The Alpha Target

Four

Cora darted inside the closet, noting to leave it slightly agape just as she had found it, when Knox reappeared the room. She covered her mouth, careful not to make a sound as she crouched on the floor. With her view unobstructed like this, she finally was able to catch a glimpse of him as he sat down at his desk.

The gossips hadn’t been lying. He was truly the most handsome man Cora had ever seen, and she worked with dozens of men who prides themselves on their appearance. Yet, nothing could compare to him. He was said to be a psychopath, a man lost to insanity, yet he looked so terribly attractive it was easy to forget his many sins.

He was so devastatingly handsome that it almost pained Cora to look at him. But it wasn’t his powerful build or his unapologetic beauty that caught Cora by surprise, it was how threatening and deadly he looked. His entire body had an alarming number of scars, each covered with tattoos so intricate that it was impossible to tell where one part ended and another part began.

Even when sitting down, it was impossible to ignore how incredibly tall and muscular he was. Knox was built like a warrior, built like someone who has lived through both war and death. Wearing a black button-up shirt, the fabric was tight around his firm muscles and tanned skin.

His raven hair was short, with the edges lightly coiffed at the centre of his forehead, allowing a full view of his sharp-cut jaw and cheekbones. Cora was practically hypnotised as his lips curved into fierce scowl. Unbothered by the chaos occurring in his bar, Knox stares ahead at his screen with a vacant and bottomless look in his eyes. But even in such a manner, he looks that much fiercer than any man she’d ever seen. Did he know she was there? He didn’t behave as such, but an intense tingling creeping up Cora’s spine told her he did. He’d known all along.

And then, like two magnets helplessly pulled to one another, their eyes locked. Cora was thankful she was so close to the ground, certain she would have toppled over the very second his eyes met hers if she wasn’t. His eyes gaze upon her face and it doesn’t leave. His expression is blank, empty of any emotion, making it impossible for Cora to guess what he was thinking. But she couldn’t look away, her gaze was as fixated on him as his was on her.

God, he was so dreadfully gorgeous that Cora couldn’t breathe. But more than that, his aura was so incredibly commanding and powerful. They way he studied her with eyes so intense, she just couldn’t pull her gaze away. He’d pinned her in place with his piercing blue eyes, the intensity startling, as if he could see right through her.

The tension was thick and heavy in the air, making it hard for Cora to breathe properly. It clung to her skin, her throat, her arms, every part of her body. Realising they could wound up in this trance-like staring contest for quite some time, Cora lifted up her chin in a display of defiance and Knox quirks a brow, before letting there be the tiniest movement of his lips.

He remained silent and it bothered her, remembering at some point she would need to leave the closet and truly face him. What concerned her wasn’t what wicked thing he would do to her if he managed to get his hands on her, it was how alarmingly on edge every fibre of her being had become in the man’s presence. Her body was drawn to him, like a moth to a flame, begging to relish in his burning touch.

Knox rubbed his thumb along his jaw, leaning back in his chair as he studied the woman nestled in his closet. He’d known she was there the moment he returned, her vanilla and rose scent captivating him the second he stepped through the door, disarming him with a lustful daze. Her presence was deafening, his nerve endings setting alight from the simple proximity, drowning out everything else around him. There was no denying it, not when his wolf thrashed within him to escape confinement. The scent belonged to his mate. The one he had been waiting for his whole life, the one who should belong to him and only him.

Despite immediately sensing her, he found himself intrigued to see what the shewolf would do now there was no escaping him. He expected to sense fear, to hear the quickening of her breath as she scurried deeper into the closet to conceal her occupancy of his office. But none of that happened. Instead, he could feel her penetrating glare burning against his skin, unfazed by the threat of his wrath. That only enticed Lucien further, who was so used the scent of fear and eyes glazed with doom in his company.

He allowed her a moment, a moment to believe she had managed to go unnoticed, but he was magnetically drawn to her, the beast in him starving for a peak of her. When he finally spared a glance, he wasn’t sure what caught his attention first. Was it her peculiar angled face, the mane of pink locks or her penetrating glare? Her eyes, large and luminous, were golden like the mystical glow of a full moon, seemingly trapping him in his spot. Her features were so soft, begging him to trace his finger along her skin. The warm light sneaking through the semi-close door illuminated the shadows on her face, causing his heart to thump against his chest. All thoughts momentarily left his mind. Despite lowered to the ground, he could tell she was a petite little thing. She was lithe, and he suspected she must be a well-practised warrior, something he much respected.

Under his gaze, he had expected her to lower her eyes from the intensity, but her alluring golden irises only seemed to further bore into him. His heart pounded as she appraised him, he wasn’t used to being the one under scrutiny. He wasn’t used to being so maddeningly attracted to someone, entrapped by beauty so rare it made it difficult to breath. Time seemed to tick beyond count and ages blurred into each other. Entire cosmos collapsed and were reborn. Stars died and scattered into the void. Nothing else held any significance. There was no mistake. He recognised her as his immediately.

Her beauty was driving him crazy. Moreover, what drove him crazier was that she did not seem to sense him as her mate. Of course, through her heated gaze and her quickening breath he could feel the undeniable, raw attraction she felt for him. But while her scent was coating itself all over him, he didn’t notice any sense of recognition on her face. He waited a moment longer for the penny to drop, sitting there as he was bewitched by his mate but to his surprise, she did absolutely nothing. There was no recognition from her or her wolf. Pain washed over him quickly, why couldn’t she recognise him as her mate? Was she already mated? He lowered his eyes to her bare neck. No mark. While this brought a smidge of a smile to his lips, it didn’t make him particularly happier because the question still remained unanswered. Lucien didn’t like unanswered questions.

