Marked by the Moon

The Warning

The following day began with a gray sky like the grayer one in her head. She did not sleep at all. Her nightmares, memory still clung with the tone of Ryder Blackthorn’s voice, husky and rough, commanding, with an undertone that she could not identify. His face flashed through the black, pale gray eyes staring at hers with an unblinking expression as though he could see right through her.

She looked at herself in the mirror while styling her hair into a bun, her hands kept on shaking despite doing her best in not making a mess.

"You'll be fine" she assured herself. "It's nothing but a job."

But she's confident it is far from the truth. There was nothing ordinary about this work. Absolutely nothing normal about Ryder Blackthorn.

The taxi ride to the Blackthorn building was fast. Her mind was racing as she held her bag to her chest. "What have I gotten into?" Ryder Blackthorn is a powerful and fascinating man and totally beyond her reach. And despite the fact that she saw a lot of signs warning her about everything, there was something attracting her to him like the way bees get attracted to honey.

Her heart was racing as she came down from the taxi. She pushed the door while adjusting her blouse. Glass doors flashed her anxious face back at her. Chin up. Back straight. You got this.

No sooner did she get inside, the air in the lobby hit her in the face. She greeted the security men, and one of them , who is old and has a cheek scar with steel gray eyes did not respond.

"You are the new assistant to the CEO?" he asked in a low voice.

She nodded slowly.

He gazed at her for a moment too long before muttering under his breath, “Be careful. There are things involving Mr. Blackthorn you do not wish to know.”

She lifted her brows. “Excuse me?”

But he took off as soon as he said that, vanishing through a side door like mist in the air.

She was stunned for a second, looking at whatever that was.

By the time she got to the floor she was headed to, her nerves were stripped. The office was abuzz with subdued anxiety. Everything here felt too good to be true as if it could spot out imperfections. She went through the glass doors, nodded at the receptionist that had a frown on her face with a small smile, and down the hall to Ryder’s office.

She paused as she held the door handle. Her fingers curled into a twist as she knocked.

“Enter."

That voice, cool and calm as ever, made her focus. She entered into the office.

Ryder sat at his desk, once again in another perfectly well-cut black suit. The silver cufflinks shone in the fluorescent light, but it was his eyes that stopped her, inquiring, unreadable, and with complete attention on her.

"You're late," he stated.

She blinked. “It’s 7:59.”

"Early is the rule here," he told me. "On time is late."

She hesitated and nodded slowly. “Noted, sir.”

He looked at her for another moment before he pointed to a clean leather book on the desk. “You’ll be taking my place today. Meetings. Cell phone calls. Decisions. You’ll pick up calls and quick enough. You make a mistake and I'll definitely know.”

She nervously answered, “Understood."

The day was filled with action and it moved like a blur. Ryder worked like a hurricane, accurate, strong, and unrelenting. Eliana followed closely behind him as she made angry notes, organized files and reminded him details before his meetings. She didn't rest for a moment and no matter how often they crossed paths, even if it was for a moment, She felt something pulling her in her chest.

She brushed it off as nerves. As adrenaline. But she wasn't so sure.

In the board room, with so much accuracy, she had witnessed Ryder dismantle a proposal that even the most seasoned executives winced under his scowl. He was dazzling yet cold , but very brilliant. She could not help but marvel at the way he took charge of the room without raising his voice.

As the meeting concluded, they stood together and went down an incredibly long corridor with frosted-glass panels.

"You learn on time" he said.

She gazed at him in amazement at the unexpected compliment. “Thank you.”

"But you're still holding back."

She stopped mid-step. “I-I didn’t know"

He halted and turned back to face her. They were the only two in the passage, the other workers busy or absent. The silence thrummed in her mind.

“There are some things about this company,” he explained to her, his tone going lower, “and about me that do not make sense in reality. You've felt it.”

Eliana hesitated. “I do not find out things that don't concern me."

His lips twisted like he smiled. "Brilliant. But this place? This world I've created?, It has teeth and if you're not careful, it'll bite you.”

She was scared. "That’s a warning?"

"It's your choice," Ryder said, getting closer to her, too close. "There are things that change people. You look at them, and you can't see them the way you once saw them. You either adjust...or you break."

She looked at him, her eyes hardened, stubborn despite the shiver running down her back. "Then I'll rather be blind than see them."

"No, you won't" he whispered. "I can see you are a curious lady. That's why you are still around because you need to know."

They looked at each other with so much chemistry between them.

Their moment was ruined by a man in a lab coat as he opened the door. Ryder stepped back quickly and acted as if that moment never occurred. He put on his cold look again.

"We have finished for the day," he said, going back to his office.

Eliana was surprised for a moment. She wasn't sure what just happened. If she was seduced or warned, maybe both.

She went down the elevator with trembling legs. She passed the security man she saw earlier as she was leaving the reception. But he just looked at her without saying anything.

It was now drizzling as the heavy rain had stopped. She brought out her umbrella and looked back at the building she came out from. It loomed like a dark tower, a dark fortress with secrets.

She knew she had to walk away, keep her eyes down and get the work done.

But some dangerous part of her was unfearing.

Part of her wanted more, wanted to look beyond the defenses of Ryder Blackthorn and see what was beneath the cold, buffed surface. Even if it killed her.