Burning the Alpha

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I hadn't noticed the fireplace the first time I had visited the pack house. I noticed it now, because this time, it housed a roaring flame.

"Ah, sweet fire." Without waiting for whatever mortal niceties the occupants may have been interested in exploring, I went and shoved my hands straight into the flame.

At this point, I feel it's prudent to put a disclaimer; in case any of you kids at home may be interested in following my example.

One. Don't put your hands on raw flames. It doesn't work the same for other beings as it does for me. In fact, even extreme heat - without fire - has been known to do catastrophic damage. And two. Do pay attention to mortal niceties. It's becoming apparent to me that these things can have an impact on how others perceive you, and, by extention, how they act towards you.

There were screams. Taller humanoids covered the eyes of smaller humanoids, some of them also turned their heads away from me.

Here I was, thinking we were all in this together. I hadn't seen them sprout fur and grow snouts or whatever, but I wasn't planning on making a big deal about it when it happened.

"It's okay." Shaun had his hands raised, presumably to get everyone's attention. "She's all good with fire. She's not trying to hurt herself."

At this point, it occured to me that Shaun may not have communicated some rather pertinent information about me to his people. I also wondered what sort of collective trauma these people must have suffered to have such a large reaction to something as inane as someone sticking their hands into a fireplace.

"If you'll follow me?" Shaun's attention was back on me.

I had absolutely no interest in leaving my little hearth, but I had agreed to let Shaun say his piece, so I let him lead me back to his little office.

Shaun closed the door behind us, and I took the same seat I had sat in before. Instead of doing the same, he stood behind his chair and ran a hand over his face.

"The moon-goddess has a sick sense of humour." He said, after a moment of just watching me. "You are so selfish."

"Selfish is a very mor--." I started to say, but he interrupted me.

"Don't tell me about how 'selfish is a very mortal concept'." He growled, there was something quite animalistic in the way his mouth snapped at me. "You just stood there and let him kill your friend. You all but gave him permission to kill all of us. You heard him boast about killing me father. You did nothing. Why would the moon-godess pair me with such a self-absorbed...self-involved...self-seeking..."

He trailed off. I had a question:

"What do you imagine I could have done?"

His eyebrows shot up, exhibiting surprise. "Seriously? Stop him! Kill him!"

"I don't know how to kill him." I said. "I don't think I can."

"What do you mean you don't know how to kill him?" He demanded. "By your own account, you've existed for thousands of years...and before me, you'd never met a werewolf...you spend so much time at the library...what have you been doing all this time?"

It sounded like we had a lot to unpack. Unsure where to start, I settled on the library.

"I've only been going since the internet got better." I said quietly.

"Okay. So. What have you been researching?" He asked.

"Research...oh...no...that's not what I'm doing..." I had made a mistake. We were heading into dangerous territory.

"So, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Looking...at pictures." I answered.

"Pictures of what?" He asked.

I didn't want to give him the answer. "Pictures of fire."

Shaun swore under his breath and wiped his hand over his face again. I pulled out my lighter and played with the flame as I waited on him to say whatever he needed to say.

"You mean to tell me," he finally said, "that you have spent your entire existence," he started listing things off on his fingers, "keeping to yourself. Not interacting with the creatures around you, be they mortal or immortal. Not asking questions. Not trying to learn anything about the world around you. In single-minded pursuit... of...fire?"

"Well...sort of....until River...I guess that's more or less...accurate..." I felt compelled to try and explain myself. "You have to understand, I spent my first few thousand years simply, burning. It's all I need, Shaun."

"If fire is all you need," he came to take a seat in front of me now, "how did you end up with the river-god?"

"He's not a river-god." I responded. "He's just a water-nymph. I've met plenty of others just like him...or...water nymphs...I've met other water nymphs..."

"Okay." He leaned forward. "Where are they now?"

"I couldn't tell you," was my answer.

"You are so infuriating." He growled, leaning ever closer. "Why do I want you so much."

Very slowly, it became apparent to me that he may have started to get distracted from whatever we were meant to be talking about. Stranger still, I realised I was struggling to focus on anything but the look on his face.