Hated by her Alpha mate

Reputation

Rachel's health and body had considerably improved due to proper food, workout, and sleep. She didn't have to exert herself in the Ramirez house as she used to while living with the Carters. Her cheeks had gained their volume and her skin was back to its ivory shade.

Rachel's workplace consisted of both humans and werewolves. She quickly became popular as most of them found her to be kind, honest, and humble. She helped her colleagues whenever they needed her and always had a solution to their problems. She had gained the trust of many including her manager Mr. Leonard. Though he didn't appreciate her openly, he had started assigning her work of more significance.

She became a common topic of discussion between men in lavatories and smoking areas. She wasn't the most beautiful or sexy woman in the office, but there was something different about her that made her attractive. She was the only woman in the IT department and that itself brought everyone's attention towards her. On top of it, she was also good at programming and learned stuff quickly.

Some women were jealous of her gaining attention and started gossiping about her as well.

It was a Monday and Rachel's team had become a scurry of people with everyone trying to make last minutes changes to the app and fix critical bugs. It was the day for Rachel's team to present their MVP version of the app to all the board members of Ramirez hotels.

Rachel was busy updating some last minutes changes to the presentation slides when she saw Alfred entering the office. All eyes were on him, especially the women employees. He looked very stunning in his black suit and grey tie, and his caramel brown hair combed sideways in a classic style. Some were literally drooling over him.

She too got lost in the moment until Mr. Leonard tapped on her desk.

"Is the presentation ready?"

"Almost done, Mr.Leonard."

"Ok. Send it to me in 5 minutes."

"Sure." She finished it fast and sent it to his laptop.

Rachel's cubicle could be seen from the meeting room where the presentation was happening. She saw Alfred who was sitting in a direction facing her. He looked absolutely charming and confident when interacting with others in the room. He was like a different person altogether in his professional arena. She felt very nervous about their app and presentation and hoped it all went smoothly. Suddenly she saw him glancing at her. She quickly looked away. She got up and escaped to the washroom to hide her embarrassment.

The board members went through the demonstration of the app and were impressed by the overall progress.

"Looks like the user group testing results are far better than what we predicted. Great to see that." appreciated Alfred.

"Thank you, Mr. Alfred."

"The presentation has been very well organized and put together."

"All the credit goes to my team." said Leonard humbly. Alfred wondered why he suddenly felt proud of Rachel.

"Right, all of them are very capable."

And Alfred moved on to his next meeting.

It was lunchtime and as usual, Rachel sat with her group in the cafeteria.

"I am so exhausted. I dread the days of release!" said Davis stretching his back. He worked in the same team as Rachel.

"I know!" exclaimed Marcus, working in the same team as well.

"It's the same story for all departments. Everyone has to put on their best show in front of the board members", said Nancy. Nancy and Jenny worked in the finance department.

"Hey Rach, how was your day?", asked Jenny.

"Pretty much the same."

"Rachel saved our asses last minute", informed Davis.

"Nothing like that. It just happened to work out the way I expected, that's all!" said Rachel to Davis with a teasing smile.

"Enough about work!" shouted Marcus. "Somebody change the topic please."

"That reminds me, did you guys hear about Alfred dating Stacy Adams?" asked Nancy. Rachel stiffened.

Jenny exclaimed "Really?! The jazz singer? I thought he was single after breaking up with that Tv host."

It rarely occurred to Rachel that she knew very little about Alfred's private life. She wanted to know more about him but given their messed-up relationship, she could never ask him anything. It hurt her to know that Alfred spent time with other women. She wanted to know more. She asked with a casual expression,

"Is he frequently seen with many women?"

"Not exactly. But he has been rumored to date many. The woman he had been seen the most with was a blonde one with blue eyes. s**t, I forgot her name." said Nancy. Rachel felt really miserable hearing that.

"She wasn't anybody famous though." shrugged Jenny. Rachel wondered who the blonde woman was.

"Can you girls talk about something that would interest us too? For instance, what a bomb Stacy Adams is!" said Marcus.

"Marcus is on point for the first time in his life.", said Davis. Marcus showed a middle finger at Davis and everyone started laughing.

"Alfred is a lucky bastard!" said Davis. Rachel felt uneasy.

"I need to leave, I forgot to save my latest code changes", said Rachel abruptly getting up.

Davis caught her by her arm "Come on now. Break time isn't over yet. Nobody is going to touch your laptop anyways." and he pulled her back to the seat.

"Fine." She reluctantly continued with the group and silently ate her food.

-----------

Alfred usually lunched out with the executives during his visits. This time, due to time constraints, they planned to have their lunch in the office cafeteria itself. They reached the cafeteria and took a seat closest to the entrance. They ordered food and were waiting.

Meanwhile, as he quickly glanced at the cafeteria, he saw Rachel sitting with a bunch of others. She was facing the other way, her back towards Alfred. There were five of them. She was seated next to a black-haired man. To her opposite sat two other women and another man. They were all busy chatting and eating.

Alfred felt curious to know what they were talking about. Rachel looked very interested in the conversation. His food arrived at that time.

After a few minutes, Alfred looked towards Rachel's table and saw the man beside her holding her arm and pulling her back to the seat. He felt annoyed and displeased.

What's wrong with me? Why do I care if she is flirting with other men?

(Ray) Because she belongs to you, fool!

There you go again.

(Ray) Deny as much as you want. But you cannot overlook your feelings.

I don't feel anything for her. And neither should you.

(Ray) That's not for you to decide.

Alfred felt irritated so he shut him out. He swiftly finished his lunch and exited the cafeteria.