My Alpha Boss Gave Me Triplets – Episode 04
The sting from Francesca’s slap had barely faded when the department head moved closer, encouraged by the silence of everyone around them. Evie held her ground despite the instinct urging her to retreat. Workstations surrounded them, yet the busy department had become unnaturally still as every employee waited to see how far Francesca would go. Evie knew exactly what would happen if she complained: Francesca would call her incompetent, the other wolves would support their own, and the human intern would be the one shown the door. Her isolation had always been Francesca’s most effective weapon.
“Stonehearth is the most powerful pack around,” Francesca said, loud enough for the entire department to hear. “We didn’t become powerful by taking in humans who make us look weak.” Her contempt was not limited to Evie’s work. To Francesca, Evie’s very presence in the company was an offense.
Evie thought of the night before, when she had remained at her desk long after everyone else left. She had corrected layouts, redrawn details, and completed the presentation while Francesca went home. By morning, the project had become another example of Francesca’s leadership, while Evie’s contribution disappeared. “I stayed late to help you finish your project,” she said. “How can you say that after I did your work for you?”
Francesca’s eyes narrowed. Gratitude had never been part of their arrangement. Evie’s talent was useful only as long as it remained invisible and could be claimed by someone with the right status.
“How badly do you want to pass your probation period?” Francesca asked. She lingered over the final word as if Evie’s future still rested in her hands. “Human.”
Evie knew Leopold had promised her a permanent position, but she had not yet completed the paperwork with Human Resources. A verbal promise from an Alpha should have been unbreakable, although the bitter way he delivered it made her afraid to rely on him. After the way he had dismissed her, she could not be certain he would remember—or care—if Francesca terminated her first. She imagined calling home without a job, hearing satisfaction on the other end of the line, and being collected before she could find another position. The threat of Farmer Joe and the life waiting back home crowded into her thoughts.
“No, please,” she said, hating the desperation in her voice. “I really need this job.” The admission cost her, because it placed exactly the weapon Francesca wanted in her hands. Still, Evie could not risk pride when her freedom depended on remaining employed.
Triumph brightened Francesca’s face. She picked up a ceramic mug and placed it in Evie’s hands. “Then now you know who really calls the shots.” Nearby employees watched with uneasy curiosity, but not one challenged her authority.
Evie curled her fingers around the handle. She expected another senseless errand or a demand that she redo work Francesca planned to steal. Around her, coworkers avoided meeting her eyes, their silence assuring Francesca that no one would interfere. Instead, the she-wolf lifted a kettle of steaming water. Only then did Evie understand that this punishment was meant to hurt rather than humiliate.
“If you can hold this mug for ten seconds without dropping it,” Francesca said, “perhaps you deserve to stay.”
The first stream of water struck the cup and splashed over Evie’s fingers. Heat bit into her skin. She gasped and tried to pull back, but Francesca caught the mug and forced it level beneath the kettle.
“Oh, is it hot?” Francesca asked with false concern. More boiling water spilled over the rim. “Can you take the heat?”
Evie’s hands began to shake. Every instinct told her to drop the mug, and the smell of heated ceramic mixed with the sharp scent of her injured skin. Yet she imagined her suitcase packed, her family waiting, and Farmer Joe expecting a bride who had nowhere else to go. Francesca understood that fear and had turned it into a chain around her wrists. Evie clenched her jaw and held on, refusing to give her tormentor the satisfaction of an immediate surrender.
“Ten,” Francesca began. She stretched the number out, determined to make every second feel longer.
The burning intensified until Evie could no longer distinguish individual drops from the fire spreading across her skin. She fixed her eyes on the wall and tried to breathe through it. No job should have required this, but Francesca had made certain the choice felt like employment or surrender.
“Nine.”
Elsewhere in the building, Leopold stopped midstride. Pain seared across both his hands, fierce enough to steal his breath. There was no longer room for coincidence. Someone was hurting Evie, and the curse was carrying every second of it directly into him.
“Eight,” Francesca said, smiling as Evie’s knees threatened to buckle.
The design department doors flew open before the count could continue. Leopold stood on the threshold, his expression colder than anyone in the room had ever seen. The burning in his own hands had led him there, but the sight of Evie enduring the abuse without anyone intervening transformed alarm into fury. His gaze moved from her trembling fingers to the kettle in Francesca’s grip, and the authority of the Alpha filled the stunned silence. Employees who had ignored Evie’s pleas finally stepped back. Francesca had believed no one would protect a human. She realized too late that Leopold had felt every moment.