The Alpha's Apocalypse

1. Lunch Meeting

He wasn't ready for this day, he wasn't ready to face the ghosts of his past. So he'd pour himself into his duties, into his work, as he had always done.

"Eric get in here." The man with jet black hair and blue eyes said into the intercom system sitting on his desk. He continued typing on his computer and combing over the papers stacked neatly on his desk. His entire desk was neat and tidy, everything in its place.

A few minutes later there was a couple knocks on the office door and then a young man with dark black hair and blue eyes peaked his head in. "Yes Justin, What is it?"

He looked up from behind the desk and scowled at the young man. "Eric I told you not to call me Justin when we're at the office."

Eric rolled his eyes. "Yes sir! What is it?"

"Did you get the proposal for the new hotel build done yet?"

"Yes I finished it this morning. I was getting ready to e-mail it to you when you buzzed me calling me into your office." He replied with a smirk on his face.

"Ok good. Come sit down and close the door."

Eric closed the door and walked over to the desk. He picked the chair on the left of the two in front of Justin's desk sitting down. He propped his feet up on the desk. Justin gave him a death stare, he rolled his eyes, taking his feet down and sat up in the chair as he straightened his suit jacket. "So what's up? It must be important if you called me in to your office pulling me away from my work."

"I have to go out of town for a few days. There is a problem with the new hotel build in Indy. Apparently something went wrong during the inspection. I put Rachel in charge of the project because I thought she could handle it, but I guess I was wrong. I don't know what's happening down there, but she said its an emergency. They need me to come down to meet with the inspector."

Eric laughed. "I'd watch yourself while you're down there, that girl has it bad for you! She follows you around like a lost puppy. She acts like she's your mate."

"I can handle Rachel." Justin sneered.

"Ok, ok."

"I'm going to need you to take care of things here around the office while I'm gone. Run the day to day stuff, keep everyone on track and things running smoothly. I'm going to need you to keep an eye on things back at the pack too. Do you think you can handle that?!"

"Yes I can handle it." Eric replied shaking his head "You've got to stop treating me like I'm a kid. I'm 25 for crying out loud."

Justin stared at Eric for a moment. "Look this is serious! You're going to be fully in charge for days. I need to know you can step up and take care of things in my absence, I need to know I can count on you! It's not just our business its our pack! It's important."

Eric sat up straight "I hear you, I understand. I can handle it, I'll make sure everything is taken care of."

Justin nodded his head. "I'll be leaving straight from the office at 6. Send me the new build proposal e-mail ASAP! I want to get it wrapped up before we go to our lunch with the Adelstones. I've got so much to get done before I take off, it seems like things just keep piling up and more work keeps coming."

"Sure thing. You know that's why I am here, you can give me more if need be. You don't have to do everything yourself." 

"Let's see how you handle things while I am gone. Then we'll talk about you taking more on."

Eric stood up "Ok." He made his way to the door, closing the office door behind him.

Justin sighed, leaning back in his chair, running his hands through his hair. He got up and walked over to the window, staring down at the busy city below him. He was not looking forward to this lunch meeting. It was bringing up emotions he had pushed way down deep. Things he didn't want to talk about or face. He made a fist, taped on the window shaking his head. He took a deep breath and walked back to his desk. He didn't have time to worry about it now, there was too much work to be done.

A few hours later Justin got up from his desk, grabbed his grey suit jacket from the hook on the wall behind him, putting it on. He grabbed the keys from the tray on his desk and walked out of his office. As he passed the desk belonging to his secretary right outside his office he stopped. "Sarah tell Eric to meet me in the lobby, its time for our lunch meeting."

The small framed woman with shoulder length brown hair nodded. "Yes sir." She stammered picking up her phone she punched in some numbers. "Mr. Wright? It's time for your lunch meeting." She said into the phone as Justin walked away.  

Justin stood in front of the elevator waiting for the doors to open. He walked in,  pushed the L button watching the doors close in front of him. He rolled his eyes at the terrible music playing on the elevators speakers as he rode down from the 10th floor. The elevator dinged signaling it had reached the lobby, the doors opened. He saw Eric standing there breathing heavily.

"How in the heck did you beat me down here, and why are you out of breath?" He admonished.

"I ran down the stairs. I gotta do something to stay fit now that you have me sitting behind a desk all day." Eric replied with a huge smile on his face

"Whatever. " Justin complained, shaking his head. "Lets go or we'll be late."

They walked out of the lobby into the huge parking garage. Walking to the closest parking spot with a sign in front of it that read 'RESEVRED PARKING MR. WRIGHT' Justin hit the button on his keys unlocking his black F-Type Jaguar and slid into the drivers seat. Eric climbed into the passenger seat. "Are you ever going to let me drive your Jag?"

"Not a chance in hell!" Justin shook his head.

"Relax, relax I'm only joking. I know you're never going to let me drive. You need to lighten up, you're always so angry, literally all the time." Eric teased punching Justin in the arm. 

Justin rolled his eyes backing out of the parking space. "So you're not a kid anymore huh?" He made his way out of the parking garage. Eric shrugged his shoulders and laughed putting his seat belt on.

It was a short drive. A few minutes later they pulled up in front of Russo's, a fancy Italian restaurant. They both got out of the car and walked towards the front door. Standing there was a young man, he bowed his head. "Good afternoon Sir's." He opened the door for them.

"Good afternoon Max." Eric Replied.

A pretty girl with dishwater blond hair stood at the hostess desk. She tensed when they walked in. "H-Hi Mr. Wright your table is ready. Your guests have not arrived yet." Justin nodded as he followed her towards the back of the restaurant. She led them up a flight of stairs  made of metal to the second floor, then to a private table. "You're waitress Judy will be with you momentarily Sir." She informed as she gestured towards the table. "I will bring your guests up as soon as they arrive"

"Thank you Samantha." Eric said with a smile. She smiled back at him as she headed back towards the stairs.

"You could be more polite, you don't always have to be the stoic Alpha." Eric mocked as he sat down in the chair beside Justin.

"I didn't realize I was being rude. What did I say?"

Eric laughed "A simple please and thank you goes a long way. People are terrified of you ya know?"

Justin shook his head, he didn't have any idea what Eric was going on about.

Just then they saw Samantha coming back up the stairs with a handsome brown haired older gentleman and a beautiful older woman with gorgeous blond hair that had just a few strands of grey starting to show walking behind her. The couple was holding hands, they had a look on their faces Justin couldn't quite figure out. He wasn't sure if it was it was nerves, scared, or something else.

"Why do you think the Adelstones wanted this meeting?' Eric asked.

"I'm not sure." Justin had a worried look on his face "Our families haven't spoken in." He paused. "Well you know."

Eric just nodded trying to hide the pain on his face. "I have a feeling this is about to be a very weird lunch." He looked at Justin who nodded at him in agreement.