Chapter 3.

Feeling panicked, Alexis leaned against one of the walls in disbelief, trembling slightly at the terrible scene he had just experienced. Alexis couldn't believe it, even though he had seen it with his own eyes, he absolutely refused to believe that the omega was in his house.

How was it possible for him to be there? Alexis didn't remember much of the time when he met him, but he could be sure that the omega wasn't part of a family as respectable as the Kuznetsov's, he was just an ordinary omega, probably from a family of betas or something like that. But everything seemed to cloud in his head, as if Alexis wanted to block all the memories and experiences he had about that omega, not being able to remember clearly if he was a real nobody or if he really belonged to such an illustrious family.

Amid all his confusion at seeing that omega, Alexis had begun to think he was hallucinating.

"Have you seen him yet, what he looks like, is he beautiful?" asked Naiya from afar.

Responding kindly, one of the housemaids replied: "You must remain calm, Miss Naiya, your fiancé indeed is very beautiful."

"I can't wait to see him, even from here I can smell his pheromones, I already want to be able to see his face," Naiya said excitedly.

Sighing softly, Alexis tried to calm down, still leaning against one of the walls that were in that darkened room, trying to convince himself that everything was fine and that the person he had seen in the living room of his home was nothing more than an illusion or a simple hallucination.

After seeing the ghostly image of that omega in front of the window, Alexis quickly handed the bottles of alcohol to his mother, and claiming to feel somewhat unwell, fled the place as fast as he could. Alexis was panicking just with the idea of having that omega in front of himself again, so having to compose and forcing himself to do so, he fled to one of the empty rooms next to the dining room of the house, where he tried to calm down before going back to the dinner with the guests since the dinner had to start as soon as possible and he had to be present for that to happen.

Waiting for endless minutes in the middle of the darkness, still in disbelief of what he had just seen, Alexis was interrupted by Maddie, who went in search of him as Alexis had taken a long time to return to the dining room.

"Honey? Are you okay?" Maddie asked, entering the darkened room, searching for her fiancé amidst the darkness.

Sighing softly, Alexis immediately replied: "I'm fine, I just got a little dizzy."

Finding Alexis in the darkness, Maddie approached him and with much concern touched his face with her fingers, looking into his eyes: "Maybe it's because you worked so hard today?"

Not wanting to tell the truth about what was going on, Alexis replied: "Yeah, maybe that's it."

Alexis couldn't even mention what was going on, if he said even one thing concerning his situation with the omega of his fantasies, Maddie might be so offended that she would break off the engagement immediately, and his entire reputation would be ruined forever. There were worse things than meeting that omega face to face, for Alexis, to tell the truth, meant the end of his life as he knew it.

"I understand, we'll try to bow out of dinner soon if you're still feeling bad, okay?" Maddie said sweetly, still stroking Alexis's cheeks with concern: "But we must return to the dining room now, honey, Naiya feels desperately in a room near here, and dinner must begin as soon as possible."

Alexis sincerely didn't want to return to the dining room and dinner, still fearing to meet the omega of his dreams, Alexis just wanted to stay in that dark corner until he woke up from that nightmare, feeling unable to face the reality of what was happening. But Alexis had to remember his obligations, he had to be clear about his current situation, and with no way out, Alexis had to return to the dining room for dinner in honor of his sister's engagement.

So keeping his strength up, Alexis replied: "Okay, let's go back."

Alexis was still unsure whether or not to return to the dining room, as his instinct told him that he had to flee as if he was close to an extremely dangerous animal that was going to attack him. But keeping his rationality, Alexis took Maddie by the hand, and amid the darkness walked out beside her back to the dining room, ready to face his fears.

Keeping his eyes down, Alexis walked to the center table of the dining room, where he took his place at the top, being the leader of the pack. From that place, Alexis could look at all the guests around him, but he dared not look up, fearing to meet the sight of that beautiful omega that he was so afraid of.

Watching as Alexis finally sat down at the table, Alexey who was Alexis' father, said jovially: "You've finally arrived, I guess good things come to those who wait..."

Smiling somewhat uncomfortably, still looking down, Alexis replied: "An apology for my delay, I had personal business to attend to."

