Secrets Of The Alpha: (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (His Secrets Series Book 1) (7 page)

“You could have waited a few more hours and brought them at six in the morning,” I said. That would have made so much more sense.

“Well, Winnie. What can I say? The corporate world doesn’t sleep,” he said as I took the files from him. I couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong. I looked at him and forced a smile.

“Thanks, I guess. I’ll make sure he gets them when he gets up,” I said. Nathan looked at me and smiled before he turned around and left.

I stood at the door and looked at him as he drove off, wondering what was going on. I closed the door and locked it before I went ahead to clean up the blood. All I wanted to do was get back to bed, go back to the dream I had. But when I got to bed, all that was going through my mind was the flashing figure by my window. All the breathing exercises and sheep counting I was doing were not helping. All that was on my mind was the flashing figure and Vincent. What had gone past my window and what or who had set off the alarm? Was Vincent okay? I was scared…

Chapter 4

It took a while before I could finally sleep through the night without worrying that something would happen. And who could blame me? I was as if I was suffering from some post-traumatic stress disorder. The first night of my new job, I had spent the evening lying to the cops, cleaning up my boss’s blood and glass off the kitchen floor. A few weeks later, I had done the same thing. It was almost like I was living in a haunted house. I was scared for my life and for Vincent’s life too.

I had grown to like him a little more than I hoped to. I was actually falling for him. He was the first thing thought of when I woke up and the last thing on my mind when I went to bed. And as time went by, I was sure that he felt the same way for me. I had seen the way he would look at me when I cleaned. It was not the same ‘this is an interesting character’ look he had given me on my first day. He was giving me lingering looks and ‘accidentally’ brushing against my hand every chance he got. I was scared that he was playing with my emotions. I had been down this road before, and I was not eager to go back. But everything became clear to me when he walked up to me as I cleaned his bathroom one morning, a wide smile on his face.

“Today is the day, Winnie,” he said. I looked at him and shrugged.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“It’s exactly a month since you agreed to have dinner with me.”

I smiled up at him uncomfortably. To be honest, I never thought he had been serious about the proposition. He looked at me and sighed.

“You are going to turn me down, aren’t you? I should have seen it coming,” he said. I felt my cheeks get flushed as I shook my head.

“No…no. It’s just that…I don’t have…I didn’t realize that it had been a month and I don’t have anything to wear and…” he smiled.

“That’s all?” he asked. I looked up at him and shrugged. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He pulled out some bills and handed them to me. “Seven alright with you?” he asked. I nodded.

“But…but this is too much,” I said as I looked at the wad of cash. I must have had around five grand in my hand.

“Think of it as a bonus,” he said before walking out.

I smiled. I couldn’t finish cleaning up soon enough. As soon as I was done, I got into my car and drove downtown. Getting something cute and sexy for a woman of my size was hard, but I knew just the place. When I finally found the dress I really liked, I could not wait for the evening. Seven o’clock couldn’t come fast enough…

It was almost seven as I put the finishing touches on my face. A smile played on my lips when I saw my reflection. I had picked a black-and-white striped, sleeveless dress that made me look smaller than I really was. The V-neck was perfectly showing off my cleavage. The print pattern made my curves look better, sexier even. It was the dress I was born to wear. I draped a shawl over my shoulders and turned around, ready to make my way to the front door. I could picture Vincent standing there waiting for me. I almost felt like I was back in high school, walking towards my prom date. I then turned around and looked at my reflection again. I was not sure of myself and whether I looked good enough. I had not been on a date in years and I could very well have been making a mistake.

I was still standing there when I heard my door open. I looked at the corner of the mirror and saw Vincent walking in slowly. I looked at him and breathed in deeply. He looked great in a black suit and light blue shirt. He had no tie on, but the business causal look was working for him. His wavy, luxurious hair was perfectly in place. I bit my lower lip as he put his hands on my waist. I felt my cheeks get red almost immediately.

“You look beautiful,” he said in a whisper.

“You don’t look so bad yourself,” I found myself saying.

“You look incredibly beautiful,” he said again. I turned around and looked at him. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say.

“Where are we going?” I asked as he looked into my eyes.

“We are going to a nice little French place downtown, Francoise’s. Great food, great atmosphere and what’s more, they have a casino on the other side of the restaurant,” he said. I smiled.

“Sounds great.” He nodded.

“It is. But I have a few things to finish up here,” he said. I looked at him and frowned.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be there soon enough.” he reached into his pocket and handed me some bills.

“I still have some money left over from this morning,” I said as he placed the money in my hand.

“Keep it. This is for tonight. Have fun at the slots, it will keep you busy before I get there,” he said. I looked up at him. “I promise,” he added as if he could tell that the look I was giving him was one the screamed that I didn’t believe him.

“So long as I get to be yours the rest of the night,” I said. But as soon as the words left my mouth and I heard the out loud, I clasped a hand over my mouth. Vincent laughed and lowered his head. For a moment, my heart skipped a beat when I thought he was going to kiss me.

“You can count on that,” he said before he kissed my cheek softly. I felt myself getting weak in the knees.

“What was the name of the restaurant again?” I asked. Vincent smiled and then took my hand in his. He led me out of my room and into the kitchen where he scribbled the name of the restaurant. I looked at him and I was not sure if he could tell, but I was trying as hard as I could to hold myself back. I wanted to throw myself at him and kiss him.

“Downtown on Grand Avenue. It’s about twenty minutes away. Francoise’s, you can’t miss it.” I nodded and switched on the security lights before I walked to the door. “Is that really necessary?” he asked.

