Interesting Meets

“It's okay. I am here. I am here”, he whispers in my ear as he holds me close.

His hand is protectively wrapped around my waist, and his other hand is at the back of my head.

As I cling to him for dear life, he murmurs, "Deep breaths.". My head hurts so badly that I want to faint. His scent envelopes me and I am not fucking fainting and missing this.

My strength returns and my vision becomes clearer. I try to pull away but his hold on me is tight. His body is flush against mine, and I can't remember where I am. His breath tickles my neck.

“You look beautiful”, He says as he holds gets tighter. I pull away enough to look into his eyes. I see only green, no gold.

“Roman”, I whisper.

Suddenly, he let me go. It's back, his rejecting behavior. He is dressed in a black suit. Muscles bulge out of his arms. It takes everything in me not to return to those arms.

In silence, we stare at each other like that. I can't be near him, I choke back tears. As I turn away to leave, I trip again. He catches me right on time.

A chuckle erupts from his lips. As his chest rumbles, I feel a vibration in my chest. In those moments, wrapped in each other's arms, I hear my dad’s voice, "Here you are, sweetheart."

As soon as I heard my father's voice, I pulled away from Roman. The force made me stagger backwards but I kept my balance. I look up to see my father walking toward us with one of the contestants.

“Peers, I believe you haven't met my daughter?” Greyson Peers stared at me intently with his cold grey calculative eyes as he stood by my dad’s side.

“I did, she did welcome us until she ran away after” His eyes dart from Roman to me as he replies. Clearly, he is calculating the situation.

I haven't told anyone about Roman being my mate. It is because he is so enamoured of his ex-mate that he does not want to give us a chance. It wasn't something I wanted to share. The last thing I wanted was to get on the bad side of the first place contestant, so I did what I was told to do, getting acquainted.

“Hello, Mr Peers. I am Taylor Wolfram, nice to meet you”. As I speak, I extend my hand. His hand slowly shakes mine, his eyes locked on mine. His hand feels so cold. Personality and body go hand-in-hand.

"Likewise, and you can call me Greyson. And you are?” Greyson smirks at Roman.

“Bryan Roman, head doctor”. Roman maintains his composure while talking to Greyson. The two shake hands afterwards.

“I reckon I have seen you somewhere. Ever been to Britain?” Greyson smoothly strikes a conversation.

"Maybe. Came for a conference meeting last year”. Greyson smirks as he nods. That smirk reeks of trouble. Whatever he is gonna say next is not good.

"What are you doing here with Miss Wolfram?" My eyes grew wide. He didn't see us, did he?

"She consults Dr Roman. The situation is urgent. She required medical assistance since she has been mateless for so long.” Dad tells the truth. Greyson's eyes sparkle with curiosity.

It takes more than that to convince him that nothing is happening, so I told him just what he needed to know.

“Yeah, I was having a panic attack, Roman was helping me”. I say looking at Grayson eye to eye. He nods not looking at my eyes. He brought that. By judging his reaction, mateless and panic attacks sure struck a nerve with him.

“Excuse me”, says Roman. A glimpse of Roman's back is all I see as he leaves. His pulling and pushing game is far too gone. I need to have a serious conversation with him later. The one that doesn’t involve me and him wrapped around each. My thoughts are interrupted by my dad.

“Are you okay sweetheart?” Dad asks after a pause.

“I am a fine dad. I had a panic attack and tripped. Roman helped me”. I say and smile at them. Just in case they saw me and Roman, that should clarify what they saw.

“Well, you two should get acquainted. I will go meet the others” Dad excuses himself and walks away not before giving me a look to behave myself. I nod at him.

There is room for awkward silence as Greyson speaks right away. “Why are you not taking your father’s position?” He went straight to the topic.

“It’s because I am not fit for it”. I have no shame in admitting that. I do not fit for the role of Royal Beta. I can never be better at that job, not as relatively equal as my father. So what's the point?

“Why do you think so?” He presses the topic. He is judging me. Judging me that I am a damsel in distress and I dont have the guts to be what I truly am supposed to be.

I was mateless. I spent all my time dwelling in the dark rather than accepting it and doing something better. That is what I wanted to say but he is right, I still don't have the guts to accept that I am guilty of not trying at all.

