Athena couldn't handle this.
Why do they always fight like they wanted to kill each other? Did they really hate each other that much? Collins Growled at Kelvin as they both launched at each other, eyes glowing and claws slashing. Worse was, they were right above her, because She had been sitting at their middle when the fight started, and none of them had given her any chance to take cover before they decided to start killing themselves. Athena was in the middle of having lunch with the rest of the pack, yes we are all werewolves but Alpha Gerald wasn't here at the moment, so it was left for the betas like her, to separate them.
But Athena wouldn't count herself as one though.
Quickly, she dived under her seat as they both landed right beside the seat, throwing and hauling each other. Kelvin and Collins were twenty one, but for some reason they've always acted like they were still teenagers and hated each other, and there was no day they won't get into a fight. But today's fight was more serious, and they had already inflicted severe wounds on each other. Athena quickly crawled out from the table through the other side but unfortunately she was kicked aside by Beatrice who was trying to separate them.
"Get out loser!" She sneered.
Athena quickly rushed out of the place.
But unfortunately, she ran into someone right outside the door. And of all people it had to be Neil and his friends, the ones that bullied her the most here. Athena's heart jumped out of her chest as soon as they locked eyes, and she just knew she was in big trouble. Neil derived joy in bullying her every time they crossed paths, and his friends would also join in. It's like he's taken it as his job to belittle her every single time, and he has been doing this for years, and there was just so much Athena could take.
"Hey!" He grabbed her face roughly, squeezing her cheekbones.
"Let go of me!"
"Okay fine. Just pull my hands away with your strength, and I'll leave you alone,"
He's always said that, and she's always failed in doing so. But she would still tried, Athena grabbed his arm and pushed with all her strength. Her eyes were glowing slightly, and my finger looked a bit longer than before, but he wasn't even using werewolf strength at all. She kept pulling, but he didn't even bulge. He and his friends were laughing at her now, and Athena fought back the stupid tears that had gathered in her eyes.
She was nineteen, soon to be twenty so why the hell was she this weak? She was a werewolf, so why has she always have the strength of an average human? What is so wrong with her?
"Awww, she's gonna cry again. The cry baby is gonna burst out soon," Neil teased, laughing so hard holding his chest.
"Should we get her a diaper?" Oliver, one of his friends added and they laughed even harder.
"You were supposed to be killed as soon as you were born, but thank Goodness you're still alive. We can have so much fun, can't we?"
Up till now Athena was still trying to push his arm away from her face. He was hurting her, and he knew it. Worse of all, some of the other beta's kept passing by, giggling at her.
They didn't want her here, so why does she keeps coming back here?
'because you have no where else to go Athena," Her subconsciously reminded her delicate heart.
And then, he roughly pulled her back into the cafeteria where she had just ran out from. The fight was over, Collins and Kelvin weren't in there anymore. Neil climbed up a desk, still pulling Athena up with him. He was sort of like the most popular guy among the betas, and of course the strongest so everyone listened to him whenever alpha Gerald wasn't around.
"Look what we have here everyone. A human in werewolf skin."
Some banged their tables excitedly, while the girls giggled and whispered, pointing at the Wolfless female.
"What should we do with her today? Hmm, any suggestions?"
"Let's use her head and clean up the whole den!"
"Let's thrown her between Kelvin and Collins."
"No, let's thrown her inside the garbage can,"
"Let's ask The alpha to take her to the summit with him next time..."
There was an 'oo..* from everyone, and the guy who had suggested that was getting high fives from everyone close to him. The summit was a secret place known to only alphas, and it was where they had their meetings. Alpha Gerald isn't just any alpha, he's the alpha of all the werewolves in America right now. And then there is Alpha Samuwa, the alpha of all the werewolves in japan, and that's how the list goes.
"How about we make her do...all that?" Neil suggested, and there was a sudden uproar of cheers and laughters, and drum beats of course.
"Let's start by using her hair as a mop!"
And then Athena was tossed on the ground.
