"Good morning, Serenity," I murmured to the ring, as if reporting to her in person. "Did you know? I dreamed about you again today."
The ring didn’t answer me, but I didn't care.
Outside the bedroom door, Lizzie and the others were reminding me to leave. I had to stop my "conversation." I carefully tucked the ring into my pocket, straightened myself up, and left the room.
Today, Vernal Corporation had an important board meeting. I was in the middle of it when someone burst in.
"Elias, you ungrateful bastard! Alfred is your father! He raised you! He made you the Alpha you are today! How could you treat him like this?"
The man shouting at me had once been a company director, but he was one of Alfred's people. These past four years hadn't been easy for me. I'd been battling Alfred for power while also expanding the Vernal pack's territory to prove I was more capable than the old Alpha. In just four years, I'd lost count of how many conflicts I'd had with the Elders and hunters.
But in the end, I, the current Alpha, had won.
"I'm chairing this meeting. I don't have time for this. Mr. Edmondi, please leave. You're not authorized to be here."
I didn’t spare him another glance. Employees were already on their feet, grabbing his arms to drag him out.
Edmondi kept shouting. "You have time for a meeting? Elias, you locked your own father in a psychiatric hospital and stripped him of all power just for this bit of authority!"
I raised my hand, signaling the two men to stop.
The conference room fell silent. I rose from my chair and slowly walked toward the panting Edmondi.
"You're overthinking it. I simply thought that place suited him," I said slowly. I didn't release my dominance to intimidate an old man, but Edmondi stared at me with growing terror, as if he were looking at some horrifying monster. "After all, he once kept someone else there. I'm just following his example. Isn't that right?"
"Or perhaps, Mr. Edmondi, you're worried about Father being lonely? Would you like to keep him company?"
"I... I..." He couldn't meet my eyes. His gaze darted around evasively.
I sneered at his cowardice and waved my hand. He was dragged out of the office.
The meeting continued as normal. The Edmondi incident was just a trivial interruption that no one cared about.
I thought he was stupid. Not for opposing me, but for failing to understand Alfred at all.
I remembered last winter, when I'd finally stripped Alfred of his Elder status and sent him to the sanatorium. We'd had one last conversation.
He'd aged considerably and even needed a wheelchair to get around. But the way he looked at me still carried that infuriating smugness.
"You've changed, Elias," he’d said. "You've become a worthy Alpha now. Cold and ruthless, just like me. I knew you could do it. You're my son. You were born for this."
I was disgusted to my core. As always, I pushed back. "I'll never be like you."
"Won't you?" Alfred smiled. "Then do you remember the last time you visited your son? How many times have you seen him? How many times have you held him? If you weren't born cold and heartless, how could you be so indifferent to your own child?"
I couldn't answer.
That day, even though I'd defeated him, I'd still left like a beaten soldier fleeing the field.
…
I shook off that unpleasant memory. The meeting ended and people dispersed.
But my work wasn't done.
I stayed in my office until nightfall. Other employees had started going home, but I had no intention of leaving.
Herman knocked and entered. "Alpha, aren't you going home tonight?"
