The Alpha's Filthy Secret.

- CHAPTER THIRTEEN -

Sloane.

An hour later, the studio is empty.

I sit alone on the leather sofa in my private dressing room. The bright lights are turned off, leaving only the dim ambient glow from the street lamps outside the window.

I stare down at my hands resting on my lap. They are completely steady.

I raised my right hand, my finger brushing the side of my neck, tracing the small, faded scar where Raul bit me years ago.

Deep inside my mind, my wolf whisperers.

'One awakens us.'

I closed my eyes, my breath catching in my throat as I tried to push her voice down.

'The other calms the storm.'

I didn't want to hear the rest. I pressed my palms over my ears, but her voice rang clear through my head anyway

'Both belong to us.'

_

Roan drives me home after the photoshoot - well, after the mess I made.

Streetlights cut through the dark cabin of his car as he steers onto the highway. He doesn't interrogate me..he doesn't ask why I collapsed or why an international investor was standing near me in a studio hallway. He keeps his eyes on the road and drives.

The silence in the car grows heavy. I turn my head away from the window to look at his hands on the leather steering wheel.

"You don't have to keep checking on me," I say quietly.

"I know," Roan replies, his voice quiet against the hum of the engine.

I watched his side profile. "Then why are you?"

His fingers tighten on the wheel. "Because you look scared."

I lock my jaw shut and look back at the passing traffic. Nobody has ever said that to me without wanting something afterward. In all my life, weakness was an invitation for a collar. Here, Roan says it like a plain fact.

"Are you sick, Eva?" He asks after two miles. "if it's medical issue, I have contacts at Cedar-Sinai. I can get you the best specialists in the country."

"No," I say, keeping my voice low. "I'm not sick."

"Then what happened back there?"

I look down at my hands on my lap. I gave him the safest answer I could without exposing myself. "Sometimes when I'm stressed, my body does things I don't understand."

Roan glances at me before checking his side mirror. I expected more questions, or pry into my medical history or ask about my personal life but he doesn't.

Instead, he says. "Then we'll figure it out."

'We will.'

The word stays in my head, heavy and uninvited, long after he drops me off at my building.

The next afternoon, I walked into the agency headquarters in Midtown to sign off on the proof sheets from yesterday's shoot. Julian's assistant hands me a cup of black coffee and points toward the corner office.

I turn the corner into the narrow hallway leading toward the dressing rooms.

Raul steps out from the doorway at the end of the hall.

He wore a dark grey suit, his large frame blocking out the light from the window behind him. He doesn't hold a folder and I don't see Leon next to him either. He just stood in the middle of the narrow corridor, as if waiting for me.

My pulse spikes, a sudden hot surge hitting my throat. I stop ten feet away, my hand tightening around my coffee cup.

Raul's green eyes drop immediately to my shoulder and hip, the exact places where Roan held my weight yesterday.

"You let him touch you," Raul says, his tone is flat, devoid of emotion, but his eyes burn into mine.

Anger ignites in my chest, hot and sharp. "You don't own me,"

"I never said I did." he replies calmly.

"You don't have to," I said, stepping closer so the agency staff down the hall can't hear us. "You act like my company, my body and my name belong on your balance sheet."

Raul takes one slow step toward me. The pressure in the hallway shifts, his presence crowding out the air until I can smell the pine and cold rain on his skin.

"Then why did your wolf come to me?" He asks.

Everything inside me freezes. The blood drains from my face so fast my ears ring.

"I don't have a wolf." I lied, forcing my voice to stay flat, forcing my eyes to hold his gaze without flinching.

Raul's green eyes darken into two narrow slits. He steps closer until his chest is an inch from mine, his shadow covering me completely.

"Don't lie to me, Sloane," he whispers, his voice dropping into a raspy dangerous register. "I felt her. She thrashed against your skin the second I took your waist."

I don't answer him. I turn on my heel, shove past his shoulder, and walk straight out of the building before he can see how terrified I am.

My hands shake as I push through the glass doors onto the street. Raul knows. He doesn't know about Zane but he knows my wolf is alive.

And now I have another problem.

Roan saw the reaction too. He felt my body still in his arms.

That evening, I met Roan at a quiet restaurant near the marina. We sat in a corner booth, a stack of supply chain contracts resting between us, but neither of us has touched the paper in twenty minutes.

The ocean wind rattles the glass doors outside. Roan rests his hand on the table, studying my face under the dim amber lamps.

"What happened between you and Raul?"

The question came out smooth, devoid of anger, but his hazel eyes didn't leave mine.

"Nothing." I lied, taking a sip of water.

Roan looks at me. A sad little smile touches his mouth. "Eva."

I hated how gently he said my fake name. I hated how his voice didn't carry the threat I'm used to hearing from men who ask about my past.

"What happened...." He paused, his gaze holding mine, steady and unyielding. "its not over, is it?"

I stare at him across the table.

I wanted to answer, but I couldn't.

Because he's right. The nightmare didn't end when I crossed the border or when I built myself to this level.

Raul is still here, holding the leash, waiting for me to slip.

And somehow, seeing Roan realize it scares me more than anything else.

I shook my head, laughed then took a deep breath. "That's not true, Mr. Rhys,"

He arched his brow. "Oh?"

"Because there's nothing between us, I only dislike the man because I can't trust him. He's too controlling, and I despise men like that."

He stays silent, his eyes searching my face, as if looking for the tiniest detail of a lie. With a small sigh, he nods. "I understand. I'll never mention this again, I'm sorry. I misunderstood the whole situation."

"Thank you."

But deep down, I knew this wasn't over and it was only a matter of time before Roan discovered the truth.

I needed to act fast.

Or else, I'd lose everything within the twinkle of an eye.