At the opening ceremony for the new school year
He was asked about a week or so before, if he was going to give the speech to this year's new students at the Royal Academy. Depending on his schedule, in the 70 years of his reign, most of the times he would deliver it himself. But now he was swamped with work. It was practically endless.
The budget for the next year was in shambles and it was not long until the year ended, the report for rogue problems kept on increasing, the cash flow and new investments from his companies needed to be checked, the next meeting for the packs' alphas needed to be programmed and so on. And even though he had no time to even breathe, he had another problem.
The Council kept pestering about an heir every time they got the chance to do so. Honestly those people needed to worry about their own personal lives, but each time one of them came regarding a matter, they would not leave until asking him again about this problem as they put it.
And each time they asked, his thoughts trailed off to a certain beautiful sight he saw some time ago at the airport... without even meaning to. Really at first he thought she was interesting and so he had read her file, then he saw the video of the melee fight which left him speechless, and he felt she was even more interesting.
The girl in the video seemed quite equally ranked amongst the other werewolves for the first part of the fight. She did not fight a lot, but he could see that her moves were on point. She easily avoided most of the werewolves that came at her and kept them at bay effortlessly.
Then when the werewolf that seemed to be her partner was hurt, she saved him with lightening speed, which as a side note made him feel quite annoyed. Afterwards she immediately changed her stance and went into offense. And what offense, he thought. Her moves seemed so fast, almost like he saw himself fighting.
After seeing her fight, he thought about her from time to time. What could possibly determine such a strong wolf to be so sad, and how could such a frail looking girl be so strong? Such thoughts alternated.
Then he started to ponder about how could someone who seemed like she was about to cry and did not even appear the least bit dolled up look so beautiful. Slowly the thoughts started to multiply bit by bit.
Nowadays it got to the point that he even dreamt about her. He could not have a single moment's rest, without his thoughts heading towards her face. And the strangest thing was that even though his wolf Sky, did not recognize her wolf, he also kept talking about her.
He previously asked the wolf if she was his mate, perhaps Sky could sense the connection to her more easily than he could. But the latter had said he did not recognize her wolf. At his words, Salas had thought this would be the end of the matter, but now Sky kept mentioning her beautiful face and her superb moves, just like how he thought to himself.
Could it be that his wolf did not care anymore about finding his true mate just like those guys? Because when Sky heard about the speech, he kept purring like a wolf girl and insisted for him to attend, telling Salas they might see Celia at the ceremony. Really the most massive of wolves, a black as night furred alpha that scared all the other wolves when transforming, was now jumping up and down in his mind like a small pup.
At first he was going to refuse giving the speech, he even told Micah that there was no time, ignoring Sky's constant complaints. But just as the beta was about to exit his office, he changed his mind and reasoned that still he should find time to give the speech. After all, everyone was expecting him to participate at the Opening of the new year.
Now at the ceremony before going up the stage, he kept on looking towards the public from the backstage. He was hidden in the back and he had also concealed his aura, so most werewolves could not feel him. Scanning the room hopeful, he saw her again after only a few glances. She was after all unique from all other werewolves.
There in the middle of the group of watcher students she was seated. They must have spoken through their pack link, he thought, as their expression changed from time to time like they were talking. And he even felt like they were trying not to laugh. Celia was the most composed of them, but even she had a small smile on her face.
This was actually the sight that Salas saw as he was walking from behind the stage, informed by one of the teacher that the hall was full. Respectfully the latter had also asked him if he was ready to give the speech.
He saw that the beautiful girl he had seen only once at the airport, the one that kept him thinking about her until he was almost driven mad every day, now had a slight smile on her face.
Seeing her rosy healthy face and her eyes that seemed to smile sparkling, as opposed to her sad face at the airport, made his heart beat even faster than it did then. All these days he had thought he would soon forget her, he had hoped so, but her sad face kept him from forgetting. Giving the speech for the beginning of the year and seeing her again in a normal situation, a situation where she was most likely solemn, he hoped that it would take his mind off from her. But he was in trouble as her current face was even more unforgettable. He sucked in air in his lungs as much as he could, feeling breathless, in spite of this he could not look away.
