The Alpha's Burning Obsession

The forest breathed around her. Moonlight filtered through the trees, forming shadows along her path. Her bare feet pounded against the cold, damp earth, heart pounding faster than her legs could carry. Seraphina didn't dare stop. Something was behind her, she couldn't see or hear it but she felt it's presence, heavy and frightening. Her lungs and feet burned, branches whipped at her skin from every angle, still she didn't stop.  She couldn't recall how she got here, one minute she was asleep in her bed, then the next she was sprinting through this dark eerie forest.  A growl sliced through the silence…low and primal. She stumbled and caught herself.  Then– a light.  Dim and flickering softly. Hope surged through Seraphina and she swerved, turning to it's direction. Where there was light, there was hope!  She broke through the dense trees and halted.  A cliff  A loud gasp left her. The soft light floated just beyond the edge, pulsing gently…calling her.  A growl sounded again and she froze. Her head turned slowly.  A towering figure. Not quite man, not quite beast. He stood bathed in moonlight, his eyes glowing embers in the night.  Yet something in her stilled– not out of fear, but of recognition. They locked eyes and a word whispered through her mind.  A name–  ****  Seraphina was jolted awake by the blaring of her annoying alarm.  Her head felt funny.  She'd dreamt again, she knew she had, but she couldn't recall a thing, and it had been a very exhausting dream. She spat out the loose strands of her curly hair that had somehow gotten in her mouth in her sleep.  She always wore a bonnet before going to bed but never woke up with one. She'd find it in the weirdest place.  She always did. Last time it was under her bed. Who knows? Maybe it'd be inside her wardrobe this time. She stretched and got out of bed to get ready for the day.  The scalding coffee helped calm her nerves and gave a sense of relief. Dressed in grey pants and a black button shirt, she sat at her small kitchen island and sipped her coffee from her favorite chipped mug.  Thanks to her alarm, she'd woken early, showered, dressed and was having breakfast and still had an hour to spare.   Normally she was keen on going to the office every morning but not so much this morning. She loved her job, it paid well. It was tasking most of the time but she'd always wanted to work for a good corporation and MK Corp was perfect… well, until a scandal broke out in the office. She didn't even know what it was about, but soon enough she would.  She glanced at her reflection, taking in all the details.  She looked good.   The black shirt complimented her olive skin well. She had on a nice pair of grey checked pants.  She was never one for extravagant jewelry, the small adorable ones were much prettier to her.  She only had on silver earrings and her small wolf pendant that rested on her round bosom.  Her full mass of curly brown hair was tamed in a high bun…if only it would stay that way till the day ends. Seraphina rolled her eyes at the thought, it would be messy in the next 3 hours.  Her cat, Bailey sat staring at her from across the room.  “Ohh stop” Sera giggled turning to face Bailey. “You don't have to say it…I know” She grinned and did a hair flip with her imaginary hair. Her actual hair was already in a bun. “I look good, thanks for-” In a blink Bailey was strutting out of the room with her tail held high. Sera stared at her retreating form and scowled. “You don't always have to be so rude you know…you're just jealous”  Ding ding! Her coworker Jerry strolled in like he owned the damn place as soon as she opened the door. “What a lovely surprise” she stated and Jerry smiled at her as he plopped down on her dark green sofa, her sarcasm going unnoticed as usual. “Why here so early though? Missed me that much?” she shut the door and faced him. “Wipe that stupid smirk off your face. I crashed at a friend's place last night that happens to be right across the street, so I decided to stop by”  Sera plopped down on the couch opposite him. “Good morning to you too Miss Sera”  “I know that look” Sera narrowed her eyes at him, completely ignoring his greeting. He smirked, “What look?” “Spill it” “Gladly, but we have to head out now, or we'll be late” he stood and pulled her up with him. “It's about the office drama isn't it?” she glanced at him and smiled at the knowing look on his face, “knew it”.  They got to the office early and parted ways. Jerry had given her full details on the ‘scandal’ that was supposedly the talk of everyone at the corporation. She was blown away. Man, the world sure was a crazy place!   Apparently, one of the accountants had stayed back to work overtime one evening. When she was finally heading out she heard ‘strange noises’ coming from the men's toilet and decided to investigate. Two horny idiots were banging furiously. The guy had the lady backed up against the toilet sink and was pounding into her like his life depended on it, while she clung to him for her dear life.   In less than a day, the video was circulating round the whole corporation. Eventually it got to the department manager, then the director and it kept climbing up the ladder till it eventually got to the CEO. The guy was identified as one of the junior analysts and the lady was an intern. Obviously they were both fired the very next day but the guy was way too bitter to go down without a fight. Turned out he was a major rake and had been with quite a number of ladies from the firm. And for some perverted reason he had videos of each and every one of them…faces clearly shown and all. He uploaded them…all of them and it caused quite a stir that day.  By the end of the day, there was at least one red faced or fidgeting lady on every floor.   Sera was pretty sure this part was just an exaggeration.  Oh and major shocker, the accountant who'd uploaded the first video was one of his victims! How shocking is that?! Turns out he was her ex, the relationship probably ended on a bad note so when she spotted him ‘busy’ in the toilet that evening she thought it was the perfect revenge plan.  Sadly, it all came back to bite her in the ass.  The CEO's personal assistant was involved, shockingly. She'd pleaded with some directors to help her keep her job but still got fired. She came back for them the next day. Turned out she went as far as spreading her legs while pleading for her job and decided her sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. If she had to go down, then so should they! After all, they'd all committed the same offence. At the end of the day about 11 people were dropped. Maybe some would be added.  Seraphina sat stunned in her office. How had all this happened without her knowing a clue about it?!  She sensed something was a bit off, but never expected it to be this serious. Man, she had to start paying better attention to her environment.  She worked in the human resource department, which basically dealt with everything involving the employees, yet not a clue about what was happening, when it was happening.  The soft ping of her phone cut short her pondering and she retrieved it from her purse.  Hillary: You're needed in the CEO's office. Now.  Seraphina's heart dropped to her stomach.