Tears in Red Wine

Chapter 1: The Fateful Meeting

It was a gloomy day in Brighton. Although that wasn't anything out of the usual. What was different about the english city that day was the presence of a short omega dressed for the wrong weather and completely lost.

Among the people in puffer jackets and rain coats, he stood out like a sore spot. The omega was wearing jeans, a tshirt, and navy blue beanie with the tips of his hair poking out from underneath it. His black eyes franticly searching for the office building he had to be in within fifteen minutes. 

"Alex! Don't forget the notes. And hurry, the meeting is about to start," a voice from his phone yelled into his ear.

Alex Quackity had stepped off the plane mere hours ago but was already receiving calls left and right. The film industry never waits and he had signed his soul away to it when he accepted the internship position he was now rushing too. The main problem was that he had never been to Brighton before and it took him ages to find any location. He was freezing and the map on his phone wasn't loading.

Alex was about to give up when he suddenly notice a familiar face desperately waving at him while jumping up and down. He strained his memory  for a moment. Of course! It was Karl, the other poor intern sent to the UK by the company. They had met at an event before and seen each others face during bi-weekly zoom meetings. Karl was an incredibly energetic young beta and Alex found himself relieved to be working with him. If there was a boring or tedious task, it wouldn't be so bad with the beta constantly cracking jokes and starting conversations. 

Alex rushed to where Karl was and they were soon catching up inside the warm building.

"Dude, it's great to see you but you look like an icicle!" Karl exclaimed.

"I know, I know. I'm gonna get a jacket right after work" 

"You better, I don't want to be the only intern here if you die of hypothermia!"

Alex rolled his eyes and both of the young males burst into laughter. 

It was nice being in a heated space. Alex looked around and mentally noted that the Brighton location was significantly nicer than the one in Los Angeles. It was smaller but also less crowded. Everything looked new and clean. He realized that even all the documents and folders on the shelves where color coded. The people however: everyone looked tired, cold, and depressed. He sighed, maybe it was the effect of the weather.

"Alex?"

Karl's voice startled Alex.

"I know it's your first time here but we gotta hurry, the meeting is starting!"

"Right, shit! Let's go."

They quickly walked into the conference room and sat at the very end on the table. The only two folding chairs in the space where meant for the interns. It seemed as though they won't get any special treatment here either. 

The meeting started. 

It was just the usual: greetings, introduction of the new project, task assignments, etc. It wasn't boring but it wasn't anything out of the usual.

Suddenly, a wall of pheromones hit Alex. An evergreen forest at dawn, burning wood, red wine. An alpha. No, it wasn't just an alpha. It was the alpha he waited for his whole life. The alpha he dreamed of when he was a teen and believed in love at first sight. He looked up from his notes and made eye contact  with the owner of the pheromones.