Alpha's Possession by Jessica Hall

Chapter 16

Zara POV

The alarm blares so loud it reminds me of an air horn. I’m so tempted to smash my fist against it as soon as I wake up, or even better, toss it out the damn dodgy window that doesn’t even lock.

At least this morning, I could sleep in a little even though I can hardly call my sleep anything close to restful. My skin feels like it isn’t a part of me anymore, as if it’s crawling and the bed beneath me is alive.

Sitting up, I shudder with disgust as violently as ever. Yep, it’s definitely clear that I need to take another shower to get rid of the bedbugs. I’m sure that the dirty stairwell beside the Plaza would have been a cleaner choice to spend the night than the bug infested bed of the shitty motel room I had to pay money for. So much for thinking anything would be better than the streets. The streets would definitely be better than this.

After rummaging through the little number of toiletries I own, I hopped in the shower and scrubbed my skin so hard with my loofah that I’m surprised I didn’t scrub off a dozen layers of my skin. With the strength I have to use, I might as well just scrape all of my skin off. If only that helped eliminate the awful feeling those bed bugs left on me.

As I finally focus on scrubbing the shampoo in my hair, which I’m sure is now infested with the bed critters from the seedy bed I slept in, I hear my phone ring on the nightstand next to the bed of nightmares and despair.

I let it ring out, fully aware that I don’t have to be at work for an hour. Instead of running around the motel room like a lunatic to pick up the phone, I close my eyes and rinse the shampoo from my hair. Then, I turn the taps off and step out of the shower.

towel, but once I notice the state of it, I drop the idea and opt for my yesterday’s clothes and use

again while I struggle to dry myself, and I

shitty bathroom and snatch my phone. Dread pools in my stomach, and my heart nearly stops when I see

a personal secretary did you fail to understand

call, I fear what he could

the urge to roll my eyes because the bastard might as well notice that. As for his question-I didn’t understand the personal part. I signed up for a damn foyer position, not to become

apologies, sir, I was taking a shower and didn’t hear the phone ringing.” I answer as politely as possible, while in reality. I wish I could kindly invite Thane to suck on my

wait for the mailman out the front,” Thane snarls at me, sounding far more pissed off than he was a moment ago. There goes the give and get principle- I give

slowly lower the phone from my ear to check the time. Well, that’s not all. I also do that to avoid the high risk of

have to collect it from the post office- you’re fired!”

the phone screen in disbelief until the numbers finally make sense, and dread fills my gut.

clothes, and dismiss the ironing board I set up before jumping in the shower. If Thane

wet skin, and I barely manage one clasp on my bra

and down three tablets right before spraying the descenter over every inch of me. I toss the can in my bag, throw the bag over my shoulder, snatch the keys, and pick up my heels by the