Burning the Alpha

CHAPTER NINE

Needless to say, nothing happened.

Well...I mean...he looked at me for a bit, he stood up, and then he laughed. But apart from that, there was no pain, no mystical severing of bonds. Nothing.

"Firstly," he explained, once he had finished laughing, "I do not accept your rejection. And secondly, you have to use your true name."

"But..." I'm not sure I'd ever been so confused. "I don't know my true name...I don't think I have one..."

"Then, I'm not sorry to say, I guess you're stuck with me." He responded.

"But..." To be honest, I was stumped, but it was important that I get through to him. "Okay, please listen to me, I need you to hear this."

He sat back down. "I'm listening."

"Okay..." Where to begin. "I haven't been entirely straight with you..."

"Go on..."

"I'm...I'm involved... I'm otherwise spoken for." I kept going. "I'm messed up with a higher power...look, it's all far beyond your tiny, mortal comprehension...just trust me...and...tell me how to reject you properly."

He was smirking.

"You may be finding this amusing, but honestly, this is dangerous..." I took out my lighter and started playing with the flame. "I'm involved with a dangerous man. He will kill you."

He watched me pass the flame from one hand to the other.

"You have a partner?" He asked.

"Well....sure...yes. Yes, I have a partner." I answered.

"And you love him?" He pressed.

Love? What a ridiculous question...

"Love is...a very mortal concept..." We were getting distracted. "The point is: I am timeless. He is timeless. You will be dead soon - sooner, if you don't reject me and move on with your life."

Whew. I don't believe I'd ever spoken so many words in such a small amount of time in my entire existence, but I needed him to understand.

He sat there quietly, still watching me pass the flame from one hand to the other, hopefully letting my words sink in.

He frowned, and opened his mouth to speak, but a commotion outside the room brought our conversation to an abrupt halt.

"Where is she?" It was River's voice.

I rushed forward to stop Shaun from opening the door. I clasped my hands together, attempting the human sign for begging.

"Maybe this is all fun and games to you." I whispered urgently. "But please, for the love of all that is good - for the love of your own life, for the love of whatever you value most - please. Please, stay in this room. No matter what you hear. Even better, if you get the chance to do it without drawing attention, run. Run for your life. But only if it's safe."

"Avril!" River shouted, followed by a crashing sound. "Avril, I know you're here!"

"Please." I whispered, eyes trained on Shaun's.

He looked very displeased, but he pressed his lips together and relented with a single nod.

'Thank you.' I mouthed, as I opened the door and stepped out of the office.

River had knocked over a trolley. The body lay splayed, unceremoniously uncovered on the ground

"River. What...? This is my place of work. You need to leave." I'm not sure what I was hoping to achieve, it only made him worse.

He threw his weight behind another trolley, sending the body on it flying.

"Young man, I really must object." Reg walked towards him with his arms out, as if to placate him. "This is most inappropriate."

River waited until Reg was in range, then grabbed him by the throat and pulled him into his chest, so they were both facing me.

"What did I tell you about the werewolf?" He growled.

Reg met my eyes and mouthed the word 'werewolf?'

"Reg is not a werewolf, River. Please, let him go. He's only human." I tried to reason with him.

'Human?" Reg mouthed.

"Don't play dumb with me, Avril, you know what I'm talking about." River spat out.

"I had to talk to him, for work." I answered. "We lost his father's body, for fire's sake." Turning the attention back to him, I added, "you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you, River?"

"Oh, you want to know what happened to the werewolf's father?" River's grip tightened around Reg's throat. "Why don't I show you how it started?"

"Please, stop."

"See, he did something I didn't like." As River spoke, Reg's nose started bleeding. "So I took him by the throat, not unlike how I've got your friend here." Blood started pouring out of Reg's eyes.

"Stop it, River." I was begging now. "Please. Stop. He hasn't done anything to you. He's an innocent."

"And I called all the water out of his body." River finished.

Reg coughed, splattering blood all over the floor.

"Any more questions?" It was phrased like a question, but it was clearly a challenge.