Where We Left Off (ClearSight and Javorcek)

[ClearSight]

The past week had been exhausting. It started out innocently enough, a busy schedule of work, hellish workouts, and barely enough time to squeeze in a good meal much less have nightly rendezvous, but it turned into so much more. Alessa found herself smitten, and trying way harder than she ever imagined to spend every spare second with Clarke.


It had started normally, competition and sex being the driving factor behind all of their interactions, but it turned into something else during the week they spent together. It changed from booty calls to meals in and even a dinner date, from awkward teasing and reluctant admissions to comfortable nights spent in the same bed. Clarke even stood up for her.


Danika’s shitty ex crossed a line and Clarke protected her. Even though she prided herself on being self-reliant it was a welcomed gesture, one that made her smile like a fool when she thought about it. The entire week was non-stop activity, but Alessa didn’t regret any of it. Sleep was overrated. The only problem was, after it was all said and done, she was freaking out.


The week was to be followed directly by the ski resort, a trip she had been looking forward to and one that included the adorable tiny ones, Danika, and some real relaxation after a week of long hours. By all means she should have been thrilled, and she was, but her week with Clarke was the source of restlessness. For all of the fun and romance, which was an entirely new experience for the two of them, they never actually talked about any of it. Were they dating? Was it just a week of unbridled fun meant to be forgotten once it was over? Or, maybe she had read too deep into it all together.


She didn’t know, and while she remained cool and collected on the surface, Alessa had always been the type to overthink. She was found herself dreading the answer, not knowing what to expect. After all, how ridiculous would it be if things were serious? They were… Well, they were rivals, enemies even. Would it even make sense for her and Clarke to be involved?


Alessa sighed, looking uncharacteristically distracted as she sat in the lobby of the Mont Blanc Resort. Myra was getting them checked in and Alessa, well, she was staring out the window aimlessly, barely able to register what was going on around her. The usual energy and flair gone. She wasn’t even wearing fancy clothing, just some jeans and a cute high-neck sweater, giving her less of her usual glamour but making her look absolutely adorable. If not for the numerous bags by her side it would be easy to forget she was so high-maintenance.


Myra walked back to her side with two room keys in hand, holding one out for Alessa and waving it in front of her when she failed to respond. “Are we waiting here for everyone to arrive?” Myra was looking forward to seeing Danika so she was a tad impatient, catching Alessa’s attention and then immediately asking after everyone else.


“No, I think we were all going to meet up once everyone arrived, but I’ll have to ask Danika or Clarke.” Alessa’s voice trailed as she pulled out her phone and stared at her call log. It was mostly Clarke, well that and various work numbers. She hesitated as her finger hovered over the name, and after a moment of internal struggle she locked her phone and stood up. “Let’s get settled in first. I’ll see if Danika and the kids made it once we do.”

 

[Javorcek]

When Clarke's grandfather had first started this business, he had stressed to her father, and then to her, how important it was to keep the employees happy. "They're the ones who will make or break you. Unhappy employees quit, steal, and worst of all, leave any customer they come into contact with with a bad taste in their mouth." So Clarke did her best to keep her employees happy: excellent pay, great benefits, a fair amount of vacation time, and one party a year at the only resort she owned: Mont Blanc. Of course such practices made her seem weak to upper echelon werewolves and her competing CEOS ( she only made $5 million a year when she could be making 50 million?! What a waste!). But honestly, she'd trade the money and the prestige for the assurance that her food was never spat in and the knowledge that she wasn't hated by thousands of people.

Not all of her employees came out of course, some people didn't care for massive gatherings; so she filled rooms with close friends and family. This was supposed to be a short vacation for her too after all. Many of her workers would only stay for the weekend, but her friends and family were invited to be here for the entire week if they so chose. She couldn't wait to see Danika and maybe tell her of just who she had seen last week.

