Alpha Boss, Baby Daddy - Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Kingston
I returned to the office after a board meeting that had dragged on an hour too long. My patience was hanging by a thread, and all I wanted was five minutes of silence to reset before the next round of chaos. As I neared my office, I caught voices through the partially open door—one low and threatening, the other high-pitched and nervous.
Then I heard it.
“That’s the problem with humans. Trouble from the moment they crawl out of the womb,” the werewolf employee sneered. “This is a company, not a damn daycare. If someone can’t manage their brat, they should just quit.”
I paused, my hand on the door.
“Look at this. Sitting in the CEO’s chair like he owns the place. Get out before someone teaches you what happens to pests who don’t know their place.”
The muscles in my jaw tensed.
I stepped inside, slow and quiet. The employee, a lanky mid-ranking werewolf, didn’t notice me until my shadow stretched across the desk.
Behind the desk was Riley, kicking his feet absently as though he was unaffected by the insults being hurled at him. I remembered Rock saying he was going to pick up Cora’s son and bring him to work earlier today. Riley must have wandered off and snuck into my office.
The werewolf employee turned and went pale.
I crossed my arms. “Looks like you’re the CEO now, huh?”
“N-no, sir! Mr. Kingston, I didn’t realize—”
“Clearly,” I said coldly.
Riley blinked up at me, recognition flashing in his eyes. His backpack was half-zipped and a school workbook open in front of him, pencil still in hand. There were little scissors and colored paper scraps spread over the desk from some kind of craft project.
He didn’t even look scared, unlike the grown werewolf next to him, who was visibly sweating.
“You think belittling a child makes you powerful?” I asked, stepping forward.
“I-I wasn’t— I didn’t mean anything by it—”
“You meant every word,” I said, my voice like ice. “And that’s fine. I won’t fire you. That’s not company policy.”
Relief flickered across his face.
“But,” I added, stepping forward, “as pack leader of Silverfang, I’m revoking your status. You no longer belong to the pack.”
His expression crumbled. For someone like him, pack identity was everything. Without it, he was no one.
“Get out,” I said flatly.
He looked like he wanted to argue, but knew better. Good. Wordlessly, he obeyed.
When I turned back to Riley, he was humming quietly, snipping a tiny crescent moon out of silver foil like nothing had happened. Like being berated by a grown man meant nothing at all.
“I’m sorry he said those things to you,” I said.
Riley shrugged. “It’s okay. Mom says not to listen when people talk stupid.”
I smirked. “She’s right.”
He held up his little project for me to see. A paper wolf howling at the moon. Something about it made my chest tighten. It looked... familiar. The sharp-angled ears, the little paper fold that made the tilt of its head. I’d made one like that when I was about his age.
“Here,” I said, pulling over a glue stick and an extra piece of foil. “You want to add some fur?”
“Yeah!” he grinned.
So I sat down beside him. Just for a moment. That’s all.
More than one werewolf employee passed by and did a double-take at the sight. A few lingered, watching. I could feel their surprise.
“Starting tomorrow,” I announced without looking up from the tiny foil wolf, “we’ll be setting up a designated space for employees with children. It will be comfortable, supervised, stocked with crafts and school supplies.”
A ripple of interest buzzed through the corridor.
“And we’re going to revise our internal welfare system. If we want loyalty, we start by treating families with respect.”
I glanced at the Human and Werewolf Resources representative hovering nearby. She nodded, eyes wide.
By dusk, the halls had quieted. Most employees had gone home.
Except one.
Riley was still at my desk, his little face starting to take on an expression of worry as he waited and waited for his mom.
I checked my messages. A file she was supposed to send still hadn’t come in. The last messages I’d sent her were marked “unread.”
A slow, uneasy feeling settled into my gut.
“Your mom said she’d pick you up after work, right?” I asked Riley.
He nodded and bit his lip.
Then he pulled a small smartwatch out of his backpack and held it up proudly. “Wait, I forgot! We’ve got these! Mom said we can always find each other if we’re lost.”
“Can it show where she is?”
“Yup!”
He tapped the screen with his little fingers, and a pulsing signal blinked on a map. An address. Warehouse B1.
My blood ran cold.
I grabbed my coat and Riley’s backpack. “Let’s go.”
The warehouse loomed ahead, dark and silent. I told Riley to wait in the car, locking the doors behind him.
When I got close enough, I saw that the keyhole was mangled. Someone had tampered with it. The only window was ten feet up—too high for a human to reach, but not for a werewolf.
I called Cora’s phone. It was near the entrance, half-buried under a box. I looked at the screen and saw that she had tried calling me earlier. Six times.
All to my work line.
I cursed under my breath. I’d been in back-to-back meetings and hadn’t checked it since noon.
“Cora?” I called.
A faint sound. Like a whimper.
I didn’t hesitate.
I shifted.
Fur tore through skin. Bones cracked and reformed. My vision sharpened, and the scent on the air intensified.
With a growl, I lunged forward and smashed the door open.
She was curled in the corner, hands clutched around her knees, body shaking uncontrollably. Her eyes were wide with terror. It was not hard to see what was happening, why she was so frightened.
Claustrophobia. Her breathing was ragged, too shallow. She wasn’t just scared; she was spiraling.
I shifted back instantly and wrapped her in my arms.
“Hey. I’m here,” I whispered against her hair. “You’re safe. It’s okay now.”
She trembled harder. “I— I couldn’t get out— my phone—”
“I’ve got it,” I said gently. “I should’ve checked earlier. I didn’t know.”
Her hands gripped my shirt.
“You’ll never be unreachable again,” I said. “I’ll save my private number in your phone. Call me directly. Anytime. I can’t… I don’t want this to happen again.”
And it wouldn’t. Not if I had any say in it.
She blinked up at me. Her lashes were damp. Her breathing slowed as I held her tighter.
Then I heard a faint click. I turned.
The warehouse door stood slightly ajar. No one appeared to be there. But the scent lingered.
Amy. Only she was sneaky, vindictive, and stupid enough to think she could get away with something in my territory.
Cora shivered again. I held her just a little longer before finally helping her to her feet.
Neither of us noticed that her necklace had slipped from her collar and fallen into my coat pocket.
Later that night, back at my estate, Daisy was waiting in the front hall with a carefully practiced smile.
“Here, let me take your coat,” she said sweetly.
I handed it over, exhausted. My mind was still on Cora’s pale face, her quiet trembling.
Daisy reached into the coat pocket and froze. When she turned back to me, the necklace dangled from her fingers.
Familiar. Delicate. A tiny pendant on a thin silver chain.
She tilted her head innocently. “Whose is this?”
I stared at the necklace for a long moment. The image of Cora huddled in my arms, whispering apologies, flashed across my mind. The memory stirred something in me, something tender, fierce, completely unwelcome.
No boss should feel this way about an employee.
I clenched my jaw. Said nothing.
Daisy smiled, but her eyes were sharp.
She’d recognized it too. I was sure that she remembered her sister wearing the necklace and recognized its small silver pendant.
And now she knew.
I saw the storm brewing behind her expression, the rage she tried to hide beneath her perfect demeanor.