Her Broken Alpha Prince (Book 18 of The Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 1

The day couldn't get much more boring. What had started out as a perfect sunny warm day had quickly become stuffy and monotonous. Dark clouds had rolled in, covering the sun and causing the humidity to become stifling. Then, they'd opened up and dumped a deluge on the city, flooding away good moods and even tempers. The evening commute promised to be wet and sticky, plastering business attire to places it didn't belong.

Knox Remington sat quietly in the meeting room up on the eighty-third floor of the Skyreach Building, half listening to the old man up at the front. Mr. Rhodes was his name, and he'd been droning on for four hours now, giving a presentation that Knox could have done in thirty minutes or less. He was half tempted to get up and walk out, but that wouldn't go over well with anyone.

He'd occasionally allow himself to look out at the Montreal skyline, as the view from this high up was absolutely spectacular, and about the only interesting thing that was happening up on the eighty-third floor that afternoon. Knox was over the meeting and over the day. If he was able to have a headache, he was pretty sure he'd have a migraine right about now.

His gaze darted to Dominic, wondering if he was just as bored. Dominic looked like he was enjoying himself though, like this was the most interesting meeting he'd ever attended. What an ass. Knox was half tempted to throw a pencil at him. See if Dom could catch it with his cat-like reflexes. Fucker probably could without even looking Knox's way. Are you enjoying this? You look thoroughly engaged.

Not at all, but it's better that we look like we are, Dominic responded, his attention still completely on Mr. Rhodes. The old windbag has repeated himself so many times, I tuned him out a couple of hours ago. This meeting is about as pointless as the G in lasagna. Haven't you learned by this point to look like you're completely enthralled?

Knox almost snickered at that, but kept his face serene. He could at least do that, or try. They needed a 'How to Be Engaged in Boring Ass Meetings, Or At Least Look Like You Are' course in college. Or maybe 'How Not To Bore The Shit Out Of Others During Presentations.' Mr. Rhodes should definitely attend that course.

It was days like today that made Knox question his life decisions. Why had he thought getting into the business side of his pack was the better choice? Why had he thought wearing expensive suits, and having dinners at ridiculously expensive restaurants was the way to go? Because he was like his brother in that regard. Go all out and impress the hell out of his competition. Make them realize they were about to be steamrolled. He did enjoy that aspect of it. Probably more than he should but oh well. He was an Alpha blooded werewolf and at the top of the food chain. He enjoyed coming out on top.

But back to the never ending meeting. Knox was starting to think he might die in this room. Immortal or not. He was never leaving. But he knew this deal was important and he was supposed to at least look like he was paying attention. Whether he was or not. And frankly, he felt like Mr. Albert Rhodes had lost the plot sixty-two "You Know"s ago. The man loved that term and Knox wondered if he was aware of how often he used it. Probably not. Poor Mrs. Rhodes. He wondered if Mr. Rhodes had ever heard the expression Time Is Money. Knox somehow doubted it.

Knox had just graduated with a business degree earlier that year. He had contemplated when he was growing up exactly what he wanted to do with his life. Becoming a pack liaison was what most of the younger members of his pack did as the older pack members grew tired of dealing with Alpha bullshit (or at least that's what his brother said), but Knox had decided to go work for Remington Enterprises instead.

The company had been started by Knox's father as a way to sustain the pack. Between his father, Caleb, and his brother, Daniel, they'd made enough wise business decisions to make the company worth trillions.

His father did very little work for them anymore and spent most of his time traveling with his mother now. His brother still ran things some but even he had slowed down with the business. His great nephew, Malachi, had walked away completely from Remington Enterprises as he was now the Alpha King and busy with that huge responsibility.

Knox was actually surprised that Dominic was still active but Dom had told him business was in his blood and he'd been doing it all of his life. It felt wrong to quit. Dom was old. Knox wasn't quite sure how old he was, but he was older than Knox's father, Caleb, and that was saying something. He had his own business, and owned some hotels all over the world. He was wealthy outside the pack, and had brought his business sense to the table when he'd joined Regal Eclipse. Dominic Beckham wasn't a werewolf, but he was a panther shifter. He was also mated to the Alpha King's sister and was family.

But Remington Enterprises had grown quite a bit in the last twenty years or so, and the help was needed. His father and brother had both encouraged him to go to school for business and to work for the company. He taken an interest in it when he was a teenager. He had a good head for both numbers and business.

The meeting finally drew to a close and Knox breathed a sigh of relief. He was starting to think that Mr. Rhodes was planning a sleepover with them so that he could keep the meeting going. Bring in sleeping bags and snacks. Maybe a movie later.

Maybe he really didn't like Mrs. Rhodes and just liked to stay at work all the time. Knox wondered if the man slept in his office.

He stood up with Dominic, shaking hands with the top people in the company that they were about to acquire. Humans were all about shaking hands; werewolves not so much. But they had to pretend to be human, something Knox found less than thrilling sometimes.

Not one person in the room was aware that neither Knox nor Dominic were not human. That Knox was a Prince, and could step up and rule the werewolf community if he had to. Not that it would ever happen. Kyra was next in line for the throne. She was Knox's great niece.

Knox was the odd one out in the fact that he'd been a surprise. The second surprise for his parents. His brother had great, great grandchildren and Knox was twenty-two.

"Thank you so much for coming," Mr. Rhodes said. "I apologize for getting a little long-winded there."

A little? Sir, you went above and beyond. Of course Knox didn't say that. He didn't say anything.

Dominic smiled at Mr. Rhodes. "It's no problem. There are a handful of things that need to be reviewed by Daniel Remington and then we'll be in touch."

Daniel was still the CEO of the company, though Knox knew he and Caleb had discussed turning it over to Knox on down the road. He was sort of in a good position to run it, as he was heavily involved with Remington Enterprises and didn't have to worry about being the Alpha King one day. He was still young, and had yet to find his Mate and wasn't worried about pups either.

Mr. Rhodes nodded. "I look forward to hearing from you." He turned to Knox. "Please put in a good word with your brother for me, Mr. Remington."

"Of course Mr. Rhodes." Knox shook hands with him, then turned and followed Dominic out of the meeting room. It felt good just to get up out of that damn uncomfortable chair and stretch his legs. They walked down the hall and boarded the elevator. The doors closed and he breathed out a small sigh of relief. "That was four hours of my life that I'll never get back. You know?"

Dominic laughed. "Yeah I'm glad that meeting Is over. Mr. Rhodes is a good honest man but that man can talk the hind leg off of a mule."

"That's an understatement," Knox deadpanned. But Dom was right about Mr. Rhodes. It was one of the reasons Daniel was so interested in the company. Because of Mr. Rhodes' integrity.