The Alpha CEO's Hidden Luna

Hazel

The elevator doors opened with a soft chime, spilling me into a world that didn’t feel real.

Glass walls, marble floors, people in sleek black suits moving like they were born knowing what power looked like. My sneakers squeaked once on the floor, loud enough to remind me I didn’t belong here.

SilverCorp.

Just the name sounded rich. Like the kind of place where even the coffee had an attitude.

I tugged at my blazer sleeve, trying to smooth out the wrinkles. “Okay, Hazel,” I whispered to myself. “Smile. Don’t trip. Pretend you know what you’re doing.”

I had no idea what I was doing.

The receptionist gave me a polite smile and handed me a visitor’s badge. “Mr. Taylor will see you now.”

My stomach dropped. “Right now?”

“Yes. Good luck,” she said, with a look that could’ve meant you’ll need it.

The office at the top floor was large… too large. Cold daylight spilled through wide windows that looked over half of Los Angeles. A man stood with his back to me, tall, broad shoulders cutting a sharp outline against the glass. He didn’t turn until the door clicked shut.

And when he did, I forgot how to breathe.

Liam Taylor. SilverCorp’s infamous CEO. Every headline called him brilliant, ruthless, unreachable and now, seeing him up close, I understood why. His presence filled the room before his voice even did.

“Hazel Moore,” he said quietly, like he was tasting the name. His voice was deep, smooth, and something in it brushed against my skin like static.

“Yes, sir.” I hated how small my voice sounded.

He gestured toward the chair opposite his desk. “Sit.”

I sat.

For a few moments, he read through my résumé. The silence was so heavy it pressed against my chest. I could hear the soft tick of a clock somewhere, my own pulse in my ears. Then he looked up, his gray eyes meeting mine - cold, unreadable, but too sharp to look away from.

“You dropped out of college.”

“Yes.” My throat felt dry. “My mom got sick. I needed to work.”

He didn’t say anything for a while. Just studied me, like he was peeling back layers I didn’t even know I had.

“And yet you applied for a position that requires… commitment.”

That pause between words - commitment - felt like it meant something else.

“I’m not afraid of hard work,” I said quickly. “Or long hours.”

He leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing. “Are you easily frightened, Miss Moore?”

The question hung in the air, strange and sharp.

“Excuse me?”

“Answer the question.”

I forced a nervous laugh. “I… I guess not. Why?”

His lips curved just barely, not a smile, more like an acknowledgment. “Good.”

That was it. No explanation. Just good.

He closed the file, slid it aside, and stood. “You’re hired.”

I blinked. “I—what?”

“Report to this floor tomorrow at seven. You’ll assist me directly. Details will be in your contract.” His tone left no room for questions, but I asked anyway.

“Why me?”

He stopped at the window, hands in his pockets. “You’re honest.”

Then, almost to himself, “And you don’t know enough to be afraid yet.”

By the time I left the office, my heart still hadn’t slowed. Every step echoed with disbelief. I’d come expecting rejection, maybe an awkward smile and a “we’ll call you.” Instead, I’d walked out with a job - and a feeling I couldn’t shake.

Something about him had felt dangerous.

Not violent. Just… other. Like there was something beneath his calm voice that could burn through walls if it wanted to.

I pressed the elevator button and caught my reflection in the glass… cheeks flushed, eyes wide, pulse racing.

What the hell had I just gotten myself into?

Liam

Her scent still lingered.

It was faint but maddening - soft, warm, threaded with something I hadn’t felt in years. It stirred the animal under my skin, clawing for control.

I stood by the window long after she left, hands clenched at my sides. The city below shimmered beneath a thin fog. My wolf senses could pick up every heartbeat in this building, but hers was the only one that wouldn’t leave my head.

Hazel Moore.

The name alone made my control slip.

“Alpha,” a voice came through the intercom — Dean, my beta. “Did you find your new assistant?”

“She’s acceptable,” I said, keeping my voice even.

“You sure that’s all she is?”

I didn’t answer. The faint echo of her laughter in my memory - nervous, human, fragile - twisted into something more dangerous than I wanted to admit.

This was a mistake. She didn’t belong here.

I’d built SilverCorp to hide the pack, to create stability. I didn’t need distractions, least of all a human one whose scent made my wolf lose its mind.

The memory hit me again: her heartbeat when I’d asked if she was frightened. It had stuttered once… then steadied, strong and steady. She’d met my gaze without flinching.

Most humans looked away. She didn’t.

I walked over to my desk, pressing a button on the hidden panel beneath it. The monitor flickered, showing live footage from the elevator cameras. Hazel stood inside, fidgeting with her badge, her eyes full of wonder and nerves.

Beautiful, unguarded, completely unaware.

The wolf in me growled softly. I silenced it with a deep breath and whispered under my breath, “You shouldn’t have come here, Hazel Moore.”

But even as I said it, I knew it was already too late.

Outside, the full moon slipped through the clouds for a heartbeat - and in his reflection, Liam’s eyes flickered gold.