The Billionaire Alpha’s Dilemma

Chapter Four

After Remi left, Isla let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding while he had hovered over her, she leaned back in her armchair and stayed still for a little while, remembering Remi’s gleaming teeth as he had smirked at her and her belly did a little tumble in excitement then she remembered with alarm that she did not have the pictures he had show her on his phone. she jumped up and ran out of the store in the faint hope that he had not already left, she looked around disappointed when she saw no signs of him, as she trudged back into the book store she perked up when she remembered that he had left his number behind and all she needed was to call him and ask him to send her the pictures.

She locked the door behind her and put up the closed sign then arranged a little tray of bottled water, energy drinks and cookies which she took into the inner office along with her, she dropped the tray of snacks on the table, picked up a cookie and did a little dance when she bit into a chocolate chunk, Ruth always teased her on her love for cookies, Isla missed her company but she was excited to see her later and give her the good news, she could finally tell her about the mortgage payments that the store had been behind on now that she had gotten a way to pay, she was ready for the scolding she was sure would come, Ruth had no children so she treated Isla like she was her mother and Isla in turn saw her like one, she did not want Ruth to be weighed down by money problems of the store or her.

Reaching for her notebook with Remi’s number sprawled across in flowing cursive style, she studied his handwriting, amused that it looked exactly as she would expect his handwriting to look, demanding and taking up all the space. she picked her phone and dialed the number, after a couple of rings Remi’s smooth voice came on and she answered, “hello Alpha Remi, it’s Isla Strand, I forgot to ask that you send me the pictures of the the tree bark and the infected werewolf, could you send them to this number”,

Remi answered, “Of course Ms Strand, I will send them immediately, is there anything else?”

“No thank you, that will be all for now”, Isla ended the call and checked the time, it was way past midday and if she was going to be able to make good progress to find what she needed and still have time to check on Ruth later this evening then she would have to start immediately, she pushed her thoughts about The sexy Alpha to the back of her mind and surveyed the rows and rows of books against the wall in the office, she was glad that unlike Papa Strand whose idea of arrangement was to pile books on top of each other with no form of sequence she had always been very specific about arranging books and documented information, choosing to have them filed in an orderly manner, sometimes when she was stressed she would go through the rows of books, making sure the books were in the correct alphabetical arrangement, now all she needed was to chose the appropriate alphabets and look in the corresponding cabinets and rows. After she pulled out several books and notebooks and made a tidy little pile she started to settle in her chair when her phone beeped, she picked it up and looked through the messages she got then sent a reply to Remi acknowledging the messages. getting out of her seat she connected her phone to the printer and printed a copy each of the pictures which she pinned unto a board hanging against another wall and picking a book and her pen began to peruse through the books she had selected, meticulously going line by line, writing down points she felt were relevant on sticky notes which she stuck around the pictures on the board then after taking down notations in her notebook.

When at last Isla squealed in delight having found the elusive last clue to what she was sure was the answer to the Lune pack curse it was already late evening, she had been so engrossed in her research that she had completely lost track of time, stretching her arms and yawning she congratulated herself on her progress, she had been worried she would have to spend all night before she found what she was looking for but it seemed the gods were looking out for her. she glanced at the grandfather clock and noted with shock that it was already past 9 pm, she had forgotten to set a reminder for 7:30 pm so that she could take a break to go and check on Ruth to make sure she had everything she needed, she knew Ruth was stubborn enough to try to go about her house ignoring the doctor’s warning to only move if extremely important, hurriedly she took off everything she had put on the board and carefully packed them all into an open file, she would have to take everything she had found along with her to Ruth’s house, when she got there she would call Remi so that they would make plans to meet up, she was sure he would want a progress report as soon as it was available, maybe she would be able to lure him over to Ruth’s that would afford her the opportunity to introduce him to Ruth and inform her of the upcoming travel plans, seeing him would reassure Ruth and at this point she would not be able to drive all the way back to the store tonight, so she was just going to have to pack everything she needed for tonight.