She already knew my hair was gonna be used as a mop, and after that she was thrown into the garbage can. Kelvin and Collins had been locked inside their rooms, and no one wanted another mayhem between them so they couldn't bring them out and throw her between their fights. And lastly, Alpha Gerald wasn't yet back from wherever he had went to.
It's not like he ever helped Athena's situation, he always ignored it whenever she was being bullied, like he wasn't there at all. The first time she mustered the courage to talk to him, he had suddenly flared at her and even hauled her across the room making her collide with the wall at the other end.
She was knocked out that day pretty Good. And since then, Athena never even thought about going close to him again.
Right now she was heading to work. . It was time for her shift as a cleaner there. Athena had already taken a quick bath and left the den, stepping out of the woods. The den was located under ground, and it was insanely huge! Well anyways, she had her bag around my chest as she walked out. Quickly, she boarded a cab. Athena worked as a cleaner at the biggest and most successful company here at New York. Athena took out her phone to check the time, it was already 12:00am.
She was gonna be late again.
She was dropped in front of the company, and took her sight up where the name had been boldly written up
X.A empire.
Stepping inside, the company was bursting with workers moving here and there. Every was on their feet today, making Athena wonder what was going on.
She found out the next second. The CEO had just walked out of the elevator.
Athena dived for the nearest door, and shut herself inside of it. The CEO of X.A empire was Caesar Lincoln, the most scariest, yet most handsome man Athena have ever set her eyes on. He wasn't exactly scary, but his demeanor, his aura, his status, his stature, his endless beauty might just make anyone pee in their pants. She's ever stood before him before, but the way she always heard people talking about it, she just know it's true. How can a mere human give that sort of impression?
The only person who talked to him was his assistant, Katy Wilfred, and that was only because she was his assistant. When Athena was sure he was gone, she took in a deep breath and opened the door.
She shouldn't have.
The person she was running from was standing right on the other side, just a step away from her. The moment Athena opened the door, he locked gazes with her and everywhere suddenly turned hot. Even the air she was breathing felt hot, and it was as if something was stuck in her throat, and her whole body was frozen solid. Is this really happening?
The man had jewel eyes that were insanely captivating, and his nose was straight and perfect. His lips were dark pitch, and his jaw was sharp. His chiselled face could make any woman drool.
Athena was pretty tall, but the man was taller, and he had broad shoulders.
Taking her eyes away from his took a lot of courage, and she found myself looking down at the pink shoes she wore. Does he wants her to move out of the way? She shouldn't be behaving like this at all. He was right in front of her, and she composed herself!
"Excuse me sir, but do you need anything?"
He didn't reply. What now?
"Is there uhhh anything I can do..."
Athena gasped when he suddenly leaned his head down till they were staring at each other eye to eye. Those green eyes looked as if they were accessing her, like they could see through her and even deeper. And...their faces were so close, if he leaned in anymore, he would be kissing her.
The heat had skyrocketed!
Wait, does he knows who she really was? Like...he knows she's not human? Did he notice anything strange about her? A lot of werewolves do mingle with humans a lot, but humans are unaware of their existence. They chose to keep it that way. Infact in this company there were over thirty werewolves working here under Alpha Gerald. She had always avoided them..
But she was more human than any of them, so if anything happens, she would be the last to be discovered if this is what it's about. But this man, he kept cocking his head left and right as he stared more keenly at her face. This is crazy, she doesn't even know him. He was making her sweaty all over, and she wanted nothing more than for him to go away.
She couldn't handle this!
She needed to move, just walk away. Run the other direction... anything!
The moment Athena took a step back, she felt as his strong arms reach out and grab her arm. Athena's eyes flew open as a new wave of heat crashed all over her. And now, he was bringing his head even closer...till it was buried in her neck. His lips grazed her skin, and a shiver ran down her delicate spine. Next thing she knew, he gently licked her neck and she would have sworn time stopped.
But he didn't.
He licked it again, while Athena was just rooted to the spot.
