Breaking the Rules

Chapter 3

I laid in bed trying to figure out what I needed to do today. I had been avoiding work all week and haven't even bothered to check my emails. I knew what was there, messages upon messages from the Regina. I hadn't even gone through my outline for the year as yet. But I wasn't worried, eventually I'd get to it. I had at least one week to go before the real work started, there wasn't any need to rush things.

The wind was gusty today I realised, more so today than yesterday. I glanced up watching the wind chime at the window as it swung in undulating waves across the window pane. At the moment the sky was black. We might actually have rain today, that would be a welcomed change. This summer might actually be the worst I felt in years. Maybe wouldn't have felt it either, if I hadn't put off that trip at the last minute. But that didn't matter now, I'd probably be looking to come home any day now either way.

I rolled onto my back, placing a hand above my head as a picture of Khristen came to mind. Her eyes dark with adventure and mischeif. Truly a diamond in the rough. I smiled a little thinking of her. The invitation to join Dark Alphas was only from a few months ago. I couldn't grasp the origin of the email either since it was sent out anonymously all I had was a link. I deleted it right after. It was probably spam and I know all too well about mail fishing, and I didn't have time to indulge foolishness.

Days later I got another and another until fully annoyed, I clicked on the damn thing. There, it told me everything. It contained my name, profession, place of employment, I half expected to see a quotation of my salary except it wasn't there. The invitation read: Real Aphas. Good company and full enjoyment catered to whatever my taste might be promising full discretion. Because being on the wrong side of what was "politically correct" was just what I needed to enjoy my pitiful life. The routine that I'd built for myself. Then there were the list of the rules. Ground zero being black attire.

The decorum was comfortable enough, each one having their own private room except for the public displays which was mostly the biggest attraction of the nights. The bar was doable- the scotch was expensive enough. But everything else was bland. I found the women were cliched, the company was overly sexually erratic and overall the club needed fresh people. I stopped attending after two weeks. Only six weeks later I got a new email about the new policies. The rules were the same but this time, the men were given the option of choosing the women they felt intrigued to introduced to the game. Each of us were given our unique invitation cards and none other than members could get in without one. Well, there are always dusts that fell between the cracks.

When I saw Khristen at the bar I could tell she wasn't like the other women who had been invited, in fact it was strange enough that she sat on her own without a Alpha. By the colour of her dress she wasn't much for the rules either. So I watched her, even when she hadn't a clue I did and I watched the men about her likewise.

She wasn't searching for an Alpha, she wasn't waiting for a guy either she was just waiting. When her eyes finally met my gaze I knew that was it. Something that might actually be worth driving all the way over for. I understood how the mind of a woman worked, if she saw something, something she knew wasn't like everything else around her, she'd keep her eyes on it; just like what she did with me and the moment I disappeared was the moment she panicked.

Holding her in the dark felt like a drug being injected into my blood stream, tasting her only fueled my lust and owning her only meant that I was right. A twist in probability. I wasn't the only single guy there, but I was the one she knew was different, that's the reason she stepped into hell without a second thought. The reason why she came back for seconds. I didn't know who she was beyond the door, didn't know about her life and didn't care, that was rule number one. No one should know who you are.

We both wanted something we couldn't have from a normal relationship, that's what I came to understand spending time at the club. The darkness within us became our strongest self. For now Khristen was just my channel that is if she decides to use my invitation. I didn't have any reason to care either, outside that room neither of us existed or knew each other and our paths would never cross.

My eyes flew open directing its attention to the door as a woman dressed in yellow rushed in. Her nose was was scrunched up and her hands laid above her hips staring at me through dark eyes lided with black bags. She wasn't getting much sleep I noticed, had been drinking coffee too. The aroma stained her clothing and surprisingly her hair was a messy bun. Not her best of days to today.

"What the hell are you still doing in bed?"

"Sleeping now get out"

"It's after ten, you get out! I've been calling your phone all morning"

"It's dead" I replied placing an arm over my face.

"Yeah, I noticed" Said my sister sarcastically. "Stop being an asshole and the hell up get up Bastian"

I groaned and swung my feet from the bed. If I didn't move she'd never shut up.

"How the hell did you get in anyway?"

She smiled swinging a small bundle of keys heading back into the living room.

"Did you cut my key?" I asked following her out, through knowing this was a futile conversation.

"How else did you think I'd let in myself? " She asked flashing me a toothy smile.

"Break the lock" I said going into the refrigerator and handing her a bottle of milk. "You've done it before"

Hannah sat reading through some papers I had drinking her milk like a child. I didn't know why I lived here since half of the groceries were what she ate. I glanced at the clock then went to take a seat. I was surprised she was here, today being Monday and not at the office. I was surprised even more she was dressed in slacks and not her regular black and white but what was even more surprising was that she was here this early and that bothered me.

"Don't you have a case today?"

"No" Hannah shook her head answering. "I asked for the day off"

"Why?" I mumbled sighing to know I was actually up.

"To help my dear brother"

Right. That wasn't it at all. I scanned my sister watching as she went through my papers a page at a time, she wasn't reading anything, in fact I doubted she even knew what was written on each page.

I yawned leaning back into the chair. Maybe I'd see Khristen tonight. If she turns up.

"You know you should be getting a lot of rest"

"The nights are too short" I respond listening to the patter of the rain outside before smiling briefly at the flash of blue across the deep grey dome.

"If you'd end your night time expeditions and getting in early mornings like a teenager maybe they'd be longer" She responded turning to face me.

"You gonna cut the small talk or you plan to nag me like you always do?" I growl now staring in her direction.

She took a deep breath placing down her distraction and looked me straight in the eyes.

"I'm going to see her"

I blinked a few times then decided it wasn't worth it being out of bed.

"Good for you"

"You aren't coming?"

