Chapter 1:The Encounter
1239 Words
It was already 9:50 p.m. when Ace finally finished his tasks in the faculty office. The building had long since gone quiet—too quiet, in fact. He was the only one left, the lights above his desk humming softly while the rest of his colleagues had gone home hours ago, back at 7:00 p.m.
Ace was known as a workaholic, or at least that’s what people liked to say. The truth was simpler than that. He hated bringing work home. Home was supposed to be a place of rest, not an extension of deadlines and unfinished paperwork. So he stayed late, pushing himself to finish everything while he was still in the office.
With a tired sigh, Ace slid his laptop into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. Just as he was about to turn off the lights, his phone rang.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
He stopped mid-motion.
Ace glanced at the screen—and immediately stiffened.
Mom.
It was his mother, Amelia.
For reasons he couldn’t explain, an uneasy feeling settled deep in his chest.
“Mom,” Ace said calmly as he answered the call, forcing his voice to stay steady.
No response.
Only silence.
Not the normal kind of silence, either—the kind where you can hear breathing on the other end, or faint background noise. This one was different. Heavy. Hollow. The kind that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
His grip on the phone tightened as worry crept in. The longer the silence stretched, the more unsettled he became. He pulled the phone away from his ear and checked the caller ID again, just to be sure.
It was her.
No mistake.
“Mom?” he tried again, his voice betraying a hint of concern now. “Is everything okay?”
He struggled to keep his tone calm, even as his thoughts began to spiral. Possibilities ran through his mind one after another.
Maybe she called by accident and fell asleep.
Maybe she didn’t realize the call went through.
Or… what if someone took her phone?
None of the reasons made sense. And that was what scared him the most.
The call continued—seconds stretching into minutes. Ace stood frozen in the empty office, the silence on the other end pressing heavily against his ear.
Three minutes passed.
Then, abruptly, the call ended.
The screen went dark.
Ace stared at his phone, his heartbeat loud in his ears, a sinking feeling settling in his chest—an unshakable sense that something was very, very wrong.
Ace hurriedly gathered his things, his earlier unease now turning into urgency. He just wanted to leave—now. As he reached for the window to close it, a sudden, violent gust of wind blasted straight into his face, forcing him to raise an arm to shield his eyes.
“What… what’s going on?”
The air felt wrong—too cold, too aggressive. A chill crawled up his spine.
Uneasiness tightened in Ace’s chest as he tried again to shut the window. But this time, an even stronger gust surged inward, sweeping papers off nearby desks and rattling the glass violently. The curtains flared like something alive, snapping sharply in the air.
Before he could process what was happening, the sky outside cracked open.
Thunder roared.
In a matter of seconds, rain began to pour relentlessly, the sudden thunderstorm exploding out of nowhere as if the night itself had turned hostile. The speed of it all left Ace breathless.
Heart pounding, he slung his bag over his shoulder without a second thought and bolted toward the door.
Then— Ting.
The sound echoed sharply in the darkness.
Ace froze.
Standing right in front of the door was a man—blocking his way.
He was dressed in a black suit, tall and imposing. The lights had already been turned off, leaving the room swallowed in shadows, making it impossible for Ace to clearly see the man’s face. But his silhouette alone was enough to make Ace’s breath hitch.
Broad shoulders.
Perfect posture.
A physique sculpted like it belonged in a museum rather than a faculty office.
And then Ace caught it. The scent.
Cedarwood.
His instincts screamed.
Alpha?
Ace swallowed hard, his senses sharpening as realization struck him all at once.
Wait. That’s impossible.
There was no one among his colleagues—no staff, no faculty member—who carried a cedarwood scent.
Not a single one.
Ace stepped backward slowly, every instinct screaming at him to keep his distance. Fear tightened his chest as a terrible realization took hold.
What if this Alpha is in heat?
And if he was…
Ace was an Omega. There would be no escape.
“W-who… are y-you?” Ace asked, raising his hands slightly in a defensive gesture, his voice trembling despite his effort to sound steady.
The only response was the sound of heavy breathing—low, restrained, and dangerously close. Each step the man took forward felt like the closing of a trap.
“W-what d-do you w-want…?” Ace asked again, his voice barely above a whisper.
He felt helpless.
His thoughts were still tangled in the unanswered call from his mother—the unnatural silence, the unease it had left behind. And now, as if the night itself had conspired against him, he was cornered in a dark office with an Alpha whose presence overwhelmed the air.
Moonlight filtered through the window just then, breaking through the storm clouds for a brief moment.
The man’s eyes were revealed.
Sea-green.
Ace’s breath caught.
They were striking—clear and sharp, carrying an intensity that made his heart skip despite his fear. Beautiful… and terrifying all at once.
“Don’t move any further.”
The man finally spoke, his voice hoarse and strained, as if it were being dragged out of him against his will. Ace stiffened at the sound.
“You just have to help me,” the man continued. “You drew me here.”
Ace frowned, confusion momentarily overpowering his fear.
“What?” His brows knit together. None of this made sense. “I don’t understand. I was just here—alone. I didn’t do anything. Maybe you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
Attract an Alpha without even being in the same room? That was impossible.
Or at least, it should have been.
“No,” the man said quietly.
In a sudden movement, he closed the distance between them.
Ace barely had time to react before strong hands seized him. His back hit the wall, his body completely trapped. The Alpha’s grip was firm—unyielding. No matter how hard Ace tried to move, his body refused to cooperate.
“You didn’t,” the man said close to his ear. “Your vanilla scent did.”
Omega.
The word didn’t need to be spoken.
Ace’s eyes widened in shock. His heart pounded violently against his ribs as realization crashed over him. He was powerless—not just because the Alpha was stronger, but because his instincts were betraying him, reacting to a presence far more dominant than his own.
This Alpha was strong.
And if he truly was in heat…
Ace knew, with chilling clarity, that resisting him would be far more difficult than he could ever imagine.
Before Ace could even form a response, the Alpha moved.
Warm lips pressed against his.
- Writer