Clarke had taken Friday off early so that she could relax a little bit before she readied herself to deal with the traumatic clusterfuck that was hosting a massive event at one of her resorts. Deciding that she wanted to spend time with Alessa (who knew?) in order to 'physically relax'...she had headed over to the set where the other female had been doing an advertisement campaign. Clarke had gotten to the front of the building just in time to see Alessa being harassed by their best friend's abusive ex-husband who was apparently dating one of the other actresses Alessa had been doing the shoot with.

On a good day, Richard's very presence made her blood boil and her body shake with poorly restrained anger, on a bad day, she saw red-

"Ms. Knight."

"Richard's hulking lummox of a bodyguard drew his collapsible baton, moving to hit Clarke with it and defend his master. Being a seasoned Parekura competitor, Clarke merely gut checked him, grabbed his wrist, yanked it behind his back to loosen his grip on the weapon. As soon as he let go of the baton, Clarke grabbed it, slammed him onto the hood of Richard's rental car, and proceeded to whip his ass while he yowled like a little bitch-

"Ms. Knight..."

"You won't get away with this! Fucking crazy, rabid bitch." Richard sputtered as Clarke released his guard and began to move away.

Clarke barked out a laugh as she suddenly turned and smashed out Richard's back window with the collapsible baton. If he was going to call her a rabid bitch, she'd certainly act like it. "So file a police report, Richard!" The Alpha said with a grin as she tossed the baton into the newly opened back seat of the car. They both knew that Richard wasn't going to recount this event to anyone, let alone the cops. The last thing any self-respecting male Alpha needed was a story of how a female had spanked the head of his security detail with his own collapsible baton-

"Hey! Clarke!"

"Huh?"

Marissa smirked slightly at her boss' blank expression - she obviously hadn't listened to a word the personal assistant had been saying. Usually, it was impossible to tell that Clarke had ADHD. The CEO managed her condition with a profession that allowed for creativity and moving about, a lot of exercise, and a little bit of weed. Unfortunately while they were out here for this event, Clarke's routine of smoking and going to the gym were interrupted, so it was difficult for Marissa to get her boss through the tedious tasks of inspecting the various gathering areas at the resort to make sure everything was arranged to her liking. "I was asking if you would like the banquet hall to open to receive guests? About one third of the guests have checked in so far..."

"Oh..." Clarke smiled sheepishly, then took a peek at her watch. It was 11am here, nearly lunch time...but some of her guests came from the west coast while others flew in from Europe. "Have them put out some of the things from the brunch menu, mimosas, some of the finger foods, etc. Have them hold onto the lunch though. We'll put that out at noon; if some our guests are truly hungry they can order some room service." She paused, thought for a moment, then added "Has Danika arrived yet?"

Marissa checked her Surface Pro, scrolling through the list of guests. "No, not yet, Ms. Knight." A short pause, as she decided whether or not to answer Clarke's unsaid question or just play dumb, "However, Ms. Katos just checked in about a half hour ago."

Clarke nodded and tried not to look too eager as she suggested, "Well then, let's make an announcement to our guests that the banquet hall is open and then head down to greet them."

 

[ClearSight]

After making her way to her room Alessa finally managed to relax. She managed to push her anxieties aside and look at everything around her, at the week of vacation she was going to have with people she actually liked being around. It wasn’t often she was allowed to be herself and choose who she spent time with, her job was one that required constant sacrifice and attention. You can’t do this, you have to avoid mentioning that, it’s all for the next project. She had to live by a set of rather unappealing standards. She didn’t hate all of it, she loved the work itself, whether it was acting, modelling, or just some little spokesperson piece, but it could become tiresome. Having a break was nice.


She could appreciate it all the more at Clarke’s resort, a place outside of the media circus and prying eyes of people who wanted to catch her doing anything juicy or gossip worthy. There was also the added bonus of seeing the tiny ones, the cutest little pups ever created. She vowed to recharge off of their youth while she had the chance. Maybe she would even take them off Danika’s hands entirely at some point and give Myra a chance, maybe. She still had to settle her own matters first.


