Chapter 12 Just You Wait

**Author's Note:
Apologies! I just realised I forgot to update the book here! Just uploaded::
**
***Alyssa’s condominium***
Alyssa Dawson pulled herself together and looked out of the window. It was pitch-dark, and the night scenery of the lighted skyscrapers in Neon City was breathtaking.
She held the wine glass up to her cherry red lips and took a sip of the red wine, letting it permeate her throat drop by drop as her emptiness slowly overwhelmed her. Meanwhile, a breeze from the high altitude of the flat lifted the bottom of her short dress.
It had been five days since she parted ways with that human male. Her chest was again itching. Itching to have a taste of the man’s warmth on her again. And she despised herself entirely for her weakness. The human mate, she told herself, could just be her indulgence, and not her Achilles heel.
But just one thought about their union and she was already sensing the hotness between her legs. She blamed herself for letting him get so close to her.
Aria’s voice nagged at her again.
“Alyssa, you can’t hold back from it. We need him. He’s the man.”
She had heard this sentence so many times since the mating, and being the smart werewolf she was, she understood, but she wasn’t convinced that Nathaniel Woods was the man she could dedicate the rest of her life to as her mate.
Especially the fact he was a retrenched ex-employee of her company and a man of dubious origin. She knew he was no werewolf, but he felt different compared to all those men she interacted with in the past.
Then he was a gigolo…
Not that she looked down on men of such professions. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have called for one to pop her cherry that night.
She thought of their hanky-panky on the couch just before he left; his fingers inside her, prodding and teasing her until she eventually gave in, and he slammed inside her energetically for the fastest time.
When he pulled out so abruptly, saying he had to go, she was miffed. But she had orgasmed all the same, and his ejaculation left a divine mess on the carpet, which her robot mop would take care of.
Days passed, and he wasn’t taking her calls. She didn’t need to question what happened to him. That wasn’t in her dictionary. She never even allowed men any chance near her, much say have an advantage.
Until Nat came along, she was the ultimate ‘Icy Queen’. His arrival just made her reconsider her strength and qualities. She didn’t want to be bonded to a man that would make her weaker. Yet she feared the pain of rejection.
What she just wanted was for him to abide by her rules and do everything she ordered upon him. She looked towards the moon and for the first time ever in her life, she prayed.
She spoke to the Moon Goddess and asked for her blessing.
…………………………………………………………
“Joyce, I want you to pull out every file you have on any Nathaniel Woods you have in the company. Go through everything on the record. And I want that before noon.”
Alyssa made her demands on the poor woman like she was her slave. Joyce looked timid as she nodded.
“Yes, Miss Dawson.”
She bowed and didn’t dare to look up.
“Call Mr Luckson in.”
“Yes, Miss Dawson.” She immediately left the room without the audacity to question her boss’ actions. Mr Luckson was the corporation’s in-house lawyer. He was ten years Alyssa’s senior, and an expert who had been through a lot before he started working for Alyssa. He was Alyssa’s adoptive parents’ old friend, and she saw him like an older brother rather than a parent.
“Mr Luckson, I have a favour to ask from you.” She twirled a strand of her false tresses around her finger captivatingly. Luckson looked up momentarily, distracted by her stunning beauty. He probably knew he couldn’t fawn after her. Alyssa was aware she possessed a particular charm that even her old family friend couldn’t help harbouring sinful desires for. Even the faux hair and the rimmed spectacles on her head did not mask her beauty.
Her childhood friend Ricky Henderson had been attempting to hit on her all day, and she couldn’t even be bothered to give his fruitless attempts a second thought. Her thoughts went wild when thinking about the gigolo, something she never anticipated in the first place. She fathomed it was the mate bond’s fault, and allowing herself to come to this situation wasn’t something she could tolerate.
“Miss Dawson, what do you intend?” He smiled humbly, maintaining a distance of a few metres from Alyssa. Nobody knew what the Icy Queen was up to or who would be the next victim whenever she looked their way. She barely smiled, and her smiles were reserved for more important purposes.
She confidently handed him a brown envelope.
“I want you to prepare a contract, Mr Luckson. One that will be hard to revoke, and that will be binding upon the parties for a good amount of time.”
Despite being AD’s legal adviser, Alyssa had seldom called on Luckson. But summoning him to her presence just to give him her instructions of contract preparation, instead of through a direct email, made Luckson conclude there was something about the man whose details were in that brown envelope.
Alyssa glanced towards Luckson, guessing correctly what was on his mind. It wasn’t as simple as doing a trade or sales agreement between AD and their suppliers or consumers. It was much more.
Such information was privy to Luckson, but Alyssa had given him that amount of trust. He nodded.
“Miss Dawson, it will be as you ordered.”
She glanced right through him with a little smile.
“Can I have it by the end of day today?”
Though she worded her sentence sweetly, she wasn’t giving Luckson any option but for him to nod and say yes. Outside the office, Luckson and Alyssa were like family, but inside the dark walls of the building, he was her employee and had to go by her rules.
At that time, she decided to make her rounds. This was the exact time she would get to know her employees, especially her newly hired staff. After retrenching Nat’s team, she had hired a few experienced employees to take charge over the underperforming departments. The sales department was blooming now, but it only increased their fear for her, Joyce included.
It was a lot for her to take in at her young age. Alyssa knew she should run free in the wild, exploring her abilities as a werewolf and doing much more, but she was stuck here, in this stressful situation, with no one who she could call her best friend. She only had Aria to talk to her every day.
She saw an employee on a break, sipping some cold cocoa from a disposable cup. It brought back old memories of her teenage years. She craved a similar cup. Should she get Joyce to get one, or should she make the trip herself?
She had pondered on the question for about twenty minutes when she eventually headed down to Coffee Emporium and order cocoa and some other drinks, since the place was overflowing with telephone and online orders.
It wasn’t very far, and she hailed a cab to get to that destination.
“Would you like a doughnut?” A familiar voice surprised her, and when she looked closely, she was surprised that it was Nat behind the counter. He didn’t explain though, but whispered softly.
“Let’s talk more after I knock off my shift, two hours from now.”
Two hours! Patience was not one of Alyssa’s virtues, and Alyssa was burning with the desire to know what Nat was there for. Why had he asked her to wait? Was there something more?
She scrolled past messages and kept tapping the screen to check her notifications, in the hopes that Nat had texted, but there was none.
Then she heard him answering the phone. “Yeah, Regina, you can count on me. Your grandmother’s cafe is going to fare well in my hands.”
The name Regina sparked so much indignance in her heart that she was determined to march over to the counter and kiss Nat forcefully to impress her possessive nature on him. But she decided against that action and just sat patiently, awaiting her drink. She hadn’t chosen cocoa, but something way more than that.
Nathaniel Underwood, just you wait, she hissed under her breath.