The morning bus rattled through Ravencroft's grey streets like a steel coffin on wheels.
Seo Hyun clutched the overhead rail, pastel-pink long-sleeve shirt tucked neatly into beige slacks, white hair combed back into a professional low bun that still refused to look anything but ethereal. He had tried to look proffesional. He had really tried.
The faint winter-milk scent of his own pheromones was locked down tight beneath a heavy pheromone-eliminating perfume that cost half a week's old savings.
In the documents he had submitted, the family section read simply: None. No mention of a three-year-old boy waiting at Little Stars Preschool with a lunchbox decorated in cartoon sponges. No one here needed to know about Rui.
Passengers around him kept stealing glances, eyes widening in quiet awe. A middle-aged beta woman clutched her bag tighter, whispering to her friend that an actual angel had stepped onto the morning bus. Two young alphas shifted in their seats, their heavy pheromones spiking involuntarily, sharp and territorial, before they caught themselves and looked away.
Seo Hyun kept his pink-rimmed gaze fixed on the floor, cheeks faintly flushed, completely unaware of the ripple of stunned silence his ethereal beauty had caused in the crowded vehicle.
Kaelus Tower rose ahead like a black blade stabbed into the sky. Even from the bus stop, the glass reflected the weak sunlight so violently that Seo Hyun's sensitive albino eyes watered behind his silver frames.
He blinked hard, tilting his head back, but the top of the tower disappeared into low clouds.
Staff in sharp black suits streamed toward the revolving doors, mostly alphas, their heavy, territorial pheromones already rolling out in waves: burnt oak, gunmetal, aged whiskey, and something sharper, like blood under steel. The air tasted metallic on his tongue.
You're lucky, he told himself, heart hammering. This is luck. Don't ruin it.
Inside the lobby the scent was worse. Concentrated. Suffocating. His perfume held, but the back of his neck prickled as if every dominant alpha in the building had already marked the territory as theirs.
He kept his head down, footsteps soft on the marble, and followed the glowing signs to the Executive Support Division on the twenty-third floor.
The open-plan office was cold and clinical. No chatter. No laughter. Unlike the warm, noisy departments back in Korea, everyone here moved like machines. Heads nodded curtly. Greetings were robotic. "Morning." "Morning."
A beta woman at the front desk didn't even look up from her screen.
The head of the team, a sharp-featured middle-aged woman with a tight bun and a beta's neutral scent, barely glanced at him. "Seo Hyun. Mr. Alan will be your direct superior. He'll show you the systems. Don't waste his time."
She led him across the floor to a corner desk where a tall, broad-shouldered alpha in his early thirties stood reviewing files. Alan.
His pheromone was thick and arrogant, dark espresso and scorched leather. He turned slowly, eyes narrowing at the fragile-looking omega in pastel pink.
Seo Hyun bowed instinctively, the way he had been taught in Korea, then lifted his head with that unconscious, angelic smile. It bloomed across his porcelain face like fresh snow under moonlight, pure, warm, completely unguarded.
"Good morning, sir. I'm Seo Hyun. Thank you for guiding me today. I'll work very hard."
Alan's composure cracked for half a second. His nostrils flared.
The alpha's pupils dilated, then snapped back. A muscle jumped in his jaw. He scrunched his face as if the smile physically offended him, then lifted his chin, looking down the length of his nose like Seo Hyun was something sticky on the bottom of his shoe.
"Smile less," Alan said flatly.
"This isn't a café. And don't bow. You're in Ravencroft now." He tapped the tablet in his hand. "The systems here track everything, every email, every call, every keystroke. Kaelus doesn't tolerate mistakes. Or questions. You see something you don't understand, you shut up and move on. The underground divisions don't appear on any org chart, but they pay your salary. Remember that."
Seo Hyun blinked, still smiling softly, voice gentle. "Underground… divisions?"
Alan's laugh was short and humorless.
"Exactly. Keep that pretty head down and you might last longer than the last three admins." He turned away, already walking.
"Follow me. I'll show you the secure servers. And for God's sake, stop smiling like that. It's distracting."
Seo Hyun trailed after him, cheeks faintly pink, murmuring a soft "Yes, sir."
He didn't notice the way Alan's shoulders stayed tense, or how two nearby alphas exchanged quick glances. He only thought,
They're strict here… but it's a good job. "For Rui. I can do this."
★★★
Twenty-three floors above, the executive boardroom smelled of power and violence barely contained.
