Shiro and Deion had not expected the chaos outside the entrance of Blue Haven Records. A dozen reporters rushed them as soon as the taxi arrived in front of the large office building, and Shiro was bombarded with questions. Shiro's two bodyguards pushed off the screaming reporters while Deion and Shiro rushed toward the doors. Some guards let them into the building and just inside stood a tall Korean woman and next to her a little blonde omega.
"Welcome, Mr. Nakamura and Mr. Johnson. Thank you for coming here in such short notice. My name is Yeo-reum Pae, and I am the Head of Public Relations. This is Jane Gray, and she is the Label Manager."
Shiro and Deion shook hands with the two women.
"Mr. Hendricks is waiting for you, please follow me," said the blonde woman and Shiro and Deion followed to the elevators, which took them to the fourth floor.
The Blue Haven Records office was relatively new, and it was big. They were taken to a conference room, and when they stepped through the doorway, they were met by Elliot, who was wearing regular clothes, a black t-shirt, and black jeans. The brown-haired man was dark around his eyes, and he looked worn. He reached out his hand to the two of them, but when he took Shiro's, Elliot didn't let go until Deion next to them cleared his throat, which made Elliot drop the hand immediately.
Shiro felt very uncomfortable. It was as if the man was examining him, his gaze hard. They sat down around the table. Shiro and Deion on one side and the three executives on the other.
Elliot started talking:
"You read the news, I suppose?"
Deion nodded.
"Yes, I explained to Shiro what happened."
"Excellent. The situation is sensitive for obvious reasons. It was only yesterday that the acquisition went through. We have barely been able to go through every artist that K-records had signed."
Elliot looked directly at Shiro.
"Of course, we know who you are Mr. Nakamura, you are well known, and we would like to continue working with you. So we have no plans to cancel your contract. But of course, we want to hear your opinion on this."
Shiro looked at Deion, who nodded encouragingly at him.
"I also have no plans to cancel the contract. My goal of making a career outside Asia is unchanged. But I have no plans whatsoever to become a mate to your Boss."
The three on the other side of the table looked surprised at how Shiro went straight to the point, and Elliot nodded satisfactorily.
"Great, because as you have probably already have heard, Mr. McCallister is happily married, and he is not interested in you as a partner. Mr. McCallister and his husband both think you are a very talented artist; their daughter Caoimhe is one of your fans, but that's all. You understand what we mean by that?"
Shiro understood precisely what the man meant. He should just forget about this 'fated pair' business and leave McCallister and his family alone.
It suited him nicely, but still, he found himself feeling a little bit annoyed when the husband and daughter were mentioned. Shiro did not want to care, but a feeling of jealousy arose in him. He tried to force it down.
Shiro nodded.
"I understand, and I agree."
Elliot watched Shiro for a moment before his face lit up with a big smile, and he clapped his hands together.
"Excellent. Yeo-reum here will make a statement from both Blue Haven Records and the McCallister family regarding the subject, that your relationship is purely professional. I suppose you will make a similar statement, don't you, Mr. Johnson?"
Deion nodded. "We have already written it', Mr. Hendricks."
"Good, good. Jane will contact you on Monday regarding the recording of your next album. As far as I understand it, almost all the material is already done. Is this correct?"
"That's right," Deion said before Shiro could open his mouth.
"Perfect. Then I think we're done here. After all, it's a Saturday, and we probably all have more pleasant things to do than sit in the office."
Elliot said, getting up, the others followed.
Elliot reached out his hand again, and when he came to Shiro, he said:
"And Mr. Nakamura, say absolutely nothing unnecessary about this to the media. Understood?"
Shiro frowned but nodded.
"Obvious."
"That's great. Thank you for your time."
Shiro, Deion, and Jane left the room and walked along the corridor towards the elevators.
Shiro was annoyed. He didn't like that brown-haired man. He treated him as if he had done something wrong. It was not he who suddenly attacked or got a whole club to react to some potent pheromones. He didn't even want a fucking fated pair! Also, he had not asked to end up with Blue Haven Records, that was something that had happened beyond his control. So why would he be treated like a homewrecker?
From nowhere, the air was suddenly filled with the scent of sandalwood and cedar, and Shiro instantly became hotter. He stopped and saw that he was standing outside an office. The sign on the door read 'Dorian McCallister - CEO.'
Shiro's heart rate seemed to increase immediately, which annoyed him. How the hell could a fragrance and a name start such a physical reaction within him? He couldn't move. He stood frozen, while his hand moved slowly toward the door handle.
"Shiro, what's the matter?"
He heard Deion ask, who had almost arrived at the elevator before noticing that Shiro was no longer with them.
