Seven Can Be a New Start… or Not

Delphine decides she hates Tiberius, he’s controlling and entirely too handsy. He dictates what she dresses in, what she smells like- which is stuff she normally uses and smells like, but she doesn’t understand how he knows that- and where she goes. Delphine left home because this is exactly what her parents would do and more, taking all her choices and all her freedom from her. Her eyes tear up as they near the opera house and a calloused hand squeezes her knee.

“Don’t be too down, Delphie, I promise this is for you,” Tiberius drives with ease, like someone of his status would.

Delphine shakes her head and pulls closer to the car door, “You don’t get it. You’re just some alpha who gets what he wants!”

Tiberius doesn’t say anything as he parks and they get out of the car. Delphine is tempted to turn and make a run for it, but she has a feeling he would catch her before she even makes it out of the parking lot. He slides an arm around her waist, pulls her close, and kisses the top of her head in what she guesses is his form of affection. She wants to gag, but she keeps it together because despite what she knows will inevitably happen she does want to see the Austerus Luscinia restored.

Delphine wants to sing all the old arias her mother would play on the record player in their home. She wants to write her own and sing them for the world. She dreams of a day where the opera house, HER opera house is as popular as they once were. Not that Delphine ever wants to submit to Tiberius or any other Alpha, but her love of opera keeps her here, for now.

Unintentionally, Delphine grips on to the side of his shirt as they enter and she can see just how in disrepair things really are in the daylight. All the decorations from the night before are gone, bandaids that once ripped off show the gaping wounds below. In her own eagerness she has missed all the places in the opera that have faded, that have broken, and that have so much dust on them she can practically tell when they were first placed.

“As I said before, I’d like your input on how to restore, you know this place more than I do. I have some blueprints to review first and we can decide where to get started from there,” Tiberius directs her to the back office that Marie once used.

Delphine frowns as she stares at the blueprints, they have notes written on the sides about what needs done to the structure before they can do anything else. Multiple places have rotting wood, crumbling stone, and missing support that need addressed- including the stage where she stood last night. The horror she feels at the thought she could’ve fallen through the floor at any time or that any of the actors could have is daunting. If that happened, who knows if they would’ve been able to secure any patronage or how badly the press would have condemned them. Delphine stops, briefly, remembering that Tiberius already bought the entire opera and would be its permanent patron even before the performance.

She swallows the lump in her throat, “You don’t think the whole building needs to be torn down and rebuilt do you?”

“No there are ways to restore without completely tearing everything down, but once we pick a place to start it needs to be fully finished before we can move on,” he taps the roof of the building where an observatory sits. Its original use was to open on full moons so that the light may shine on the stage, it hasn’t been used even before Delphine came to Austerus Luscinia. “I suggest we start at the top and work our way down. No need to invite a building collapse if we can help it.”

Delphine nods slowly as she looks over more of the schematics, “I’d like to keep its original function in place when fixed. I’ve always wanted to see what the stage would look like with the moon shining on it.”

“Then it shall be done that way,” Tiberius steals a kiss from her lips before she can protest and he rolls the blueprints up to put away. “While everything is being fixed, we need to figure out the exact colors and decorations to be used. The current ones are out of date.”

“I mean, the name of opera literally means the austere nightingale. We should keep either silver or gold coloring with maybe a dark, glittering blue as accent?”

“A wonderful idea! I knew I was right to have you here for planning all this. I’d also like to have more natural elements introduced- things like vines, leaves, flowers, and birds to cement the idea of an otherworldly sort of attraction.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to use stars and planets for that? I don’t think nature is all that otherworldly.”

Tiberius chuckles and taps her nose, “You’d be surprised how little natural world is left and even more how little people care for it.”

Delphine narrows her eyes, but she doesn’t argue as the image comes to her mind on what all that would look like combined. A daunting sort of ethereal atmosphere that commands respect and gives off an air of natural refinement. She doesn’t want to admit it, but the thought appeals to her. They go over more logistics before they leave and walk over to the boarding house.

Apparently, Tiberius wants to build an entirely new one and after it’s finished to get rid of the current one. Delphine argues with him that its history and it should be restored just as the opera itself, but he doesn’t budge on the matter. It’s going to be the new pack house rather than just a regular boarding house. Delphine, until that point, hadn’t realized that Tiberius plans to make the whole town of Riesling into the base for his pack.

“Why do you want this town to be the base,” Delphine can’t help her own curiosity even if she dreads the answer.

“Because you’re here, of course, and because there are no other packs in the area. Not any real ones anyway,” Tiberius waves a hand almost in dismissal. “Plus, I’ve already talked to all the local packs and they’ve agreed to fall under my leadership.”

“Oh,” Delphine once more feels the dread settling into the pit of her stomach. He’s far more than just some rich dangerous alpha, he’s also charming enough to get other packs to fall underneath him. She doesn’t like that. She doesn’t like any of this. She needs to run.