An Alpha's Choice

Chapter 2: The Meeting

-Chris-

I considered it. Getting drunk. Making a fool of myself, but the image of Speedy lingered in my mind, as I stared at the bottle in my hand. I was all ready to go. Dressed in a dark grey shirt, black pants and shoes and a leather jacket. My hair was pushed back, but it was hard to keep it that way. It had its own will. In my other hand I had my car keys, and I turned my eyes from the bottle to them.

“Sh*t, Speedy,” I whispered.

My sister. My baby sister, who wasn’t a baby anymore. She was all grown up and she was pissed at me. With good reason, but if she needed to hate me while I saved her from a cruel fate, then so be it. Hopefully, she would forgive me, when she came home one day saying she had found the love of her life, and she would be mated to him or her no matter what. I didn’t care who she wanted to be with, as long as the person was good to her and made her happy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t look forward to the same future. I sighed and put the bottle down before I walked to my door. The females had already left, having their own lives to get back to. I closed the door, locked it and started to walk down the hallway, feeling weaker and weaker by the second. Soon my life wouldn’t be my life anymore. I would become my dad. It gave me nasty goosebumps just from the thought of it.

The elevator went down quickly and soon I found myself in the underground parking lot. I sighed, as I walked over to my car and unlocked it. I got inside and sat in my seat for a few seconds, just enjoying the little freedom I had left, then I turned on the car and sped out of there, heading for this female’s house I would soon find myself being tied to.

The house was very big. As big as my parents’, and just as filled with light and decorations, telling everyone for miles that the people that lived here, they had money. As if the five expensive cars in the front, the high white walls surrounding the place and the high-tech security system didn’t tell people that. I took a deep breath before I got out of my car and started to walk towards the big mansion. My heart was beating a bit faster as I stood in front of the big door. I turned to the small bell beside it and pushed it, hearing it ring through the enormous house. It took a few seconds and then I heard voices. A young male dressed in a dark grey suit opened the door, smiling at me, as he saw me and then extending his hand.

“Christopher,” he said.

I grabbed his hand.

“Yes, and you are?”

“Sorry, I’m Madeleine’s cousin, Lucian.”

I had no idea why her cousin was here, nor did I care. The young male led me inside. I could already hear my father’s powerful voice coming from further inside the house. He had arrived earlier, probably feeling like he needed to be here to make sure I behaved. Lucian moved further down the hallway until we reached a big set of stairs that was covered in a red carpet. We walked up the stairs and walked down the next hallway, where we were being watched by huge portraits of each family member. The last one was covered with a thin black veil. I stopped shortly to look at it and Lucian saw me halt in front of it. He came to stand beside me, and his eyes turned sad as he looked at it.

“My other cousin, Kaytlyn” he said with sadness.

“The one who died?”

He nodded.

“Come, they are waiting for us.”

Lucian continued to walk, and I followed, taking one last look at the portrait. I could just barely make out what she looked like. Blond, green eyes and pale skin. She wore a long dress that covered almost all of her, as she sat posing on a chair smiling a little, and she had a necklace with a beautiful green stone around her neck. Her hair ran down her shoulder and all the way to her waist, yet while she was smiling in the picture, she didn’t look happy at all.

“Hey!”

I turned to see Lucian waiting for me at the end of the hallway. He was bathed in the light from the room he stood in front of. I walked over to him and we both moved inside a huge living room. It had a giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling, a big glass door leading to a balcony overseeing their garden. A huge seating area made with four big couches and a mahogany coffee table and a fireplace with a flatscreen above it. There was a small bar at the other wall, and the males had already gotten themselves a glass. The older female too. She was sipping from a martini, as she sat close to a much younger version of her. The two of them were very similar except for the hair. The young one had deep brown hair that was running down her back like a waterfall. Her blue eyes were locked on the water that was placed in front of her and that was untouched. Even from here, I could see her shaking. F*ck. She hid it well, but the way her hands were grabbing her peach-colored long dress could not be mistaken. She didn’t want to be here.

“Christopher!” my father exclaimed as he saw me.

I wanted to roll my eyes, hearing him call me my full name. Would he ever stop? was all I could think as the male came towards me. He placed his hand on my shoulder looking happier than he had in years, then he guided me towards the other big male. Sh*t, this one was close to be as big as my father. No wonder it had taken so long for my father to make him comply. You didn’t try and twist this man’s arm around or he would only have yours ripped off and forced down your throat. He had strong warrior blood inside of him. Even as I shook his hand, I felt the threatening alpha aura, or maybe it was just him telling me silently not to hurt his daughter.

“Finally, I get to meet the famous Christopher. One of the king’s most trusted males,” he said with admiration.

I just gave him a kind smile but did not want to comment. I was just a game piece after all. I shouldn’t even speak. I should just do as they commanded.

“Come meet my daughter. Madeleine!”

