3. HUMAN MATE
1163 Words
It was Tuesday and Selene woke up tired again.
By the time she finally slipped through the double doors of Blackwood Corps, her feet were already aching.
She navigated the labyrinth of sleek, mirrored hallways to her cubicle, the familiar hum of ringing phones and clacking keyboards filling her ears.
The office was already buzzing with a strange, electric tension that made the hairs on Selene’s arms stand.
She immediately buried herself in spreadsheets and proposals, trying to ignore the mounting pressure of deadlines going through her head.
It was just another regular Tuesday until it wasn’t.
“He’ll be here anytime soon,” she heard as the sound of whispering and heels clicking past her desk left her confused.
“Who are they talking about?” she inquired, leaning over the wooden partition of her cubicle to nudge Chloe.
Chloe stopped typing, looking up from her computer, she stared at her as one would stare at a person who asked if the sun was going to rise tomorrow. “Did you not see the memo?”
“What memo?” Selene frowned, reaching for her phone to read the new update.
“The one that went out last night on all the corporate listserv,” Chloe whispered fiercely, eyes darting back and forth from the main hallway.” The one that said the CEO would be coming today? You need to start keeping up with internal information, Selene.”
“Wait, you mean the CEO of this entire company? As in THE Mr. Blackwood?” Selene asked, stomach dropping in horror.
“Yes, who else would it be? The President?” She rolled her eyes at her, rearranging the stack of files on her desk as she had been doing for the last couple of minutes. “If I were you, I’d start checking to make sure the Q3 marketing numbers were perfect. We could never say what might be going on. I mean he hasn’t set foot here in a long time.”
Selene tuned out Chloe’s voice. The pressure from trying to balance her life over the weekend and the stress from yesterday, made her unable to track the information going in and out of the office.
“I heard he fired an entire department once,” one woman whispered.
“No, seriously, my cousin works in the finance department. She said someone spilled coffee on his documents and got fired that same day.”
Nyx snorted.
Dramatic humans. If he’s that terrifying, why does everyone suddenly smell excited?
Selene didn’t get the time to process the information coming to her all at once before the huge glass doors to the main office flew open, and the atmosphere instantly became heavy. The idle chatter and sound of shoes hitting the marbled floor ceased immediately, and it felt like everyone held their breath in anticipation.
“He’s here, the CEO is here,” someone whispered loudly, and the spell was immediately broken. Employees scrambled to straighten their posture and look intensely productive.
Straighten your back girl, you don’t want to be caught looking like a slob, Nyx said.
The double doors flew open, Alaric Blackwood walked in commanding the air out of the room. Right beside him was his best friend and also the COO, Flynn Donovan.
Tall, muscular and carrying an air of authority, the CEO scanned the office environment with his piercing gaze.
Wow, Selene heard in her head, Nyx sounding serious and interested all of a sudden, what an aura.
Alaric moved to the center like a predator, mysterious and unaffected.
Selene kept her head low, hoping to blend with the crowd and remain unnoticed, but as he drew closer, a strange, inexplicable feeling bloomed in her chest.
Then suddenly he stopped, his eyes staring directly at Selene in shock. Alaric’s posture stiffened immediately, multiple emotions flashed in his eyes. Confusion, sadness, heartache, all of which he quickly tried to mask.
Flynn, immediately noticing the obvious tension radiating from his friend, leaned in to him, “Are you good?” He whispered in Alaric’s ear.
“Yeah… yeah, I’m fine,” Alaric muttered, eyes still fixed on Selene.
“Everyone,” the voice of the Operations Director echoed in the large room.
“As stated earlier in the memo that was passed, Mr. Blackwood will be staying in this branch for the time being. I need productivity at its peak, there should be no form of relaxing. Now, get back to work.”
Alaric, still looking quite disturbed, turned to Flynn, “I need the personnel file of that lady immediately.”
“Who? The one you were staring at?” Flynn asked, now looking interested.
“Yes, that one.” He nodded.
“Why? You like her?” Flynn smirked, teasing his friend.
“Just get me the file.” Alaric gritted his teeth, unwilling to continue with the conversation.
Taking long strides, they both proceeded to the private elevator as the Operations Director trailed behind them.
Well… that was strange. Nyx remarked. The tension and awkwardness clearly did not go unnoticed by her.
Selene thought so too, she had felt the air shift as Alaric stared at her. She noticed every single thing. From the light that seemed to flash in his eyes, to the clenching of his jaw and fists.
He was staring at her. HER. She could not think of anything that had made him stare at her like that.
“Or am I imagining things?” She thought aloud, her voice low as she sunk back into her seat.
You may be confused, but I’m not. I know what I saw. Nyx defended.
Maybe he likes you. She teased.
Yeah… right! Selene scoffed internally.
Upstairs, on the executive floor, the confusion was not much different. Alaric was standing by the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking Los Angeles with his hand tightly fisted in his pockets, gazing down at the cars and people as they moved up and down.
Flynn sat comfortably on the Executive chair idly swiveling with a smirk on his face, clearly amused by his best friend’s distress.
“You know I’m not going to leave till you tell me what’s going on, right?” Flynn stated, finally standing up from the chair.
He perched on the desk, bracing his weight on his backward-stretched arms while keeping his legs extended and crossed at the ankles.
Alaric remained silent, seemingly deep in his thoughts.
Finally breaking the silence, “Hand me the file!” he said, hand stretched in front of him.
“Selene Hart,” he muttered to himself.
“Why are you so interested in her anyway?” Flynn pressed, not ready to give up yet.
Alaric stared directly into Flynn’s eyes, “She’s my mate.”
“WHAT?” Flynn’s shock was evident. Standing upright immediately, he asked, “Are you joking?”
“Why would I joke about my mate?” Alaric said curtly.
“My mate is human.”
- Writer
