only been ghosting her because there was someone else I wanted to see, and someone else I wanted to kiss. That person was Eliana.

I pushed her off me, and cleaned my lips with a roll of tissue paper, wiping off her lipstick and every trace that showed I had just been kissed by someone.

“What’s this about?” She asked, looking like I had really hurt her feelings.

“I just realised Eliana doesn’t apply lipsticks,” I said, and I’ll never understand why I gave her a reply that was so insensitive, but it wasn’t like I was lying.

“You’re comparing me to her now?” She asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

“You started the comparison. What’s even your problem? It’s not like we’re in a relationship. Do you have feelings for me? Do you like me?” I asked, trying so hard not to raise my voice.

She hiccupped like a 12-year old who just told her crush she had feelings for him, and I understood then why she was so worked up about Eliana.

I shook my head, disappointedly. “You’re my best friend, Jenny, and I don’t have erotic feelings for you. If you have any feeling for me whatsoever, get rid of them,” I said, in a firm tone, then without looking at her, walked out of the office, angry at Jenny, but mostly angry at myself and the way I had spoken to her.

If Eliana had my number, she’d have probably given me a call. I made a resolve to stop keeping her waiting and took my phone out of my back pocket. I needed something to clear my head. I needed to see her. She was just a tool I needed to get a job done, but I also needed to see her and hear her laughter. It seemed like it was the only thing that could calm me down at that moment.

~Eliana~

The pictures on my laptop had been all I could keep myself busy with in the last seven days, after I had met with Alistair Duke. There was a picture I had taken of my ass immediately I had gotten home that day, as well as my neck.

From all indications, the injuries I had sustained were definitely from an animal’s claws, and I had confirmed it while looking through the Internet, and the notes I had been taken. However, when I searched for “Alistair Duke" on the Internet, I had seen he was a mad ass billionaire, and had officially become the sole CEO of his late parent's companies in the health, educational, fashion and industrial sector, all over the world. All my life, I had thought I was a princess, but now, I knew better.

The general name of his company was: “Duke’s Group", and it was a business enterprise that was known widely not only in California, but in other parts of America, as well as in other countries. There were several businesses owned by the Duke family, in names such as: “Duke Foods", “Duke City Hospital", “Duke Fashion House"; “Duke Group of Schools", and others in various sectors. Everything was practically owned by them, and a large percentage of the economy’s sector belonged to them.

How was it then possible for a billionaire, born to wealthy parents, who had lived all his life in comfort, to be a werewolf? Something just didn’t feel right at all. There was no way in the world that his fingernails had done something like that to me, but what if he had unusual fingernails? I hadn’t really checked.

Burying my head in my hands, I heaved a deep and thoughtful sigh. I had really thought I had struck gold for the very first time to prove that I wasn’t crazy, and that werewolves actually existed. It was unlikely though for a member of such a reputable family to have been bitten by a werewolf. Where the hell would he have come across one? I’m sure that he never went into the woods all his life.

Come to think of it, I was also from a rich home, maybe not as wealthy as his, but I was definitely sheltered and pampered all my life. Yet, I somehow kept friends of the lower class and went into the woods, and even deeper into the forests to play all sorts of useless games. It seemed quite possible that he had also been a rebellious child, and had gotten bitten by a wolf after going into the woods against his parents wishes.

Now, that was quite a possibility, I thought, as I picked up my pen, and scribbled down the idea I had just thought of in one of my notebooks. There were a lot of facts, myths, ideologies and conflicting oppositions in all my notebooks. People said I was insane, but I didn’t mind, as long as they left me alone to do what I was best at doing, which wasn’t just sitting at my study everyday, coming up with several ideas about werewolves and other supernatural creatures.

I heard my phone ringing, and I picked it up from the desk. I almost never received a call from anyone, and I wasn’t even expecting anyone’s call...except his call, which I had been awaiting patiently for a week now. I had contemplated calling his office to request to speak to their boss, but they were probably going to think it was a spam call. Besides, I didn’t know the exact office to call.