Alessa was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn’t manage to unpack anything before the announcement sounded. The banquet hall was open, which wouldn’t have been anything important if not for the fact that she was starving. She was actually a rather bad when it came to plane travel, she resorted to medication to help her through. It was ridiculous considering how often she flew, but even hundreds of flights couldn’t solve her discomfort when it came to soaring above the world on a giant metal death trap. Pills helped but it also meant missing in-flight meals, so she couldn’t resist the allure food held.


She simply left her bags unpacked and left the room, walking across the hall and knocking on Myra’s door. “I’m going to the banquet hall, you don’t need to rush.” They had already discussed it beforehand, that Myra’s role as bodyguard was more or less unnecessary to begin with, much less while they were in Canada, and even more so now that they were staying at Clarke’s resort. Myra grumbled a bit but she eased up her coverage regardless. Mostly because Alessa’s cooperation meant a greater chance at Danika time, but why didn’t matter. Alessa got some freedom.


It was why she arrived at the banquet hall alone, and why the moment she saw Clarke she was left to panic on her own. She hadn’t thought it through, how she would act. She had no idea where she stood, but she couldn’t sneak around all week either. So she pushed it down deep, gathered herself, and walked straight towards Clarke, hands gripping nervously at the sleeves of her sweater as she did.

 

[Javorcek]

Mont Blanc was a gorgeous ski resort nestled in the Laurentian mountains, featuring 3 buildings full of condos of various sizes (from studios to luxurious 4 bedroom suites) and one massive building that was made up of hotel suites. "L'auberge Du Chevalier" (The Knight Inn) was the building they were currently staying at. They had the typical attractions besides the mountains for those who didn't ski: dance/banquet hall, restaurant, indoor pools, indoor tennis courts, skating rink, a rec. room/small arcade, etc. There was something for everyone to do here, even if it was just vegetating in a beautiful suite and ordering room service while binge-watching TV.

Clarke was probably in this place and it definitely showed. Despite her distaste for party-planning, she was all smiles once she was free to roam around the resort that had been in her family for generations. She had so many wonderful memories here...plus she was on vacation, and who wasn't happy about being on vacation?

Even though she was playing the role of hostess for hundreds of guests, Clarke didn't seem to equate that with dressing up. Her usual business attire was traded for a cute, sporty fleece (one she could wear under her snowboarding jacket later) and a pair of jeans whose only purpose was to cover up her base layer. Her dark hair was pulled back into a simple bun to keep it out of the way instead of flowing over her shoulders, and she hadn't bothered to put on the little bit of makeup she usually wore because she would just end up sweating and messing it up later anyways. Obviously the young wolf couldn't wait to get all of this greeting nonsense done with so that she could hit the slopes with some of her favorite people (she had promised Liam that she would teach him how to snowboard this year after all).

There were a few local managers from her properties in attendance, the newer ones were dressed much more formally than she was because they wanted to make a good impression. Marissa had to remind her of a few of the names because Clarke was awful at them. She exchanged a few pleasantries with her employees and their families before moving on, just in time to see a familiar form moving on towards her. As oblivious as she was to noticing when someone was wrong with someone, she picked out that Alessa didn't look quite like her usual social butterfly self. Her mind ran through a zillion scenarios as to why all at once, before settling on a memory she had of Alessa complaining about having to fly to the town that the preparatory school they had all gone to.

"Rough flight?" The Alpha offered a smile and her arm, her free one motioning towards the buffet tables scattered about the room. "Come on, a little snack will make you feel better."

 

[ClearSight]

The resort was beautiful, Alessa could appreciate it from both a business and personal standpoint. In fact, it was one of the properties Alessa envied the most. It was also one she knew was off-limits even in their most heated rivalry days. It was an important place to Clarke, but it was quickly becoming a virtual hell for her. The only person she could see despite being in a crowded area was Clarke, and she looked incredible. She was dressed casually but that just made it worse, it made her think of the fit body underneath, the one she spent a week drooling over. The abs.


