Preys of the Alpha Predators

1: Get on Your Knees

CHLOE

My life was going to get ruined if I got caught; I was going to lose everything I've ever worked hard for, everything I've suffered to get but, I was still doing it anyway.

I was still here, breaking into the teacher's office and making my way to the locker.

It was very dark because it was late in the night already and I dared not turn the bulb on for fear of the security man seeing that there was a light on in one of the offices and coming here to double-check.

That'd be the end of it for me.

And besides, what I was about to do wasn't something to be done in brightness, it was done in the complete dark.

I tiptoed to the locker, using the light from my phone's screen as the only source of light while holding my breath and when I got to the locker, I opened it with the duplicate I had made from the bunch of keys a couple of days ago.

I wasted no time in searching for what I wanted when it opened and I found it in no time. I quickly got to work, snapping the pages in quick succession and I returned the document back to its place when I was done, careful not to allow it to make a sound, careful not to make a sound myself.

I locked the locker before turning back, my breath still in my throat and a loud shriek, that I wasn't so quick to conceal with my palm escaped my lips when I saw the long figure casually leaning against the door.

My heart nearly jumped out of my mouth as I came to a standstill. The figure was still there, not moving, not making a sound, not doing anything.

My heart started beating erratically and loudly that it drowned out other sounds and even though it was too dark to see who the figure was, I could feel their eyes on me, watching me like a hawk.

The figure pushed itself off the wall and I instinctively took a step backward, the reality of what was happening just dawning on me.

Whoever the shadow was, they've seen me, they saw me do what I did. My secret wasn't a secret to anyone.

The shadow stalked further towards me, their presence intimating and stifling the otherwise still air in the room and I remained rooted to where I was, unable to move under the commanding influence of the shadow whose face I couldn't even see.

"The whole school would be happy tomorrow," the shadow started quietly, a dark lull to their voice that it chilled my blood. It also sounded oddly familiar but I couldn't place where I'd heard the voice before, "when they learn that the most brilliant student in school is actually fake and has been cheating all along."

"It's not like that," I snapped, despite myself, my voice raising by an octave and The Shadow chuckled.

"I'm going to advise you to watch your tone with me, Chloe."

He said the words casually, like it was an everyday statement but their effect on me wasn't lost. It made my heart drop even more and made my throat dry up. It was a threat and from the way he had said it, it was obvious he was one used to dishing out threats every day.

"I'm... I'm sorry... this is not what you think it is, okay? I was just... I just had to... I'm not..."

"You were just snapping the exam questions, right? Chloe Anderson, straight A student and student president of Empire High caught stealing Exam Questions. I guess that'll look so good on your resume and would get you into any school of your choice, right?"

Dread filled my entire body when he spelled it out like that for me; it made me realize what was really going on, what my fate was really going to be if this should get out.

I would lose everything, every single thing I've ever worked hard for and I'd become nothing, I'd be left with nothing.

God! I couldn't afford for that to happen.

"And do you think people would believe you?" I faked the bravado I wasn't feeling, "I don't even know who you are, you're just hiding in the shadow to threaten me and you think the students and authorities of Empire will..."

He shoved his phone screen into my face and whatever nonsense that was brewing in my mouth died instantly.

There, on his phone was a video of Chloe Anderson snapping the questions. My life would be over if this should get out, like really really over and in that moment of extreme desperation and panic and fear and anxiety, I knew I'd do anything for whoever this shadow was to delete this video.

"And about being a nobody," there was a slight amusement in his voice when he said that and I felt him walking away from me. The next thing I knew was that the full security light came on and I saw who the shadow was, "you might want to rethink that."

Of course, I was rethinking it.

He was Kyle King, Empire's resident bad boy, most popular boy, real-life Gu Jun Pyo from the kind of wealth he comes from, and with the shitty way he treats girls who wouldn't stop throwing themselves at him.

We've never had a personal encounter but I've seen and heard enough about him to know he has no moral compass in him whatsoever; I know enough for me to dislike him.

And now, he was holding the determinant of the rest of my life in his hands.