She had no idea why she was still able to stand, or why her thrumming heart hadn't exploded by now.
The CEO of XA Enterprise was licking her.
It just happened, and Athena pushed hard on his chest, but she was the one who stumbled back instead and fell on her butt. Everything was in chaos in her head and she didn't know what to think, or how to even think!
Athena just sat down there unmoving, her eyes glued to the floor. It wasn't very long before she heard footsteps, and when she looked up, Caesar was walking away with his assistant Katy.
How many people witnessed that? Athena peeked out of the door, and fortunately no one was looking her way at all, they were all going on with their normal duties like they hadn't seen their prestigious CEO lick her neck. She should be excited no one saw that, or else she would be the talk of everyone for weeks to come.
But, why did he lick her neck then? It's not like they knew each other, and she's been working here for about two years now and he's always been the CEO...so why now? Why today?
"Athena Williams!"
Oops! Athena turned to see the head-cleaner of the company Mr. Simon looking pissed off, heading straight towards her. Mr Simon was a man in his early fifties, and he was short! Or maybe Athena was the one who was very tall?
Anyways, he's been the head-cleaner for a very long time as she heard, and has controlled everywhere perfectly. No one had given him trouble as much as she did though
"Are you just arriving??" He asked, stopping in front of her
"No! I mean yes, a few minutes ago, but I'm not just arriving so I think..."
"Don't start again please, and go do your job!"
"Yes sir," she responded, feeling a bit guilty as she walked away.
In about two hours time, Athena was done with her work of cleaning three floors. This building was a sky-scrapper with over a hundred floors floors, and they had more than fifty cleaners taking care of it everyday. And the employees? Uncountable!.
Athena walked down the stairs holding a bucket and a mop which she was supposed to drop at the cleaners closet before leaving.
She had just dropped the bucket and stepped out of the closet when suddenly a thunderous slap landed on her Athena's head slammed against the wall, and pain seared Through her body. She groaned in pain, holding her head as she looked up to see who had done this.
"Insect, who do you think you are?" Elena grabbed her by the shirt, pulling her back up till she was standing again. She was one of the werewolves working here, that Athena has always avoided. But she wasn't so lucky today.
"Elena?"
"Shut your damn trap you insect! I never knew you were such a slutty whore too. What do you think you were doing with the CEO??"
She...saw that?
"I... don't know too please, I also don't understand what..."
Another thunderous slap hit her other cheek, and Athena felt as if her head was gonna fly off "You liar!! You think I'm gonna believe that? How on Earth then did you catch the most mysterious man on earth's attention??"
She was feeling so much pain she couldn't even reply anymore.
"Let me warn you. You're not even worth licking his feet, so you better stay away from Caesar, he's mine! Do you understand me?"
Athena could only nod. And then she pushed her aside, hissed and walked away.
Athena managed and crawled back into a corner in the closet, where she buried her head between her legs and waited till the pain subsided. If she had been a full werewolf, it should have been gone in less than a five minutes, but she wasn't. So she healed as slow as an ordinary human. It was past six pm when she was able to see clearly again, and walk straight so she headed...home.
She had just stepped out of the closet when she saw Caesar standing beside the elevator. Athena swallowed, pretending not to see him as she made her way to leave the company. He approached her graciously, and her toes curled subconsciously when she blocked her path. Was he gonna lick her again?
An arm reached out carefully, and touched her cheek. Did he noticed the swell or handprint of the slap?
"Who hurt you?" He growled softly.
Athena tried to think of a reason why he would even care about her in the first place, "I fell." She whispered
"On both cheek?"
"Yes,"
"Come with me," he suddenly took her hand and pulled her with him. Athena who had been caught off guard glanced around her, relieved to know that not many people were around to witness what was happening.
"What do you want from me?" She demanded.
Everyone has always avoided this man, and also wanted nothing to do with him, so why was he suddenly behaving this way?
"You. I'm after you, Athena. The contract is already ready."