“I am mateless, remember?” I threw it at him. He raised his hands like he was surrendering.

“Easy there, love. I am just trying to make a conversation”.

Well, he is not exactly good at it. He is just rubbing on all the sore spots.

“Your father is a great man, I thought his daughter……”, he speaks but stops when he sees me glaring at him. Now I know what he is doing. He is telling me to know my place. Now that he got the first rank on stage two, he is looking down on people. Especially me.

“Excuse me,” I say wanting to get a glass of champagne or any other drink for that matter. Well, that went so well for getting acquainted. I just made myself an enemy. Well, he is not my enemy, but the way he is letting me know that I am nothing and he is everything makes me wonder...... “damn you, Greyson”. Taking one drink that I found on the bar table, I downed it.

"I know, he can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but lady, that is my drink," a husky voice said. My head turns so fast that I feel dizzy.

“I am sorry”. As I balance myself, I look down.

Roman's pulling and pushing game, Greyson's jerk behaviour made me do this immature thing. My father told me to behave, but I am doing the exact opposite. I glance around to see if my dad is watching, and I see that most people are having conversations, and wolves are relaxing at the bar drinking. Dad, however, is nowhere in sight. I signed in relief

“I am Angelo Marchetti”. It is the same voice that speaks. The one who looks like an angel? I look up to see him toying with a toothpick between his teeth. Looks can be deceiving. This angel is a badass.

“Blue Rose,” I say looking at his suit.

“Hmmm,” he nods.” You are Royal Beta's daughter, aren't you?”

“Yeah,” I say, fixing my dress. How does he know?

“Is Greyson giving you a hard time?” He speaks.

“No, not really. He just knows how to push my buttons.” It's my first meeting with the Grayson ‘Jerk’ Peers and he made a very good impression. Judging people, making himself feel superior. I wonder, why exactly he got the first place?

A deep rumble emanates from his chest as he chuckles.

“That he does”.

“You two close,” I ask. According to the file that dad gave me, in stage one, all the contestants have to live under assigned quarters. They have to compete together, not with each other. But now they are competing against each other.

“Roommates in stage one”.

“You two didn’t get along?” I remember him calling Greyson a pain in the ass.

“All of us got along pretty well. We were a team”. He signs “But we are entitled to have an opinion, don't we?”

My head nods in agreement. He is referring to opinions. But I still adhere to Greyson's philosophy about judging people. Greyson's way of judging people is not bad; he is accessing them mentally. That is his trait. In other words, he hits psychologically.

And that's exactly what he did. I let him control how I feel. There is no doubt that he read what went through my mind, what I really wanted to say. What a fool I can be.

I shake my head. It’s not happening again. I turn my attention to Angelo.

“Angelo, how did you know that I am...you know Royal Beta's daughter,'' I say eyeing him.

“I didn't. Wasn't it today that I saw and spoke to you?” He speaks. The whole don't we, wasn’t it thing is getting to me again. I am not an easily agitated or enraged person, all I did was wallow and cry for the past four years. This is a new feeling to me.

"So you already knew me, but you saw me today?" Is that what you mean?”

"That's exactly right". That doesn’t make sense. Until today, I had never met Angelo, but he knew about me.

I say, "How do....", but he cuts me off.

"I know because you are quiet the topic in our 'team'”, he emphasizes the words you and team.

I am what? A topic? Why do they talk about me?

"Why would they care about the poor me?" I murmur to myself.

“They don't. They are just curious. Like me”.

“You never engaged in their talks?” I fire back.

“I only listened and talked a few times,” he mumbles the last part.

"What is there to be curious about?" All he does is keep me in the dark, he isn't telling me the real deal, putting commas and not finishing the sentences.

He orders two shots of tequila. He stares into space while waiting for the drinks.

"If you want to tell me anything, Angelo, I suggest you speak up. Enough with your puzzles".

“Oh princess, spoken like a warrior. You had it in you the whole time huh?” he downs one shot.

“I am just motivating you princess”, he speaks motioning me to drink the other shot.

I look him dead in the eye, “What is there to be curious about?” It is now his turn to look me dead in the eye and say the words that he is not supposed to know.

“Curious about how all of us are mateless. It seems convenient for a marked mate, doesn't it?” he said downing the other shot.