He approached me again with that tiny smirk tugging at the corners of his lips and even under the dim light and in this dire, life-altering situation that I'd found myself in, I still couldn't deny that sinful handsomeness of this guy.

"I'm sorry," I muttered quietly, "I... it's honestly not what you think but I'm just... just let this go, please, I beg of you."

He chuckled. Loudly. Darkly.

I was losing my mind here, begging, almost on my knees and he was laughing at my expense.

"Who would have thought?" He started, circling me slowly as if he was a predator and I was his prey, "that a day would come when the stuck up, better than every other person at Empire would beg me, "a resident bad boy, unbefitting to be a student of the most prestigious school in the city, a gangster in the making and a misfit in school."

He stopped in front of me, a dark glint in his eyes, "wasn't that how you wrote it in the school paper? Funny how you're begging that same misfit now."

My heart dropped even more. I've completely forgotten that I wrote that about him in the school paper. It was something that had caused an outrage in school, something that made the students hate me even more for daring to go after their Golden Boy. Kyle never said a thing to me about it, he never attacked or cornered me about it. I had concluded that he wasn't bothered by it but how wrong could I have been?

He remembered it, word for word. He must have been planning something for me. Has he been bidding his time? Waiting for when I'd f**k up? Was that why he was able to catch me so easily? Has he been watching me?

The more I think about it, the about I stare at his eyes and the open vengeance in them, the more I know that there was no way out of this for me.

This boy was going to expose my secret, he was going to pay me back for daring to write those words about him.

My heart dropped even more till I couldn't feel it beat again.

I was in deep s**t, a very deep s**t. My palm grew clammy and I could feel myself starting to sweat.

"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry for that... I didn't... I wasn't..."

He chuckled to my face again before walking away to lean against the nearest table to us.

"Who'd have thought that the student president stammers too?"

He was trying to poke me but I wasn't going to pay attention to that because I knew that the more minutes we spend in the office with the lights on, the higher the chances of the security man seeing us and that'd be disastrous.

I have to do something. Very fast.

"I'm going to do anything you want," I blurted out, "anything, just for you to keep this secret and pretend it never happened."

"Anything," he muttered quietly, as if weighing the word and he pushed himself off the table to walk up to me again, "anything? Are you sure?"

"Yes, anything, anything just..." I pause when I notice the pure sadistic beam in his eyes as he raked them over the entire length of my body and Despite myself, I felt my body tingle with a sense of self-awareness and I instinctively wrapped my hands around myself as if that'd protect me from this deranged predator.

"Anything but sleeping with you," I said as loudly as I could, injecting a tone of finality into. I wasn't going to sleep with him. I'd never do that.

But if that's what he asks for, in exchange for keeping my secret, would I really turn it down? Would I really allow him to expose my secret when I have the option, no matter how dire to stop him?"

"Good," the sadistic beam never left his eyes for once, "I have no intention of sleeping with you, at least not yet."

I was still trying to get the meaning of his words when he spoke again, "Now, get on your knees."

What? "You want me to get on my knees for you? To beg you? Do you get off on that?"

The dark gleam in his eyes deepened even more. There was something sadistic about the way he was looking at me, something predatory, and it made me wonder if getting on my knees to beg him wasn't as innocent as I was thinking.

"Are you going to do it or you'll keep standing there like a dummy till the security walks in on us?"

I dropped to my knees.

It was humiliating, kneeling for anyone was but kneeling down for someone as horrible as Kyle was just outrightly worse but what options do I have? And besides, we were alone and I was doing this to stay alive because if my secret got out, I should forget about living.

I looked up at him from my kneeling position and he was looking down at me, that sadistic and predatory look in his eyes but it seemed to have darkened even more. I don't know what but something seemed to be edging him on, something dark and primitive it made my throat dry up.

"Good, this position suits you more than anything."

Fuck you, Kyle.

"Now, open your mouth," he said the words casually so I didn't understand why it was causing goosebumps to break out on my skin, why it was affecting me in ways I don't dare speak of"and let me make good use of it."

What the f**k?