As confused as she was, she also wanted to just run away from him. They got to where he had parked his car, and Athena had to cover her face with one arm before someone would recognize her. She hopped in, and he took the opposite seat right before his chaffeur drove away.
Caesar has always been a cold person. He had this dark and unfathomable aura around him, and most werewolves kept having hunches that he wasn't human at all. Maybe he truly wasn't.
Caesar Knows about the existence of werewolf, and he knew the one sitting right next to him was a very special one. He had finally felt her presence just this afternoon, and would claim her as his mate. The mate pull was irresistible that even someone like him was having a hard time rejecting the pull. He was working on his phone quietly, but he could hear just how fast the woman's heart was pounding as she pressed herself against the car door.
They got to the hospital, and he didn't hesitate to take her hand again. Athena was now utterly confused. She couldn't even say a word as the doctors quickly attended to the both of them. The swell on both cheeks was taken care of, and the whole time she couldn't stop staring at Caesar. What on earth is going on?
Getting back to the car, they drove back to a hotel. Caesar had earlier reserved a room for the both of them, still pulling Athena with him.
"I don't think this is right," Athena bit her lips as they walked into the room, "Why are you doing all this? I don't understand."
"I can't have my woman bullied anymore, so you're going to be staying with me from now on. Do you understand?" Wait, what?
Did he just call her his woman? And how the heck does he knows that she's being bullied?
"I don't even know you,"
"There's time for that," He took off his jacket and threw it on the bed. He undid his tie, and unbottoned his shirt, baring his chest. Athena just stayed perched against the wall, unmoving. Then, he walked over to where he stood and stopped in front of her small frame. His shirt was opened, and his chest ought to be worshipped. He looked like one of those men who worked out a lot. Those ones that were drool - worthy.
Looking down at her with his burning jewel eyes, Athena's shivered slightly. This can't be happening, right? She couldn't understand where he was coming from at all. This doesn't happens to people like her, so why on Earth...?
"I'm going to do it again,"
His large hand pressed against her lower back and pulled her closer to his frame. Athena's heart jumped when he started licking her neck again, this time much more slower than before. No man has ever touched her like this, and she's never felt this rampaging emotions. It was a new feeling, and she almost closed her eyes and gave in to it.
"Stop..." She purred, her legs weakening.
Caesar was trying to hold back, but now when she smelt like his fucking paradise. Licking her neck at first had been his own way of confirming if she was truly his mate, but that wasn't the case anymore. Athena had this natural floral scent that was messing with his mind, and he wanted to taste her.
He admitted that.
But, she was as dangerous for him as he was for her.
"Stop..." She said against him. Her hands had gripped him like she didn't want to let go, and her eyes were closed. He pulled back slowly to see that her eyes were closed, fanned by her long lashes. Athena had the most spellbinding sky blue eyes he's ever seen, and how body was much more mature than that of a normal nineteen year old.
Women were simply for pleasure.
But that wasn't the case anymore now that he's met Athena.
He can't continue like this. He can't make her his real girlfriend, but he also can't let go of her.
"Are you sure you want me to let go, hm?" He whispered into her ears, and a chill ran down her spine. She gripped him harder to prevent her small body from sliding down the wall. Athena's thoughts were all jumbled up because she's only known this man for less than a day, and look how close he's gotten to her. She didn't understand what was going on with her body, and why it was reacting so badly to his sinful licks that was wrecking havoc in her fragile mind.
"I... have to go," She was speaking to herself this time, resisting the pull between them. Caesar gently swiped on her full red lips, soft and supple. His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at her lips, his fingers running around it.
"You haven't signed the contract, Athena." He said.
She looked up at him, "I don't want to,"
"You have to. I'll make you."
"I don't even know you," she reiterated.
"I don't know you too Athena, but I want to know you," he suddenly pulled her closer till their chests were pressing against each other. His bare chest against hers had heat running through her core, and her breathing became heavier, "I'll force you if I have to. You're mine from now on. Get that into your head, Athena Williams,"
Her breath was stolen the next second as the CEO had just brushed his lips against hers. It was so light of a kiss, but it made her feel more alive than ever. If they continued like this, she would be done for.
