Damian adjusted his tie in the mirror. He looked handsome in his tuxedo, it shaped him well, but he wasn't fond of the purple color on his vest. He grabbed his wallet, making sure the ticket and money were in there, and stuffed it into his pockets. Curse words spewed out of him with each slow movement. He was annoyed, this wasn't the way he wanted to spend his Saturday night. Unfortunately, he had immature family members to keep in check, and a pack to protect since his father had failed miserably. It had been two weeks since Raul's wedding, he had been sitting in his room, listening her pack sing endlessly. Now, things had finally quieted down on her end of the valley, but he felt like after tonight, things were going to pick up again.
By 7:15, he was confident that he was ready. He was supposed to be at her house to pick her up at 7:00. He scoffed, he wasn't in any hurry, to take her to a prom neither of them were even supposed to be at. Besides, if he would've been punctual, she would've left him waiting an extra half hour to perfect her doll-like face and waste some more precious time, just for the heck of it.
Devon was shocked to see him in the house. "You haven't left yet?" He asked incredulously.
"I'm in no hurry to take her to some stupid Bobcat dance." Damian bristled.
Devon sighed, "Damian?" His son stopped and turned to look at him, "Please, try to get along. The lives of the pack are at stake."
"I can't promise we'll get along, Dad. But I can promise you this: I won't kill her."
Devon snarled, "I'm serious!"
"I am too!" Damian roared back. He knew his duty to the pack, and he didn't want to see them hurt, but, he did enjoy a sickening pleasure from giving his father a hard time. He needed something to soothe the seed of resentment that Devon so carefully planted within him.
"And", he added poisonously, "I most definitely won't be same fool that you were."
He exited his house before Devon could say anything else in return. The black 99 mustang GT sat patiently in the driveway. It growled into power when he slammed the key into the ignition, then he swung it away from the house and flew down the street. The radio was turned high, heavy metal blasted into his ears. He'd never been into this music, but now, he tolerated it, because it reminded him of his brother. He missed him dearly. Kevin was the only one who understood him, the only one that could have his back in this situation. Granted, Kevin was reckless every now and then, but they were still brothers till the end. At an intersection, where he waited for the light to change, to officially enter Pelisian territory, a familiar scent made its way through the open windows of the car.
He lowered the music, "What do you want, Regina?" He asked as she knelt over the car window.
"You're actually going to do it?" She asked bitterly, a depressed pout sinking her face. Behind her, the club where she was enjoying a pre-dinner party with her human escorts bounced on. One boy watched Damian suspiciously, worried that he would drive off with his easy date.
"I have to." He looked straight ahead, not bothering to mind the short, tight red dress she wore. In all honesty, she looked more like a lady of the night than a high school student on her way to prom.
"No, you don't, Damian. You have a choice, you've always had a choice and right now you're choosing her over me." She pleaded for him to take her away in those two sentences.
I'd choose anything over you. Damian said to himself.
He glared at her. "Right now, I'm choosing to keep the entire pack away from certain death." He growled, "But does anyone realize that, or even care? No! They just give me a hard time for sticking my neck out for them! Maybe I should just forget it, and let the Pelisians tear my family apart one by one. While I'm at it, I might as well just invite the hunters in too, and let them skin you alive, like the cow that you are!" He took a breath, gripping the steering wheel dangerously. "But you know what the funny thing is, Regina? I don't care what happens to you, I only care about my brother, my dad, and the rest of this pack. I'm doing what I can to keep them alive. I couldn't care less about you."
"You don't mean that." She whined, tears threatened to ruin the MAC makeup on her face. After all, she was part of the pack, too. He was only upset, and he was venting his anger out, she knew he didn't mean what he said to her. He couldn't, he wouldn't.
He fumed, "There's a lot of things I've said to you that I don't mean, Regina. But that's not one of them."
She was struck with surprise, every sweet sentiment he'd ever coughed up for her, suddenly replayed like a broken record. The light flipped to a bright green, he burned out of there, leaving her at the corner with a tiny dress and smoke to fumigate her.
He drove dangerously fast, angry and hateful. What was the point of him sacrificing his happiness for an ungrateful pack? It was completely stupid, and yet, he couldn't stop, he wouldn't. Ungrateful as they may be, they were his pack, and he'd rather live a tormented life, than let them be devastated again.
He made a right and found himself at the gate to enter Kayla's neighborhood. The swollen security guard found it laborious just to rise from the chair, his legs were round balls that he stumbled over with arduous breathing to Damian's car. He was inwardly grateful that the guard wasn't Pelisian, he knew a guard from her pack wouldn't have hesitated to make his day worse than it already was. The guard took one look and knew the reason for his visit, he'd been informed by Bernese and Anthony earlier to be expecting a green eyed boy. He took out a map and indicated what turns to make to get to her house. All Damian could think about was the scent of McDonald's, he absolutely hated the restaurant, every Lobain did. They could smell the fake meat from a mile away, and it was repulsive that people flocked to the place like it was holy food. The man was polite enough however, and after another two minute wait for him to get back into his office and open the gate, Damian was off.
Her house wasn't very far, and when he pulled up to it, he wasn't shocked. He knew she'd live in something like it. It was a grand house, the kind that an above middle class citizen would live in. The whole neighborhood was filled with the stench of 'pretend-to-be-rich' folk. His eyes traveled through all the windows of the house, and the pretty rose garden out front.
