by Riley Moreno
Chapter 1
“Mama, what is going on?’’ little 8 year old Fiona Blackstone, a cute chocolate dark skinned and brown eyed girl whispered, while looking at her mother who looked to be in total distress.
She also could not understand why her mother and father had quickly woken her up in the middle of the night and quickly snatched her up in a rush to get out of the house.
They had not even let her take Mr. Cuddles, her little brown teddy bear and also one of her best friends. And now he must be lonely thinking she had abandoned him in her room.
But why then had they brought her to this scary unfamiliar neighborhood, in front of some brick made house? And what had her dad gone inside there to do. As the strange questions rushed into her little head, her mother quickly spoke.
‘’Honey I want you to take this and keep it on you.’’ Sonia Blackstone, a beautiful light skinned woman and her loving mother then said softly while placing a red ruby heart pendant on her.
Just as the little girl curiously placed her little hand on the pretty necklace which now lay on her little chest, her mother gently closed her hand around hers.
‘’Promise me honey, that you will always keep this with you. Never lose it.” her mother then said with a serious look on her face which meant business.
‘’I pinky promise, mama.’’ The little girl confidently said, hoping that would make her mother start smiling instead of looking so sad.
‘’Sonia, I have spoken with Edna and she will be well taken care of. Plus we better be quick as they are now close.’’ She then heard the deep voice of her father say as he came close to them. While she had her mother`s brown eyes, she had gotten her dark chocolate skin from her father Charles Blackstone.
Her mother then bursts into tears, enveloping her into her arms and quickly releasing her to stand up.
Her father then knelt before her and stared intensely at her with his serious dark teary eyes.
‘’Pumpkin, I want you to always remember that no matter what, we love you okay? And always be brave.’’ before the little girl could ask what was happening, her mother then pulled her father away while looking frantic.
‘’Charles lets go, they are coming!” her parents both now looking distraught then quickly kissed the little girl on the forehead and jumped into the car.
They then left, leaving the little black girl staring after them as the car moved away, causing her to scream for them to come back!
‘’Mama, Papa don’t leave me here!’’ she shouted with tears now flooding her face, even as the car was now at a far distance and they could not even hear her.
But the last thing she then spotted before closing her eyes in exhaustion and being carried away by her new care taker Edna, were large gigantic beasts.
Beasts with yellow eyes and white sharp fangs, hidden in the shadows and heading in the same direction as that of her parents...
“NOOOO!”
Fiona then found herself almost letting out a scream because of the dream but quickly opened her eyes after feeling something cold splash upon her.
“Fiona, Fiona! Are you awake?’’ she then heard a female voice shout, causing to quickly sit up on her bed, only to find herself dripping cold wet.
‘’Tracy! What the hell?’’ Fiona then said to her best friend and roommate, Tracy Thompson who was holding a bucket of water and looking guilty. They had been best friends since high school and even through college.
‘’Don’t blame me; this was the only way I could get you to wake up. It seems like you were stuck in that dream of yours where you usually wake up screaming.’’ Tracy then said to her, looking worried as Fiona had told her about this same dream she sometimes kept on having.
‘’Are you okay?’’ Tracy then continued upon seeing the sorrow which now filled Fiona`s face at the mention of that dream.
‘’Don’t worry Tracy, I will be fine.” Fiona then replied standing up and going to clean up in the bathroom.
Her hand then quickly closed around the red ruby heart pendant on her chest as she stared at it through the bathroom mirror.
She then realized that inside she was not okay as that dream was also a past memory which always reminded her of how her parents had left her at some orphanage to never come back.
Heck as a child, whenever she got adopted, she caused problems for whatever family dared take her away from the orphanage until they returned her back.
She was always a headstrong persevering child, hoping that if she stood or kept her eyes on the exact spot where her parents had left her at, they would one day come and get her only to be disappointed each time they didn’t.
She grew out of it when teenage years came but instead decided to try to find them or any family she had, maybe aunties or something. But her searches yielding no results only proved the harsh reality of how she was alone in the world with no family or relatives.
As for the beasts with the yellow eyes, to Fiona they could not have been real. Her counselor had even advised her that the beasts were just a figment of her child imagination but it still niggled her mind as to what where her parents running from?
Then there was Edna, who passed away a long time ago before she could ask the lady about what they had talked about with her dad. And as for the ruby pendant, she always had it on her and had never taken it off. It was the only thing she had from her parents.
And now after working part time jobs and paying for college and earning a degree, as a 22 year old, she was now struggling to find jobs. Luckily she had Tracy who was now working as a doctor and had offered to help Fiona with a place to stay as she tries to get employed.
Right now, she could not even count how many job interviews she had gone to and was always getting rejected. Apparently nowadays it was now all about connections, people hiring their friends and relatives instead of giving the job to some stranger black girl named Fiona Blackstone with no family.
But today, Fiona Blackstone had just had it! She was getting that Job and nothing or no one was going to stop her.