The long obsidian table was ringed by the most dangerous men and women in Ravencroft. Chairman Elias Kaelus, silver-haired, ruthless, still iron-fisted at seventy-two, sat at the head. Alistair Kaelus stood to his right, tall and motionless in a tailored black suit, inky hair tied neatly at the nape of his neck. His piercing blue eyes reflected nothing.
The discussion was ice-cold and merciless.
"We take the Meridian contract by any means," the old man growled. "Sabotage their labs. Leak the patents. If the board still refuses to fold, remind them what happened to the last CEO who said no."
Alistair's voice was quiet, flat. "Their head of security has a daughter in university. We own the debt. Use it."
Nods around the table. No outrage. No hesitation. Just calculations.
When the meeting ended, everyone rose in perfect sync and filed out.
In the corridor, Ryan fell into step beside Darius and Alistair. Ryan's red hair was a wild mess, diamond-studded teeth flashing every time he grinned like a predator who had already tasted blood.
Darius, slender, glasses glinting, assassin-quiet, walked like he was already planning the next kill.
Ryan lit a cigarette right there in the executive hallway. "Darius, baby, when are you finally letting me take you out? One date. I'll be gentle."
Darius stopped. Turned. Looked at Ryan the way one looks at dog shit on expensive shoes.
He reached out, plucked the cigarette from Ryan's lips, and crushed it in his gloved hand without blinking. "No smoking inside the tower. Company policy. Or did your last three brain cells finally die?"
Ryan threw his head back and laughed, maniacal, loud, the kind that made the two guards trailing them shift uncomfortably but say nothing. Everyone was used to the madman.
"Ohhh, moral principles now? From you? The guy who gutted a rival pack last week without changing expression?" Ryan's eyes sparkled with pure chaos. "Come on, Darius. You used to be fun."
Alistair didn't slow down. "Darius. Inspect the new shipment at the docks. Personally. Leave."
Darius adjusted his glasses once, nodded, and peeled away without another word.
Ryan fell in beside Alistair, still grinning.
"Gold Bar tonight? Fresh shipment of omegas just came in. Tight little packs, all trained. I want a masochistic one, screams pretty when you knot them raw. You in? Been too long since you let that monster out to play."
Alistair glanced sideways, blue eyes flat."Not interested."
Ryan exhaled thick smoke through his nose.
"How the fuck are you going to marry and take the old man's throne if you keep acting like a fucking monk? He's already threatening to hand everything, everything, to your cousin if you don't produce an heir soon. Legit companies, underground empires, the whole bloody network. You know he means it."
"He can die in his position," Alistair said casually, as if discussing the weather.
Ryan barked another laugh. "Cold. I love it." He leaned in, voice dropping into something filthy and dark. "But seriously, Alistair. You're missing out. Those omegas at the bar? They beg for it. Cry for a real alpha knot while you ruin them. You haven't let your cock think for you in months. What, you waiting for some pure little virgin to waltz in and fix your dead heart?"
Alistair's reply was ice. "My cock doesn't make business decisions. Neither does yours. Keep thinking with it and one day someone will cut it off while you're still laughing."
Ryan only grinned wider, diamond teeth catching the light. "Harsh. But fair."
His gaze suddenly locked on a slender black-haired omega stepping into an elevator. "Ooh... new meat. My type. Catch you later, ice king. Hit me up if you change your mind about the Gold Bar."
He veered off without waiting for an answer.
Alistair continued down the shimmering corridor alone, boots silent on the marble.
The hall was lined with alphas and the occasional omega assistant, all moving with the crisp efficiency of people who knew one wrong step could end them.
Then he saw it.
A small, frail omega in pastel pink walking beside a stern alpha, Alan, one of the mid-level managers. White hair framed a delicate, porcelain face. Pink-rimmed eyes.
Thin frame that looked like it would snap under the weight of a strong hand. And that smile. That same radiant, unconscious smile the omega kept flashing at Alan as they passed.
Something sharp and ugly twisted in Alistair's chest.
His psychopath wiring, cold, empty, precise had no place for softness. Purity irritated him the way bright light irritated an open wound.
It was wrong. Unnatural. It made his fingers itch to wrap around that slender throat and squeeze until the smile cracked and bled.
The omega's winter-milk scent, even muted by perfume, brushed against his senses like a tease. Fragile. Breakable. Mine to ruin.
Alistair kept walking, expression never changing, stoic, merciless, blue eyes locked forward. But inside his head the thoughts coiled dark and hungry.
Interesting.
Let's see how long that smile survives in my building.
He pulled out his phone and fired a single text to Darius.
Full file. New albino admin hire in Executive Support. Tonight.
End of Chapter 2.