The Clean-Freak Alpha’s Dirty Secret Love Chapter 01
My mate–to–be, Waldo Raven, is a germaphobe. Every time he held
my hand, he’d wipe his own palm with an alcohol wipe three times afterward.
The entire Duskclaw Pack knew it.
As Alpha, he’d always maintained a cold, restrained image in public.
But at that dinner party, the moment Flora Vane opened her
mouth, Waldo didn’t hesitate–he held out his bare palm to catch
the cherry pit she’d just spat out.
Flora pouted and tilted her chin up at him. “Hurry, wipe my mouth for me.”
Waldo immediately smiled and carefully dabbed the sauce from the corner of her lips.
Then he turned to me and slid a slice of cherry pie onto my plate.
“Janet, try this.”
I was allergic to cherries. I’d accidentally eaten one once, and my
throat had swollen so badly I nearly suffocated.
He knew that.
He could always remember every little habit of my best friend Flora.
Yet he forgot what I couldn’t have.
This relationship was too crowded. I should have walked away a long time ago.
When I came back from paying the bill, our seats were already empty.
I hurried out to the curb, only to be splashed head to toe with muddy water by a speeding car.
I was about to pull out my phone to take a picture of the license plate-
And then I realized with a jolt: that was Waldo’s car.
He and Flora had left me behind again. Without a word. Without a second thought.
I called Waldo more than a dozen times before he finally answered.
His voice carried that familiar edge of impatience.
“Why did you leave on your own?”
I gripped the phone, took a few deep breaths to calm the wolf
pounding beneath my skin, and said, “I went to pay the bill. You were the one who didn’t wait.”
An awkward silence stretched between us.
Then Waldo sighed, exasperated. “You were so quiet all through dinner. We thought you were sulking.”
“Janet, grow up. You’re supposed to be the future Luna of the Duskclaw Pack.”
“I’m still at the restaurant entrance. Come pick me up.”
I hung up first.
I waited an hour before Waldo finally pulled up–slow, unhurried.
Flora sat in the passenger seat, her feet resting on my pink cushion. The one he’d bought just for me.
She was holding a cup of American coffee and smiled at me. “Janet,
you must have been waiting forever, right?”
“She practically treated me like a chauffeur. We drove forty minutes
out of our way just for this coffee shop.”
Waldo was complaining, but the fondness in his eyes was unmistakable.
Flora held the straw–already chewed out of shape–up to his mouth.
“Here, a reward for your trouble.”
Just as Waldo leaned in to take it, Flora’s hand twitched, and the
entire cup of coffee spilled across the car seat.
Normally, even a single stray wolf hair in the car would make Waldo frown.
But now, he just sighed, grabbed a wipe, and carefully cleaned the coffee stains off Flora’s fingers.
“You’re paying for the detailing.”
Flora tilted her head playfully. “The Alpha’s bullying me again.
Aren’t you going to stick up for me?”
I’d long grown used to their casual intimacy. I didn’t react.
Finally, Waldo’s gaze landed on me.
When he saw the mud–spattered hem of my dress, his brow furrowed.
“How did you get so filthy?”
I gave a bitter laugh. “Your handiwork.”
He didn’t seem to care about my sorry state at all.
He pulled out his phone, tapped a few times, and a transfer notification appeared on my screen.
Waldo stepped on the gas. “Take a cab back. You’ll get the seat dirty.”
How ridiculous.
If I could have gotten a cab, why would I have stood in the freezing wind waiting for an hour?
I walked a long way in the rain before a kind driver finally stopped for me.
Back at the pack house, I showered and started feeling dizzy.
“39.6 degrees.” Waldo wrapped me in a blanket. “Rest. I’ll stay with you tonight.
“Mm…” I buried my face in the blanket, my eyes burning.
I remembered how tender he used to be with me, back when we first got together.
When did it all start to change?
Waldo sat on the edge of the bed, frowning like he wanted to say something.
Finally, he spoke. “Did you finish the draft for the alliance pact with
the Blackwood Pack? The pack meeting is tomorrow…”
The brief warmth shattered like a bubble. All that was left was disappointment.
“Almost. I’ll finish it tonight.”
Waldo let out a relieved breath.
“Good. I’ll get you some fever medication.”
He started rummaging through the medicine cabinet.
Soon, his voice drifted over. “I can’t find it. Flora probably took it the last time she was here.”
“Use my phone to call my Beta to bring some over. It’s too rainy out.
The pharmacy was just around the corner. He just didn’t want to go.
I was too exhausted to be upset.
But the moment I unlocked his phone, my eyes went wide.
It was still open to the navigation app. The destination displayed was Flora’s apartment.
And the saved address was labeled “My Home.”
I scrolled down and found countless other destinations–from the council hall to hotels.
“Flora’s Apartment” was saved as “My Home,” right there among them.
It made my entire existence feel like a joke.