The Alpha's Siren Song

Chapter 46

"Who was it?" Easton demanded, instantly paling. The scent of chlorine still clung to his hair, but the laughter and joy that had filled the day was long gone. The frigid air between us froze my skin while the words chilled my heart.

Elliot's eyes moved to me before he answered, like he wasn't sure if I could handle the news of another life being lost. Another death coating my hands with blood. When Easton stared him down, unbothered with my presence, he relented. "It wasn't one of our own, it was east of here."

"How far?" Easton pressed.

"Not sure exactly, about an hour, maybe two from here."

"Just down the highway?"

"Yes, not too far off the main road, actually."

My pulse started to race and I thought of Easton's words to me a while ago. He had argued that Nero would come after me, no matter how far I fled. Easton had increased his own security and had the royals to protect him now. 

But there was someone that I had left in hopes of keeping them safe. 

Someone who had lived not too far from here, just off a main highway.

"Who died?" I asked, my voice quivering. "Who was it? What were they like?"

Easton immediately swept in, misinterpreting my words for hysteria. His arms was wrapped around my shoulders and he kissed my still wet hair in an effort to bring me back down. Maybe I was becoming hysterical. I didn't care. I needed to know. I needed to know if I had killed the person closest to me, the only person who cared for me after all those years.

"Elliot, take Kaia inside and stay with her until I get back."

"Alpha-" 

"Don't let her out of your sight, please." His voice was firm and steady, unlike the soft, tender way he spoke to me, next, a reverent hold on my shoulders that forced me to face him. "Kaia, I want you to go inside and have a bath and watch a movie. Remember our deal okay, no siren stuff tonight. I'm sure that Elliot would love to watch The Wizard of Oz with you, okay?"

I wanted to tell him that I refused to sit by idly. I wanted to tell him that the dead body could be someone that I loved more than myself. But when his green eyes poured into mine, I complied with a small nod. 

"Good, I'll be home soon, lass. I promise." Then his focus was back on Elliot. "Text me the information, I'll see what I can figure out."

Then he left me with a his second in command who wanted to be anywhere but here.

Once we were in the house, I turned on the kettle and glanced at the rich coffee grounds that Easton had bought for me. But I thought of my heart rate increasing and my anxiety flaring up with the added caffeine. I grabbed the blend of sleepy tea instead, thinking that anything with calming effects would be best. 

While the water boiled, I grabbed the landline and dialed Eddy's farmhouse number. 

It rang and rang and rang. I had used to tease him that he was getting old because he could never get to the phone fast enough. Now, each shrill sound made my heart rise higher and higher in my throat.

Finally, after a full minute, it went to the answering machine.

"Fuck!" I hissed.

"Hey, if you want pizza or something I can order it," Elliot offered.

I said nothing, trying to recall the number from Aberdeen. Maybe he wasn't home yet. Maybe he was actually taking his retirement seriously and everything was fine and I was just over reacting. Nero couldn't know about Eddy right? How would he even know? 

The digits dawned in my mind and I punched them in without a second thought.

It rang and rang, and rang. Just like the first phone call. 

And it went to an answering machine.

"Kaia, who are you trying to call?" Elliot asked.

I ignored him, willing my mind to come up with some positive spin. He was just traveling, that was all. He thought that I was never coming back, that I was never getting in contact with him again. He wasn't going to sit around and wait for me. He could be eating crepes under the Eiffel tower. He could be at a spa city in Czech for all I knew. He could be having the time of his life, finally having the down time he so deserved.

Or he could be dead. 

He could be cold and decomposing already. 

The man who had scooped me up without question could have been murdered in cold blood.

I began pacing. Ten steps forward, out of the kitchen, into the living room where Elliot was sitting, watching me. Ten steps back, into the kitchen with the steaming kettle that I would neglect. 

After a while, Elliot asked me to sit beside him.

I did as he asked, not wanting to frighten him with my behavior. Then I began gnawing on my fingernails, chewing so hard that some of my fingers bled. Elliot said nothing, just put in an order for pizza. When I had nothing left to chew on, I bounced my knee up and down and kept looking out the window, willing Easton to be pulling into the driveway. But when headlights did appear, it was just our pizza. Elliot tried to comfort me with putting on the movie that Easton suggested. 

Once we were passed the intro, I was on my feet, pacing again. 

I didn't stop until Easton opened the front door, looking as drained as I had ever seen him.

"Well, what did you find out?" Elliot asked right away.

"Not a lot, the pack wasn't aware of the situation and cleaned the dead body up pretty efficiently. But it was definitely Nero. So similar to the way he killed the family. Poor kid was hardly more than nineteen."

"A kid? A young kid?" I blurted.

"Yeah, real shame, so young," Easton murmured, his eyes distant.

The grief was so fresh and raw in his features. But the relief was so immense in my system. It was selfish, so selfish. Someone was dead. Someone was mourning their lost son, their brother, their boyfriend. 

But my someone was still alive. 

~~~Question of the Day~~~

What is the worst job you ever had?

I used to work at Walmart, but even that was topped by being a school photographer. Everyone hates the school photographer! Teachers didn't want to get their photos done, they hated the anarchy picture day caused. I was supposed to see two to three hundred kids a day and make them all feel special. An impossible job.