C16 Unhealthy habits

SYDNEY

I’d had enough of Alaric’s walls.

Enough of his brooding silences. Enough of his “stay away from me” act. Enough of him looking at me like I was both a temptation and a curse.

So I did what I always did when life didn’t go my way.

I doubled down.

---

Step Six: Temptation

Operation Make Alaric Mine was moving into its temptation phase. Subtle, yes. Effective? Absolutely.

First: lingering touches. Accidentally brushing his hand when I handed him files. Leaning just a bit too close when we looked at schedules.

Second: wardrobe choices. Today it was a pencil skirt and silk blouse that made Paige roll her eyes so hard I thought they’d fall out.

“You’re shameless,” she muttered as she handed me my morning latte.

“Strategic,” I corrected. “There’s a difference.”

“Uh-huh. And when he still doesn’t crack?”

I smirked, sipping foam from the lid. “Then I escalate.”

---

Alaric was already in the office, flipping through reports like his life depended on it. He looked maddeningly composed, as always. Crisp shirt, rolled-up sleeves, veins flexing along his forearms like some kind of weaponized distraction.

I leaned against his desk. “You work too hard. It’s unhealthy.”

His eyes flicked to me, then back to the papers. “I don’t have time for unhealthy habits.”

“Oh really?” I tilted my head. “Because avoiding me looks an awful lot like one.”

His jaw clenched. Progress.

I grinned. “Tell me, Alaric… do you ever relax? Or are you secretly a robot programmed to look hot and file paperwork?”

Finally—finally—his lips twitched. The smallest ghost of a smile.

I pounced. “Ha! You almost smiled. Admit it, you like me.”

His gaze snapped up, steel-sharp again. “I don’t.”

My heart jumped, but I covered it with a flippant shrug. “You will.”

---

Later, I decided to corner him outside the office. He always ate alone, so I found him in the atrium garden, sitting on a stone bench, sunlight brushing his dark hair.

Perfect.

I marched right up and plopped beside him. “Guess what? You’re officially my lunch buddy.”

He sighed. “Sydney—”

“Shh,” I cut him off, waving a hand dramatically. “We’re bonding. You like me. You just don’t know it yet.”

He turned his head slowly, eyes burning with something I couldn’t name. “You have no idea what you’re asking for.”

The way he said it—dark, dangerous, low—sent shivers down my spine.

Before I could tease him, movement flickered at the edge of the garden. A shadow.

Then another.

Two men, dressed too casually for a corporate atrium, lingering near the exit. My stomach knotted.

“Alaric,” I whispered.

He noticed instantly. His entire posture shifted—tense, lethal, like a predator about to strike.

The men started toward us.

---

“Well, well,” one of them drawled. “Sydney Stallone. Thought we’d pay you a little visit. I'm sure you don't think you can get away with what you did to my brother at the gala yesterday ”

I froze. These weren’t paparazzi. Their eyes were cold, calculating. Threatening. Who were they and what did they want from me?

Before I could react, one reached for my arm.

And then—he was gone.

I blinked, stunned. No, not gone. Thrown. Alaric had moved—so fast I barely registered it—and sent the man crashing against the stone wall with bone-shaking force.

The other man cursed, swinging at him with a blade I hadn’t even seen.

I screamed.

But Alaric caught his wrist mid-swing, twisting it until the man cried out and dropped the knife.

The veins around his eyes darkened. His lips parted, and for a split second—I thought I saw fangs.

I covered my mouth, my pulse thundering. What is he?

---

The men fled, limping and cursing. Alaric didn’t chase them. He stood frozen, chest heaving, fighting something inside himself.

When his eyes finally met mine, I gasped.

They weren’t human eyes anymore.

And for the first time, I wasn’t just intrigued. I was terrified.

“Alaric,” I whispered, stepping back. “What are you?”

His expression darkened, his voice rough with warning. “Stay away from me, Sydney. For your own good.”

And then he vanished.

Literally vanished—gone in a blur of impossible speed, leaving me alone with the echo of my own racing heartbeat.

---