I'm dead without you

Dorian McCallister wanted to go home. The thirty-seven-year-old man was exhausted, homesick, and honestly quite drunk.

Dorian didn't usually get drunk. But the stress before the purchase of K-records, and the relief that the deal went through made Dorian feel the alcohol more than he used too. His employees weren't late to take advantage of this, and after dinner at the neighbourhood restaurant outside the office, they took him to a flashy nightclub in Soho.

Dorian found himself standing at the bar, and in front of him was a long line of shots. Jane Gray, the young star of the company, was on his right, and Elliot Hendricks, the label's Vice President, and Dorian's best friend were on the left. Beside them stood their colleagues, who had worked hard for over a year with the business with K-records.

"Okay, we'll get three each. Here we go," Jane screamed, counting down from three.

At zero, they took the shots one by one, and Dorian grimaced badly and washed down the taste of Jägermeister with a light beer.

"Goddammit," he heard Elliot shout, and Dorian looked at the shorter man.

With his two meters, Dorian was taller than most, and his muscular body made him even more noticeable. If you asked people what the perfect alpha would be like, they would most likely describe someone like Dorian McCallister. He practically radiated both mental and physical superiority. Dorian was calm, there wasn't much that got him off-balance. He was also confident, and he made others feel safe. People respected and listened to him. Dorian McCallister was a Prime Alpha born into a blue-blooded family.

Elliot looked up at his best friend with tears in his eyes. He looked like he was being tortured.

"Of all things, why Jägermeister?"

"Bad memories?" Dorian had to speak loudly so that Elliot could hear him over the blasting music.

The fast beats from the EDM tone streamed from the speakers, and the men immediately recognized the track that played. It was a top performer from their own label.

Elliot, who was the same age as Dorian and his classmate from college, nodded.

"Don't you remember, after the Graduation Party? You, me, Katie and Finian went to that little club by the river. We drank Jägermeister until we vomited, and Finian fell asleep in a bush."

Dorian remembered what Elliot talked about and laughed at the memory.

"Yeah, I remember now! I had to carry Finian on my back all the way home. Wasn't that the night you proposed to Katie?"

Elliot nodded and had a big smile on his face, the horrible Jägermeister experience long forgotten. Dorian knew how much Elliot still loved his wife Katie, who was Dorian and Finian's childhood friend from Middle School. Both Elliot and Katherine or Katie as they called her, were betas. They had two beautiful children, twin boys and was a loving couple.

"She would definitely kill me if she saw where we are," the Vice President said with a laugh, looking across the dance floor.

Dorian followed his gaze. Everywhere intoxicated twenty-year old's danced, their bodies close to each other, huddled together. It was unusual to see such a mix of alpha, beta, and even some omegas. Usually, they often kept to themselves and had their 'own' clubs, but this place was different. And people were kissing like they were trying to devour each other, and it looked like several were close to tearing each other's clothes off.

"Isn't this a wonderful place, Boss?" Jane said. The short blonde woman had to stand on her toes and shout for Dorian to be able to hear her.

"Do you usually come here?" he asked the much younger woman.

Jane nodded. Her cheeks were red from the alcohol.

"Every weekend with my friends. Many come here to find a partner, but I just like the music."

Dorian understood she meant a partner for an omega's heat or an alpha's rut. Jane herself was an omega, and Dorian had received a lot of shit from others in the industry when he hired her as a Label Manager. Traditionally, only alphas worked as executives, sometimes even betas. But this was the first time a Record Company had hired an omega in such a high position. Dorian had seen an outstanding talent in the young woman and couldn't care less about her second gender.

"Do you want to dance?" she asked, her blue eyes glittering.

Dorian smiled at the young woman but shook his head.

"Maybe in a while."

Jane nodded in response, turned to the two women next to her, Lila from A&R and Yeo-reum from public relations, and brought them to the dance floor. Tyler Johnson, who had stood next to Elliot, followed them quickly, and Dorian and Elliot glanced at each other.

"He's so in love," Elliot said, taking a big sip of his beer.

"Yeo-reum is better at hiding it," Dorian smirked as he followed his younger colleagues with his gaze.

The company lawyer Tyler and Yeo-reum were in a relationship but hid it, even if the company had no restrictions against relationships between employees. Dorian didn't care about things like that at all. He figured it was none of his business, as long as people did their job. But Dorian had quickly discovered it, and of course, he had to go to Elliot and gossip about it.

The two grown men snickered and then stood silently for a while and listened to the music. Dorian felt completely relaxed. He was relieved that everything had worked out at work. It felt like a stone had been lifted from his shoulders. Now he could just focus on his family.

"Finian is pregnant," Dorian suddenly said.

Elliot turned and stared at him with wide eyes.

“What?”

At first, he thought Dorian was joking. But when Elliot thought about it, Dorian would never joke about something like that.

"He told me yesterday. The baby will be born this summer."

"What week is he in?"

"Twenty."

"Wow, already! And you didn't suspect anything?"

"Nope, nothing at all. Finian didn't know about it until a few days ago."

Elliot raised his glass of beer with a big smile on his face.

"Congratulations, buddy. Damn, two alphas with three kids! It has to be a world record. Cheers!"

"Yeah, probably is," Dorian said and toasted with his friend.

