Eero's perspective
“Your grace, I wish for you not to plant false hope into my daughter's head." Beta Octavio remarked cynically. "Aelice's place will always be in the kitchen serving her husband, and in the bed giving him heirs. You'll get tossed back into that place too.”
Irritated by Octavio's vile words, I was about to advance and struck the beta when my arm got snagged by a hand. It seized me back on my spot.
“Engaging in a barbaric and ghastly act isn't something you should be doing on your first day of a new job.” A low, familiar voice sounded beside my ears.
It was Claudius! I was about to purr him out of my way when I suddenly came to realize that he could just mean to help, preventing me from falling into Octavio's trap.
"Could he? He had betrayed and hurt us." A sense of uncertainty rose in my heart as my wolf reminded me.
Yet I decided to take his advice this time. If there was one thing right in his words, I wasn't expected to make a scene at my first meeting with the board members.
Wrenching my arm out of his hold, I pulled myself together and strutted to the meeting hall after shooting Beta Octavio a nasty stare.
“Oh, here she is!” A man in his thirties commented in a sarcastic tone as I stepped into the room. “Guess our petite, young lady finally got ready."
His sour remarks won echoes from other board members. From their disapproving looks, I could tell that they had no trust in me to work with them as a colleague.
But the Alpha King didn't say anything in my defense. He simply sat on the chair, watching the board members challenging me with a placid smile.
Yet I managed to regain composure soon, getting the Alpha King's point the next minute.
To ascend to the throne without a hitch, I had to convince everyone with actual deeds that none other than me was the best candidate for the future ruler of this giant empire.
And RGC would be the perfect field to sharpen my will and competency of leadership. The Alpha King needed to make sure that I was tough and strong enough to weather through every possible challenge ahead.
Still, getting off on the wrong foot, I had a hard time throughout the meeting, hearing all kinds of doubts and mockery about my qualifications to sit in the board meeting.
"We cannot just act on impulse and fight back now. It may take some time but I'm gonna get close to them one by one after the meeting. Trust me, they're gonna become our allies." I told my wolf as it got infuritated by all those insults against us.
As the meeting finally came to a conclusion, I trudged back to my office after spending an hour on pins and needles.
"What a bunch of snobs!" I screamed and vented out my exasperation as my foot stepped into the office, my eyes downcast.
“Miss Eero?” A gentle but unfamiliar male voice startled me.
I looked up immediately, my eyes landing on the bouquet in his hand after shooting him a questioning look.
"Guess I've come at a bad time." He joked before I could even ask who he was and why he was in my office. “I can get rid of it if you're not a fan of flowers. I just thought it's a friendly gesture to at least bring you something when we first meet.”
“Thank you. But you're...?” I asked with a coiled forehead.
"Oh, sorry. I must be too excited to remember to introduce myself." The man put on an awkward smile. "I'm Miguel, Miguel Blackthorn, from the Blackthorn Pack.”
“Miguel? The Miguel my father mentioned early this morning? ” I asked with hesitation.
"Will you reject my offer for a dinner if I'm not?” He asked rhetorically in a humorous way, trying to ease the awkwardness in the office.
Yet I hadn't managed to quite figure out the situation, as my mind was still preoccupied with all that happened back in the meeting hall.
Not getting a response from me after quite a few seconds, Miguel forced an embarrassed chuckle.
"Your silence sounds louder than a rejection, Miss Eero. Guess I'd better leave you to do work.” He put down the bouquet on the center table and turned to leave.
"Wait a minute!" Just as he was about to disappear from my office, I called out.
The man halted his steps at my request.
"Mr. Miguel, is it?" I trotted towards him by the door, asking.
"Yep. Anything I can do for you, Miss Eero?" The man didn't look frustrated even though I hadn't come up a yes to his invitation.
"Is it too late if I say yes to your offer now?" I forced this question out of me because I needed to show, or pretend at least, the Alpha King that I took his kind gestures seriously.
“Really?” Miguel's eyes glistened surprise.
"It's my honor to dine with a handsome and competent gentleman." I gave him a faint smile, gesturing that we got out of my office together.
“You cannot go out with him! Claudius and his wolf will suffer from this!” My wolf flipped out immediately as I took the first step outside the office with Miguel.
To the wild rant of my wolf, I chose to turn deaf.
I heaved a sigh of relief as we walked out of the RGC building without bumping into Claudius. Maybe he was still busy socializing with those snobbish board members.