Dust

The Dining room's design was Perfect. all of those weeks hard work had finally paid off. all tables had white silk tablecloth. we managed the tables so that Alpha families to sit at their own table and there was a stable for Betas to sit with each other. the wooden floor was spotless and shined like a mirror. transparent Christmas hollies covered the walls and finally at the end of the room, the Christmas tree. we spent a full day decorating it with red and golden shiny decorations and lighted candles and then wrapped Jingle lights around it.

I looked around as everyone got in their seats. families sat together and Betas moved on to their table as soon as the Alpha families settled. I checked out the Beta table across the room. only 7 Betas were sitting. there were Harry and Joseph from New York, Holly from Georgia, Valorie from Seattle, Frost from Northern Canada, Alice from Maryland and Garrett from British Columbia. I knew them all since I was a child. I wished I could go and sit with them with Robin but my place was with the Alpha family.

And then there was our table. there was Alpha Henry with Alex and Elsa, and Alpha Liam and his family were sitting with us as guests of honor. I took a deep breath and approached. Alex and Elsa were sitting next to each other. Alpha Henry was sitting down next to Elsa and Alpha Liam was sitting on his right. next to him on his right was his wife and the young man. there were only two empty seats. at least the employees did their job well with Robin's place.

-"Something wrong?" Robin asked, looking at me.

-"No No let's go." I said and I walked towards the table again with Robin. I was starting to to get anxious. Robin's identity could be exposed any second sitting at that table and she didn't even know it. at this point I wasn't even thinking what was gonna happen if she found out what I am, I just didn't want her to die tonight.

-"Ah, Dust here you are!" Alpha Henry said, sitting down. "who's this young lady?" he asked.

-"I'm Robin Burke. nice to meet you sir." she said smiling. funny it was the first time I ever heard her last name.

-"Nice to meet you too. Burke...I don't seem to recall that name." he said.

-"Well yes sir, ...she was never with us before. it's the first year we have the pleasure of having her here."

-"Oh well, we hope to see more of you in the future years Miss Burke. please sit down." he said smiling.

She sat down next to the young man who I thought was Alpha Liam's son and I sat next to her on her right so I was between her and Alex.

-"Does your Beta always sits with you at the table Henry?" Alpha Liam asked. Robin looked at me curiously.

-"Yes he does. he's not just my Beta, He's my son." Alpha Liam smirked as if he had found some dirt on him.

-"Son? he doesn't seem to be younger than your children."

-"What do you mean?"

-"Oh I just assumed you remarried to a Beta woman after your wife died."

-"No I did not..."

-"Oh you dirty wolf, I didn't know you were into this stuff but that's fine. although I excepted if you have an affair, it would at least be with a girl of your own rank." he said smirking. not only me, but Alpha Henry seemed to be reaching his temper.

-"I did not have an affair if you must know-"

-"I was adopted." I said, cutting Alpha off. he turned his gaze on me and I felt like he stared at my streak of white hair for a second.

-"Obviously... and apparently he didn't spend enough time teaching you manners boy." he said. I gritted my teeth a bit while giving him a death stare. fortunately he didn't notice cause the waiters approached with the food. the waiter placed a turkey in the middle of the table.

-"Finally!" Alpha Liam said as he looked at the turkey when the the waiter started to cut it. "so Miss Burke was it? where is your family from?"

-"Oh I'm from Vancouver. my whole family lives there." she replied.

-"and why you couldn't your parents join us today?" Alpha Henry asked.

-"I... didn't know it was necessary for them to come." she replied confused.

-"She's independent." I said. "her family lives in Vancouver but she wanted to live alone and be more independent."

-"That's very good! Independence is the most important thing." Alpha Liam said. "You can be a very good leader of the pack."

-"I... suppose so. thank you sir." Robin said.

-"Speaking of independence, let's cut to the chase." Alpha Henry said.

-"I agree Henry but first..." he cleared his throat. "let me introduce Ignis, my nephew." he said, pointing at the young man. his wife, who hadn't said a word until then looked at the boy proudly.

-"Ignis...that means fire right?" Robin said smiling. the boy looked at her surprised and smiled yet the woman looked at her rather despised as if Robin had said a filthy word.

-"Exactly! that's the first time anyone knows the meaning of it!" he spoke for the first time.

-"Well I know a little bit of Latin." she said chuckling then suddenly turned to waiter who was filling her glass with Champagne. "oh I'm non alcoholic, thanks. just water for me please." this was a surprise for me. I exchanged a look with Alex as he glanced at my already prepared glass of water among all other Champagne glasses.

-"Yes...as I was saying, Ignis is like my son and he will take over me after I die...God forbid of course!" he said while he burst out laughing. Alpha Henry smiled a bit with Alex while Elsa just kept her gaze focused on Ignis.

-"Well he seems to be a capable young man of course-" Alpha Henry said as soon as Alpha Liam's laughs faded a little.

-"28 and already taking over everything" he cut Alpha Henry off.

-"Uncle is exaggerating." he said chuckling a bit.

-"No I'm not. the only thing you haven't taken is my life!" he said and burst out laughing again. I realized he already had too many. his oddly quiet wife didn't seem too bothered by this and kept on gently nibbling on her turkey.