Fiona then thought to herself after bathing as she stood in front of the mirror, putting on her power suit and tying her long raven black hair into a neat bun.
But she felt a little conscious looking at her curvy hourglass body thinking why could she not have gotten the skinny model looking body that her best friend Tracy had?
As Fiona entered the kitchen after packing the papers and everything she needed for the interview, she then saw her best friend Tracy sitting on one of the kitchen chairs while eating breakfast.
She had also dressed and now wore her white coat on top and was getting ready to go to work. Although she and Tracy got along like sisters they were as different in appearance as Tracy was a colored of mixed race between a white mother and a black father and therefore had lighter skin.
Where Tracy sat, there was also a piece of paper on the table she was looking at and Fiona knew it was the Job Ad for the interview to which she was going to.
She had luckily found the piece of paper with the Ad in the nearby forest during a hike. And at that time, she had been depressed from not being able to find a job.
So it had been the best surprise ever to see a piece of paper lying by the ground near a tree with a Job advert from one of the best successful companies in the city. For her it meant fate was in her favor and this job was going to be hers.
‘’Are you sure you are not wasting your time?’’ Tracy then said to her and read the part about how the CEO Mr. Ashwood of the famous Ashwood Enterprise was looking for a personal assistant and the gender of the applicants had to be males only. Fiona rolled her eyes at this.
‘’Tracy, I don’t really care about that, I’m going to go there to try my luck. Plus someone has to prove to him that females can also do a much better job at being personal assistants.’’ Fiona replied looking determined as a CV job mention of ever working at Ashwood Enterprise was just the opening she needed to be able to start getting better job offers.
‘’Do you think that maybe he is gay since he wants a male personal assistant?’’ Tracy then said curiously asking Fiona and she just shrugged as she did not know either why the CEO of Ashwood enterprise only wanted a male personal assistant.
The only things Fiona knew was that he was a rich billionaire, owner of the company, 30 years old and a demanding boss. But she wanted the Job there as his company also paid its employees high salaries while being highly famous.
‘’But gosh I hope he is not gay, as I hear that he is sexy a hell in person and I once saw a picture of him in the magazine.’’ Tracy then continued looking like she wanted to fane herself from thinking of a hot male.
‘’I think you need to just go get laid.” Fiona then bluntly said to her friend in amusement causing Tracy to fake glare at her.
‘’Oh yeah? Says the 22 year old woman whose one and only serious boyfriend that she ever dated from high school turned out to be secretly gay .’’ Tracy then replied her.
‘’Tracy you awful person, have you ever thought that maybe that ideal traumatized me off from men forever?’’ Fiona then replied pretending to wipe away fake tears which had them both bursting in laughter.
As for Fiona, to her it really was not Luke`s fault, her gay childhood best friend that she did not date often. As when she had dated Luke in high school, she already knew he was gay. They only pretended just to protect his secret. He finally came out though after graduating college.
Fiona did not usually date as she had just not found the right man, the one who made her heart rate accelerate or caused butterflies to heat up in her stomach.
‘’Good luck then.” Tracy then replied wishing Fiona luck for her interview and hugging her as she got ready to leave.
Fiona then got into a cab and drove to Ashwood enterprise.
Chapter 2
The cab then stopped in front of a gigantic glass building, with a huge billboard sign written Ashwood enterprise. As Fiona got out of the cab she was happy that the weather was only full of sunshine as she needed the mood booster.
She then confidently entered into the building with her black heels and black power suit. She was surprised to see a female receptionist on the ground floor as she had come in excepting to see only males everywhere. Maybe the CEO was only sexists when it came to people who worked near him, Fiona then thought to herself.
‘’Hello miss, what can I help you with?’’ the brown haired receptionists then said with a large friendly smile and Fiona immediately liked her.
‘’I’m here for an interview with Mr. Ashwood.’’ Fiona then replied causing the brown haired woman to pause and look at her in shock at the fact that she was a woman going to an interview which was only hiring males.
Fiona almost laughed at the thought of how she had gotten the interview appointment. She had pretended to be male on her CV email application. The interviewee’s were just going to get the shock of their lives to know that Tiran was a female. She had not lied entirely as that was her middle name Fiona Tiran Blackstone.
“Okay then, follow me and I will lead you to where the interviews are taking place.” The blonde receptionists then replied leading Fiona to the elevator. There she pressed the elevator button which led to the top floor of the building.
It was really no surprise for Fiona as Mr. Ashwood was the CEO and owner of this successful company after all and got the top floor.
The elevator door then opened signaling that they had arrived at the place of destination.
At first Fiona stood there in the elevator looking and mesmerized by the expensive décor which covered the reception area to Mr. Ashwood`s office. She had never seen such an elegant place as this and felt as if everything in that room was worth more than her years rent.
She then snapped out of it and quickly got out before the elevator door closed shut. She then met the other secretary for Mr. Ashwood a handsome brunette male who then led her to the waiting room and as she had expected it was only full of male applicants.
But there was something about all them, the applicants, including the secretary which just raised her hairs up, as if she was in a hunting game and was the prey. But she just ignored that thought contributing it to the nerves.
