Taking Down the Alpha

4 The Final Clause

I spent the next three days in the archives during every spare moment I had, and even started reading through inane documents once I'd finished my work every day. I'd been cautious at first, but as it turned out my reputation of having my face buried constantly in books or documents meant no one even questioned my behaviour. No one noticed that my subject matter had changed, plus sadly there were no documents titled What To Do When Your Alpha is a Power Abusing Womanizer. Getting caught reading something called that would have revealed my plans but finding it really would have made my search so much easier. It was a clear oversight since it wasn't an entirely uncommon situation.

Who knew that my nerdish tendencies would come in so handy in the long run? Oh wait, me, although even I hadn't expected them to be useful in this way.

I typed out some emails and completed other general pack business efficiently. Once I was done I still had a couple of hours of work with nothing to do unless something urgent came up, so it was back to the archive room.

I began working my way through the pack charter, a lengthy document that tended to repeat itself. It was tedious and I wondered if the founders could have perhaps learned the meaning of concise before founding a pack. A more charitable understanding would be that they were trying desperately to be thorough.

It was a shame Alpha Hudson's ancestors hadn't spent less time repeating themselves and more time teaching their descendents not to be insensitive man-whores or maybe how to focus on their jobs. It seemed like another huge oversight.

"What are you doing?" Alpha Hudson asked, his voice suddenly in my ear.

I yelped. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" I'd been so absorbed in the document that I hadn't even noticed him sneak up beside me with his wolf's grace. Plus, he'd barely talked to me other than terse businesslike orders for the last few days, so I'd let down my guard.

"Sorry," lied the unscrupulous bastard. His insufferable smirk said the opposite. He ran his finger down my neck leaving shivers in its wake.

"Don't do that," I said, slapping his hand away.

"You didn't say that last weekend," he whispered in my ear.

"Well, I'm saying it now."

"You sure?" he asked, his whiskers scraping the side of my face, and his breath tickling my ear and sending pleasant shivers up my spine. He was good for only one thing as far as I could tell. Too good. It really was hard to resist.

"Yes," I said through gritted teeth, squirming away from him and swivelling my chair to meet his eyes. I rolled the chair back for some additional distance. He smirked at my action. "That was a onetime mistake and there won't be a repeat," I added primly.

"It doesn't feel like you don't want a repeat."

"Reality matters more than my feelings, Alpha."

He shrugged, and his stupid sexy smirk only grew as he leaned against my desk and pretended to be interested in what I was doing. He flipped the document closed—losing my page—and read the title. "Huntstone Pack Charter?"

I shrugged as if he wasn't an inch away from uncovering my plan. "I had a bit of extra time, so I'm memorizing it." My heart pounded harder than I wanted it to, and I hoped he wouldn't notice my unease. I should have been more careful.

"Of course you are," he said, adding another knowing smile I wished desperately I could be immune to.

He wasn't my mate, so I shouldn't be this weak to him. With effort, I summoned my inner frigid bitch to combat the way he made me want to melt. "It might come in handy some day. You should try reading it once, Alpha." I kept my voice polite although my meaning was definitely snarky. I was either a great actress or he was as oblivious as I hoped he was.