Avalanche

Damien was having a rare peaceful lunch in the outdoor part of the corporate cafeteria when Arsen sat down at his table without an invitation. They had had a few arguments since meeting the princess. Obviously, Mates with Benefits was the dumbest idea his Alpha had come up with to date, but nothing was changing Damien's mind. Arsen even offered to take him to underground shady sex clubs and treat him to anything his Alpha heart and dick desired.

Damien looked up from his lunch with an annoyed “What is it?”

“I just received an email from Emma Lord, your rejection meeting is set to Wednesday at noon in a conference room at Institute of Organic Chemistry on King territory,” Arsen informed.

Damien made a “humph” sound in acknowledgment.

Beta smiled and continued, “Remember Emma Lord from the academy? She used to beat up most of the boys. She is a Beta, isn’t she? So, Princess has a Beta as her assistant.”

Damien looked at him and smirked.

“Emma used to beat you up.”

It was Arsen’s turn to make an annoyed sound in his throat. He left saying Damien’s assistant had added the rejection meeting to their calendars.

On Wednesday at 11:45 in the morning Damien, Arsen, and five of their strongest warriors were being escorted to the chemistry building conference room. Damien expected to pick up smells of the chemical labs, something like pharmacy, but the King family was careful to cover all the traces as their income heavily depended on chemical production. Secrecy was necessary to avoid any plagiarism by rival human and werewolf companies.

While Arsen was nonchalantly enjoying the view of the intern’s hips swaying as she led the way, he wasn’t oblivious to the pressuring darkness swirling around his friend. Damien hadn’t said a word all morning and his dark Alpha aura was rolling off him in waves even stronger now, making their warriors uncomfortable. It had always been dark, ever since they were teenagers, almost like shadows extending out of him. That morning both the pressure to submit and the disturbing feeling it left behind were worse. Arsen almost expected to hear a clap of thunder. Being on King's territory, and the idea of losing a blessing from Moon Goddess, something that was supposed to bring peace and light into his life, would do that to any Alpha.

Damien could already pick up her faint scent. The intern opened the double doors and led them into the meeting room. He nodded to the warriors to spread out in the corridor, not so much for security purposes but to minimize the number of people in this meeting. An Alpha losing their destined Luna was not a piece of information to be ignored by the powerful families of the city.

The meeting room was sunny and not modern at all with chairs that looked from the ’80s, a hardwood floor, and a large heavy wooden table.

At the head of the table sat Andre King himself. The man was rumored to be extremely intelligent, known for his strange decisions, and being half insane since his mate had left. His mate… Damien had always known Ada grew up without her mother, but the thought stung at that moment. Not much was known about internal family relationships as Ada’s grandmother still ruled with an iron fist helping her son Andre due to lack of a Luna.

Damien’s insides clenched as he moved his eyes to the young woman. She was sitting next to her father with an overly straight back intently looking at the contract in front of her. He was suffocating with her scent. Emotions of joy, happiness, and lust were lighting up like fireworks. All of those instinctual reactions were heavily blanketed by resentment and anger. He would have to make this meeting as short as possible.

He walked to the seat across from her holding Andre’s eyes the entire time. The man stood up as he approached and extended his arm. Both put as much steel into that handshake as appropriate without crushing the other's joints.

“Mr. Sevach, welcome to our clan territory, and congratulations on acquiring the Alpha position recently. I heard it was a quick fight,” Andre greeted.

Despite the words, Damien disliked the man’s cold eyes. There was a strange shine to them. Andre’s Alpha aura wasn’t being held back either and it was powerful. Damien would have to ask Arsen later what it felt like.

“Mr. King… thank you,” he said trying not to inhale or look in Ada’s direction.

The damned woman was wearing a navy-blue summer dress with petals of white and light pink all over it, with a straw hat on the table next to her. She looked like she was about to go to a picnic not reject her mate. She hadn’t looked up from the contract yet. Damien's eyes involuntarily drifted to her and the only thing he could see was the eyelids half-covering her eyes that he knew were a beautiful green. Her hair shone in the sun and reminded him of melted hot bronze. It was much thicker than all other females’ he knew.

