The Alpha's Secret Human Sugar Baby - Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Aurora POV
Feeling lightheaded and nauseous, I lean against my desk and close my eyes. I wasn’t feeling well when I woke up this morning, but I pushed myself to get up. Honestly, I’m regretting it a bit.
“Aurora, come with me. You’re going to take notes on the meeting I’m going to,” Thorne says, motioning for me to follow him. He’s a bit stiff today, more like he usually is. I guess the nice guy from last night is gone.
Quickly, I grab my notebook and laptop, following Thorne to the meeting room. I lay out my things, taking a seat when the room begins to spin. Thorne glances at me, but I don’t tell him I’m not feeling well. I don’t want him to get upset.
Since he seems to be in a bad mood today, I don’t want to do anything to spark his anger.
Jackson arrives not long after us, and I keep my head down, taking notes as they discuss a project to collaborate with a nearby pack. Jackson proposes that Thorne should let him take the reins of this project, and Thorne scoffs.
“There would be no profit for anyone other than yourself in this project, Jackson,” Thorne says. “I don’t particularly like employees who want to profit from something that could also hurt the pack. I won’t accept this proposal.”
Jackson stares at Thorne while I blink against the dizzy haze in my mind.
“Aurora, prepare the data for this so I can formally reject the Blue Moon Pack myself… What are you doing?” Thorne barks.
Startled, I jump and look down at my notes. Panic strikes me when I realize that instead of grabbing my notebook, I grabbed the green folder off my desk. I’ve been writing notes on an official document that took Thorne a week to retrieve from a difficult pack.
“I’m so sorry, Thorne,” I whisper, “I didn’t mean—"
Thorne grabs the folder and pulls it away from me, his brows pulling together and mouth thinning in anger.
“As my assistant, you need to be more careful. You have access to files that are extremely important to keep my pack functioning. I can’t keep careless workers around me, especially if they are going to destroy documents that I might not be able to obtain again,” Thorne growls, making my ears ring. The anger and volume of his tone have me shrinking back in my chair.
I knew he was angry. Not just about this but also about yesterday. That sounded like an underhanded jab about messing up his meeting yesterday too.
“I’m sorry, Th—”
“Sorry won’t fix this,” he growls before dismissing us and storming out of the room.
Jackson whistles lowly and chuckles while I clutch my spinning head. If I had just paid more attention, or stayed home, this wouldn’t have happened.
“I thought it would take longer for you to fall out of grace,” Jackson teases when I stand. He elbows me, almost making me fall over. “I thought you’d be able to show off for a while, but I didn’t expect you to mess up so royally and lose Thorne’s support so quickly.”
I try to ignore him and shuffle to the door, but he grabs my arm and pulls me back.
My legs nearly give out beneath me. Only his hand on my arm keeps me from sinking to my knees. I take several deep breaths to clear my vision and swallow the lump in my throat so I can speak.
“Y-You should worry less about love and relationships all the time and focus on making a project that Thorne will actually be satisfied with,” I tell him.
“Like you’re one to talk,” Jackson laughs. “You can’t even take notes properly.”
Annoyed, I shove him away and finally hiss, “Worry about yourself.”
Jackson POV
I think about Aurora walking away from me earlier after telling me to mind my own business. She’s different than she used to be.
Bolder.
It’s attractive.
I need to secure this Pack collaboration, and I’d planned to use Ivy to help me make connections, but she told me that Thorne is upset with her right now. Ridiculous. I couldn’t even use her to help me because she keeps making stupid decisions.
“Will you go with me to get a manicure?” Ivy asks. I want to refuse, but instead, I agree. No matter how upset Thorne is with her right now, she’s still the best way to get to him.
Ivy prattles on about some new boutique she wants to go to as the lady starts on her nails, and I nod, not really listening.
“Oh, and did I tell you that Aurora, that skank, hooked up with my brother’s Beta?”
That caught my attention.
“She did?” I ask, rubbing at the slight ache in my chest. I regret my decision to get rid of Aurora a bit because she was great. Beautiful and great in bed. For my future, though, I needed to let her go. She’s human and penniless.
Ivy can offer me so much more as a mate than Aurora could.
My phone rings, providing me with a means of escape, and I stand.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Ivy, holding up my phone. “Business calls.”
She waves me off, and as I step outside, I answer the call from my assistant.
“I found something you may find interesting, boss. Recently, there have been rumors floating around that Thorne has a new mistress he cares deeply for,” my assistant says. “Not only does she live in a mansion he gave her, but people say Thorne is also meeting with her every day. Before now, Thorne has only had one-night stands with women.”
That’s true. Everyone knows the Alpha has put off mating and marriage until later. He’s never kept his interest on one woman for more than a quick fling, until now.
“Do you know who she is?” I ask, a plan forming in my mind. If I can find this mistress, maybe I could use her. I could get close to her or bribe her to slip ideas to Thorne so he’ll approve my proposal and move my project to be accepted.
“No, sir. No one has seen her,” my assistant answers.
“Find out who she is, and the moment you know, I want her name, the address of this mansion, and the name of her workplace.”