He smiled as he thought of his beloved, and again, he got struck by a deep longing for home, to his Finian. But he had also promised Finian to celebrate with his colleagues properly, so he drank the rest of his beer and looked at Elliot.

"Should we take the opportunity to dance a little before going home to our spouses?"

Elliot grinned and nodded.

"Hell yeah!"

Looking at his friend's excited expression as they walked towards the dance floor, Dorian was reminded of what it was like when they were younger. Their whole life had revolved around music. Dorian had produced music since he was a teenager, and when they met in business school, Dorian had already decided that he would start a record company. Elliot, who was an ace in business, quickly became involved in Dorian's plans. They went to gigs, clubs and gained experience and made connections all over the world. For several years, they spent more time in nightclubs than home, and the two men missed this.

Dorian and Elliot reached the dance floor and found their colleagues. Dorian caught the eyes of basically everyone around him, but that was something he was used to, so he ignored it. He was a Prime Alpha. There weren't that many in the world, and they usually didn't visit places like this club. Other alphas felt either threatened or impressed by Dorian, while omegas often felt a little anxious around him. But Dorian wasn't bothered by the attention he got. Drunk and happy, he danced with his best friend and the staff he was proud of.

It wasn't until after a while that he noticed a scent he hadn't felt before. It smelled of flowers and freshly cut grass. Like a meadow full of blooming spring flowers. Dorian stopped dancing and looked around. Where did this scent come from? He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply through his nose and moved his body in the direction from which the smell came. Dorian didn't open his eyes yet. He breathed in the unique scent, and it made him feel so calm. As if all the stress just melted away.

Dorian could feel something starting to grow inside his body. It began in the pit of his stomach, like a hunger awakened. It grew, and it spread. He became warm as if his temperature increased by several degrees. He felt dizzy and couldn't concentrate on anything but the scent. He knew what this was, but his rut shouldn't come in a month.

Dorian opened his eyes, and that's when he lost control.

Elliot first noticed that Dorian behaved very strangely when his friend had stood still for a good while with his eyes closed. He saw that the tall man was shaking lightly, and sweat was running down his face. Elliot laughed. At long last, he got to see the perfect Dorian McCallister completely hammered.

The brown-haired man was about to take a step closer to his friend when suddenly the air around them felt incredibly dense. He stared at Dorian and shivered with discomfort as he felt a large amount of pheromones secreted from the alpha.

Elliot became stiff with shock and surprise. What the hell was going on? Dorian wouldn’t go into a rut for a long time, and Finian wasn’t even there.

The people around them immediately felt the dominant aura around the alpha, and chaos erupted on the dancefloor. Some of the omegas started to run away in panic, while others crouched down on the floor in horror. They tried to hide behind betas and the alphas who didn’t run away. Some alpha stayed, growling, and ready to defend their partners.

The music stopped, and the sounds in the nightclub were like something from a horror movie. Screams mixed with sobs and growls.

“Dorian?” Elliot said cautiously and took a step toward his friend.

He could feel the strength from him, but since he was a beta, it didn’t affect him t much. Besides, this was his dearest friend. Elliot wasn’t afraid of him.

Suddenly Dorian opened his eyes. They were no longer calm, light blue. Instead, they were bright yellow. Dorian bared his teeth and growled, a dark, inhuman sound coming from deep within him.

All the alphas who remained answered the growling with their own, and the omegas screamed in terror.

“Elliot, what’s happening to Dorian?”

Elliot glanced over his shoulder. Yeo-reum stood behind him, the beta holding the crying Jane in her arms, looking at their boss with concern. Behind them, he saw Tyler holding a tight grip on Lila’s arms. Lila was also an alpha, and her eyes were as yellow as Dorian’s. She roared and stood in a defensive position. Froth was running from her mouth, and she shook with aggression.

“I don’t know,” Elliot answered, taking a step closer to his friend.

Dorian didn’t respond to his movement, and Elliot dared to move even closer until he could gently touch his friend’s arm. Dorian flinched but didn’t look at him. Relieved, Elliot let out a deep breath. Dorian didn’t see him as a threat.

“What’s going on buddy?”

Elliot didn’t get any response at all, and he didn’t understand what was happening. The only time he had seen Dorian lose control like this was when Finian was assaulted at a festival many years ago. But not even then was the reaction this strong.

Elliot saw Dorian staring intensely at something across the room, and he followed his gaze. There, on a couch, sat a black-haired man, and in front of him stood a tall, dark-skinned alpha in a defensive stance. Elliot had never seen either the alpha or the man on the couch. He watched them for a good while. It was a young man, who looked like he was from East Asia. His hair was jet-black and his physique slim, typical of an omega. But there was something that didn’t feel right about how the omega acted. He wasn’t afraid at all. He sat there on the couch, breathing very slowly, his eyes fixed on Dorian. He moved impatiently on the sofa, with one hand between his legs and the other behind his neck.

It didn’t’ t take long before Elliot started putting the pieces together, and when it hit him, he was filled with deep despair and gasped loudly.

“No, no! Please, no!” Elliot breathed in panic and looked up at his friend, eyes filled with tears.

“Dorian, who is that man?”

Dorian’s gaze didn’t’ let go of the man on the couch. He breathed so heavily that his whole body moved, and with a roar, he cried out.

“Mine!” And then he went to attack.