" No"

"Bastian how long do you plan to stay away from this?"

I stood up. Hannah knew I hated having this conversation, in fact she knew this conversation was off limits period. That was another part of my life that was left in the past. A past I wasn't willing to ever think, feel or go back to.

"As long as I can"

"You can't hide from this forever?"

"You want to find out? "

I glanced at her from over my shoulder and her mouth slapped shut. I wasn't even going to consider it. Everything beyond 2015 was dead to me, completely, undeniably dead and buried. It didn't matter that I didn't bother to change my name, I was an entirely different person and going forward that's what she had to understand. I walked back to my room locking the door and went back to bed. She shouldn't have brought it up in the first place.

As I stared through the window and the droplets started to fall in even bigger foot prints, everything raced back to memory in a panoramic shot. Everything. Whatever the reason though, why Hannah even thought of going back was none of my business. I left everything there when I walked away. Friends, family. I snickered. Family wasn't even a word in my dictionary any more. Even my profession.

I walked away from the window and went into my closet to grab a shirt. I was definitely going to see Khristen tonight and if she didn't turn up I'll just find someone else to play with.

****

"So" said Khristen getting up on her arm and hovering over me, her hair hair dangling at the nape of her neck. "Tell me something about yourself. Where do you work?"

I looked up at her and thought about it, I didn't have to but I enjoyed how her eyes got intense waiting to hear what I had to say. This was our third night together in a row. She wore a velvet purple dress tonight, a high cut to the left leg, that caught every Alpha's attention walking through the door. I couldn't understand how she got in, robed in that attire but it didn't last long when she met my questioning gaze. She made me smile. Apparently when they stopped her at the door, because the guard had gotten more than fed up with her disregard for the rules; she told them plainly she wore the dress by my request. Now that was gall. More gall than what even I had, walking into this place and I respected her for that.

"It's against the rules remember" I finally said meeting her curious gaze.

" No it's not" Cub replied. "I asked what you did, not who you are"

That in and of itself would have told her who I am.

"I work for a very large institution"

"That vague huh? " Her large eyes meet mine again, my eyes dipping towards her full pink lips.

"Yes. And you?"

Kristen moved to sit at the end of the bed trailing her fingers against my feet.

"I'm a waitress" She replied still distracting herself.

"I see" a frown covering my brows.

I didn't get that type of servitude coming from her. In fact I almost didn't believe her, but watching her I realized she didn't need to lie at all. Or was she? Her fingers made long doodles against my tibia extending upwards to my thigh, she moved slowly, concentrating assiduously on her work until she made it back to my pectoral girdle. Her long fingers contained no acrylic and they weren't painted either. A naturalist I realised, I haven't seen her type in ages.

Cub's face was set between her dirt coloured hair, a mixture between black and brown, the ends were still wet from our time in the bathroom. I met my her eyes as her lips slowly met mine. My hands pressed against the curves of her ass as I pulled her over me depending our kiss. Minutes later she pulled away and stood up. I raised a questioning brow? She wanted to leave already?

"What was that about?"

"You went silent when I told you about my job" She stares but I know her thoughts are no where near clean as her tongue swirled across her lower lip wetting it.

"And?"

She shrugged. "I thought maybe you lost interest knowing I wasn't working a million dollars"

I chuckled. I didn't care. I didn't have to care either. All that mattered was here and now. We will never meet outside those doors or in a cafe, I knew for a fact we weren't working for the same organization and she wasn't apart of my department either way. This was s*x, nothing personal.

"I was just thinking that's all" I give hoping to steer away from this conversation.

"About?"

She looked at me as if she had already determined her mind that whatever I was about to say wouldn't bother her. She was taking things already too personally.

"Your job doesn't suit you at all?"

She snickered. "And why is that?" She looked me up and down.

"For one your rather snippy, and I doubt being sassy attracts many customers either" I replied. "Did you get that from your mother?"

She looked down then away, before walking away grabbing her clothes.

I sat up. We weren't done, but she was leaving.

"Cub"

"I don't know" She said holding her clothes in her hands with her back still turned towards me. "I don't know who I got it from. My parents are dead. I don't remember them"

I pined inwardly. This was the reason why we weren't supposed to indulge in personal conversations. Getting to know each other wasn't exactly against the rules but in a sense it was. That was personal information, more than enough information to poison the atmosphere like what it had done now. I wasn't ready to leave yet, but she was.

"I'm sorry" I whispered at her ear removing the clothes from her hand. They were just words to me because I felt nothing, neither in the normal way of sympathy because I killed that tree, nor out of understanding because I had no family. My sister didn't count. She was my blood but she wasn't. Hannah was more like an annoying friend.

She tensed for a while before leaning in to me. "I don't want to think about this anymore" She whispered back.

"Good because I'm not big on the emotion thing"

She laughed closing her eyes and leaning her head against me as I kissed her neck.

"How'd you sleep with a complete stranger?" she asked through bated breaths.

I buried my nose in her hair taking in the scent of raspberry. Something about Khristen drew me in, and I knew it wasn't just her body, maybe it was her wittiness or maybe her spontaneity in moving from one place to the next without a thought.

"You tell me, you're still doing it" I said taking a nibble at her lips before invading her mouth. Her nails sank into my arm and her feet wrapped around mine. We laughed together as I lifted her taking her back to bed.

"I wanted to do something different" She responded breaking the kiss. "Not exactly this....It just ended up like this, unfortunately"

"You regret it?" I ask because it's probably the best to do concerning the given situation. If she wasn't returning, I needed to know.

"No" Cub shook her head, hairs flashing in all directions and I laughed. "Now you"

My reason was complicated altogether. But it was simple enough. This was only a distraction for me from my thoughts but she didn't need to hear that right now.

"We'll leave that for another time"