Chapter Sixty-eight

Alec glanced down once at the text he had received from Lukas as he walked down the hallway. He was asked to check up on the Luna Queen.
Alec would have protested that it wasn’t exactly the right time for that but he remembered how tense things were just the day before so he pushed down whatever complaints he had and got up to obey his orders.
He expected Luna Claire to be at her office so he didn’t even bother calling ahead, he just stepped out and headed straight for her office.
So it was shocking to knock on the door and not get any response, even more so when he tried the handle and found out that it was locked.
His next move was to call her personal assistant, it was her job to know where the Luna Queen was at every time of the day. Her phone rang and as he waited for her to pick it up, he tried to remember her name.
He had been busy on the day he was supposed to hire her so he had barely given a passing glance after confirming that all her documents were in order.
Her name was some kind of flower… Rose? Rosie!
Her phone rang endlessly but she didn’t pick, frowning, Alec tried it again. The second time went the same as the first did, *‘was she not with her phone?’*
Alec didn’t want to call Luna Claire herself because he was told to be inconspicuous while he did it. However, after his call didn’t go through the second time, he started to get nervous.
Perhaps Luna Claire was in her room, he would drop by first before going down to Rosie’s room in the mansion. There had to be a plausible explanation for why she wasn’t in the office and also not answering her phone.
By the time Alec got to the master bedroom, his blood pressure was starting to spike. Knocking gave no answer, and trying to unlock the door showed that it was locked.
Starting to get anxious, he flagged a maid and asked her to open up the door for him. As they had a key for when they needed to clean up the bedroom, just like they had a key for every other room in the house, he was soon provided with a spare key.
Opening up the door didn’t alleviate Alec’s stress, the bedroom was completely empty, not one trace of the Luna Queen in the quiet room.
He swept down to the first floor, finding Rosie’s room in the same situation. He stood in the middle of a well arranged bedroom that had a feminine touch to it, his head pulsing as he tried to figure out where they would be.
Asking the maids hadn’t provided much help so he was truly at a loss, *‘just what the hell was he supposed to tell Lukas?’*
“M-Mr Alec?” A shaken voice called from the doorway, making Alec whip around.
His eyes widened briefly when he saw who it was and he quickly crossed the space between them, taking Rosie’s arm. “Where’s Luna Claire?”
Poor Rosie was terribly confused by this, her heart catching in her throat at the way the Alpha King’s Viceroy had approached her. “Lu-Luna Claire?” She repeated, blinking repeatedly.
She had merely rushed back to her room when she found out that she forgot her phone when she came to change into something more comfortable. She didn’t really need it because she was taking a day off but she understood that important calls would still come in nonetheless and she had to take them.
“Yes, where’s she?” Alec asked, unconsciously pulling the assistant closer in his intensity.
“W-Well, we’re watching movies in the second floor sitting room, she gave me a day off and asked me to keep her company.” Rosie said in a rush, fear sparking behind her hazel eyes.
Alec caught himself at this point, realizing that in his panic he had held her arm in a punishing grip. “Oh, I’m sorry about that,” He apologized stiffly, quickly backing up.
As he did that, he realized that he was backing up further into her bedroom. He also felt the need to give her an explanation for his actions but all that he could come up with was another apology.
Rosie recovered fairly quickly, she had never seen Mr. Alec get that worked up but it wasn’t like she had seen him often. She had come across some of the Alpha King’s secretaries though and they talked about him far too often for her not to pick up on a thing or two.
And it was common knowledge even among the maids that he never got mad and was always tranquil but the flash of emotion that Rosie had just see showed her that his calm exterior was merely a mask which hid his true self underneath.
“I-It’s fine.” She mumbled, looking down, her simple cotton shirt and sweatpants made her look dour next to Alec who was always prim and proper. “Were you looking for Luna Claire?” She asked politely, her eyes looking past him on the search for where she had left her phone.
Alec cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses, more awkward about the whole situation than he should be. It didn’t help that all he could see was Rosie’s red hair, who knew it could be such a distracting color.
“Yes.” He said quietly, putting on his reserved mask.
“Then I’ll take you to her, but one moment…” Rosie trailed off, hurrying past him to grab her phone which she had left on her dresser.
She quickly checked her phone as they went down the hallway and found that she had gotten calls from Alec, she glanced at him, intending to ask him about it but was discouraged by his stoic expression. The Viceroy was quite intimidating.
Rosie was relieved when they got the sitting room where Claire was waiting for her because it meant that she was no longer dealing with Alec all alone.
Claire was bundled up in the blankets she had requested for, scrolling through channels while absently munching on popcorn.
Alec didn’t seem to have anything important to say to her, he merely asked her if she needed anything and then made himself scarce when she said he didn’t.
Claire looked just as confused as Rosie was, “What was that about?” She asked, taking another handful of buttery popcorn.
Rosie just shrugged, coming to sit beside Luna Claire. She didn’t think it was necessary to tell her in detail what had happened, she didn’t want the Luna Queen worrying about anything but getting adequate rest.
“Did you find your phone?” Claire asked, handing the remote to her assistant. “You can pick what we’ll watch this time.”
Rosie took the remote absently, her thoughts drifting to the intense look in Alec’s eyes when he questioned her. “Yes, I did…”