What does a family of three need such a large house for? He wondered thoughtfully. Then again, as alphas, they probably hosted many events in their home. His father did, their house was big too, but it didn't boast like this one.
Kayla was sitting on a patio swing, by the front door. He walked up the steps, while she rocked back and forth in evident boredom, much to his surprise. He had expected her to still be inside, fussing over details. She was in a shade of purple that matched his vest perfectly, and the dress was simple. It had a high neck, with a slit in the skirt that showed off her lean left leg as she crossed it over her other. She wore silver jewelry to accesorize the simplicity of the elegant dress, and her hair was tied back in a fancy updo.
She glared at him. "You're late."
"Like you would've been ready if I'd shown up in time." He scoffed.
She raised her eyebrows, as if to say he had no knowledge of what common sense was. "We agreed on a time. It is common courtesy for me to be ready at that time, and I was. It's also common courtesy for the other person to be on time as well!"
"Look, I'm here." He dismissed. "Now, let's go." He started making his way down the steps.
She stood, and stomped her silver heeled foot on the ground. "I don't think so! Not until you apologize for leaving me to wait for half an hour! I almost thought you stood me up, do you know how humiliating that feeling is!? Besides, it's only polite to do so." She commanded, gripping her silver clutch bag so tightly that the veins in her hands popped out.
He narrowed his green eyes at her. "You don't deserve 'polite.' Now, get in the car." He walked down the path.
She crossed her arms. "You don't tell me what to do."
He shrugged, opening the door for himself. "Fine, you can walk."
Anthony opened the front door, looking as though he could kill Damian on the spot, but a shake of Bernese's head kept him from acting. They'd been listening from behind the door the entire time. Kayla smiled devilishly at Damian. You're in tourble now. She thought.
Usually, the sight of an angered Anthony would've made the culprit cringe, but Damian--carrying the alpha blood within himself--felt empowered by it. He stood a little straighter, and boldly shined his green eyes into the alpha's burning amber with sickening pride.
"I don't like that you're my daughter's escort to this." The Pelisian alpha said with scorn, "and I don't like you at all."
This only made him smirk, while Kayla daintily made her way to the car. "You're the one who engaged me to her, so you might as well get used to having me around." He replied. "In fact, should I just start calling you dad?"
Kayla stopped in her tracks and stared at him with wide eyes, like he was crazy. Anthony snarled, his teeth sharpened and he made move to rush forward, but Bernese stopped him with a quick brush of her hand. It was actually an amazing feat all on its own, how weak he became under her touch. He relaxed considerably, and Kayla was almost shocked that they didn't start snapping at each other, but they made it a point not to fight when guests were around. Especially guests from another pack.
"Don't you dare mock me!" He cried out to him.
"Hush!" Bernese scolded, then she glared at Damian. "Have her back by midnight."
Kayla sighed and walked forward again. She was poised and trained well when it came to walking in heels, she didn't even teeter a bit. Damian wasted no time getting into his car and sliding the seatbelt over him. She paused by the door for a bit, probably waiting for it to be opened for her. When it wasn't, she cursed to herself and climbed into the car.
He slammed on the gas and purposefully peeled out of the driveway, just to piss her parents off more. He left behind the smell of burned rubber, smoke, and black skid marks on the pavement, all before she could even get her seatbelt on. He was forced to slow down when pulling up to the gate, there were a couple other cars waiting to be let out as well. As he watched the rolling guard hobble around the office to get the gate open, Kayla sighed in exasperation.
"We missed our dinner reservations!" She exclaimed, putting all the blame on him.
"I wasn't told about dinner."
Her mouth dropped, "Don't you know anything? That's what you do at prom. You eat, then you dance, and then you go to the after parties."
"Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Princess, but that's not what this prom is going to be like." He informed with mock sympathy.
She scowled. "You're ruining everything!" This was the only prom she'd ever get to experience, she wanted it to be as perfect as possible. It was bad enough that she couldn't go with Cody, but now she didn't even get to have the pre-prom stuff. Her lip trembled, but she didn't dare explode the way she wanted to.
He shook his head, finally the gate had opened. The guard smiled and nodded at them as they drove by. He returned the favor with a wave. If the guard knew the complexity of what was really going on, he'd probably have a heart attack. She started talking again, trying to educate him about what prom was supposed to consist of, and about the restaurant they were supposed to eat at. She was trying his patience. He already had to suffer with her for four hours, what made her think he'd want to sit down and have dinner with her? He suddenly remembered the music, he'd lowered the volume to talk to Regina earlier. He stretched forward and made it louder, drowning out her voice with Korn.
"Can't you put something else on!?" She demanded.
He looked sideways at her and held a hand to his ear indicating that he couldn't hear a word she'd said.
"Turn it down!" She bellowed.
"What?"
"TURN IT DOWN!"
"Turn it up!? Okay." He smirked doubling the volume. "Anything for you, Princess."
He couldn't hear his own voice as he said that, so he doubts that she heard him. It was entertaining to see the anger in her eyes and, when the realization that she could do nothing about it came, despair. She wallowed in misery for the entirety of the ride to the Bellmonte Ballroom.