After cleaning up the debris of the past few hours she changed from her suit into more casual clothes she gathered everything she had found pertaining the Lune Pack problem in her satchel, in also went her laptop and her glasses, she contemplated putting the last bag of cookies in then thought better of it and went out of the store then locked up behind her, walking towards her car in the parking lot adjacent the building. She was so intent on her goal that she failed to notice a hooded figure come out from the dark shadows behind the bookstore to stalk her neither did she see another solitary shadow come stealthily a short distance behind the first hooded figure, as she tried to insert her car keys to open the door she heard a scuffle behind her and turning around she watched horrified as two figures grappled right behind her, in a fright she hurriedly jumped in her car, turned on the ignition and was about to drive away when the headlamps of her car illuminated the unmistakable build of Alpha Remi, he had taken off his suit jacket and rolled his sleeves up and as he threw punch after punch and kicked at his opponent he moved with such graceful and powerful energy his muscles straining against his clothes he looked like he was dancing. Isla watched in awe at his fluid and practiced movements then quickly snapped out of it, this was not the time to be day dreaming, even though he seemed to be taking care of his self in the fight Isla pulled out her trusty bat from the backseat ready to lend her support if need be. she slowly and quietly exited the car leaving the engine still running then cautiously advanced towards the fighting duo, the person fighting Remi chanted some words and suddenly Remi seemed petrified and stuck in place, unable to move. Isla watched in horror as the assailant pulled out a long sharp looking object from inside his hoodie, it glinted when he raised it high and the moonlight shone on it, without any hesitation Isla charged at him and swung the bat with all her might which hit the object out of the assailant’s hand, he turned in her direction temporarily distracted from his opponent then he advanced towards her raising his fists, Isla stepped back away from him brandishing the bat and trying to ward him off her heart thudding in fear, there was no way she could take on the attacker alone. However the distraction paid off as Remi broke out of the spell that had been chanted and made him freeze and he became reanimated, without hesitating he delivered a powerful hook kick that instantly knocked the attacker out cold and on the ground.

Then he faced Isla and growled angrily, his glass blue eyes dark with emotion

Remi stared down at her, annoyed at how scared he had been when the man in the hood had turned around to face her, his strong need to protect her made had made him break free faster, the vicious kick he had given and the accompanying crunch of bones breaking before the assailant lay flat on the ground had sent a satisfying feeling through him.

Remi

After he stalked out of the bookstore and away from the tantalizing and forbidden presence of the book keeper he went on to the private hangar where his plane rested in a bid to get her off his mind, his flight rituals always calmed him down anytime he was anxious, before he became Alpha he flew all the time, on a whim. it was his safe place where he truly felt free from the anchor of responsibility that eclipsed him all his life, however since he had taken on the pack’s responsibilities he did not have as much time as he used to so now he took whatever opportunities he got to take to the skies and when he had to take a bigger jet like now he acted as the pilot and usually brought Lucien along as copilot, thinking of his friend cleared the haze in his head, he needed to snap out of it, he had not been prepared for the effects of the mate bond on him, he was infuriated that through it all she remained unaffected and unaware of how painful being beside her and unable to take her felt for him, his wolf clawed in his mind, demanding that he sate them of the thirst. he clenched his fist when he thought of how badly he had wanted to take off her nerdy glasses and drown in those eyes. It had been a war feigning indifference because he had wanted nothing more that to caress her skin. In exasperation Remi dragged his hand through his already tousled hair and shrugged off thoughts about the golden pixie.

After immersing himself in preflight checks then ensuring that the copilot was on standby and ready to move at the drop of a hat he hopped into his rental car and headed back towards Strand’s and gritted his teeth, he who never balked at anything yet here he was dreading having to spend any more time in Isla’s company, he hated the fact that he could not get rid of her and they were more or less joined at the hip. if there was unfortunate news and Isla had not found evidence that would help with the curse he would reject her, he hardly knew a lot about mate bonds but he knew there was a measure of pain the mates would feel, he was a werewolf he was familiar with pain however he feared for his human mate, it felt like poor compensation but he would take care of her mortgage payments and go on to his next stop, he had no time to waste there were more important things at stake that a mate’s or his own feelings for that matter.