Frustrated, he spoke firmly. “My King. You've just heard it yourself. I have nothing to give you. Absolutely nothing to offer you.”

“I disagree. I need an alpha.”

“No.” He stiffened his arms at his side and shook his head. “What you need is someone to give you children – and I'm very probably certain that I can't.”

“We can get a doctor to look into that later.”

“What? Wait. No, my King. No. I cannot.... You cannot get what you want from me, and I cannot get what I need from you.” He fumbled over his words. “You need someone public – and I need to be where I belong.” He waved his hand to behind him. “Right back where I was. In a mundane job. I wake up every day, go to work, and do mundane paper tasks and filing, and then I go home. Maybe I read a book. And then I wake up and do it all again the next day. I have nothing to offer you.”

“You do not want to be public?”

“No!” He caught himself from shouting. “No, my King. I want to remain unknown – I am not a celebrity, or famous, or have anything related to extrovertedness built into me. My King, you cannot have an anonymous parent of your children. An anonymous person to marry. You need someone public.”

“I see...” He nodded his chin barely. But the expression on his face told the young man that it was taking the king some effort to really understand that he was being turned down. “You have said what I need. An alpha. But what do you need?”

“I... I would need...” He fumbled over his words. “Well, I don't have a list right now, cause I've never really thought about it, but most basic and important, I – I guess I would need to remain mundane.”

The king stared at him.

He stiffened himself. “My King... I... I have nothing to offer you, and you cannot give me what I need. This...” He steeled himself. “This will not work. I... I am sorry.” He opened the door to the very private room, went down the stairs and hurried his way out of the palace.