I swiped to answer the call, then pressed the phone against my ear. I didn’t say a word, and limited my breathing, waiting for whoever was on the phone to first say something.

“Eliana?” His gravely deep and intense voice, called over the phone.

“Alistair?” I said calmly, surprised that I was pleased to finally hear from him.

“Yeah, it’s me,” He said.

“I... I have been expecting your call. Have you been well?” I asked, showing concern, knowing fully well that he definitely had to be well, seeing that he was popular and the whole world would have heard in case something bad had happened to him.

“Yes, I’ve been well. I just had to deal with some stuff. Why? Were you worried?” He asked, and I could bet that he was presently wearing that half-smile of his.

“I wasn’t worried, just concerned,” I said, toying with my pen.

“What’s the difference? Anyways, I’m sorry for not calling you since that day...”

“It’s okay. After all, you still called,” I said, interrupting his apology.

“Does that mean you forgive me?”

I chuckled mildly. “I forgave you even before you apologised, I said.

“Great! Then, can I see you this evening?” He asked me.

“Um...”

“Please, don’t say no. I’d understand if you don’t want to go out on a date with me tonight because I’m a total jerk who didn’t call a beautiful lady like you after asking for her number, or probably because you’re getting off work late and you don’t have the time to...”

“Alistair,” I called, cutting in again.

“Yeah?”

“Take a deep breath, and calm down. First of all, I already said I’ve forgiven you. Secondly, I don’t work,” I explained.

“You don’t? Why am I surprised? I forgot for a second that you’re a princess,” He said.

I wore a light smile. “My family’s business has never been my thing, that’s why,” I said to him.

“You have older siblings?” He asked.

“Yeah. Two sisters, and one brother, and they’re all in my family’s business, since that’s the next quest you’re probably going to ask,” I replied.

I heard him heave a sigh from his own end. “You’re lucky then. I’m sure that’s why you’re parents don’t put pressure on you. Even if you refuse to get involved in their business, they’d still have others to do it, unlike me.”

“You’re an only child?” I asked, acting like I already didn’t know.

“Yes, I am. I never got to think of what I truly wanted to do with my life, because right from the moment I was born, my life had already been planned out for me. I couldn’t have any dream or aspiration, because there was no one else to do it besides me,” He said, sounding really emotional.

“I’m sorry about that,” I apologised.

“You shouldn’t be. It’s not your fault,” He said, his voice returning back to normal.

“I still feel sorry though,” I said, over the phone.

“If you really feel sorry, make everything better by going out with me tonight,” He said.

I pretended to think about it for a minute. “Fine then. I’ll go out with you tonight,” I said.

“Yes!” He exclaimed, sounding like he was really happy about me accepting to go out with him.

“It’s a dinner date, right?” I asked, in order to confirm what I should put on.

“Of course, mademoiselle,” He said.

I stifled a laugh. “I’m not French, remember?”

“Shoot! I forgot, and I really wanted to impress you,” He said.

I gave a small laugh. “If you really want to impress me, get me chocolates,” I said.

“I’d definitely do that. I have to go now. I’ll come pick you up at 6:30, okay?”

“Okay then,” I said, and his line went off before I could even say “goodbye" to him.

My phone chimed, signalling that I had received a message. Hoping it wasn’t a spam message, I clicked on it. Lo and behold, it was from Carrie, the only friend I had made in college, where we had both studied zoology.

The message read: “I’ve looked over and over again at the pictures you sent to me. They were definitely from a wolf’s claws. However, reports have shown that wolves have gone in extinction in California, but then again, we can’t always be so sure. Call me.”

I had sent the pictures to Carrie, stating that a friend of mine had been bitten by an animal. I had been sure that the injuries bore the semblance of an animal’s claws, but now, the expert had concluded that it was definitely the claws of a wolf.

Alistair Duke...Who exactly was he? I’d keep playing along starting from tonight’s dinner to find out who he truly was, and if he was hiding something away from the rest of the world.