The sick stench hit him first. Clearly, an alpha was here. 

Belen paused, turning back around before he could even spot him. 

“What am I supposed to do?” He whisper-yelled at Caleb.

Caleb just stared at him and shrugged his shoulders. How unhelpful. 

Before Belen could freak out even further though, he heard a deep voice grumbling something along the lines of “Are you kidding me?”

Now remembering his plan and how he has to annoy the alpha, he quickly turned around to look him head-on. He was going to overcome his cowardly nature, or well, to the best of his ability to achieve freedom. 

“Holy shit you’re tall!”

It wasn’t like Belen himself wasn’t tall, just that this alpha was fucking huge. What kind of milk did he drink? Because Belen could confirm that he had never seen anything like it. 

Taking a big step back, Belen immediately regretted his words when he saw the alpha’s face.

With utter displeasure, the alpha responded, “Is he really who I’m supposed to marry?”

Gravely offended, Belen did his best impression of a pelican dying.

While Belen’s reaction wasn’t exactly a surprise as it wasn’t hard to tell that he was a total weirdo after a minute with him, Caleb stepping in front of him was. 

Belen could only see the side of his (previous) best friend’s face, but was able to recognize the clear expression of anger. Did he really think this was the moment to step up and not, you know, when Belen was being sold off?

“I don’t get what you’re trying to say.” They clearly all knew that the alpha was making fun of Belen, but Belen figured that Caleb was just trying to dig him into a deeper hole. 

The alpha only huffed back at him. His dark brown hair swayed over his eyes as he did so, accentuating his sharp jawline. Damn him and his handsome face. 

Belen, having witnessed the interaction from the side, could easily tell that Caleb was about to lose, and being the benevolent friend that he was, stepped back in front of him. The plan would only work if he made pleasant with the alpha, or at least until the woman, supposedly his mother, left. After all, he was relying on actually spending enough time with the alpha before their marriage to annoy him enough to break it off. 

“A pleasure to meet you,” he bowed down before the alpha. Knowing that the woman was watching beside them, he sneakily put up his middle finger towards the boy. 

Surprise sprung upon the alpha’s face but he quickly schooled it to a face of indifference. 

The woman, having momentarily stopped her brooding to watch them interact, carefully analyzed their reaction to each other, and took a deep breath. She seemed pleased, whatever that meant. It certainly didn’t bode well for Belen. 

“I know you won’t be the best of friends, and I’m not exactly in agreement with the idea, but your marriage has already been decided. You can’t go back now. Therefore, you will have to at the very least tolerate each other,” she paused. “But, I won’t have to worry about that as long as you can… control yourselves.” As she said so, her face darkened into a grave expression. 

Belen, having internally freaked out at the imposition, paused before turning back to the alpha and waiting for someone to start speaking. He didn’t even know his name after all, and he certainly didn’t want to call him “alpha” for all that he believed the boy was above him. 

The alpha glared at the woman and then turned around to leisurely walk away. Not quite how Belen thought their introduction would go, but he was glad that the boy was already annoyed at him. He could then quickly further aggravate him enough to get him to turn down their marriage. 

What he did wonder about was why he would treat his mother that way though. Was he such a rude person that he would even disgrace his own mother?

The woman sighed and then gestured for both Caleb and Belen to walk after her. 

They walked for a long while around the large house, Belen now less caring about the creepy features and dark corridors. When the woman finally stopped again and turned to talk to him, she had steeled back her face to a murderous expression. Obviously, this woman had bipolar disorder or something because she was switching out emotions like they were cigarettes and she was a chain smoker. 

“This is where you’ll be staying. Your accompaniment will be staying with you, so do not fret, though I’d imagine you would anyway. You are certainly not safe in this house. I can assure you that.” Leaving it at that, she walked away before either of them could retort. 

Already done with the day, Belen could feel his bravery crawling back inside. Now was definitely not the time to do so, but his withering soul had had too much. He started to regret his fight with Caleb as he felt the need for someone to rely on. 

But, as always, Belen stopped himself before he reached out. He was too prideful and far too scared of rejection to risk himself doing something so brash. 

Caleb opened the door first, clearly not worrying in the same way Belen was. He had already had enough of Belen’s dramatics apparently and pulled him in before Belen could dig himself into a hole of self-pity.