-"That's alright Liam. you have yourself a very good heir. but don't you think we should talk over a proposal for our lands?"

-"Absolutely Henry. then why do you think I yanked about Ignis all this time?" he said chuckling and took a bite of turkey.

-"I don't understand Liam..." Alpha Henry said, looking at him confused.

-"We have to get united of course, and what better than our ancestor's traditions?"

-"And what is that?" he asked, worried of the answer.

-"Marriage." he said and took a sip of his champagne. all of us suddenly looked up at him except for Ignis who kept his eyes on the plate.

-"Marriage?" I asked, surprised.

-"Yes. your daughter and my nephew." he said. Elsa looked at him and then his father, confused and worried.

-"Liam I'm sure you're not suggesting a-"

-"An arranged marriage?" Robin asked, very surprised. suddenly all eyes turned to her and my heart started thumping out of my chest. "did I understand correctly?"

-"Yes..." Ignis said, looking at her.

-"But this isn't right!" she said. I wished I could stop her but in front of everyone, my hands were tied.

-"Excuse me, what has this got to do with you Miss Burke?" for the first time Alpha Henry's wife talked. her voice was quite and yet proud.

-"Well nothing but-"

-"Then would you mind let the families decide please." she cut Robin off and froze.

-"But it's-"

-"Robin stop." I said slowly to her, trying to distract her.

-"But Dust this isn't right! maybe Elsa doesn't want to-" she said, rather angry.

-"Young lady, I never saw you before but you seem to be looking for trouble." Alpha Liam said, being serious and slightly threatening for the first time in the night. "being independent doesn't mean you can interfere with important matters such as this."

-"I'm sorry but I'm not the one interfering, it's you. this has got to do with Ignis and Elsa's life." she replied in her calm tone. all this time Elsa was frozen and quiet. she just looked around at her father, Ignis and me.

-"It's just... not right." she said slowly and looked at Alpha Liam in the eyes. Alpha Liam looked at her for a while before returning to cutting his turkey and broke the silence a couple of moments later.

-"Well Henry?"he asked seriously.

-"I...I must say I'm surprised Liam. I need some time to think it over."

-"You better think fast Henry. my offer won't be on the table for long."

Robin looked up very angry.

-"I'm sorry I suddenly remembered I have a very important work early tomorrow so I should be leaving." she said and got up. "it was nice to meet you sir, I had a nice evening everyone, thanks for inviting me Elsa." she looked at Alpha Henry and Elsa and Alex and me but she didn't glance towards Alpha Liam and his family. she then turned away and stormed out of hall among all other tables and sounds of laughter.

-"I don't think she has a car, excuse me for a minute." I said and got up following her. the hallway was empty and I saw the front door closing. I ran towards it and opened it to find her standing on the doorstep, putting her coat on and looking at the garden's gate in the snow. she turned away to look at me.

-"Dust why did you come out? you should go back in." she asked.

-"I didn't think you had a car..." I said.

-"Right I came with Elsa from beauty shop...wavy isn't really me." she chuckled and moved her hair aside.

-"Actually it looks... beautiful." I said, once again I felt my face heating up. this time, I felt she got a small blush.

-"You really think so?"

-"Well...y-your hair is really pretty anyway." I said stuttering. she smiled happily.

-"Thanks Dust...sorry I left like that. I just couldn't handle it. can you believe them? an arranged marriage! and he calls it an offer! it just makes me wanna-"

-"I know but it's out of our hands. hopefully Henry doesn't accept." I felt weird calling Alpha by his first name but I didn't have a choice.

There was a few second of silence. I could still hear the sound of dining and laughter from inside the mansion.

-"So um...I better get going."

-"How?"

-"I can walk. it's not that far."

-"In that dress? in those heels? in the snow?" I asked, raising a brow.

-"Well I can't really ask Elsa to give me a ride can I?"

-"Hold on." I said and walked back inside and headed towards the kitchen where the servants were working. "Joe? where are you?"

Joe was Alpha Henry's personal driver. he showed up from the other side of the kitchen and made his way towards me.

-"Yes sir?" he said.

-"there's a young lady outside. get the car and take her to her home."

-"Yes sir." he said and walked back inside as I went out again.

-"I got you a ride. he'll drive you to your place."

-"Oh thank Dust you didn't need to do that."

-"It was no problem..." again, there was that silence until I heard the car engine starting and saw it driving out of the garage.

-"So we should see 'the Rear window' together sometime." she said.

-"Hm? oh yeah sure."

-"Tomorrow night?" she asked.

-"huh?" I asked, surprised.

-"I said is tomorrow night ok?"

I froze and it was not because of the cold. I couldn't believe she had just asked me that. a part of me was begging to say yes, to get closer to her, to hold her in my arms. the other more logical side said that I should stay away from her and let her live her life. as much as I didn't want her to get in the mess of my world, flame of desire for her just wouldn't go out and as always it got the best of me.

-"uh... sure. I-I would love that."

-"Great then. 9 o'clock tomorrow night. get my address from the driver. I'll see you tomorrow!" she said happily and got in the car.

-"See you..." I watched the car drive away from the mansion while I thought of my decision. and I couldn't shake off this feeling that I made the wrong choice.