There in the applicants’ room, they all looked at her in surprise wondering what she was doing here but she stared back anyone who dared. This was a free country and she was going to make sure Mr. Ashwood stopped being sexists and gave her the job.
But unknown by Fiona, there were all not surprised by her being a woman, it was because she was a human! Ashwood enterprise only hired shifters and their job Ads were secretly distributed to shifters only. No human ever got hired there or even received the job advert.
To Fiona`s dismay some males then started instead hitting on her, asking for her number and looked at her as if she was no competition at all when it came to getting the job. Well she was going to show them all!
‘’Hey, so how did you know about the Ad?’’ one of the males an Irish red head who sat next to her then asked and she first looked sharply at him ready to give him a taste of his own medicine if he was trying to make fun of her.
But instead her face softened as she realized he was just asking out of friendly curiosity.
‘’I read it from some paper which I picked up by some tree during a hike and Yes I know about the Ad wanting males only but I’m here to change Mr. Ashwood`s mind and help him to stop being so sexists by giving me the job.’’ Fiona then replied the man with a small friendly smile on her face.
‘’Well, you do look determined and I hope you accomplish your task.’’ The young redhead man then replied her now flashing his own smile while also now understanding how this young gorgeous human woman had gotten the Ad.
Everyone in the room all being shifters with super sensitive hearing, had all heard her reply too and now understood the reason why a human was here. She had found the Ad misplaced by some careless shifter who was supposed to be here for the interview.
Some of them where now looking at her in amusement as she did not even know that she was sitting in a room with predators, shifters of all kinds from cheetahs, werewolves to bears and heck she had the sweetest scent.
But none of them dared pounce on her here as they were all afraid of facing Mr. Ashwood`s wrath and no one messed with an Alpha Lion shifter.
Fiona then ended up chatting like friends with the redhead while the interview process went on with people`s name`s being called and they even exchanged numbers as Fiona also liked him on the spot.
‘’Gerald Turner, your next.” The acting secretary`s deep voice then shouted and her new friend stood up and went for his interview after she wished him good luck.
But it sucked a little as Fiona was now left sitting on the couch with no one nice to talk too but this mean moody looking, blonde muscled guy who did not look like he was even going for an interview.
He was not even dressed formally in a suit and instead wore black gumboots, had shaggy hair and was dressed as if he were going to the military instead.
Noticing her looking at him, he glared at her and sneered in a rude way as if she was beneath him. Fiona widened her eyes at this but before she could open her mouth and scold him for being so rude, he got called next for the interview and stood up leaving for Mr. Ashwood`s office.
Fiona sighed happy to be ridden of him but she was now left alone and going to be the last person to be interviewed. In the defining silence, the nerves then started kicking in.
What if she had just wasted her time by coming here, could she even take another job rejection? And was this her destiny to always be getting rejected and alone?
All the while in Mr. Ashwood`s office…
‘’Come in.” Alexio Ashwood the billionaire CEO and owner of Ashwood Enterprise then shouted in a bored voice, now regretting ever wanting to do his own interviews for a personal assistant.
He should have just let someone do it as all the applicants were just as boring
, dull and saying the same things as the previous one. It was as if they had all just googled and used the same site word by word on what to say during an interview to get the job. And here he had expected more from his fellow shifters.
They were not supposed to behave the same as humans. Maybe he should just have built an arena and had a shifter fighting competition, hiring only the winner and yes that would have been much more exciting.
‘’Panthera leo krugeri…White Lion.”
Alexio then froze where he sat on his chair, looking out at the view from his glass office window view.
‘’Why is it, that you people and my pig headed father, can’t get it into your thick lion heads, that I’m not ever coming back to the pride and just leave me alone! I ran away and left for a reason.’’ Alexio then said angrily grating the words through his teeth as he turned his chair around to face the familiar blonde muscled guy wearing military clothes named Bruce.
He was one of his father`s little minions and Alexio hated the guy even when he used to live with the pride.
‘’Just because you are now a billionaire and busy living with disgusting humans does not mean you can run away from who you are, you are the Alpha lion heir and the next Alpha of our pride. And your father has send me to tell you again to started finding a your lioness mate and getting her pregnant to provide more heirs for the pride-
Grrrrrrrrrrrr
Alexio then let out a low deep angry roar not able to hear this talk anymore, luckily the walls were sound proof or else people outside the office would have been able to hear it. But then again it would not matter as all his fellow employees where shifters. That meant he could shift here whenever he liked.
Using super unnatural speed he stood up and rushed to stand in front of the unwanted visitor, staring him up in the face.
‘’I will never go back to that pride as long as that bastard controlling father of mine exists! Tell him that by now he should be knowing that his controlling days of me ended a long time ago. I’m am now my own man and I do what I want, however I want. ‘’ Alexio then said angrily with his eyes now almost about to turn yellow as his lion wanted out, to show this disrespecting visitor a thing or two and put him in his place.