"Get away from me before I punch you," the words just left her lips before she could think, making the both of them pause in their actions. Gathering all her courage, Athena finally pushed him away from her. She looked up at him again with so many questions floating inside her mind. They were right there on her lips, but she held herself back.
She couldn't believe her body had betrayed her, and she had even though about capturing his lips and tasting his pitch mouth. Whatever he had done to her neck drove her wild, and she was turned on because of him.
But the deadline was that he was still a stranger to her, and the relationship between them right now just didn't feel right even though the chemistry between them was sparking with every touch.
Hurriedly, she sprinted out of the room and away from him. Athena found her way back to the den, and settled inside her small room. She was utterly flabbergasted at everything that had happened a while ago, and her heart wouldn't stop hammering. Her fingers delicately reached out and touched her lips where he had kissed her, and butterflies awakened inside of her.
Her mind was in a turmoil, and she spent the rest of day restless and deep in thought. Was he trying to use her? What does he wants her for? He said something about a contract, didn't he? The area he had licked was still tickling her, and she hated to admit it but she loved the way he scented.
Brandy and wood.
Her only disappointment was how hard it was for her to push him away. Her cheeks turned red, and she dashed for the bathroom and threw water on her face to calm her nerves.
The Next day, Athena took a deep breath as she headed to work again. This time, she was gonna make sure to completely avoid the man no matter what it takes.
Athena's phone kept buzzing inside her purse, and she knew exactly who was calling.
"Hena, where are you? Are you at work? I can't find you anywhere. What's going on?"
God, why is she so loud? Does she plan on bursting Athena's ear drums? Athena groaned and moved the phone a little away from her ear, alighting from the cab as she stood in front of the company " I'm here" she answered to the caller.
Athena's walked up to the entrance, showed the guards her ID as always before they let her in.
A woman dressed in a pink dashing suit was seated, tapping her feet on the floor. She had dyed her hear pink today to match the suit, and her nails were also the same color. She had a round cute face, and her lipstick was also pink. Heavy mascara fanned her lashes as she looked up to see Athena, a smile lightning up her face. She stood up from her seat as Athena approached her.
"Where were you yesterday? I looked everywhere but I couldn't find you. I waited till 5pm!"
Yesterday had been a very hectic day, but she didn't know that. Liv was the only girlfriend Athena had in this world, and she had helped Athena get this job as a cleaner. Athena didn't really go to school much because Alpha Gerald didn't care to pay, that's why she had mostly engrossed herself in her phone and books to learn more from it. But Olive's family were very rich, and here at XA empire she works as the assistant sales manager.
"I'm sorry. I got caught up, but it's fine now." Nope, it's not.
"Good," Olive linked hands with Athena's as they walked up to the stairs "Because we are gonna have lots of fun tonight!" She said excitedly.
"If it's a club, I'm out." Athena stated as a matter of fact.
"Awwn," she purred sadly "you're no fun at all!" She paused "but you're coming right?"
"Never," Athena rolled her eyes as they got to the first floor. Athena decided to change the topic a bit, an answer she's been dying since yesterday to ask someone about. She swallowed at first, then glanced at her friend who was giving Athena puppy eyes with her mouth pouted.
Blurting it out, Athena asked, "If a man licks your neck what does it means?"
She stopped walking, and so did Athena. Olive was staring at her as if she had just heard something unbelievable, "What did you just say?"
"You know..A man, licking your neck.."
"Is he a vampire?"
"No he's not!" Wait, is he?
"So who did this happen to?" She would've never expected it to be Athena herself, but Athena had never asked her something like this so it took her only two more seconds to process everything. The shocked look that filled her face was classic "A guy licked your neck?"
"No," Athena laughed nervously "Not me olive, not me."
"Yes it was you," A crusty deep voice rang from behind them.
Even before they could turn around, Athena already knew who it was.
Caesar Lincoln.