"Don't worry alpha Alexis, we understand that your position as king and leader of this region is complicated, we appreciate your time to dine with us" Said the voice of an unknown man at the table: "And excuse my lack of manners, I am Boris Kuznetsov, and soon to be part of your family."

Understanding that he could not avoid the situation much longer, Alexis was forced to look up so as not to be impolite, looking at the head of the Kuznetsov family and replying: "It's a pleasure."

"I will introduce you to my family then, this is my wife Niurka, and next to her is my eldest son Mauro who is the heir of my family..." Boris continued.

Looking at the people next to the head of the Kuznetsov family, Alexis noticed a not-so-old woman, with dark brown hair and an unparalleled attractiveness on her face. And next to that woman, Alexis could observe an alpha of an age similar to him, who looked like a young man of a very jovial character, with a smile on his face and a kind look.

"It's a pleasure" Alexis repeated again.

"And next to my eldest son, there is the fiancé of my second son, Estephan Petrov, who accompanied us on this trip" Boris continued.

And looking completely opposite to Mauro, Alexis observed Estephan, who was a rough and even frightening-looking alpha, with a big and burly body, and who had the most fierce and full of darkness gaze that Alexis could look at in his whole life. Still, Alexis was not intimidated by this alpha, smiling kindly at him.

"It's a pleasure, Estephan," Alexis said without a hint of fear.

And reaching the end of the table, Boris said: "And finally, may I introduce Luka, my second son..."

Even though Alexis didn't want to keep looking, he felt compelled to, and turning his gaze to the last guest at the table, he could finally see him. He was there, as beautiful and as far away as ever, with those clear, golden-colored eyes, with his slightly tousled brown hair, that handsome face, and such delicate features. The young man at the end of the table was undoubtedly the omega Alexis had dreamed of for so many years.

"Nice to meet you," Alexis said earnestly, looking at the omega steadily.

Just seeing the omega was starting to make him feel dizzy, Alexis had even forgotten his name, Luka... The omega he missed so much was now there, and despite the time that had passed, he still looked exactly the same, with his glistening beauty and that enchanting scent. But even though Luka looked just like Alexis' memories, there was something different about him now, something the alpha couldn't identify just by looking at him.

"The pleasure is mine, King Alexis" Luka said aloud, smiling mysteriously.

Closing his eyes immediately, Alexis sighed softly, as even hearing his voice was somewhat painful. Alexis could feel the omega even without looking at him, so few meters away, Alexis just wanted to run away from him and at the same time go and hug him. They were such confusing feelings that Alexis was starting to go crazy, Luka was creating a real confusion in himself.

"Are you all right King Alexis? You look a little pale" Niurka observed, looking at Alexis having that meltdown in front of everyone.

Intervening immediately, Maddie who was sitting next to Alexis at the table quickly said: "Everything is in order, Alexis is just a little tired from work, but it's nothing serious."

"I understand, a leader's job must not be easy," Niurka said responding to Maddie.

Alexis was forcing himself to stay calm, and taking a deep breath, he tried to tell himself that this dinner would soon be over and nothing bad would happen, but he was not prepared for what was about to happen.

"Can I ask a question?" Luka said suddenly.

Sounding very stern, Estephan replied: "No, you can't."

"Whatever, I'll do it anyway," Luka said, disobeying his fiancé: "Could you bring some whiskey?"

Hearing that request, Alexis felt even worse, opening his eyes immediately, looking at Luka in disbelief at what he had just asked.

Confused by that unusual request, Alexis' mother Inna asked: "Whiskey? What for?"

"Oh... It's just that a few years ago a person told me that whiskey can relax you, so I thought King Alex might have some to make him feel better" Luka explained smiling mischievously: "For example, some evil alphas give whiskey to their omegas so they can do bad things to them in the forest..."

"Luka!" Niurka said in alarm, hearing her son's bold words.

But without pausing, looking Alexis in the eyes, Luka asked: "Do you think a little whiskey can relax you? It helped me a lot in the forest that time, so many years ago..."

Unable to answer, Alexis remained silent, only able to look at Luka in disbelief at what he was saying.

Because Alexis had given Luka whiskey when the two of them had sex for the first time.