And then she did the last thing he had expected her to, as if fed up of waiting for him to make the first move she lifted her chin in defiance, provoking him. She would have certainly heard about him, heard about the kind of man he was. Yet the little rebel seemed unfazed, confidence leaking through her aura and suffocating him. His mate was a feisty little thing, something both Lucien and his wolf approved of. She was like a rose, appearing as delicate as a petal but strong as a thorn.

Despite her disobedient action, his little rose remained quiet and still. She had not given him any reaction when all he wanted to do was grab her in his arms and growl “MINE”, letting her know she belonged to him now. But rather than allowing the confusion to irritate him, Lucien decided there were far more exciting ways to have his little rose surrender to him. He was a dark, cruel, selfish bastard who never claimed to be anything otherwise and if she didn’t feel the bond, he’d find another way to ensure her lust for him was like a scorching hot fever in her blood. He was a predator after all, or so they said, and his little rose just became his prey.

Lucien stretched out his arm and reached for his glass of whiskey on the rocks, before standing straight and taking slow, calculated steps around the oak table. His eyes remained on hers as he leaned back on the table and brought the glass to his lips, somehow making the simple action of taking a sip so sensual tingles danced down Cora’s spine. He trailed his tongue along his lower lip as he set the glass back down on the table, his gaze still unmoving from her. “Are you planning to come out, little rose?”

His silky voice sounded rough and rumbly, like thunder and lightening during a storm. The way Lucien leaned against the desk only reiterated that he was the master of this place. She should be afraid, she should be repulsed, but peering at his deceptively handsome face and those piercing blue eyes, framed by long thick eyelashes, that stares at her with such heat, she felt the opposite.

If she was sensible she would stay in the closet or use the opportunity to make a run for it, but Cora was anything other than sensible. He was taunting her, daring her to do what so many feared. He watched her closely as she rose to her feet, exerting confidence as her slender legs carried her past the door and out in the open to face him. She stood before him, swallowed in shadow as he raised himself to his full towering height. Her head pitched backwards to get a full look at him. He was a monster of a man, imposing and tall and thick with muscle.

Her pulse leaped as he stepped towards her. “Tell me, did you find what you were looking for?” his voice was of the lowest baritone.

Anyone else would feel like sheep beneath his stare, but not Cora. However, she could admit the way he looked at her, all of her, made her feel hot all over. She repressed the desire to respond with a snarky response, the discretion of the investigation was key.

“I wasn’t looking for anything except from a moment away from all of the noise,” Cora demanded, refusing to break the eye contact. If he was going to try and kill her for being in his office, she wouldn’t be going down lightly.

Something flickered in his piercing blue eyes, but before Cora could distinguish what it was, it had vanished. He stares at her, like he was looking deep within her soul and smirks ever so smoothly. It was a sinful little thing, but enough to make her insides burn. “And you found your way to my closet?”

Cora blinked, undeterred. “Stranger things have happened.”

His brow quirked. “Lying is a sin, little rose.” He taunted, taking a long step towards her and surrounding her in his scent. It was dizzying in the very best way and she hated it. “Name?”

She needed to get out of here. The man was fogging her mind with thoughts and feelings she had no business experiencing. He was supposed to be the devil, a cruel bastard who took life simply because he could. Even worse, he was supposedly targeting and selling women for his own sick gain. A man this wicked and twisted should be the furthest from her s****l desires. “Late,” she concluded, side stepping the domineering Alpha and heading for the door.

As she headed for her escape, Knox abruptly took her by the wrist and pulled her against him. Merely inches apart, she could feel his warm, minty breath fanning against her skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake. She pressed her hands against his firm chest and forcefully pushed against him, but the man was unmoving as though he was made of stone.

She glowers up at him, using her training to keep her face emotionless. “I asked you for your name,” he reminded.

“Cora,” she told him. “Now, if you don’t mind…”

“Cora,” Lucien repeated as though he was tasting the name on his tongue. The triumphant gleam in his eyes showed he didn’t care for where she needed to be. “Pretty name for a pretty rose.” The way he said her name was exhilarating, so sensually dominant, as though he’d found his new favourite word.

He sighed, bringing his knuckles to her cheek and carefully running them along her skin. His touch was all consuming. Hot. She felt hot all over. Flustered beyond belief, an emotion Cora had very rarely felt. Her patience was wearing thin, but something in his voice made her insides twist and forced her to continue looking up at him.

“I’m not a very patient man, Cora. In fact, I’m not even a decent man.” Tell her something she didn’t know. “I’ll spare you your life this time. Though perhaps when we next see each other you’ll have had a change of heart.”

Cora narrowed her eyes. “What makes you think we’ll see each other again?”

The hand embracing her cheek slowly trained down her skin until it snaped the back of her neck. He smirks wickedly and it makes her forget everything, if only for a moment. “Because I always get what I want.”

She blinked, processing his words, when she felt his rough fingers suddenly squeeze into both sides of her neck. But before she could retaliate, everything went black and she fell limp in his arms.