The young female did not move from her spot at first, not until I noticed the older one grabbing her arm and clearly pressing hard down on the spot. Quickly the little female scrambled to her feet. Sh*t, I felt really bad for her. She slowly walked over to me, her heels even clicked lowly as if she was trying to walk unnoticed. She came before me, her head bowed and too afraid to meet my eyes. Just great. I truly would become my father with a meek female at my side …

“It’s very nice to meet you,” she almost whispered in one of the most delicate voices I had ever heard.

“You too,” was all I said.

Then we were quickly ushered to sit down beside each other. The males on the other side and the mother close by on the couch beside ours. Madeleine kept her head down the whole time and did not speak a word, even if our fathers had a lot to say. I could see out of the corner of my eye her mother staring at me for a bit too long, and not with a look you gave your soon to be son-in-law. At least this one wasn’t scared of showing she was not in a happy relationship. My mother would never look at anyone else, too scared to do so, yet I would have appreciated her eyes looking elsewhere.

I turned my own back to the shaking female beside me. She had just turned nineteen. There were six years between us. It was not strange she was so scared of me, or maybe it wasn’t just me she was scared of. I caught her glancing a few times at her father looking at him with almost pleading eyes that he, without a doubt, just ignored, or maybe he really didn’t notice. The poor female was caught between three huge alphas now, and she could do nothing but sit down and do as she was told. I wanted to reach over and tell her I wasn’t going to hurt her, but I knew if I tried to touch her, she would surely flinch and cower away. The smell of her fear was like a thick fog around her.

“So, Christopher, I hear you are going to take over for your father, and have left the king’s side to do so,” the other alpha said.

I nodded, trying not to sound bitter.

“That’s the plan.”

“Good. I want my daughter to be in a safe place, and Goddess knows there isn’t a more dangerous place than by the king’s side.”

“Madeleine is very important to us,” her mother added.

She reached over and ran a very thin hand down her daughter’s arm. Madeleine turned her clear sky-blue eyes to her mother, and even from here I could almost see her begging her not to do this to her, but the other female, with too much makeup and strawberry red lips and dress, just ignored her. Oh, how I knew how that felt. Being ignored by your parents as you pleaded with them not to do this to you, and all they would say, if they said anything at all, was that they know what is best for you. That old cliché.

“Of course. It cannot have been easy losing your eldest daughter,” I said.

My father’s smile instantly disappeared. You didn’t talk about such matters, and I knew that, but I always like to push the limits a little. The little female beside me turned very sad. Her scent changed from a suffocating one to a sweet rain scent, yet hers seemed to be the only one truly changing. Her father had just narrowed his eyes a little, a cruel smile playing on his lips, while her mother just backed away a little sipping from her drink. I turned my eyes to see Lucian on one of the bar stools watching it all. A smile was on his lips too, but it was an amused one. Something strange was going on.

“Yes. It was hard,” the older alpha finally said. “Why it is so important Madeleine is taken care of.”

“And she will be,” my father said before I could get a chance to speak.

I couldn’t help it. I rolled my eyes, but it seemed no one, but Madeleine noticed. Her blue eyes met mine, looking almost shocked that I even dared to turn my eyes to the ceiling in the company of our fathers. I just winked at her and gave her a small smile. It seemed to calm her a little, but she quickly turned away again, still afraid and still saddened by the mention of her sister.

Our fathers started to chat again, enjoying this much more than everyone else. I had no idea how to speak to Madeleine. She was so quiet and so scared I feared the slightest movement from me would make her run for the hills. Her fear, of course, didn’t surprise me. She must have heard of me, and it had her shaking knowing we would be tied together and what would be expected from the both of us. Pups. A lot of them. It was probably the last thing she wanted, not that I could say that it was at the top of my list.

I watched the clock just above the bar where Lucian was sitting. Time went so damn slowly sometimes, and I couldn’t take it, sitting in this thick fog of fear clouding my senses. I needed air. I needed to breathe, and I knew the little female needed some space too. It would be best for the both of us, that we just got some space away from each other, and since she didn’t have the courage to get up and get some fresh air, then I would.

“I’m just going to get some air for a second,” I said.

I turned around when, suddenly, Lucian called out and said:

“The balcony is right there.”

He pointed to the glass door and everyone was just looking at me confused. Even Madeleine observed me from the corner of her eye, but I just smiled a calm smile at her cousin and said:

“I know.”

Then I turned around and walked away. I didn’t care if the damn balcony was right there. I needed to be further away and escape their observant eyes. That way out did not give me a chance to breathe. It would only make things harder because I was so close to wanting to throw myself over the damn thing. So, instead, I did all of us a favor and just walked away. I continued down the hall and half-dark hallways with the wooden floor and the cream-colored walls, that made me want to puke. I walked around a staircase that curved upwards towards the next floor, but just as I had rounded it, I heard my phone ding and I pulled it out to see a text from a former hook up, but as I took my eyes off where I was heading and towards the phone, I did not see the person coming towards me and walked directly into her.