"Are you still troubled about her?"
Those words threw Damien off guard. He never wished to accept the fact that he still had an ounce of regret towards his earlier action.
He felt something wasn't right but he couldn't just place his hands around anything.
"It's nothing, I'm perfectly fine." He chose to hide the worry in his face. "How have you been? What are your plans for today?"
Roderick smirked. He understood what Damien was trying to do - change the topic of discussion all of a sudden. He obviously didn't want to talk about Luna.
He decided to play along. Since it was Damien's wish, there was nothing else he could do.
He sat up. "Umm.. I'll just go visit my love and have a great moment with her."
Damien knew where he was driving at. He felt a sudden surge of anger crawl into his heart.
"It's fine. You can have the best day all to yourself."
Roderick could spell the anger in his voice. He got confused.
There was a retractable chair resting by the wall. He slid it out towards Damien.
His eyes rolled with concern. "Have I said anything wrong?" His lips curved in confusion.
"I said it's nothing!" At this point, Roderick needed no one to tell him that Damien was upset. His major concern now was what exactly got him upset.
Despite the violent manner with which Damien spoke, Roderick was not giving up anytime soon.
'I would definitely not leave him this way. That would be really bad of me as a friend and as a beta.' He thought to himself.
He made up his mind to find out what exactly was bothering Damien.
"Alpha Damien…" He lowered his voice. "You look troubled, please talk to me."
"Roderick, let me be! Don't you get it?!" Roderick was drawn aback by his sudden outburst. He had never addressed him by his name unless he was utterly angered.
He decided to do as he said. He left him to his fate. But what happened next got him questioning Damien's sanity.
"Get out." Those words first came into Roderick's ear as a shock. He thought he was daydreaming.
He threw his gaze at Damien for confirmation.
"Yes. Leave this place this minute! I want to be left alone."
"But Alpha Damien, I did…"
"I said leave!"
He gave Roderick no opportunity to explain anything to him. All he wanted was to be left alone.
"Okay, fine. If that's what you want, then I'll leave you to it. Have a good day."
Roderick was already on his feet. He wasted no time in exiting Damien's room even though he knew that something wasn't right with him.
'I just hope he doesn't do something terrible to himself.' Roderick had such an awkward feeling towards leaving Damien all alone in his room.
He decided to hang around in the packhouse.
In just a short moment spent, he began to hear loud screams from Damien's room.
He hurried towards the door, but it was already locked before he got there.
His heart raced heavily. 'No! It better not be what I'm thinking. It better not be!"
He scampered to the window side. Hopefully, it was slightly open.
He peered his eyes into Damien's room. His mind suddenly became at rest when he realized that Damien was only yelling at himself.
'Maybe it's his own way to feel better.' Roderick thought to himself.
He heaved a deep sigh of relief as he retired to his own packhouse.
***
Damien couldn't stop brooding. His brains were literally hurting and about to fall off, from a lot of thinking.
His mind was not at rest and he seemed not to know the reason for it.
Amidst his state of confusion, a loud knock erupted in his ear.
"Who's there?"
He still had a feeling that Roderick was the one knocking.
'Why wouldn't he just let me be?' He grumbled.
Then a familiar voice came jolting him out of his thoughts.
"Alpha Damien, you have a visitor." It was one of the guards.
He let out a wicked smirk. "Tell that shit hole of a man to let me be. I have warned him to leave this packhouse, yet he keeps proving stubborn."
How wrong he was!
"The person claims to be named Lucas…"
Damien didn't wait for him to be done with his statement before it finally clicked.
"Oh, really?!! Please let him in at once."
"Alright, your highness."
There was an elongated minute of silence as he ran helter skelter to tidy up the manor. He would have normally asked the maidservants to do so, but it was already too late for that.
He had barely started tidying up when another knock landed across his door.
'Oh shit!' He hastened his steps to make sure everything was in its place.
He wouldn't want to miss out on such a huge partnership just because his surroundings were not neat enough.
He was a bit satisfied by the quick progress he had made. He decided to check who was at the door.
"Oh, Mr Lucas! It's such a pleasure to finally meet you." He received his hand in a handshake.
"You too, Alpha Damien." Lucas looked around lustfully. "You have such a really nice place."
"Thank you, Mr Lucas."
Damien ushered him to a seat. He was still standing.
He waited for him to sit down before he went on with his interrogation.
"What do I offer you?"
"Oh! Come on, Alpha Damien. I'm not here for any of that. Let's get down to business already."
Damien retreated. He couldn't help but respect Lucas's choice.
"So I've come to find out who it is I have been discussing with all this while. And good enough, I'm quite impressed by what I see."
Damien had never gotten such a compliment from anyone before. He smiled at the fact that this was his close ticket to being offered the partnership.
Lucas felt relaxed in Damien's presence. He made up his mind instantly to partner with him.
But there was only one obstacle.