“It’s part of my job description,” I said as I walked out.

I could feel him looking at me as I made my way out, and I loved it. I got into my car and as I backed out of the parking, something caught my eye on the lawn. I squinted and tried to get a better look, but a loud car horn snapped me back to reality. I was still backing out of the driveway, without looking at my rearview mirror. I shrugged and looked at the lawn for a few seconds before I began driving away from the mansion. My head was filled with thoughts of how the date would end.  He had already kissed my cheek. I didn’t know what he was going to do next. I smiled in anticipation wondering how he would kiss me at the end of the night.

I had been driving for a few minutes when I realized that I had left the cash Vincent had given me. I wanted to turn back, but I still had some of it from this morning and I was sure it would be more than enough. I looked at the piece of paper with the name and address of the restaurant. I was just about to enter the address into the GPS when I saw Nathan’s car speeding past me, heading towards the house. I suddenly felt a chill go down my spine. This couldn’t be good. I wanted to ignore the whole thing and brush it off as a coincidence, but my gut instinct was telling me something else. I suddenly made a U-turn and began speeding down the road.

I was never a fast driver, but something came over me on this particular day. I was like a Formula One driver, cruising down the Hollywood streets. Seeing Nathan Hughes speeding down the street was making me press harder on the gas pedal. I was breathing hard and deep when I finally got to the Muse mansion.

That’s odd,
I thought when I found the guard at the main gate missing and the gate wide open. That almost never happened with gated communities. Guards there ran a really tight ship.
That is most definitely odd.
I stepped on the gas and ran my fingers nervously through my hair. I hadn’t felt like this in a long time. Feeling like there was something off. And my gut instincts were almost always right. Maybe that was why I was so scared of what I was about to walk into.

“What the hell…” I said when I pulled up in front of the house.

Nathan’s car was already there. I unbuckled my seat belt and quickly got out of the car. The rain that had been pouring down when I left had stopped and the ground was wet. I looked around the lawn and wondered why the lawn lights were off. They were supposed to be on. I had turned them on before I left. Everything about this was wrong.
Everything.
Thankfully, the full moon in the sky was enough to light the compound. I walked up to the door and slowly opened it. I could feel my heart pounding so hard that I could almost hear it. The house was so quiet, too quiet. I slowly walked to the kitchen and found the money right where I had forgotten it. I looked around, my eyes peering in the darkness.

“Vincent? I forgot the money. Maybe now we can just leave together?” I asked as I looked around waiting for him to answer, but the house was silent. “Vincent!” Silence. I looked around, wondering what I was supposed to look for.

The house was like a small village. I could have started at one end while he could have been on the other. “Vincent? Are you here?” I asked as I walked to the living room.

There was a glass next to his favorite chair. The glass was not empty like it was supposed to be. Knowing Vincent and his love for fine alcohol, there was no way he would have poured a drink and just walked away. “Vincent!” I was now running towards the exit. I wanted to run up the stairs, to his room. I wanted to make sure he was not in bed, suffering in pain or worse. I wanted to make sure he was okay. “Vincent!” I cried out and that was when I saw it: Shards of broken glass by the sliding door.

Oh no….not again,
I thought as I looked around. “Vincent.” This time my voice was low. I was whispering. I walked to the counter and grabbed the phone. Ophagia never prepared me for this. There was broken glass but there was no blood. I didn’t know what the handbook of all weird things in the Muse mansion said about this. My hands were shaking as I dialed the emergency number.

I was about to press the call button when I felt the phone suddenly being yanked away from me. I turned around and came face to face with Nathan. I shrieked when I saw him pulling the phone cord out of the wall. What was this? What was he doing? I was panting for breath as I looked at him. I looked at him and almost hit him.

“Let me go!” I cried as I tried pulling my hand out of his grip. But his small body was misleading. He was stronger than I thought. I looked at him and again tried pulling away.

“What do you want? Where is Vincent?” I asked as I looked at him.

“That’s a very good question, Winnie. And that is exactly what I want to know,” he said as he looked at me. It was then that I noticed what he was wearing. If I didn’t know any better, I could have sworn that he was wearing a SWAT uniform. I looked at him dumbfounded. “Where is he, Winnie?” he asked again. I shook my head.

“I don’t know,” I said in a frightened voice. Just then two men came walking through the hole in the screen door. They were dressed in similar SWAT uniforms.

“Status?” Nathan asked as he looked at them.

“We’ve searched everywhere, sir. He may have known we were coming because there is no sign of him anywhere,” one of them said. I was confused.

“Sir?” I asked as I looked at him. “What the hell…I thought you were an intern.” Nathan looked at me and flashed me a smile that made me realize that he was up to no good.

“Winnie, I have no reason to harm you. Just get back in your car and drive away.” He said as he looked at me. “And don’t come back here.” There was a cold tone in his voice that made my blood curl.  “Okay, Winnie?” I finally managed to pull away from him.

“Who are you? What do you want with Vincent? Who do you work for?” I had a million questions and I needed answers for all of them. Nathan shook his head.

“Come on, Winnie. Now you are putting me in an awkward situation,” he said as he looked at me. “One more question. That is all I am giving you before I stop giving you chances.”

“No! You would think for a person who knows so much that you would know what happens to people who trespass and this
is
my home and you are trespassing!”

I was now running to the wall. I needed to plug the cord back and call the police. The two men grabbed me and I gasped when I felt their tight grip on either arms. They were holding me so tightly that I could feel their nails digging into my flesh. My eyes were beginning to get misty with all the tears welling up.