Claimed by The Rogue Alpha
Claimed By The Rogue Alpha Chapter 56

=Matteo==

From the mirror, her tiny figure loomed in. It took me so much not to swing open the door and lunge at her. The girl. She was seriously cat walking, stepping on the ground as of it were made of glass and as of she wasn't three minutes late. She reached where I was and stood beside the window. Her smile shown at me. I looked away, the frown not leaving my face. That was when the knock came to the window. Reluctantly, I wound down the glass.

"You're mad." Her voice going into that sickeningly sweet tone that irritated me. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. You can't imagine. My mom kept telling me to replace something decent to wear. Always, 'Peggy, those shorts are too short. You're showing too much skin. Or the neckline is too down. Go replace something proper to wear.' I swear, Matt. I didn't plan on being late."

I didn't speak. Didn't even act as though she'd said something.

"Come on, Matty. I swear, my mom-"

"Three minutes. Three minutes and there you were walking like I've got all the time in the world." I glanced at her. "Always with the excuses, why?"

She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Again, I'm sorry. For the hundredth time. Besides..." She looked down at her watch. "It's just one twenty-eight. Come on, cut me some slack."

"Start the car." I said to the driver.

"Are you serious, right now? Matteo!" The car began taking a reverse. It turned around and zoomed off.

I shot my eyes open immediately, my chest heaving. Amongst all the things I could have dreamed about, it had to be this. Amongst all the the moments I'd shared with Peggy, this was the one that decided to show up. The time we had our usual disagreements. Peggy...

She was back to haunt me. To make me pay for the pain, hurt and betrayal. Of course she had to be back. Who in her shoes wouldn't be? I looked around me, realising that I had fallen asleep in my meeting room. The screen to my desktop was off, but a red light beamed at a corner.

I shivered from the possible explanation to that. But just to be sure, I tapped on the touchpad. And there, as the screen came to life, my fears were confirmed. I had dozed off during the board meeting.

I covered my face with a hand, totally exhausted. Completely done, and at the same time, short of what to think or say, or the insult I could rain on myself. I was just done.

Pulling my hand off my face, I stared straight ahead. This is the end, Matteo. The end that you've long feared about. I glanced around, taking in the outlook of the room. The plain stark walls, and the sparse verses of plants stationed here and there. The mini shelf at a corner. Everywhere. Was this how my end was gonna...be?

I took my gaze back to the laptop, but I wasn't really staring at it. My mind was blank.

You're a murderer. Your sins are catching up with you. I shut my eyes, my heart squeezing all up. Guilt gnawed at me.

Peggy was dead and it was my doing. My f*****g handwork. A growl escaped my throat and I grabbed the desktop, smashing it on the wall. It got dismantled, being just a mess of metal scarps and wires on the floor. "Now, you just proved the point that you're immature. A crybaby."

I whipped my head to where the voice had come from. Instantly, I jammed my eyes shut. Please, let this be a dream. Let it be part of those very many nightmares I dreaded.

"Of course, not. This is your reality. The you you don't want to admit to."

"Shut up." I grumbled.

"Okay. Zip." For a while, a brief while, there was silence. But I should have known my alter ego, or whatever thing this person was, wasn't one to back down easily. He burst out laughing. Piercing my ears; irritating my soul.

I growled, low at first, but went on to up the pitch. I dashed forward, heading straight for his stomach. I delivered a blow, but it was ineffective. It simply pierced through the air.

He chuckled. "You missed! I was fast and you were slow. I was fast and you were slow."

"Shut up!"

"Why? Cos I was fast and you were slow?" If I didn't know better, with the look on his face, I would have believed he was actually clueless.

I sat on the floor with my eyes closed. His footsteps echoed. He was pacing around the room.

"It's been such a long time, pal. Six years. Six friggin' years in which I yearned to be free."

I let my eyes open. The frown still plastered on my face. Six friggin' years in which I yearned to be free. F.R.E.E. "What do you mean?"

"You caged me. All this while, I was stuck in this compartment so tight I could have suffocated. You carried on with life, as though I never existed. As though all we shared was a lie."

I deepened my frown. My worst fears had started to smile at me. This couldn't be. There was no way this could be happening. But I being the person I was, knew there was no lie in what this dud was saying.

Look at him. The dud with his shape jawline and clear blue eyes. He, with hair as black as coal and the straight, narrow nose. The dud was none other than me

"I'm here to stay."

I blinked slowly before slumping to the floor. It was over. So over. ==Olivia==

Fifteen down, fifteen to go.

I couldn't believe it. I'd made it through the first half of the month. About two weeks from now, I'd be done. I'd be freaking done.

I rolled out of the bed and stretched, a yawn following suit. I walked to the window and pulled the curtains curtains open. The sun had fully come out. It was bright outside, particularly the sky that was blue and had white clouds dispersed on ot. What a beautiful Saturday morning. I thought. I wasn't going to lie and say that I hadn't been bored to death these past few days. I truly was. I did nothing but sleep, wake up, make a poop or a piss, eat, then return to sleep. That was the loop and it had threatened to drive me crazy. But I had been determined, gritting my teeth as I endured the mundaneness. Today, day 15 was just going to be like every other day.

I left the window and went in to have my shower. I took my time, soaking myself in a foamy bath. There was no need rushing. This (bathing) was one of the things, if not the only thing that kept me sane here. I would lie in the tub and close my eyes, letting the warm water soak in.

Done with the shower, I towelled myself dry and stepped into the room. I sat before the vanity and picked up my cream, inhaling its apricot scent. I was intoxicated by it. Was that weird?

Pete... I forced a gulp of saliva down my throat. Pete would always tease me about how nice fragrances would disable me. He once told me how he wished he got high out of fragrances than weed or cocaine. I sighed.

I didn't know what our relationship would be like now. It was hard to tell.

A knock came through, interrupting my thoughts.

"Housekeeping," the person at the door said.

"Come in."

The door opened slowly and from the mirror, I saw a maid come in with her cleaning materials. She set them down, shut the door and started getting ready to clean.

I left her to her thing and walked to the closet to get my dress. The usual. The robe. I crept into it and sat in the sofa, watching her as she made the bed.

After that, I sat in the sofa watching her make the bed. This was awkward-being around the workers. It was one of the things that made me uncomfortable here, but then, I had to maintain my cool. I've just got fifteen more days and all these will be over. I looked on. The maid was slow. Just so slow. I couldn't understand. Usually it took them about 2 minutes to take out the sheets and replace them, but this particularly maid was a snail. She tucked the sheet into the bed frame, before going on to stretch the sheet. Done with that, she replaced the pillow cases and laid the pillows in place.

To be honest, good at dressing the bed, but then, nothing less than fifteen minutes had passed by and still was at it. Come on, this bed wasn't large, was it? Eventually, she was done. And then, she turned towards the bathroom. Wow

I couldn't place a name on it, but something felt off about the lady. I couldn't say it was her dressing or her reticence, because that basically was how all the workers here were. But then, this maid gave off a different vibe.

I left the sofa, wanting to go grab breakfast downstairs, but stopped on my tracks. I couldn't leave the room, not with this maid still here. I decided to wait till she was done cleaning.

Another five minutes went by before she emerged from the bathroom. And as she gathered her materials to leave, it came to me. The reason I had that gut feeling.

Her head. All the while she was here, she kept her head down, never once lifitng her gaze. Talk about strange.

When she was gone, I let out a sigh. Well, I shouldn't be surprised. I didn't see the reason to be. After all, this place belonged to Matteo. A werewolf.