She almost blanked out and the blinding smile didn’t help her brain work. Fortunately, Clarke offered her a way out, even if all she could bring herself to do was nod like an idiot. There was still the matter of the offered arm. What did it mean?


On one hand it could simply be Clarke’s way of being a good host, they were friends, but the reason they had become so friendly had her mind jumping from courtesy to it being an outright public display of affection, which quickly shifted right back to her berating herself for being so presumptuous. She was a mess.


By some remaining instinct she managed a half convincing smile and took Clarke’s arm, even keeping appropriate distance so it didn’t look like they were too intimate. Once they started moving things became easier, her mind untangled. All she had to do was say something normal.


“I’m feeling better now. You’ll have to give me the private tour later.” She smiled more naturally, and if she hadn’t smiled through adversity so many times in her life the look would have frozen on her face and she would have stopped in her tracks. What in the hell had she just said?


Was it normal? Yes, but only out of context, even she thought she was trying to drop hints and she’s the one who said it! Alessa groaned internally, instinctively gripping tighter around Clarke’s arm as her nerves bubbled up. She felt trapped! She suddenly yearned for an excuse to break away and yet the fact that it was all a vacation suddenly felt confining. Damn vacations! Damn her having no escape! She fell quiet, looking almost shy as she secretly bit the inside of her cheek, her own little nervous tick, and one she would never admit to having!

 

[Javorcek]

Alessa seemed to radiate nervous energy the closer Clarke got to her which only served to make the wolf’s mind race all the more. She was Canadian for fuck’s sake! Americans were never anxious around her. Her mere accent made most wolves relax around here, as though she were no actual threat even though she was as much an alpha as anyone else. Is this about what had happened at the photo shoot then? Did Alessa think she was a violent nut case just because she had smashed out a car window? No, no...we had such a fun night afterwards with all the adrenaline pumping.... Though that may be true, Alessa had an entire weekend and plane trip to mull over the events of that day, as well as Clarke’s more taboo desires in the bedroom. Was all that stuff coupled together making her look like the type of Domme she hated?!?!

No, that was impossible, Clarke liked to cuddle far too much to be a truly sadistic dominant.

Hrrrmph...well, as anxious as she seems, what she says appears to be the opposite. Clarke couldn’t hide her wolffish grin when Alessa mentioned a ‘private tour’. “That eager to see the property?” The actress may have meant that she would actually like to see the grounds but, well, what kind of overly sexual woman would Clarke be if her mind didn’t immediately jump into the gutter? “Well, if you like, I could give you a quick tour right now...then perhaps a more thorough tour this evening.” She kept her voice fairly neutral, nearly businesslike, but her dark eyes glinted with their playfulness.

 

[ClearSight]

Alessa was miserable. Being anxious and jumpy was driving her crazy and she had barely started her long-awaited vacation! Worse still, what she looked forward to most was her time with Clarke. Nothing was going the way she wanted it to and acting like a scared rabbit wasn't helping anything. She needed to get it over with, to rip off the band-aid. Her decision became firmer when she looked up and caught a glimpse of the charming grin that always seemed to draw her into trouble. Clarke was the reason she was always making bad decision! Her and her beautiful smile and sexy grin. All. Her. Fault.

"I'm hungry... But..." She paused, giving Clarke the closest thing to doe eyes she had ever shown. She was still anxious. "Maybe if we do a quick tour now Danika and the pups will show up and we can all eat together." She stumbled out a decent excuse. It was true, she would love to eat with the tiny ones, but it was still just an excuse to duck away together, privately. She needed to get her feelings off her chest. She also needed to release some pent up stress.

"Just... Let me text Myra." She muttered, reaching for her phone and sending a text with shaky hands. Whether it was from nerves or eagerness even she wasn't sure. After making sure Myra didn't show up and start looking for her she turned back to Clarke, still chewing her lip. "Lead the way."

