The Alpha King Call Boy
Chapter 70

Alexander

I scrubbed a hand down my face, suddenly feeling like I was sobering up.

What I had just said to Fiona was terrible. In my head and in my heart, I believed none of it to be true.

I didn't know where that voice had come from. I could only think to blame the blinding red rage that took me over sometimes. My Alpha wolf's rage. It was a rare kind of strength that I actually prized, the thing that made me unstoppable on the battlefield and saved my life a thousand times over in the face of mortal danger.

But my rage had never taken me over by surprise like that before. I'd been able to control it since I was a teenager. Able to wait for the right time to let it out, only unlocking the box that held it inside when I had a deserving victim in front of me. Like a vampire that needed killing anyway, or an enemy that needed to be put in place.

Not Fiona.

She crossed the room and sat down in a chair at the conference table, put her shaking hands to her face and began crying quietly.

I had gone too far. Let the darkest part of me spill out unbidden, let it hurt someone who didn't deserve it. I'd never cared for someone the way I cared for Fiona. I would never want to hurt her. Not when I was in my right mind.

I knew better than to try to touch her. I just took a handkerchief out of a jacket pocket and placed it on the table in front of her. She flinched as I did so, making me feel like I'd just swallowed a stone, full of shame and sick to my stomach. I walked to the other side of the room and sat down on the floor with my back against the wall, averting my eyes to offer Fiona some privacy, at least, to mop up her tears and compose herself.

I had never seen my perfect, tightly controlled Luna looking so broken. But after only about a minute I heard her breathing becoming more even, and then the sniffling stopped abruptly. I dared a glance in her direction and saw that she was straightening her spine and blinking carefully, tapping the handkerchief against her heavy eyelashes from underneath to pat them dry.

The apology was just behind my lips, but I struggled to let it out, not knowing where to even begin. I had no words that felt sufficient.

I wanted to assure Fiona I had come back to my senses. I wanted to promise her I would never say anything like that to her again. Tell her that I didn't mean it. That I had only lost control.

But I had already promised Fiona that I would take care of her. That I would protect her, make sure that she was safe and healthy. And in the span of less than ten minutes, I had betrayed that promise severely, becoming a person who had hurt her. Who was I to make more promises now?

Fiona huffed out a heavy exhale and pushed her chair back, starting to stand up slowly.

I met her eyes and found that the expression on her face had returned back to its default state, appearing neutral and indifferent.

She spoke again before I could.

"You have no right to interfere with my private life." Her voice was flat now, devoid of emotion, and she stared down at me coldly, her blue eyes as shiny and clear as ice. "In case you have forgotten, our engagement is not a love relationship. You only ever planned to marry me for the health of our child, and then you are going to divorce me after it is born, remember?"

I was lost for words. Fiona's facial features appeared as unaffected as if she were holding a perfectly normal conversation on a perfectly normal day. She spoke as if she were simply stating plain facts. But I hated what she was saying and was absolutely stunned to hear it, especially after seeing the terrible pain my angry words had seemed to inflict upon her just minutes ago.

What she was saying was all true, of course. She was only repeating back to me now the precise words that I had spoken to her on the day that I stole her away from her wedding to Baron. I had publicly claimed her and her child as my own, but in private, made my pragmatic intentions quite clear to Fiona. At the time, I had been certain I would divorce the girl as soon as I had the chance. I have never wanted marriage, and only offered it to her because I'd accidentally gotten her pregnant. It would have been dishonorable to neglect her, let her wither and die with my cub in her womb, starved of the strength they needed from me to survive.

I recalled a conversation I had with Kayden back then. He'd been telling me that Fiona was something special, a highly desired Luna that could find another mate in a heartbeat if I let her get away. He joked that once I got to know her, I might change my mind about divorce.

Fiona crossed the room slowly, pausing before she reached the door. "I never ask you about your personal life," she continued, still in the chilly tone of voice. "I don't ask you where you go, what you do, or who you do it with, because it is not my place. And I don't think it is too much to ask, to request that you afford me the same consideration."

I rose to stand in a split second and took a step in Fiona's direction. I opened my mouth to speak, but I was in total disbelief and struggled once again to find the words to say.

"Don't," she snapped before I could take another step closer to her, putting her hand up like a stop sign. I froze in place, feeling like a schoolboy being chided by a strict teacher. No one ever spoke to me like this. "Now if you don't mind," she said, "this episode has taken enough of my time already, and I need to get back to work. You should know better than anyone that I have a lot of work piling up on my desk, Boss."

She flashed a tight, forced smile at me as my jaw dropped.

Then she pulled the door open and walked away, leaving it ajar behind her. I watched as she returned to her office, ignoring the stares and whispers of all the other workers on the floor, who were still milling about in the front desk area. I noted that Baron was gone. So Fiona knew that I owned the company.

And she hated me.

After what I'd just done, I couldn't blame her.