CHOOSING THE ALPHA

Days flew by and it was already the next week. After our last argument, Antonio hadn’t returned. I had thought to call but decided against it, when he decided to stop being petty he would return.

During that week, I had received a message from him saying he went on a business trip and even sent me his location. I replied with an ‘okay’ to which I laughed. How dumb did he think I was?

I scrolled through my Instagram on my way to work and saw Sophie’s post on my feed. She was apparently on vacation and seemed to be enjoying herself, she posted a picture with a man she had cropped out but his hand showed, it was Antonio; he was wearing his wedding ring. Sophie’s vacation location matched that of Antonio’.

I found it funny that Sophie was cosying up to him knowing he was married. There were a few times I wanted to confront her about it, But I couldn’t just waltz into wolf territory as a human, they were sensitive about us.

As I stared at the picture, I sighed looking at the matching ring on my finger and took it off, I placed it in my bag’s pocket and looked outside the window trying to distract myself from the disappointment I was feeling.

I stopped at the coffee shop before the hospital. I stepped into the café and the sweet smell of caffeine hit my nose making my stomach churn. I made my way over to the counter and ordered a cup of cappuccino. I grabbed the cup whispering a thank you, turning only to crash into someone.

“I’m so sorry” I apologised; thankfully I had caught the cup on time and hadn’t spilled it on him.

“It's okay” a deep voice replied and I looked up to see a huge man in front of me and I swallowed.

“I wasn’t paying attention…”

“It's okay” He walked away and I hurried to the hospital.

***

More days passed. I was currently sitting in my office, going through some files when I heard a knock on my door.

“Won’t you leave‘” One of the nurses said standing by the doorway.

“Of course” I shook my head and chuckled to myself as I packed my things. I had been so engrossed in work that I didn’t notice the time; I dreaded returning home to an empty bed knowing my husband was having fun with another woman.

I made my way out of the building when I noticed a familiar car parked outside. Antonio came down from the car.

“Why are you here?” I asked, exhausted.

“Did you forget that today is our anniversary?” He asked and I sighed.

“How was your business trip?” I asked instead and he frowned.

“Is that really important right now, you forgot our anniversary?” He repeated.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been very busy” I mumbled and we walked over to his car, surprisingly he held the door open for me.

Once we were inside the car, he began again “You used to care about this more than me, how could you forget?” He asked. He was the cause of his own paranoia; because he knew what he was doing was wrong but wanted me to be at fault for every little thing.

I had always been excited for our anniversary or his birthday, but it mattered so little now that it hadn’t crossed my mind all day.

I remembered when I threw him a surprise party for his birthday and he complained that I was making a big deal and embarrassing him, I had only wanted to do something nice for him. Sometimes it felt like Antonio was embarrassed I was his wife. The spark of festivity I had, died with my feelings for him.

“Let’s have dinner and celebrate” He smiled as he started the engine and began to drive.

“Leia, what’s wrong, are you upset?” He asked and I clenched my fist beneath my sleeve. He really needed to stop asking me that because I knew he didn’t care.

“No,” I replied rather calmly.

“No?” He suddenly irked and I sighed embracing myself for his rants.

“Why the attitude then, here I am, making an effort to pick you from work and take you to dinner, at least pretend to be grateful”

“I’m not angry Antonio” I simply murmured.

“Fine!” He groaned, increasing the speed of the car.

“I promise I won’t contact Sophie anymore” He said out of the blue and I turned to stare at him

“Okay?” He asked. Was he finally tired of her?

“Are you happy now?” He asked in an annoyed tone and my frown returned and I refused to answer him.

We sat in silence as he drove, and soon he arrived at a fancy looking restaurant. We came down from the car, and a valet took the keys while another waiter took us inside, it was empty and beautifully decorated, Antonio had really gone all out and I felt a light flutter in my chest.

One of the waiters walked up to me holding a gift but before I could open it, Antonio answered his phone.

“Fever, do you have medicine?” He asked, seeming worried.

“I can’t come right now, I have something to do”.

“What?" He sighed and then turned to me.

“Leia, Sophie’s son, has a fever, she needs me” He explained with a hint of awkwardness.

I forced myself to swallow the lump in my throat, “its okay”

He hesitated before saying “Wait for me, I’ll be back soon” with that he hurried out of the building.

I stared at the present in my hand and the cake on the table, raindrops hit the windows crying in my stead. I sat down and began to eat the cake.

Hours passed until it was late at night, I hailed a cab and went home, arriving at the house, and the harsh rain beat me.

Antonio didn’t return that night but the next morning.

“Jesse had a fever all night, it wouldn’t go down” He explained. Jesse was Sophie’s child.

“Is everything okay now, you could have still stayed. It must be hard for Sophie to take care of a sick child by herself” I expressed my concern

Antonio paused while he was taking off his coat, “Are you being serious?” He asked annoyedly, “I didn’t sleep last night, I’m really tired.” He sighed.

“You should rest, I’m going to work” I turned and reached for my handbag.

“Leia…” He grabbed my arm

“What is it?”

“I’ll make up for it at our next anniversary celebration, okay, don’t be mad?” He asked and I sighed.

“I’m not mad” a ghostly smile played on my lips. He looked at me trying to gauge my expression then pulled me into a hug springing me.

“There’s a festival at the pack house this weekend, it requires wolves to come with their mates or spouse, and we should go” He mumbled into my hair. The mate thing, not everyone easily found theirs and Antonio was one of them and I always wondered if it would be me or a random woman.

Antonio’s friends didn’t think too highly of me and I knew it had to do with the fact that I was human.

“I don’t know I may work overtime this weekend” I wasn’t ready to be judge and gawked at.

“Suit you” He hissed and pulled away. I stared at him once more before leaving.

…

I was cross checking some records while my phone beside me wouldn’t stop buzzing. I finally picked it up to see that I had been added to a group chat; Sophie and Antonio were also members. The messages buzzing were pictures from a party where a lot of them featured Sophie. I recognized some of the people in the picture, they were werewolves from Antonio’s pack, and I thought they hadn’t accepted Sophie?

In one of the pictures, Sophie was holding unto Antonio and pressed a kiss to his neck. I scrolled through the messages, pausing when I saw one that caught my attention.

I reread it and scrolled through, seeing some of the messages hyping and shipping them together. I knew Antonio was a respected member of his pack, due to his family lineage so most of the people were sucking up to him, promoting him and Sophie ship like he wasn’t already married.

Now that I was in the group, it would show that I had seen the message, it would be odd if I didn’t reply.

I quickly typed adding a clapping emoji as well and hit the send button then I tossed my phone aside and focused on work.

The next time I picked up my phone, message notifications popped up on my screen and I opened it to see they were from Antonio.

His text went on and on.