 

[Javorcek]

Even though Danika should technically already be here right now, Clarke knew not to expect her friend until an hour or two after her scheduled arrival time. Such was life after kids apparently. On her own, Danika was always punctual; with a three year old and a five year old in tow though, she was always late. At least such a thing worked in their favor, they could sneak around a bit without having to explain what they were doing or what they were to one another.

Clarke had briefly thought about what exactly the pair of them were to one another. Not exactly a ‘Mistress’ and ‘pet’ relationship but quite ‘girlfriends with a shared kink’ either. She supposed they were serious enough for her to not have casual flings with other people out of respect and a certain fondness for her uppity new sub.

Once Alessa was finished letting her guard dog know where she was going to be, Clarke swept the other female away out of the ballroom/banquet hall. “So back there was the banquet hall, right here’s an arcade so parents with pups have a place to put their little ones if they want to dance” Clarke mentioned as they passed by a room with a large entryway that housed some older arcade machines. There was a small ‘bar’ and tables in the corner that served as a glorified snack area for kids or giant adults who were kids.

Her step was purposeful and her voice was light, as though she’d played ‘tour guide’ quite often. She took Alessa down the large main hallway, passing through the grand lobby for check in that housed a piano, fireplaces and comfy leather couches. “Breakfast is served from 6am to 11am,” she said as she motioned to a side room that had glass half walls where they could see tables and counters for food inside, but didn’t stop there to explore further. They continued down the large hallway where Clarke pointed out a few more side paths, “Moose and Squirrel Restaurant, pretty amazing as far as hotel food goes.... Multipurpose room down that hallway... Rec room for adults right next to the restaurant, has a pool table, darts and the like... There’s the exercise room if you need to workout....” Clarke waived at the rooms and smaller hallways as they passed by until they finally went through a set of glass doors at the end of the main hallway that opened up to a large, warm pool room. “Sauna and showers right over there,” knowing the location of the last thing was going to be important, because Clarke was definitely going to make a mess of Alessa in the short time frame they had to fool around.

Now that the tour was over, Clarke pounced, pressing Alessa against the nearest wall and kissing her with a surprising amount of sexual tension for someone who has just slept with the other person two days ago.

 

[ClearSight]

Everything became more comfortable when they left the banquet hall, the familiar feeling of being next to Clarke calming Alessa's messy mind. It was strange how the very source of her anxiousness helped soothe her. She kept pace and focused on Clarke's voice, barely paying any attention to the actual places they were passing. Not that she wasn't interested but her mind was occupied and she was doing a poor job of multitasking. When her eyes traveled they would briefly take in the new area before falling on some part of Clarke. It seemed Alessa's traitorous eyes were fond of her lips.

She wasn't a very good guest, barely speaking a word as they wandered through the resort. Introductions merely made memories float through her mind. It wasn't until she realized they were slowing down that she started to pay closer attention to where they were. Nobody else was around, they had reached a dimly lit, warm room with a pleasant humidity in the air. Clarke was still giving the tour but her keen instinct told her they had finally arrived somewhere private enough, no doubt the place Clarke had sought from the start. There was even a shower, and before Clarke was on her she knew what was coming. She anticipated it, eagerly so, and when Clarke pounced she did little to fight it.

Her brain was stuck between wanting to speak up, say what was on her mind, and the much more pressing desire of melting in Clarke's arms. It wasn't decided by a single kiss, just because Clarke was sexy and powerful and pushing her against a wall didn't mean she would give in immediately. It was when she kissed back that she lost the inner struggle. After a kiss that didn't end until she was breathless she didn't say the words she had practiced in her head on the way over, she whined. "Looks like I'm not the only eager one." She smiled at Clarke's hungry actions, fighting against the tiny voice wanting her to tell Clarke that she missed her. What came out was far from the innocent feelings buried beneath building lust. The only affection she managed was a gentle nuzzle as she leaned in to whisper in Clarke's ear. "Don't you dare rip my clothes. Otherwise, do anything you want to me." Two days, after a week of barely being apart it seemed like forever. They could talk later.