Arsen straightened in his chair next to his Alpha and cleared his throat.

“I believe this shouldn’t take long. Mr. and Miss King, I looked through the contract indicating Sevach clan members' access to Arca University and the seafood trade agreement. Let’s move forward with the rejection and sign the papers.”

“Ada…” her father said and it sounded like a confident expectant command.

Damien greeted his teeth with dislike. Ada looked up for the first time straight into his black eyes. She swallowed.

“I, Ada King, reject you, Damien Sevach, Alpha of the Black clan, as my mate…”

The pain in Damien’s chest didn’t stop him from noticing her eyes swimming with emotions. She looked at him expectantly, almost asking to get it over with.

“I, Damien Sevach Alpha of the Black clan, reject you, Ada King, as my mate…”

The pain shot through his chest much more powerfully this time but not a single muscle moved on his face. Ada flinched. He tore his gaze from her beautiful face and looked into her father’s sadistic eyes. The man looked like he wanted to murder him but had satisfaction playing in the curve of his lips.

Andre stood up and put a gentle proud kiss on Ada’s forehead. Her face steeled into an emotionless polite mask and she tilted her head up to him with a weak smile just as his princess daughter should.

Arsen cleared his throat, handed Damien a pen with the contract. While Damien was mechanically signing whatever Arsen had put in front of him, Ada was doing the same following the Beta’s lead. Both of them were thankful for Arsen’s business mindset and taking the lead.

Andre had moved to a window and was standing with relaxed poise in every part of his body. As soon as the paperwork was finished, Arsen stood up and informed the room that he would email copies of the contract and put in motion everything necessary.

Damien and Ada remained silent. She continued with her emotionless face, chin held high staring at a point on the wall behind Damien’s and Arsen’s heads. He kept staring at her, reigning in his fury and lust, while trying to figure out this woman that fate had thought would be the best partner for his life.

“As we are done, Mr. and Miss King, we will be taking our leave,” Arsen said.

That was when Andre turned with a smirk on his face finding Damien’s eyes. He slowly walked to him and extended his arm. Despite a strong urge to rip out that arm, Damien went for a strong handshake, his body tense and jaw clenched.

Ada was standing by then and after holding the handshake as well as Damien’s intense gaze Andre walked to his daughter and put an arm around her shoulders. The young Alpha wanted to kill the man. Why was he flaunting the possessiveness of his daughter when she was supposed to belong to him?

“Goodbye, Miss King,” Damien said directing his eyes to Ada hoping to read something in her face.

“Goodbye, Mr. Sevach,” she replied with a steady voice. There was nothing in her eyes.

Once Damien, Arsen, and their five warriors were outside walking to their cars through the old brick campus buildings and Balsam fir trees, Arsen said, “I get it why she didn’t mention that you’d be rutting her for six months, but I wonder why there was no mention of us getting access to the North Forest through her property.”

Damien made a low growl noise at the rutting comment but didn’t reply. Chest pains were increasing by the second. It felt like giant claws were digging in his chest cavity, reaching, trying to rip out part of his soul.

“What is Andre’s aura like?” He asked in a labored voice.

“Like being underwater, dark, with large slimy things swimming all around you.”

Beta lifted the corners of his nostrils when picturing it. Remembering how Arsen had screamed like a little girl when something touched his foot last time they had been at the seashore, Damien knew how unpleasant Andre’s aura must have been for him to come up with this description.

“I am surprised Ada’s aura is not like her father’s though,” Arsen continued.

“You felt her aura?” Damien had missed it completely.

“Yeah, she was doing great reigning it in, but it slipped when you rejected her.” Seeing Damien’s expectant face Arsen continued, “Hers is like an avalanche. It felt powerful but fresh and white.”

Damien stumbled but Arsen knew better than to offer support in front of other wolves. They just needed to get to the cars.