Chapter 5: Gabriel Montari

Desmond's POV

Lorraine Sky Richmond. Twenty three years old. Only child of Beta Nolan and Melinda Richmond of the Phantom stars pack. A graduate of Orion University, where she studied business and accounting and finished with an excellent result. Lucien's ex fiancee.

It'd taken only a day for me to get all the information I needed on her. I knew where she lived and how I could get to her, but that would be a bad idea. She already didn't want to see me. And for good reason.

I sounded like a broken record when I was trying to explain myself to her two nights ago. How could I explain what I didn't understand? Why on earth would I go after Davina when I knew that she and Lucien had something going on? I loved to tease him, but I had my boundaries.

The memory of that night made me cringe so badly, I wanted to bury myself somewhere. I noticed some of the passing glances some pack members give me, and I honestly couldn't blame them. I made a complete fool of myself in the most horrible way. So far from my usual behavior.

Still, I couldn't stop thinking of her.

The way her beautiful hair framed her face. Jade eyes that reminded me of beautiful crystals. And when I'd touched her... I clenched my fists as if I could still feel the sparks. It was amazing.

Even though I wouldn't just go to her pack now, I wasn't giving up on her. I needed a plan— one that would help me get close to her without having to lose my head in the process.

After thinking for a while, I remembered Sienna. I had no idea if they knew each other before, but they seemed pretty close during the ball. I caught footages of them when I was busy searching all the cameras to find out where she went after leaving the hall.

I tried so hard not to think about the particular footage of her, sandwiched between vehicles and crying alone. The image pricked my chest in ways that made me uncomfortable.

The door opening broke the spiral of thoughts my mind was falling into, and Dominic stepped in. All 6'5 of muscles and a permanent frown.

As if his face wasn't already unpleasant enough as it was, his brows were creased tighter than usual. He'd been pissed at me for 'making a fool of myself' at the ball and left him to clean up the mess. "Alpha Gabriel is here to see you."

"Ah, classic Dad." I already knew what Alpha Gabriel—my father— was here for. "Cannot see drama and not stick his nose in it."

Dominic's disapproving growl made me look up at him.

"Go on. Say what you have in mind."

He didn't hesitate. "When are you going to talk about what happened two nights ago with Davina Carson? In front of thousands of guests, you claimed her as your mate even when she kept correcting you. Hell, you were going to fight Alpha Lucien. What the hell was that?"

My mood dampened to somewhere in the negatives. "I lost control."

"Bullshit!" Dominic seethed. "You never lose control. Not like that. Something happened."

My eyes narrowed at him. I wondered if I should tell him about me finding my mate or not. It wasn't his business, and his attitude right now wasn't encouraging. On the other hand, he was my Beta, and I'd never kept anything from him.

"I found my mate."

I expected something from him. A frown, disbelief, curse, anything. But he just stared at me like I haven't uttered anything.

"You know." Not a question.

He shrugged. "I had my suspicions that night. And I saw you go after her. Then you've strangly been interested about details of the pack house of the Phantom stars pack."

I hissed. "Could be anything."

His face softened for the first time since that distaster of a ball. "Yeah. Anything like a certain five feet eight brunette?"

Something I couldn't describe curled around my chest. "She's 5'7. And she's not a brunette. Her hair is auburn. How can you even mistake that?" Long, luscious, beautiful auburn hair that I'd imagined wrapping around my fist an unhealthy amount of times. If she could read my thoughts right now, she'd probably stump me with the sharp tip of her heels.

My lips tugged up at that thought.

Lorraine had been hurt, but there was still enough fire in her eyes to fuck me up. Even though I was at the receiving end of her anger, a part of me was excited by it. The other part was drowning in guilt.

"Alpha!" A slam of Dominic's hands on my desk made me blink, and he came into focus. I'd been so lost in my thoughts that I forgot he was standing right in front of me. He seemed to have been saying things that I was too lost in my thoughts to pick up. And as usual, Dominic didn't look pleased about it. "Alpha Gabriel is here."

I was happy to forget about that detail.

In five minutes, my father was in my office. The simple way to describe him was the older version of me. Same 6'3 height, same broad shoulders and solid muscles, same physique. The only difference was that while I still had a head full of dark hair, he had a speck of grey at both sides of his head. And while my blue eyes were warm, his eyes were icy.

He sat across me, and we spent two good minutes staring each other down, both too proud to give the first word. After a few more moments of testosterone war, Gabriel conceded.

"The whole pack is talking about how you messed up in the mating ball you hosted. Such behaviour is unbecoming of an Alpha. You placed our pack in such bad light and left a huge mess for the media to feast on. You..." He continued to ramble on, and I did what I'd always done during such conversations. I tuned him out.

That was until I got tired of his presence entirely.

"I thought you had places to visit," I said, and he regarded me with an unpleasant stare.

My father and I didn't get along on anything. He would always criticize everything I did, my choices, the company I keep, my businesses—even though they were doing exceptionally well. Sometimes he even criticizes minor issues such as the food I ate for breakfast and the kind of clothes I wear.

No matter what I did, it's a guarantee that Gabriel Montari would find some fault in it. I'd accepted that, and I now I didn't give a shit what he thought. I was even surprised when he decided to retire and pass the position to me instead of being scared that I would light a match somewhere and burn the whole pack to the ground.

"You're no longer Alpha. You should allow yourself liberty to enjoy the rest of your life."

His face hardened, jaws clenching. "There's nothing to enjoy."

Just one sentence, and it felt like the oxygen in the room had been sucked out.

We both knew what he was talking about. We both knew how that thing had broken our family and driven us so far apart.

"Do better, son," he said through gritted teeth, his knuckles tightening on the arm of his chair. "I'll see myself out."

My father stood, turned away and walked out of the room, while I slumped back into my seat. A full ache settled in my chest, spreading it's reach until I felt like I was being suffocated by the pressure.

I let out a puff of air, deciding in an instant that I was going to reach out to Lorraine.

I had better things to do with my time, but nothing seemed more instead than that Red head with a sharp tongue.