He finally ascended the stage, after what seemed like a lifetime, and while he was announced he tried to regain his composure.
"His highness the king of all werewolves, Salas Christian Wolf." He was presented by a teacher.
And like on cue every person in the room rose from their seat and bowed. They could only raise their heads and sit down when he allowed them.
"Please raise your head and take a seat." He said, trying to take his eyes off of Celia, as he had kept looking at her. He feared that staring at her longer would make her feel uncomfortable. Even if he was the king of all werewolves, who would want to be stared at for so long?
Not to mention that all the attention from everyone in the large room was on him, and they would find out that he was ogling a female student, as his stare was that obvious. Really a hundred years old man losing his composure because of a 22 years old girl, he would be laughable. He was especially scared of his best friend, Gabriel, finding out.
That guy had tried along with the guys from the Council to make him take any girl as a queen, just to have a mate. If he were to find out, or if the other members of the Council would find out, he would not hear the end of it. Perhaps they would even take the poor girl and shove it in his room. Well she was part of a pack of high ranking werewolves and a watcher student so they probably could not do as they pleased, he thought feeling both relieved and disappointed at the same time.
Wait... disappointed, why would he think he was disappointed? He should really snap out of it. He coughed once like he had wanted to clear his voice and spoke. Luckily he was smooth enough and his speech went on without a hitch.
Roughly two hours later the opening ceremony ended. It had been quite difficult to not look at her throughout it, but he managed in the end, albeit quite arduously. He only looked at her from time to time in passing, making sure he also glanced around, to not highlight her presence alone in the others' eyes.
But seeing her leave with her pack, he still felt a pang in his heart. He still wanted to be in her presence longer. Even for a second more it was enough.
"Your highness do you want to eat dinner with me?" His friend Gabriel asked smilingly, just as he was pondering about what to do. He wanted to refuse the man who he felt had the capacity to see through his thoughts, but the most brilliant idea struck him and he refused no longer.
"Sure it has been quite some time. Invite your students also. It is the first time we have so many high ranking watcher werewolves with us. I would like to meet them."
He tried to look uninterested, like it was only a suggestion nothing more. But the bastard already narrowed his eyes studying his face. It seemed like just looking around and trying to not look at her alone was not enough. Surely he would now bombard him with questions.
"Alright. It is only normal to meet the watcher students. Of course you should give them the honor to eat with you." Gabriel affirmed while nodding his head in understanding.
It was unusual that the noisy person had not suspected him more, the teacher had not ask any more questions. He just left to bring the students to his office.
The abnormal disinterested attitude of Gabriel made Salas doubtful, but perhaps the latter had not noticed anything after all. For this he was thankful.
Only later would he find out that Gabriel had known all along his thoughts, when he would finally confess his feelings for her to his friend. The latter would keep on teasing him that he was aware from the moment he saw how Salas looked at her at the ceremony, and the teasing would be endless.
Waiting for them in his office, it felt like it took forever for her to come.
After what felt like a lifetime, the watcher students accompanied by Gabriel finally arrived outside in the hallway. Her specific scent and presence could be detected by him easily amongst the others. From the moment she stepped through the door he did not dare look up from his documents. He waited for them to take a seat and for his unrest to calm down, and only then did he leave his desk and sat on the couch.
He started with the introduction, it was the logical thing to do and in this way he made sure that he would hear her voice. "Celia Blair" she said shyly, with a little stuttering trembling tone, but it only made her more adorable.
Her face that had almost no expression suddenly turned pink, she was breathtakingly beautiful.
Her voice that said the name Celia, was more like a whisper, but it was sweet sending tingles to his heart. And the name Celia coming from her lips felt like little bells ringing, like a small song. Then when she finally looked in his eyes, he was doomed it seemed. He should have left immediately after the ceremony. He should have left and tried to never see her again because in this moment he felt like he willingly jumped into Hell, and there was no way up.
For the first time in his life he fell in love, and quite hopelessly so.