Burning the Alpha

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"Why would you follow me?" I hissed. "I could have killed you."

"That was amazing," he said, coming closer to me. "You're amazing."

"You could have died." I was acutely aware of his peril, whilst he appeared to be oblivious. "Tell me you understand."

"You would never hurt me," he answered, shaking his head.

I closed the distance between us, checking my temperature before taking hold of his hand. "I would never want to, Shaun, but I... I can't always..."

He gently brushed his lips against mine.

"Don't distract me, this is important," I said, pulling my head back.

He pulled he head back as well, but he regarded my face with a watchful smile.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing." He pressed his lips to mine again, and ran his hands down my arms until they came to rest on my waist. "I'm listening to the important thing you need to tell me."

"Yes...good...because..." I couldn't remember what I was meant to be saying. I let my arms come up to wrap around his neck. It was odd to realise that I really didn't really care about anything but his lips in that moment.

This was a new experience for me. Shaun was like fire. I wanted to consume - and be consumed by - him. I ran my fingers through his hair, pushing closer to his body.

He groaned against my lips. "I want you, so much."

I was about to say something about maybe wanting the same thing, when he yelped and pulled away from me.

"What - what is it - what's wrong?" I asked, not enjoying the sudden lack of him.

His hands hovered at his neck. "It's nothing."

Even with my limited understanding of humanoids, I could tell he was lying. I walked around him to examine his neck. Red scorch marks in the shape of fingers. My fingers.

"I hurt you," I murmured, as an unusual emotion washed over me. "I...I regret that I did that."

He put his hands out, not realising that they also had scorch marks on them. "It's okay."

He took a step towards me, but I stepped back.

"No, don't-- don't do that," he said, taking another step towards me. He indicated back to his neck. "Look, I heal fast, see? No harm done."

He wasn't wrong. His burnt red flesh cooled and returned to its healthy colour in front of my eyes.

In retrospect, this was one of those moments where a different choice may have saved us all a lot of trouble. I could have argued that the ability to recover quickly from any injury I may inflict did not make it okay. Maybe I should have simply gone full elemental and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. There were a myriad of other options that may have had better outcomes, instead, I took his outstretched hand and walked with him back towards his pack house.

I think we both knew something was wrong as we came into sight of our destination. Shaun's body seemed to tense, his steps slowed, and I noticed him taking deeps breaths through his nose. For me, it was like the air grew denser, heavier, less...flammable. Shaun and I exchanged a look, and it was clear that we were both on edge.

He snarled the word we were both thinking.

"River."

And there he was, standing in the doorway of the pack house, with one hand on my favourite little mortal's shoulder, and the other around her throat.

"Get your hands off her." Shaun growled from beside me.

Most of my attention was on River and the girl, but in my periphery I detected an odd shakiness rolling off Shaun.

River showed his teeth in what I expect was supposed to be some kind of smile. "You better get your boy, Avril," he said. "His canines are showing."

"I will tear you to pieces." Shaun's voice had a gutteral rumble to it at this point.

River laughed. "I would love to see you try." His grip tightened around the girl's throat. Her little hands gripped his fingers, toes struggling to stay connected to the ground.

"Let the girl go, River," I said, stepping in front of Shaun. "This is between you and me."

"Is it, though?" he asked. "It seems to me that these mortals have distracted you from our arrangement. I figure I remove the mortals, I remove the distraction. Problem solved."

The little girls tears turned red.

"No!" I yelled. "River, stop! You don't have to do this!"

"You're right," he sighed, "I don't have to do anything. But I think we both know I want to."

Blood started pouring from her nose.

"Avril, Stop him!" Shaun growled from behind me.

I could feel my temperature rising, I could feel the water particles in the air expanding and rising to get away from me. I took a step towards River. He laughed again, tightening his hold on the girl.

That's when I realised, there was nothing I could do. That is to say, nothing I could do to save the girl's life. If I waited, River would kill her. If I tried to fight - fire is too chaotic - it was far too likely that I'd kill her myself.

The girl coughed. I was standing close enough for her blood to splatter onto my shirt.

"I'll go with you!" I screamed without even thinking. "Stop this, and I'll leave with you now. I swear to you, River, she's all you've got. You kill her, and I don't care how much destruction I have to cause to take you out, River, I promise you, I'll do it."

He loosened his grip. "I have your word. I let her go, and you come with me, and never run away again?"

"Yes," I nodded, to emphasise my assent. "Whatever you want. Just let her go."

I heard Shaun say something like, 'Avril, no,' behind me, but that didn't really make sense to me, and much more of my focus was trained on saving the little girl who was currently bleeding out in front of me.

River kept one hand on her throat, but reached the other out to me. I took hold of his hand and watched as he let the girl fall to the ground. A weeping mortal rushed forward and took her into her arms.

"Good." River stepped out of the doorway and turned me around. "We have a plane to catch."

"A plane?" I echoed River's words in confusion, slightly distracted by the look on Shaun's face.

Shaun reached out to me, and my own fingers were just able to graze his as River pulled me past him.

"Yes, the plane." River continued, seemingly unaware of the interaction between me and Shaun. "We've finally found it, Avril. I've found it."