Call Me Fire

CHAPTER 8

WHEN TONYA FIRST HEARD of the word 'alpha' and the name 'Brutus' after it, she initially imagined a very tall man, packed with hard muscles and with a full-grown facial beard.

She also thought about those actors in Hollywood who were usually cast as lumberjacks, gladiators, and wrestlers. A man riding his white horse while wearing shiny armor, a mighty sword clinging to his belt, and a red cape flapping against a beautiful castle backdrop.

He should be charming, strong, and oozing with a kind of appeal irresistible to the rest of womankind. The type that would make girls cry just because of a smirk, a simple turn of his head, or maybe by the way he gracefully walked into a room and silently filled it with his unquestionable virility.

That was how Tonya envisioned an alpha.

It might have been an unconscious reaction, but yes, she was anticipating someone as good-looking as Fire to grace that medieval conference room when a servant made a royal announcement that the alpha had arrived.

She was holding her breath when the huge wooden double door finally made that first creak. Her senses were at full alert too when the heavy end of it dragged against the marble floor, ever so slowly, that it made her tensed on her seat.

The feeling was similar to opening a present on Christmas Eve.

Magical.

Slow.

And so full of beautiful guesses.

Until the door completely flapped open and Tonya ended up frozen with her jaw ajar in disbelief. 'Holy mother of Eff—'

"Is that the mortal the Escovian brought in?" Brutus' voice sounded a little less high-pitched than a mouse squeak when he began walking in. He was waddling left and right with every step, like a penguin. However, that wasn't even half of what turned Tonya into a gawking statue yet.

Firstly, Brutus was the third person to call her 'mortal' within a span of three hours. Having to hear mortal, alpha, beta, and all other words that normal people don't use was enough to drive her half crazy.

Secondly, the Alpha's high-pitched voice was a complete irony for his height. He was barely two feet tall! Far shorter than the normal midgets she had seen lurking in the town hall and that castle's hallway earlier.

Lastly, the man she anticipated to take her breath away looked like a two-year-old baby with the face of a fifty-year-old grumpy man. Flat emotion over his naturally creased face. His eyes were green under his bushy brown brows. His nose was round, and it looked like a ripe tomato. And for the cherry on top, he got the scalp that outshone all the other scalps she had seen her entire life. It was a circle and illegally smooth—like a helipad on top of his head.

"Albert, push me up," Brutus rasped after a full minute of jumping up and down before his royal chair. His vertical challenge was so real to Tonya as she watched the midget waggle and wiggle his feet in the air while clinging to the cushion.

"Certainly, Your Highness." As per command, Albert, who happened to be sitting next to Tonya, jumped as fast as he could from his seat. He then shuffled like a penguin to where Brutus was. One huff followed by a grunt, and the younger midget, whom she had learned was also the Beta, pushed the older man's butt with all his might.

She knew that the two men were having a hard time. However, for a moment there, all that registered to Tonya were two tiny men who looked like Lego blocks packed one above the other.

'This is Alpha Brutus? Seriously?' She blinked her eyes. Then, afraid to appear arrogant to the midgets, she looked away and pretended to observe the whole place. 'Are these guys kidding me? That can't be an alpha. He looks like a key chain!'