Shiro couldn't answer. He understood that this was wrong, he had to leave, but he couldn't. Shiro threw himself against the door and opened it, the scent of his alpha becoming so strong that it went like a shock wave throughout his body. He trembled violently and fell to his knees. His heat had started again. He heard people screaming behind him, but it was as if they were in another world. On all fours, Shiro crawled toward the desk, where a blazer hung over a chair. But before he got to the chair, Shiro felt a stab in the neck. It hurt, and he immediately got tired. In just a few seconds, the young man lay on the floor, asleep.
Over him stood Jane with a syringe in her hand. Her eyes were filled with both concern and surprise. She was an omega herself, and like all omegas, her heat was something that significantly affected her life. She hated it. All her life, people had treated her differently because of her being an omega. She had been raped as a teenager, harassed, and her parents had tried to marry her off with an alpha she hated. The Boss was the only alpha who had treated her with respect, the only one who looked past her second gender and saw her skills, who thought she could do her work well.
But last night she had been afraid of him, he radiated such strength and dominance that she had been paralyzed. She had always known that he was a Prime Alpha, but he had never, as long as she had known him, lost control. Dorian was a kindhearted man and a very tolerant boss. Jane had met Dorian and Finian several times outside of work, and she had seen how loving he was towards his husband.
Jane bent down and checked Shiro's pulse. His heart was still beating too fast as if he had been running, and his breathing was strained. She recognized the symptoms because she was an omega herself, but she had never seen anything like this before. Shiro had not even been in the heat before passing the Boss's office. Jane understood that it was the Bosses pheromones who had elicited this spontaneous heat in the omega. She was shocked. So this was what it was like to find one's fated pair.
Jane did not envy Shiro, she suffered with him. All other omegas she knew dreamed of their fated pair, but not her. She just wanted to succeed in her career. Jane heard how Shiro's manager roared and threw himself against a door. The man with the dark brown skin had reacted directly to the omega's pheromones, but Jane had acted quickly. To be so small in size, she had succeeded in tackling the much larger man into her office, who was just a few rooms away from the Boss and locked him in. She knew he was going to do something stupid because she felt how potent the pheromones were.
Jane took her phone, but before she could call Elliot, he came running with Yeo-reum after him. His eyes widened when he saw Jane with the syringe next to Shiro. As a beta, he only felt a weak smell by the pheromones, but he understood immediately what must have happened, and it made his stomach turn. Elliot wanted to cancel the contract with the young Japanese pop idol and never let him get close to his best friend. But he couldn't do anything without Dorian's approval, and Dorian always listened to Finian.
"We heard a scream. Where is Mr. Johnson?"
Jane stood up and put the syringe on the desk.
"I locked him in my office." Elliot nodded as if he understood and turned to Yeo-reum.
"Can you call down to the entrance and ask them to send Shiro's bodyguards. They can carry him from here, and our guards can take care of Mr. Johnson."
Yeo-reum picked up the phone immediately and went off to the elevator. Bodyguards were always betas without exception. An alpha or omega could never be trusted with guarding someone else's life, given that they could go crazy with lust at any time.
While waiting for the bodyguards, Jane sat next to the younger man and gently patted his head, as if to calm him down. She had given him powerful suppressants, it had dampened the number of pheromones he secreted and calmed him down. That he fell asleep by it must have been because he was exhausted before.
Jane looked at Elliot and said.
"Reacting so strongly to omega is not healthy Elliot. We need to make sure Shiro stays away from places where the Boss is."
"Okay, we see to it. But Jane, you're an omega. Is this normal?"
"I just know what I heard about fated pairs while growing up. If an omega is exposed to its fated pair pheromones without being mates, the reaction will be at least twice as strong and remember that the Boss is a Prime Alpha. No wonder poor Shiro responds like this. "
Elliot looked down at the young man who was shaking as if he were freezing.
"Do you feel sorry for him?"
Jane looked surprised.
"Yes, don't you? His fated pair is married with children. This is far more than ordinary love; this is a physical need to be with someone perfect for you. This needs neither he nor Dorian can control, they are completely helpless to face this attraction."
Elliot hadn't seen it that way. He was actually ashamed. He had seen Shiro as a threat to his friends' happiness, not to mention that Shiro had not asked for it himself.
"What did he want to do in here, you think?"
"It was the Boss's scent that attracted him, he probably wanted to take his jacket. Get so close to something that had touched his pair," Jane nodded to the chair where Dorian's jacket hung.
Elliot walked up to the jacket, and in one pocket, he found one of Dorian's spare neckties. He knew it would be there. He took it and held it up to Jane.
"Can this give him some comfort?"
Jane nodded and smiled.
"Sure, thank you, Elliot."
Elliot just had pushed the necktie into Shiro's tight-knotted fist when Yeo-reum came back with Shiro's black-clad bodyguards. The two muscular Asian men ran up to Shiro, found out what had happened, what kind of suppressant he had been given, and what had happened to his manager. One bodyguard lifted the slender man in his arms and carried him away. Jane and Elliot followed him with their eyes, and Elliot sighed. This is going to be much more complicated than he had ever imagined.