Alpha Alden ✔️

Chapter Nineteen

Word Count: 1561

~Kezziah

I'm staring at a stunned man.

The door behind me shudders closed, a silence following after. I had to come here. After what Cian revealed to me, it's evident I have no other choice. No one else has offered to help me at all, and as much as I'm trying to figure this out myself, it seems unrealistic that I'll succeed.

Alden slowly rises from where he was sitting, eyeing me like I'm a foreign creature who crawled into his office. I don't move from my stance. I can't change my mind on this.

"What..." he breaks off. "Are you sure?"

I'm surprised he isn't jumping at the chance to see my brand. Instead he seems tentative, as if any word might send me right back out the door as I change my mind. For an Alpha of Wisdom, he doesn't seem so knowledgeable about what is happening. I suppose that's because he's never come across someone who has been marked by Time.

Does that truly make me his mate? The thought makes me want to double over and throw up, but I shake that feeling off.

I shrug, trying to seem casual. "At this point I have nothing to lose. I nearly died, remember?"

Alden nods, quickly collecting his paper off his table. I watch him quietly. He's frantic; anxious. It's fascinating watching him, seeing how something unknown for him to investigate gets him so excited. I can just imagine what he is thinking, rejoicing over new information that might get him a step closer to ending Time's operation.

It's something I now condone.

"Let's not look here. I have a private studio on another floor that might be better than this," Alden says quickly, tucking his papers under his arm. I wonder what they are, but I don't dare pry. Any documents in relation to the Alpha are surely classified.

I let Alden lead me out of his office, and to the elevators. No one else is around, which I'm grateful for. It was hard enough to explain to Sermon that I wanted to go up and see the Alpha. Had she not been given specific orders that I was allowed to report to his office whenever I pleased, there is no way she would have let me. She looked skeptical when I asked regardless.

His studio was three floors down. I noticed a thumbprint reader was necessary for Alden to get down there. Clearly it's very...private.

The elevator doors immediately open up into into a rather cozy room, not too big and furnished nicely. The walls are creamy, the floor a sultry maroon colour. Paintings framed neatly are strung from the walls, all extremely different in style and colour.

"You can sit down over there and I'll get you a bottle of water," Alden says, motioning to a white leather couch in the middle of the room.

As I do so, I looked around more, curious about what Alden get's up to in his spare time. Everything here is surprisingly immaculate. The short coffee table in front of me has a black portfolio placed upon it, and a few black pens and pencils scattered next to it. My itching fingers want to investigate, but as Alden brings me the water, I stop myself.

I want to explore some more, although it doesn't seem like there's very much to see. The leather couch opposite the only I'm seated on it the only things for me to look at.

Alden comes to sit in front of me.

"What really changed your mind?" he asks, clasping his hands together.

I'm not about to tell him Time came to visit me. Not when the repercussions for either of us could be horrific. I don't need Time coming back to tell me I belong to him. Even if Alden's dark navy eyes seem to induce the truth. The way they watch me so intensely, ready to capture any untruth and prove me wrong.